 Welcome to Longmont public media's conversation with the candidates. I'm Richard Lyons, and I'm here today with Tim waters One of three candidates for the position of mayor of City of Longmont. Welcome Tim Richard. Thank you. Now. Can I call you dick? Yes, okay I'm happy to be here good Tim tell us a little bit about yourself. So Longmont gonna get to know you better Well, some people may not want to get to know me better, but I'll do it anyway I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona when Phoenix was just a spot in the desert I Spent my four minute years there graduated from high school came to the University of Denver as an undergraduate student The only reason I got to DU is because I could shoot a jump shot and then realize Almost immediately that I was like a step slow and four inches short on my vertical I needed to get an education because basketball wasn't gonna make my future But I graduated from DU in four years. I met my bride Who who now we've been married for 50 years? We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this summer at school the DU We got married in Phoenix started my career there. I spent 15 years in the Glendale high school district I did about everything one can do in a school district from teaching to a discipline officer system principal high school principal assistant superintendent My last year in Arizona. I worked for the governor as his policy education policy advisor Bruce Babbitt Just before he was as he was running for president Before he went into the Clinton administration Finished a doctorate at Arizona State University that year and then took a job as superintendent of schools in Greeley I was in Greeley for seven years 86 to 93 and was recruited to To go to work for an education research development service company. I spent the next 21 years of my career there I was 23 years in the field 21 years at what was McCrall It started we were and I got there It was the midcontinent regional education laboratory regional education laboratory when I left we were McCrall international we had grown In substantially during that period of time we had offices in Honolulu Honolulu, Hawaii and Melbourne, Australia As well as across the country by the time I left So 44 years plus in the field of education We my wife and I moved to Longmont in 1994 with our two sons One of whom now is an attorney in Tulsa And one lives in Arvada with our daughter-in-law and two beautiful granddaughters He builds voice and data infrastructure for Piper communications So There you go. What else would you like to know? Well, that brings us to the next question. What then brought you to Longmont? Yeah When I when I left Greeley is that that job in Greeley as superintendent It took the job with the organization I went to It's located in the tech center Janie was teaching in Loveland So it's like where are we going to where we're going to locate? I was serving at the time on the Colorado commission on higher education I've been appointed by Roy Romer and I've served a couple of terms on the on cch e Representing the fourth congressional district And so we were looking for an opportunity to find a place that was in the fourth That could keep Janie working where she was and you know As one thing led to another During that house search The governor there was an opening for an at-large position on cch e the governor had pointed me to that Which opened up some options. My sister and brother-in-law had moved to Longmont The city manager and his family had been lifelong or lifelong decades long friends Everything we knew about Longmont Drew us to Longmont the interesting part of that story is most interesting Is when I got to really a superintendent of schools The only person in town with a bigger profile than mine was a guy named tad boil Right And he had been he had graduated from high school five years earlier, right? He graduated in 1981. I think I got there in 86 But everywhere I went I heard about tad boil the schoolboy legend, right basketball star So when the time came to move my younger son playing basketball tad boil was a high school basketball coach So it's like are you kidding movie can move to Longmont? Everything else had kind of cleared up and my son could play for tad There you go So we looked and looked and looked for a house in the Longmont high school attendance area Then kind of like now not much on the housing market, right? We finally found a house The day we closed on that house tad boil announced he was leaving coaching And moving to the northwest to do financial planning Uh, and then you know as the story goes he came back into coaching and obviously been at cu for a while I had a chance to share that story with tad once upon a time to say you don't know it You and I have a history together. So anyway, um, that's what brought us to long We weren't here very long before we we knew this was the last stop there We fell in love with Longmont. There was not going to be any place else first. Well, good. That leads into the next question What one thing do you uh want the Longmont voters to know about you? The one thing Just one. Yeah the for me on my my adult life has been dedicated really to service in You know, I've been in service roles to those who I think who Who need the kind of things that I could bring, you know, and and that's been I've never not I've never been good at retirement I mean I've continued to do some retirement and I guess that's it My what motivates me more than anything in life is to feel like somehow I'm out there making a difference You know, that's great So what do you especially like and don't like about Longmont? Hmm There's so much to like I mean, there's so much to like from the diversity of