 Hello, I'm Tim Waters and I'm applying for the job of mayor. If you're a registered voter living in Longmont, then you'll soon be asked to decide who you'd like to hire to fill this position. You're going to make this decision at one of the most challenging and critical times in Longmont's 150-year history. So think about this as a job interview because I'm going to do my best to persuade you that I'm your best applicant to lead Longmont into the post-pandemic future. Some of you may know that I currently represent Ward 1, the east side of Longmont on city council. Experience as a city council member certainly helps prepare one for the job of mayor. This said, serving as a city council member is only one dimension of what your most qualified applicants should bring to this selection process. You might be wondering what are the kinds of leadership experience beyond serving on city council I would bring to the job. For the record, I was a career educator. Highlights of my 44-plus-year career include seven years as superintendent of the Greeley-Evans School District, followed by 19 years as president and CEO of one of America's leading education research, development and service companies. I'm the lead city council member on two major initiatives, a visioning project referred to as Building STEAM, which is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, in formation of Longmont's Child Care and Early Learning Coalition. The Building STEAM project produced a robust and exciting vision of what could be developed west of Martin in north of Boston. Our Child Care and Early Learning Coalition is dedicated to rebuilding an industry that's just been decimated by the pandemic and is critical to our economic recovery. If we're going to fully recover from the ravages of the pandemic, we must ensure that mothers and fathers of preschool-aged children have high-quality programs in which to place them so mom and or dad can get back into the workforce. Along with child care, we need housing for which families can qualify and afford. Availability of affordable, quality and accessible child care and housing are necessary to attract and retain the kind of talent we want to see in Longmont workplaces. You can read my positions and policies on a variety of issues, including Longmont's carbon footprint and how to reduce it, pandemic recovery on my website, timwatersformair.com. It's likely you'll hear other applicants for this job say similar things to what you are hearing from me say in this interview. The difference between me and the others is my record for actually leading and getting things done. So if you're a North Main Street business owner, let's work together to do on North Main what downtown businesses have done south of 9th to 1st. If you want a quiet disguise over the airport and see the airport developed as an engine of economic growth in a generator of high-end jobs in the aviation sector, let's work together to turn Vanspray on the airport into the western United States hub of research, development, and manufacturing of green, quiet, electrified aviation. Other communities are positioning themselves to do just this. If you're a parent of children who want to complete their entire education without ever having to leave Longmont, then hire me to partner with Front Range Community College and leaders in Colorado's four-year higher education institutions to establish a satellite campus in the building steam area. If you're an artist who believes you deserve a venue in which to perform, a venue that inspires younger generations to pursue careers in the arts, a venue that attracts audiences and generates revenues from outside our community because our venue competes with best-in-class performing arts venues in the Front Range, then hire me. And let's work together and with the community to make this a Longmont reality. If you're frustrated with RTD and how Longmont has been dismissed by them and want to see real progress on a regional transportation solution, then hire me to work with other elected officials to either secure commitments in funding from RTD or pivot to other creative options for transporting Longmoners from our town to your destinations. I could go on, but you get the point. As you consider applicants for this job, one of us brings the kind of experience Longmont needs. One of us is tested, proven, and effective. If you hire me for this job, this is what you get in your next mayor. Some who listens to your aspirations, your concerns, and your suggestions, I want to continue hearing from you because it's how I learn. Clarity on where I stand on the issues of importance to you in the community, transparency on how I arrive at my positions, accountability for every public or private comment, decision or action I take, and leadership in a moment when leadership may matter more than ever. So now it's up to you. To select the applicant who you think best qualified to lead Longmont into the post-pandemic future. The stakes have never been higher. This may be the most important hiring decision you ever make, and you hire me by voting for Tim Waters.