MISSOULA — Bob Campbell, who worked as a police officer for over 23 years — as well as a land planner in Gallatin County — is running for Missoula City Council Ward 5.
“But, my connection in Missoula is I came here in 99...and, I came here for a career in law enforcement. I worked in Plains for a number of years [and] in Hot Springs in Sanders County. But in ‘99 I was hired as a Missoula police officer, and I worked 23 years for them, just retiring last December. The reason I'm running for City Council is I have a background of almost 30 years — plus in various forms of local government. I was a land use planner for a time. I worked in land use planning for Gallatin County for a number of years in the early 90s that involved subdivision review, floodplain administration, zoning. That's something that's been re-formed here in Missoula also, as we speak. And I transitioned to law enforcement in ‘96. And I just think — I look back on those two careers I've had — I think I could further my public service by running for City Council and bring all that experience to bear,” Campbell said.
Neighborhood Councils are an important part of local government and Campbell says he'd engage with the councils to take their concerns and issues to the City Council.
“Well, there are four neighborhood councils I am aware of here in Ward 5 that cover this area... I would say first, I would give a shout-out to Miller Creek Neighborhood Council because they're actually fairly active. The Ward 5 council forum just a couple of weeks ago just prior to the primary, in fact, and very good [turn] out seemed very well organized. They seem to be a model for how neighborhood councils should be run to get a lot of neighborhood involvement. I would look to them in particular as a model for the neighborhood council format. And I think they're a very important part of our involvement — our engagement with our constituents is through councils like that. That we could go to and we could sit down with folks, a park like this or some other setting and find out what the latest, freshest issues are that are on their minds. And in turn, take that information back to Council and have those addressed in committee — have those addressed in council meetings. So that one...engagement, neighborhood engagement is very important,” said Campbell.
The homeless situation in Missoula is a crisis, and Campbell says that he would want to stick with what is working in the city and build upon it.
“Evidently the 10-year plan, of course, to end homelessness — has been a failure. It has not yielded the results that we thought would. We are in crisis. We do have some plans in place that I think are viable. I look at the Temporary Safe Outdoor Shelter that's by the jail as a success. There's almost anywhere between a 40%, 50% success rate in getting folks into permanent housing...We have Trinity apartments, we have Viallgio, we have Blue Heron Place for more acute cases of houseless that's being developed and implemented right now. Those are successes. I don't think we need to go down the road of like what's been proposed lately with...rotating camps throughout the city...I'm not getting great feedback from folks that live in my ward here on a plan like that. I think we need to go with what works and build upon that and not just throw our hands up and say, this is the new normal and the camps are just something we're going to have to get used to."
Campbell says that infrastructure and roads are a need that the City must maintain. He says he'd also want to have conversations around financially supporting infrastructure and roads in Missoula.
“We see that every year over the winter with potholes or whatnot. And I encourage folks to call in. There's a website. You go to the city to report a pothole. I've used it myself, it works fairly well. They come out and fix potholes. But in terms of infrastructure altogether, I would say that definitely classifies as a need. Those are one of the needs — along with emergency services and housing — that we need to prioritize our budgeting towards. Fill those requirements and make sure those requirements and meet [them]. Then, eliminate some of these extraneous programs that the City has implemented over the past few years that, might cater to one particular group of people, one particular business community or what have you. We have to make the hard decisions to maybe look at modifying and have conversations about modifying spending in those areas so we could concentrate on our roads or infrastructure,” Campbell said.
On the topic of Missoula's housing crisis, Campbell says the City should work with the people of his Ward to address their desires and needs at the legislative session in 2025, as well as at the City level.
“Housing is definitely a problem here. We have properties [that] average well above $500,000. Now, vacancy rates for rentals are below 2%, which is an unhealthy rate of vacancy. We need to get more shovels in the ground to develop more types of housing and different densities of housing, duplexes, apartments. Take advantage of low-income housing tax credits that are available through the state to develop apartment complexes that could be used for people below median income here in Missoula. That's something I would look to implement in the Finance Council. Our growth policy has something called focus inward. Look at Accessory Dwelling Units, look at the in-fill development, look at renovating — maybe old buildings into affordable housing apartments. Get those up and running to increase that vacancy rate, increase the supply rate. So we can start to temper the price of housing and price of rentals here in Missoula. Going back to my planning experience, we have a growth policy that's being developed right now. And I think next Council session is going to have quite the hand in, developing that plan. And it would be my job — if I'm on Council — to take into account the needs and desires of people that live in my Ward and what they would like to see as far as a growth policy and a growth plan for, more housing and more affordable, more attainable housing in the Missoula community."
