Meet Libby City Council candidate Brian Zimmerman

Name: Brian Zimmerman

Age: 54

Family: Been with my wife Tammy for 35 years, we have two sons, Levi, 32 and Sawyer 30, who live within the city limits with their wives, Alex and Sadie. We also have four grandchildren, LaValle, 8, Leila, 4, Calum, 2, and Thad, 1 years of age.

Occupation: Sales Consultant

Community involvement: Libby Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years (1999-2014), SEARCH for the local churches which involved juniors and seniors, Libby High School Booster Club cooking for the tailgates, donate blood at the Red Cross Blood Drives every chance I get, and currently six years on 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?

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: city council: Noun: the legislative body of a city. Just like we said at the two debates last week we are a legislative branch and not the executive or judicial branch. I believe it was Jennifer Nelson that actually even asked the question of “What is the job of the city council?”

Council members exercise voting powers to pass ordinances that protect the public, formulate land use policies and approve building projects.

If we as council members decide to take it upon ourselves to get involved with personnel, we are setting ourselves up for a possible lawsuit. That is only for the executive branch (Mayor) to handle and not the council.

What will you do to make this community more livable?

The City of Libby has always been very active in helping to keep up our resources for the livability and enjoyability of the community. Baseball fields, swim area adjacent to fields, parks, splash pad, tennis courts, biathlon course and trail systems. We have teamed up with the county and parks district's for the over three years now in a collaborative effort to fund the LORA (Libby Outdoor Recreation Association). This group is vital in keeping the movement going forward with recreation for our area and community.

Do you have any solutions for creating more affordable housing?

We as a council have been working on and have adopted an ADU (Auxiliary Dwelling Unit) plan. This originally came down from the Governor's office and from the Legislator this year. This is to help with the housing crisis we are having throughout Montana the last couple of years.

What other issues should the city address?

We as a council are always working on ways to improve the city and its infrastructure for our community. We try to help out in every way possible to keep our parks and recreation areas up to safety standards and the aesthetics for all our community to use and be proud of.