this community the pace of the community the talent in the community While I think we have a lot to do a lot more work to do with amenitizing the community If you think about our greenways and our parks and you know, that part that held that part of the community has been amenitized Uh, the values that you see showing up The connections downtown and across the community from the business community. It's just there's so much to like Uh, the levels of involvement and engagement from one into town and from one sector to another I if there was anything right now given my what I've done As a member of city council on some of the issues we deal with If there was the one thing that concerns me maybe more than any is the number and I I'm what i'm about to say. I know they're going to some people who will react to this as As a shaming or a pejorative kind of statement. It's just what happens Is there are there are too many times in my mind right now when the whole the whole idea of not in my backyard Shows up on issues that are really important to the future of the community housing in particular Um, so that so without Even kind of unpacking what a proposal is and what the benefits as well as the costs are There are times where that shows up too quickly So let's give you a hypothetical. You've been on city council now as a member From ward one If the city received a million dollar grant to use in any way shape or form that the council determined What would you do with it and why? This honestly that it's easy for me Right now I'm heavily deeply involved as a council member in One of the goals we set as a council to do more and better for our youngest residents So we have an early childhood childcare early learning initiative around that initiative a coalition of Providers of just interested parties have kind of come together as a loosely knit or coupled group This the whole effort for me has been part of my professional experience, you know forever But if we're gonna When we first started with this whole initiative It was with the thought in mind That our youngest are the moms and dads and those kids need more from us than what we're doing And personally the work I was doing before I retired we were we were seriously involved in a World-class evidence-based early childhood initiative All of which was focused on getting children to be school ready That if we had kids school ready and we had kid ready schools Then all those gaps we worked so hard to overcome in the k-12 system Much of that is resolved before they ever step into a classroom Life choices become very different for kids who are school ready And to get them all there we we knew when we started this we probably had 550 kids every day Who we couldn't account for who were nowhere that Might be preparing them to be school ready. We just didn't know But um, we have made progress on this initiative as a as a community as a city Uh, not just as a council initiative, but it's really aligned with the council initiative But we have so much more work to do and I have to say if we could get this right Recovering from an economic or from a uh a pandemic And the economic recovery required to do that Is is is dependent to a large degree on our ability to get this solved If we want to see a stable workforce Working moms and dads who want to be back in the workforce back in the workforce We got to do better with our early childhood initiative Uh long term if you think about economic development efforts If you think about all of the things, uh, the the life indicators that are that are connected to High-quality early learning experiences long term. We solve our homelessness problem We solve our economic development problems I mean over the course of a generation if we could get it right with our youngest kids So if I had a million bucks, that's where you'd spend it. I'd spend it right there very good So Tim, did did you have uh one person that was your mentor or that was very influential in your life and if so How Well, yeah, what it would well Both my mother and my father would I I don't know that gets one from the other. I got so much from each of them Professionally, I know I've stood on the shoulders of my father You know from the time I was a young man my entire professional life He was the he was iconic for me. Okay And so Follow-up, are you paying it forward? Are you mentoring or helping someone and is that person someday will say you were their mentor or I hope so I You know people can believe this or not. I mean that we're here It's you and I having this conversation someone's going to watch and go. He's so full of it You know, I I have uh, I've had the good fortune of leading organizations Much of my professional life Even when I was a high school principal you're you're kind of running your show there, you know, you report to a superintendent all that kind of stuff But as a superintendent and then as a ceo I've had a chance to to bring people together as a leader of organizations That focused on developing leaders part. That was part of our mission And um, and I don't know how many times I've had conversations with folks about here's the way it works I stand on the shoulders of giants not much. It's my dad. There's a You know, I could go on a list part of my job to be the shoulders upon which the next generation can stand and Your jobs right as a team are to do the same. That's what we do It's it's one generation preparing the next to ascend And then we what we bring together across generations adds value right across time and space in ways that Only happens when it you approach it that way. Absolutely So Tim colorado and longman have lots of recreational opportunities Which do you enjoy and how do you spend your leisure