From the Times-Call
 

Political/community experience: Longmont mayor (2009-present); US 36 Mayors & Commissioners Coalition Member (2009-present); Longmont Area Economic Council Board Member (2009-present); 36 Commuting Solutions Steering Committee Member (2009-present); I-25 Corridor Mayor's Group Member (2009-present); Longmont Chamber of Commerce; Member (2009-present), Ambassadors Chairman (4 years); Colorado Municipal League, Member (2009-present); United States Conference of Mayors, Member (2009-present).

Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from Truman State University (1980)

Name a person you admire and explain why: Someone I have always admired is Jimmy Kanemoto. Jimmy defined compassion. He loved his family and his community, and it showed in everything he did. Jimmy's passion was his culture and his beliefs. He never forgot where he came from and worked to share his history with Longmont. Jimmy was hard working, determined and an innovator. I strive to live a life as full as Jimmy's.

Describe a challenge you have faced in life and how you handled it: My biggest challenge so far was being diagnosed with cancer just over a year ago. In a matter of days I went from thinking I was totally healthy to fearing for my life.

I handled the news by turning to my family and my faith for strength and hope. My wife was unwavering in her confidence that the doctors at Longmont United Hospital would do everything in their power to rid me of the cancer and her trust in their abilities gave me strength. I was also comforted by the power of prayer. The energy was palpable as friends, family, and people I have never even met took time to pray for my healing.

I believe this combination of strengths is why I am cancer free today.

Recently, one of Longmont's longest-standing industries, the Butterball turkey plant, that employs 350 Longmont residents, announced it was closing its doors. What can or should the city do to attract more jobs in general, and to fill that space in particular?

During this difficult economy, we have fared better than many communities, but we are not immune from announcements like Butterball's. To attract more jobs, the city must continue to remain as competitive as possible by enhancing an environment that is conducive to business growth.

We begin that process by offering the necessary infrastructure. We must stress our low-cost of power to employers looking to relocate to this area. I believe in property owner's rights, and it's important to realize that the Butterball plant is owned by a private sector company. As we turn from the closing of the plant to redevelopment, the city should offer itself as a redevelopment partner.

We should encourage them to work with us as opposed to dictating what they should do.

"Quality of life" is frequently identified as an important issue for residents, but it's also one that means different things to different residents, such as park quality, a prosperous mall or the absence of train noise. What do you see as the most important quality of life issue in Longmont and how would you address it?

Making sure the workforce is fully employed is the core of preferred quality of life in any community. Working people have a better sense of self worth, which reflects in many facets of life. The monetary factors are obvious -- more disposable income that can be used locally which translates in to more retail revenue.

By creating an environment that is supportive of new business, employers create demand for commercial space, and new jobs bring more workers and increased demand for homes. Again, this means increased revenues for the city. Keeping people working provides for a community that is safer, cleaner, more active and more attractive to live in.

One of the early decisions to face the new City Council will be the selection of a city manager. What qualities, skills or characteristics do you consider vital for the soon-to-be chief executive of the city?

I am eager to be involved in the hiring of a motivator, leader, visionary, good listener and communicator. We need someone with public and private sector experience, successful in growing an ever-changing community. Our style of government needs a team player, someone willing to take direction by the council so we can make the best decisions possible.

These are traits that I see as critical for this position. Someone with the skills to effectively evaluate a situation, help the council gain perspective and make informed decisions, and implement the council's direction in a timely manner. This choice is most likely the most important decision that will be made for the next 10-20 years.

From the Boulder Weekly
 

The tension seems to have started four years ago when partisanship entered our council races with some candidates accepting contributions from political parties and being managed by politically charged organizations. Prior to the 2007 election, I don’t personally remember partisanship playing a role in council. I have not taken donations of any kind from any political party and in fact I chose purple as my campaign color to indicate the joining of “red” and “blue.” There are those in the community who try and paint me as a “right-wing extremist” and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact that some in our community continue to try and bring partisanship to the council by making those incorrect assertions is concerning. The constant name calling and labeling isn’t productive for our city and serves only to divide our citizens. Yes, I am pro-business, but I am pro-business because business drives revenue to the city that we can then use to support some of my passions such as not-for-profit organizations and the arts.

