Meet Libby City Council candidate DC Orr

Name: DC Orr

Age: 64 years old, born in Libby.

Family: I am married to Marianne 44 years next month. Our son Adam, married Stacy Drake and they gave us two grandaughters, Maizy and Evie. Our daughter Ashley, married Doug DeShazer and their three boys are Luke, Jace and Tristan.

Occupation: I worked in the family excavating business for 10 years before buying my father out. I retired after 40-plus years.

Community involvement: While active in business, we returned the generosity of the community by donating man hours and machines for projects like the dugouts at the Babe Ruth fields, supplying dirt for the Little League fields and leveling at both, projects at Turner Mountain, the demolition of the Ambulance Barn, landscaping at the college, the beach at the city settling ponds, the Amphitheater at the Elementary School, and many, many more besides financial support for civic and scholastic events.

Also, I didn't just join Rotary Club, I became a Paul Harris Fellow. I didn't just join Libby Christian Church. I became a Stephen Minister. I haven't just faithfully attended council meetings for the last 25 years, I previously served on Libby City Council. I LOVE Libby!

I remain active in the Church from the Easter Egg Hunt, to the annual swimming lessons, to counseling a class for Celebrate Recovery. We have curtailed some involvement for the last year to caretake a family member with dementia.

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?

The Personnel Committee has been disbanded. The Police Commission, required by LAW, was disbanded. Those are Administrative failures and Executive lawbreaking, but Council should rebuild both, plus a Police Committee, to give support to our employees through oversight of the Mayor and the Administrator. I broke the story of the Police mutiny on social media before news media or the counsel knew about it. Secrecy has no place in government. Brad Nelson has made the best effort at exposing the actual circumstances that occurred. Council continues to be secretive.

What will you do to make this community more livable?

This generous, friendly community is eminently welcoming and livable. It could be improved by bringing resource extraction jobs back. The Port Authority has struggled to do this and Mayor Williams has responded by disbanding the LADC/KRDC committee and leaving the Council unable to be informed to the degree necessary to hold them accountable for the many failures of the Port and our CDBG funds that we committed. Secrecy in government is nonproductive.

Do you have any solutions for creating more affordable housing?

The city is taking the lead on affordable housing with the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) legislation. Outside housing developers syphon money out of our community and rarely produce "affordable" housing as long as they control the market. ADU's provide flexibility that keeps rent down and retains those monies in the local economy where every dollar circulates seven times.

What other issues should the city address?

The city has a primary directive to supply infrastructure for the citizens. Our new Streets Supervisor is performing well and things are changing for the better. Likewise, our new Police Chief is making great headway in restoring the force. Sewer and water face the greatest challenges, but our water system is nearly dry as we speak. The new Flower Creek Dam was a disaster. The $400,000 geotechnical survey claimed the dam would set on solid rock. A high water event in 2015 proved that was untrue when thousands of cubic yards of sediment washed downstream, jeopardizing the dam. This sediment continues to harm water quality and reduce capacity. The "quick fix" of drilling wells has been destroyed by International Papers pollution of our aquifer....and no one is demanding accountability. I would work to fix this, our most pressing need.