time? Well, uh, most people some people might say he fancies himself a golf professional with a negative cash flow so Uh, I uh, I love to play golf. Uh, but janey and I walk and we bike We used to ski until I had three knee replacements and And I wore one of them out too quickly on the ski slopes. So I can't run anymore But we we enjoy walking and I I love being on the golf course and we love being on our bicycles. So And if there's ever a place to live and enjoy bike paths, it's a long month. That's true so, um it looks like long month from the latest maps of the congressional redistricting Is going to be switched from the fourth congressional district to the second congressional district What impact if any do you think that will have on the city of long Well, as I understand What I think to be the demographics that have changed in long one over time And as I understand how we ended up in the fourth congressional district 10 years ago So this is I've received the second hand, but from 10 years ago Or 10 years ago long month was the demographics were more conservative more republican Like 10 years ago and it's my understanding that in the redistricting then There was a deal that was made among those who were making decisions about redistricting to put long month in the fourth Which was more reflective of the the politics of the fourth To keep fort collins and larimer county in the second So now you have a safe second and a safe fourth Over the 10 year period of time the demographics have changed here and the politics have changed here So it's far less red or far less like the rest of the fourth and way more like the rest of the second so I think in terms of Long monitors at least those long monitors who would like to be represented by Joe nagoos or you know, some joe continues or somebody like joe Um, it would be a pretty good match with a majority of long monitors Uh, and it probably for whoever represents the fourth Today a ken buck would be just as happy to see long month Leave the fourth and back to the second, but I do think for for long monitors. There's a greater affiliation With the current demographics and the politics of the second and who represents the second in congress. Okay So tim, how do you learn and stay informed about local state and national issues? Um, well, I try to hang out with people like you, right? Honestly, you know, if you get to chance spend you have a chance to spend time with smart people You learn a lot if you're just willing to listen and as as much as I talk people would say when do you have time to listen As much as you talk But I do I do enjoy The opportunity to learn from others and I and I've learned from you and I and I've learned from on this job Or in this role as a council member I've learned so much from the people whose paths I've crossed whether it's city staff or Citizens or you know people with ideas Uh, that's always for me. It's always been probably I'm a I'm a pretty auditory learner But I do a lot of reading anyway. Anyway, you know, you can't you're surrounded by Streams of media today that you it's inescapable even if you you know didn't want to be Have have information washing over you making meaning of that right is the challenge. Yeah um So I'm a I'm a I have a voracious appetite for learning in in in multiple ways I do a lot of reading you can't be on council without doing a lot of reading And I I really enjoy being in the in the company of smart people. Okay So national politics are very divisive in our federal and state governments Although the city council is non-partisan Some say it's becoming more political What would you do to keep that divisiveness from occurring in the Longmont city council? Yeah um Now first of all, I have an answer I wish it was as simple as what I'm about to say because once you put people in the loop A human in the loop diminishes reliability pretty quickly, but um When when we were in my opinion in the years I've been on council We were we was a moment when I think we were at our best And it was when we had we'd come out of a planning retreat That actually became a goal setting retreat. I when I went into it. I wasn't certain exactly what what it was going to be I'd been elected in february late february. This is in may of 2018 We came out of a retreat with two pretty bold compelling in in my view Very attractive vision statements for the future of Longmont And we'd agreed on seven goals to align with these vision statements that if we if we could make progress on these seven goals The prospect of realizing that that vision the two vision statements would be enhanced We went from that retreat to the fall of 2018 and we it took us that long to finally adopt the goals And we put together a work plan kind of There was a lot more in it than just what would be required to achieve these goals But the conversation with the council at that time was Who wants to lead on these? Who's willing to put their hand up and say I'll take the lead on that one and you know Kind of others falling over a coalesce around that person's leadership And so in that in that conversation Several people raised their hands. We agreed that who is going to take leadership on these initiatives and for a moment It's like hey, we're all heading the same direction And we've we've acknowledged who's going to lead on what and I'm willing to fall in behind that person's leadership trust them Um And then what happens over time and unfortunately I know that wasn't enough time. I wish it lasted longer That uh when policy differences emerge and whether it's around those goals or something else What happens? It happened to us. I think it happens to other groups of elected officials Um, uh a difference on policy turns