2. Explain your position on Ballot Question 2A. I absolutely support of the passage of 2A. The Fiber Optic loop is an asset bought and paid for 14 years ago, and owned by the City of Longmont but can only be used by a small fraction of our community. The option to lease the currently dormant bandwidth to private industry and non-profits is a win-win for the city and our citizens. We’ll be able to offer exceptionally fast internet access to our citizens and businesses while generating revenue for Longmont. Fiber Optic access could help lure more primary jobs to Longmont and employees. Longmont didn’t land the ACE Park but we would love to have those Aerospace engineers call Longmont home by offering them Fiber Optic access to the homes. It could also secure Longmont as a city for the second round of Google Fiber. Because we own our own right-of-ways, we were an extremely attractive candidate for Google Fiber to the Home. We held conference calls with Google executives during the selection process and escorted officials from Google around town during their visit last winter. The stumbling block appeared to be Senate Bill 152. Passing 2A will give us back the freedom to maximize this important asset.

3. What is your stance on the proposed expansion of the Vance Brand Municipal Airport? The skydiving operation there? Granted, we haven’t seen all of the results of the Master Plan process, but based on their recommendations in the past, I’m in favor of expanding the runway at Vance Brand airport. Lengthening the runway will allow the smaller private jets, the same ones that already use our airport, to completely fuel up before take off. The current runway doesn’t allow a jet the needed length to get off the ground carrying the weight of a full tank and therefore we’re losing fuel sales revenue. Additionally, the current length of the runway presents a safety issues in the event of an aborted takeoff. Those who have seen one of these jets take off knows that they are significantly quieter than prop planes and exit the airspace above Longmont in the blink of an eye. Lengthening the runway will not bring big commercial or cargo jets – lengthening the runway does not change the weight bearing limit that cannot withstand a larger jet. Lengthening the runway will have no effect on Mile High Skydiving; whether the runway is extended or not will not impact their operations.

4. What, if anything, should council members do to promote more urban farming, like backyard chickens and goats? I’m totally in favor of residents growing their own fruits and vegetables just as we do at our home each year, but Council shouldn’t do anything to promote urban farming when it comes to farm animals in the backyard. We are no longer a rural farming community; our key industries are IT, Biotech and Aerospace. Many of Longmont’s neighborhoods are covenant controlled and those covenants typically don’t allow keeping chickens. When only certain areas of town, Old Town for instance, allows for the keeping of backyard chickens (the only farm animals allowed on non-agriculturally zoned properties in Longmont) a large concentration can develop that will ultimately hurt the property values of surrounding neighbors. Longmont has thousands of acres of open space. This acreage could present an opportunity to be open for urban farming.

5. What approach do you recommend for revitalizing or redeveloping the Twin Peaks Mall? We begin that process by offering the necessary infrastructure. I believe in property owner’s rights, and it’s important to realize that the mall is owned by a private sector company. Since foreclosure proceedings, Bank of America has the right to liquidate the mall. Because of this, the city should offer itself as a redevelopment partner. We should encourage them to work with us as opposed to dictating what they should do. The mall area has already been declared an Urban Renewal District and with that, we have Tax Increment Financing capabilities as an incentive to prospective buyers.

6. What is your opinion of recent efforts to reduce affordable housing requirements for developers? Removing the Inclusionary Zoning requirement was the proper and necessary action by the Council. At the time of the decision, over 42% of the current inventory of homes was priced at or under the affordable price point. It was creating an exceptional burden on developers and buyer by requiring 10% of new development homes be affordable and passing the building cost to buyers of the market rate homes. Buyers were also impacted when it came time to sell their homes and finding they were deed-restricted in who the home could be sold to. Several residents declared bankruptcy to get out from under the affordable home that they were unable to sell. The better plan is what we still have in place – a down-payment assistance program. We have found that the biggest barrier to entry is not always the cost of the monthly mortgage, but being able to come up with the down-payment. It doesn’t matter how many affordable homes are available if those looking to purchase can’t save up 20% of the purchase price to buy the home. Additionally, we have a valuable rental-assistance program to aid those who aren’t ready to buy a house but still need a home.

Lastly, A question posed by Dennis Coombs:  Why did Bryan support the elimination of the fair campaign practices committee? I supported the elimination of the Election Committee because the committee wasn’t needed and was costing the city thousands in attorney’s fees every time a violation complaint was filed. Our City Clerk’s office and local judicial system have the necessary tools for the oversight of the election process and can handle alleged violations without the need of a quasi-judicial board. If I remember correctly, we paid out over
$14,000 in attorney’s fees but took in only $600 in fines from violations. Keeping the board, in their quasi-judicial capacity, with the necessity of paid legal oversight to their rulings, wasn’t fiscally responsible.