Candidate hopes to become full-time mayor
John Rallis at his Columbia Falls home.
Columbia Falls mayoral candidate John Rallis wants to see some significant changes in city government if elected. Rallis, 78, wants to go back to a full-time mayor form of government and says he can attract businesses to Columbia Falls.
Rallis lives in the Columbia Arms Apartment complex and moved here in 2009. He claimed his business background working in Seattle would help the city.
“My age is a plus,” he said during an interview at his home last week. “I’ve been around the block a few times.”
Rallis claimed the current form of city government wasn’t working and the city didn’t know how to attract new businesses.
“They don’t understand business and how to attract business,” he asserted.
Rallis is an Army veteran and said he currently lives on Social Security and his Army benefits.
As a businessman in Washington, he said he was an inventor and mechanical engineer. He has a patent on an automated cargo loading system — confirmed by the U.S. Patent office.
He said Columbia Falls has a lot of potential, but he wants to create a business environment where people in their 20s and 30s can stay here and make a living.
Rallis will face off against incumbent mayor and successful businessman Don Barnhart in the general election in November.