into a personal Issue there's personal animus A resentment that you don't agree with me on this policy or you didn't listen enough to me on this policy Or you don't understand the implications of this policy. Therefore You know, there's some personal issue that emerges and I For me that's that should be unworthy of us as elected officials I I spent my professional life kind of the nexus of leadership research and policy and we kept encouraging Policy makers to to transcend that stuff to look at the evidence To connect it with your aspirations. So Short answer to a long answer to your question But the the net of that is I hope the next council gets really clear not just on the goals But the objectives we're going to accomplish this year together and what does it take from us together to accomplish that So when an idea comes along that might be a great idea But that doesn't advance us towards that towards an objective. We have a chance to have a different conversation like To what degree is this aligned or not? Are we going to take something off the table or Are we going to somehow add this because it adds value to what we're trying what we said We want to get accomplished together, but we've kind of lost sight of what the What the objectives were that we need to accomplish and that I think is the basis for getting Divided too many times and in too many ways. Okay very good So How do you plan on involving residents in the decision-making or Getting the more involved in this decision making in the city Um, well, I'd say first of all If anybody watches city council meetings Um, if there's a camera like that, so what I would say the most fun of serving on city council is not tuesday nights It's what happens the other six days of the week and um And the other six days of the week is when you get a chance to get involved with It's constituent work. You're hearing from people about whatever their problem is trying to help It's the opportunity to the early childhood coalition work We've been doing or the visioning process that I had a chance to play a leadership role with herald Dominguez and what became the building steam initiative and facilitating that process That happens other days of the week And though those are ways to get the community involved that people care about What we're doing with early childhood or care about A more vision driven or vision based approach to planning right you have to comply with ordinances You have to comply with zoning But we ought to be some really clear signals to developers and investors on what we want to see as proposals And here's the vision that we've not the only vision. Yeah, but a vision so Beyond that dick, I think um, there are so many times in my in my mind when we're in a conversation on a tuesday night And the potential would be to say, you know what? Let's continue this on saturday morning or let's continue this Sunday afternoon or let's get some space and let's let's have a conversation It'll have to be a council meeting because we're going to have at least council four council members involved But let's facilitate it a little bit differently. So we can actually talk and listen to one another, right? That's one of the frustrations Public invited to be heard. There are protocol is people have come and speak they ask questions. We we keep don't get the answer Other than during open forums and it just kind of it becomes a really awkward odd kind of stilted setting I think we ought to be willing and in Enthusiastic about all the places we might have a chance to continue the conversation. Yeah, very good So This one should be easy for you to answer if you change if you could change one thing In the current municipal code. What would that be? Um, well without a doubt Just one thing just one thing I think I I would want to We have conflicts right now in our municipal code between design standards and our inclusionary housing ordinance In the that the the conflict in those standards or the conflict in those ordinances Create confusion and at a burden of time to approving Projects that are good ideas and not every project is a good idea But the ones that are good ones Oftentimes get caught up for I'm talking up for housing issues And every day that we add to the approval process for a proposal on a proposal adds cost to a home The whoever's going to buy a home We need to pick up the pace on that process and one of the ways to do it will be reconciling The differences between design standards and the inclusionary housing ordinance. Very good so um That leads us to the final and You alluded to it question between affordable housing and attainable housing Which do you personally prioritize as Being the greater need for the city Well, uh, I'm going to say attainable housing And and and I could laugh at myself even for giving that answer I just think we've done a better job in signaling to the development community what we want to see We've set a clear goal. Our protocols are pretty clear I think we've been less clear on um both the need for attainable housing We have not set a target for it a goal as a council. I think that's a mistake We should have done that a long time ago And um and and explored every single option For working with those who could produce that kind of product on what we what what we might do To increase the probability that we could get out market rate housing That Working families could qualify for and afford You know the total cost of home ownership. Oh, that's great. That's great Well, tim, we've run out of questions. I've enjoyed this conversation and I wish you luck in your campaign Thanks, dick. I appreciate the opportunity. Thanks for what you're doing by the way with this with this process. Thank you