Meet Libby City Council candidate Ian Smith

Name: Ian Smith

Age: 34

Family: I am married with a dog and no kids. Cori is my wife and Ivy is my dog.

Occupation: 

Community involvement: I was involved in the veteran community in Libby. In the past I have assisted with multiple veteran events, given speeches, and been a member of the Libby VFW. Since my departure from the Libby Police Department, my focus has been running for Libby City Council.

In the past year, the city has had to rebuild its staff on the police force and at the wastewater treatment plant. What would you do to prevent this type of employee turnover in the future?

Transparency and good leadership are the keys to preventing these types of situations. When the police department went to the mayor, we told her she was looking at losing half of her department. We made this as clear as possible. At the end of the meeting no concrete answers were given and it appeared we were brushed off. This ultimately led to us quitting.

If elected to city council, I will take employee concerns seriously, not give lip service and expect the problem to fix itself. I will attempt to find a solution that works for everyone involved and if that doesn’t work, be an advocate for those employees who feel they are being wronged. I know what it feels like to be on the inside and feel like you are not being taken seriously. My aim would be to keep that from happening at all costs.

What will you do to make this community more livable?

Ultimately, I would like to bring business to Libby. Back in the 1990s Ponderay and Sandpoint, Idaho faced a dilemma: would they fund their cities through income tax or through business tax? Ponderay opted for tax breaks for businesses who built there. Sandpoint opted for taxing people. Twenty years later, Ponderay has good streets, professional emergency services and less tax than they do in Sandpoint. I would like to see this happen within city limits. Encourage business to grow within the city limits for tax breaks. Libby has wonderful potential and I feel this can be done without raising taxes and keeping individual rights intact.

Do you have any solutions for creating more affordable housing?

I do not believe government should get involved in affordable housing. It is not for government to dictate to a landlord what they should or should not be charging for rent. I would like to see the city open up RVs on personal property. If you want to rent out an RV on your own property, again, I don’t believe government should get involved. The two issues I foresee needing a plan are 1.) RVs cannot be lived in on a city street, only private property or areas designated by the city (Fireman’s Park); and 2.) The city would need to develop a plan involving the sewer hook-ups either on the private property itself or designated dump sites. As long as people aren’t blocking city streets or dumping raw sewage into the street, I believe this is a viable option for affordable housing.

What other issues should the city address?

My two biggest concerns are roads and infrastructure. I walk my dog on a regular basis and one of my favorite routes is from my house to the high school and back on Education Way. From Mahoney Road to Ski Avenue, there are potholes, chips in the road and fissures that I have to be careful walking near for fear of spraining an ankle. Education Way is one of the most used roads in Libby, and during school drop off

and pick up, I would say there are more cars on this road than Highway 2. I would do what I could to get

the process started of fixing this road first. Louisiana Ave. is another problem spot. It is a straight shot from Cedar Street to the hospital. Why have the potholes not been addressed? I have been in Libby for almost five years and Louisiana Avenue has been a mess for at least that long.

I would also like to address the dropping water levels in the city reservoir. How could we alleviate the situation, without passing more ordinances? I would like to see a real focus on finding more and alternative sources of water rather than water use restrictions.

Lastly, I have been approached by several people saying there are questions as to why I quit the police department. A letter was published in the Western News and I have been vocal on Facebook explaining the reasons and actions taken. On my end the reasons listed are the reasons I quit. The only details left out were personal details such as addresses, dates of birth and exact names of citizens involved. Those exact details are not for me to divulge.