Campbell says that infrastructure goes beyond just roads and buildings — there is also safety infrastructure such as police and fire that need to be a priority.
“So we're looking at 9.7% increase in taxes this year, that's already on top of 12.5% thereabouts last year just from the City. And then you had the county taxes on top of it. And we need to focus on our needs over our wants is what comes down to. There are things universally that we could agree on that are needs — housing is in need. Emergency services are in need of infrastructure. Our roads and streets are definitely a need. Anything else is a want that has to be...it has to go through a priority-based budgeting process to where we look at those wants inside how many of those wants that we will involve [ourselves] with. Bottom line is this — and I just knock on doors in this community here...and what I'm hearing time and time again is that people are struggling. People are struggling on fixed incomes. People are struggling on pensions...So, we need to give those folks some relief,” Campbell said.
Campbell says he would want to limit the spending to put the priorities ahead of wants.
“We need to look at ways of limiting spending here in town. Dissecting those pet projects that are in our bloated budget — $70 million-plus from local property taxes — a total budget of almost $300 million in expenditures for the City of Missoula. This next fiscal year it's going to be tougher. We have these American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. They are federal funds. We're using them to the tune of almost $2 million this year. But next year they're gone. So now we've got to figure out, you know, where we're going to get the money to replace that. It's going to be tough. Just like families have to budget — they have to make the tough decisions. Because these tax increases, can I pay for this health procedure? Can I pay for new clothes? Can I pay for food this month? They have to make really tough decisions. The City has to act in a similar way and make those tough decisions. Do what's right for the taxpayers in this community. I would add, I don't think a new set of taxes upon residents here in Missoula is, is a way to go."
"I know there's been talk of local option taxes or tourist taxes," Campbell continued. "Now, I'm hearing something about a tech tax. But...creative ways of taxing local citizens invariably almost hit local citizens one way, shape or form or another or local businesses, [in] one-way shape or form or another is the way to go."
Campbell says that he would want to take measures to make sure the City has a balanced budget without depending on the tax system that the state has.
“At the state level — and a lot of that's up to our state legislators. I know there's been talk of this 95 mills that the state does, automatically, from their side of things. Those mills are 95 no matter what the valuation of each mill is year to year. And I know some counties are trying to address that...to get that reformed. Here at the local government, we have a cap to, you know, how much we could assess. And if the mill, valuation increases, then we have to decrease the number of mills that we can assess upon a property owner. But the state doesn't have that requirement. So that's something that might be addressed coming up and may have to go through the court system. I'm not sure. As far as...the disparity between residential commercial taxes, you know, that has grown over the past few decades. And certainly, that's something that we could look to address at the legislature. I don't think we afford local government to presume that the state or governor is going to sign any sort of major modification to our tax system at the state level. It's incumbent upon us to look at ways of slimming our budget here at [th] local level. Addressing, our local needs over our wants and, be a better steward of our, you know, property tax dollars here in town,” Campbell said.
Campbell also says he wants to improve the transparency between residents and the city in government.
“We definitely have room for improvement when it comes to transparency in local government. And I know, there's legal requirements for advising people of different things happening in their neighborhoods and whatnot, but, time and time again, I'm seeing the situation — be it with the downtown Higgins Street diet that's been proposed. I know it's a brand new place to change the outlook of Higgins Avenue and the Higgins Street Bridge — Beartracks Bridge downtown. And I feel businesses were kind of blindsided on that, and they didn't get involved. Now they comment and there's really too much already going on to be able to change course on that. And I see that in subdivision review as well. We have a project in Lower Miller Creek that involves a whole community out there and as well, you know, I think looking back on that...those folks that live out there were kind of taken by surprise, I think a little bit with the size and scope of that project...they want to put in a roundabout, they want to make some other stream improvements are going to increase traffic out there. And again, it was pretty late in the process that, those folks were — had an opportunity...And by then there was already so much rolling along in the project that, there wasn't that much that, that could be done to address the issues and concerns they had at that point."
When asked why voters should vote for him, Campbell says that he would want to be responsible for the hard-earned money of Missoulians.
“I'm telling people they should vote for me. As being a good steward of tax dollars, would have a good track record on Council of keep being mindful of people's tax dollars and how they're being spent. I think that's lost on Council lately is — the fact that we're spending other folks money — other folks hard earned money. And to always keep that...[be] responsible for the hard-earned money that they are compelled by a law to send to the City for our use,” Campbell concluded.
The Missoula election is on November 7, 2023.
