MISSOULA — Lynn Wood-Fields, an award-winning filmmaker and producer is running for Missoula City Council member John Contos’s Ward 5 seat as he is not seeking reelection.
Wood-Fields says that she wants to be at the table where policy is made.
"I'm running for City Council for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is that I threw out a bunch of ideas about how to deal with homelessness and property taxes and realized that probably I needed to be in a policy-making area,” Wood-Fields said.
Wood-Fields shared her thoughts on Missoula's housing crisis, saying she would want to communicate what resources there are when it comes to affordable housing.
“So the housing crisis is real. But also, I think this is another issue that we could do some communication around. I've dealt with the people that are dealing with this and I've had good conversations with them. And what I've discovered is that Missoula is actually doing the best in the whole [state of Montana]. And in the next five years, we will be at a different place. And so, this also comes down to making sure people know what's out there, what's coming on to the market. We have dealt with things like the Trinity Housing coming out. There's lots of options, and we are building at a rate that will help this quite a bit. The other thing is legislation came up...2023. And so, I think what we need to do is have a bunch of different alternative housing and ADs — which is our Additional Dwelling Units — are a way for people to build some housing that could [be] for college students and small families. And so I would work really hard to make sure people know about the options that are out there, and also continue to communicate them,” Wood-Fields said.
On the topic of Missoula's infrastructure and roads, Wood-Fields says that safety needs to be number one.
“I think that goes back to the budget question. I think we first need to go through [a] priority list. And in my understanding, we need to do safety first. So, safety looks like police officers and fire department...especially because we have union contracts with them. So, in my experience, we've got to deal with those first. Then we have infrastructure, then we have this homelessness issue. So I think what we need to do first is write a priority budget and then make sure those things are funded. And then anything else...[our wants], we have to see if we have the actual funding for that. But with infrastructure, that's obviously a big part of what we do too. But, we have to deal with the first issues."
Neighborhood councils play an important part in city government and Wood-Fields says that she would want to be more involved in the councils if she's elected.
“In terms of neighborhood councils, I am very proud of our Ward 5e neighborhood council. I've already been to a meeting with them. They think they do a great job. The community is super-involved. So, for me, it would be more that I get involved and make sure that I'm accessible — that I get to meetings. I do the Zoom meetings. I make sure people are invited. And I just hear from the neighborhood council on my ward,” Wood-Fields said.
The budget in Missoula will get tighter next year as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding received during the COVID-19 pandemic will run out. Wood-Fields says that she would focus the budget next year on priorities.
“The budget is probably one of the things that I'm most excited to go into. I'm an executive producer filmmaker, and that's pretty much all we do is budgets and making sure we hit our budgets never going over. Our budgets also coming up with alternative funding like grants just because the ARPA funding is running out doesn't mean we don't have a ton of other grant opportunities — like the inflation reduction that we can leverage. And I think we are operating — in my experience of an old budget from years ago. And we just keep adding to that. I'm really in support of the idea of zeroing out the departments and starting over and seeing where we can shift funds. Because in my experience, it looks like we have a bunch of funding that could potentially be harnessed and used for other things."
Wood-Fields says that tax reform is the biggest problem that Montanas are facing across the state. She wants to work with legislators to fix the tax system in Montana.
“Tax reform is probably the biggest issue that we're facing across the state. And I've been working with legislators for eight years to do workforce development. So, I have great relationships with legislators in Missoula. But I think the key is, it can't just come from Missoula. And we need to get a coordinated effort in Montana — in Missoula — to reach out to all the reps. And so those of us, you know, I grew up in whitefish in the flathead, but there's people from all over the state here. We need to be contacting our reps outside of Missoula and working together to do tax reform and not just think that we're in a silo in Missoula. So, not only should we work with our local legislators who are super open to that and worked really hard,” Wood-Fields said.
Wood-Fields says that she would want to work on different ways to have more tax revenue flowing into Missoula which is focused on tourism.
“Property tax is probably one of the biggest issues facing Montanans. I am from Whitefish — and they have a tourist resort tax and that was actually started by the city council in 1996. It's raised over $45 million, and now they're putting 10% aside for affordable housing. So, I think the biggest thing with tax issues is we've got to come up with some alternative ways besides just property taxes. We have shifted all of the industry and these kind of tourist taxes onto property owners. And so, as a City Council member, I would do a coordinated effort to come up with alternative tax systems like the resort tax. Missoula itself has become a destination for music and play and for people who have wanted to visit Montana. So we need to capitalize,” Wood-Fields said.
While homelessness is a crisis in Missoula, Wood-Fields says that it’s also an issue the entire country is seeing. Wood-Fields says that if she is elected, she will try to implement a different way to pay for the homelessness crisis Missoula is currently facing.
“The houseless crisis is real and it's nationwide and I have lots of ideas around that. One of them being that I think we are kind of lumping everybody together. And I would like to create something called the opt-in where we have...one website area where it deals with all the different resources that exist to actually get that out to the community. Missoula is doing a ton around this, but I think we could do better optics and better marketing and communication for people to know what those things are. Also, I have an alternative way to pay for the houseless issue that doesn't have to deal with property taxes and that looks like a debit card that could take a percentage of transaction pay and actually fund this kind of issue,” Wood-Fields said
Keeping residents of her ward is important to Wood-Fields, she says that she would want to hold meetings monthly to meet with the constituents of her ward.
“So the first thing that I have pledged to do — and I already have done this because I've worked with different organizations. I would have a monthly Zoom meeting with all my constituents because what I'm noticing is emails are kind of overwhelming. And so every Tuesday, once a month, I would have a Zoom meeting. It's called a lunch and meet. And so my constituents and other constituents that they wanted to, could join here how we voted, why we voted and to express any concerns or issues,” Wood-Fields said.
When asked why voters should vote for her, Wood-Fields says that she wants to serve her community, a value that was instilled in her by her father.
“I guess the background is that I grew up with a father who was on City Council and his big topic in our family is, if you live in Montana, you're obligated to be of service to Montana. And as somebody who has two kids and a husband and works here and lives here and is very much in love with Montana. I believe that this is how I can be of service. And the biggest thing for me is that, I will stand up for my community if they vote for me."
The election in Missoula takes place on November 7, 2023.
