Coldwell: Roads, recreation and trees in 2015

Entering his second year as mayor of Troy, Darren Coldwell said operating his business is a much different beast than running a city. From his office desk he said, “Sitting here is so much different than owning a business. I’m just used to saying yes, here’s what we’re going to do.”

But it’s not that easy for those who hold positions in government; there are restrictions and checks and balances. “That’s how it’s supposed to work,” said Coldwell, “and I think in the last year it’s worked really well for us.”

“There have been times where the council hasn’t seen eye-to-eye and there’s been some split votes. But one nice thing with the council is that once that meeting is adjourned and that topic is done they’re back to giggling and laughing. They’re not offended by the different views at all,” said Coldwell.

That makes a big difference in getting goals accomplished for the city. “The council makes all the decisions and the mayor follows through on them. The mayor makes recommendations to the council, but it’s totally up to them if they want to pursue it or not,” Coldwell said.

When it comes to improving the position of a business, or a city, the limiting factor is the same: money. “I think the biggest obstacle, and everybody that’s sat in this chair before me will tell you,” said Coldwell, “is the money. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.”

Coldwell has been able to find ways around or through that obstacle.

Last year the city put in sidewalks on Third Street through a co-op arrangement with property owners who would pay for the materials and the city would do the work. Plans are being made to add more sidewalks on Second Street with two property owners already on board with the operation.

Another project the city was able to complete by bringing several sources of funding together was putting in some old-timey looking streetlights on Mill Road. “I think that’s been a huge improvement,” said Coldwell. The venture was accomplished with aid from the city, Ron Downey, a grant and a large private contribution.

“Next year, the next phase of that will be trees as a buffer for the railroad hopefully to quiet that down some,” Coldwell said. “That should make a huge difference, also just for appearance.”

Coldwell tried to steer clear of the word beautification for some of the projects he would like to see get done, but he couldn’t find an adequate replacement.

For example he would like to see some improvements made at Roosevelt Park. “A lot of that is not expensive stuff, it’s just having the vision.” Coldwell has talked to some people who would be interested in sitting on a tree-board to explore options for trees that are indigenous to the area and would grow well without much maintenance.

Obviously Coldwell would love to bring more businesses to the community. He would love to see a booming economy to help get Lincoln County out of last place in the state. “In order to recruit or to want to have anybody move into some place it has to be something that catches your eye,” said Coldwell. “In a money-strapped community, as far as budget goes, the easiest thing to do is to create a situation where they want to be here.”

Right now there are no business knocking down the door to get into Troy and set up shop. But Coldwell plans to continue to improve the infrastructure of the city for if the opportunity should arise.

In the upcoming year the city has plans to upgrade roads in the city, which haven’t been tended to in many years. Coldwell noted the city has a short window every year to get a lot of work done, so when the weather becomes favorable those projects will get underway.

Coldwell had a couple of plans on the back burner he wasn’t willing to talk about just yet. He’s waiting for a couple of grants to come through that would make those projects viable and didn’t want to disappoint if those grant don’t materialize.

One of team Coldwell’s big accomplishments from the previous year will pay dividends for the city in the future. “The office staff worked really diligently on refinancing those loans. These girls put a lot of work into getting the information together so we could do it.”

Coldwell was referring to the city refinancing several large package loans from the water and sewer departments. The loans were consolidated, interest rates were lowered and the length of the loan repayment was reduced. “When you’re looking at millions of dollars when you’re refinancing, you shave off a couple of percentage points, it ended up between the two departments we saved $1.6 million.”

Recreation is a big money maker in Montana, albeit for only about three months a year. Coldwell would like to see the city promote itself as more than just part of the gateway to Glacier Park. He said the Three-Rivers District has one of the most recreational opportunities in the state; tourists should be aware of that.

Any hiccups Coldwell and the council faced in his first year as mayor were addressed in the first 90 days. “Now it’s a pretty well oiled machine. I think every body is rowing the boat in the same direction you might say.”

As mayor, the people have expectations of Coldwell. “I think they expect me to make sure that we as city employees do a fair days work and that we follow through on concerns they have. And that they feel like they’re not being taken advantage of where their tax dollars are concerned,” said Coldwell.

At the beginning of last year all the city departments sat down and built a1-year, 2-year and 5-year plans, they all fared pretty well, but one especially so. “The public works, I think that they achieved all but three of their goals, and that was simply because they ran out of time,” said Coldwell.

Coldwell said the department heads being able to see checkmarks next to their goals showed the tangible progress being made for the city of Troy.