City Council: John Piper

Incumbent John Piper, 62, has served three terms on city council. He grew up in Columbia Falls and graduated in 1979. He spent 30 years working for Plum Creek Timber Co. and has spent the last 12 years as the evening shift nursing supervisor at the Montana Veterans Home.

Piper has a long history of community service — he coached youth baseball for years and was a volunteer firefighter for 22 years and chief for two years of that.

He and his wife Tina have two grown children, Michael (Elyse) and Katelynn (Casey) and five grandchildren, Colt, Lane and Beau Piper are Michael and Elyse’s children; and Piper and Axton Becker are Katelynn and Casey’s children.

Piper said he’s running again because he can bring his community experience to the board as the city sees growth and renewal. He noted that there was a lot of concern about new building on Nucleus Avenue, but he took a wait-and-see approach and it turned out well.

“I think it’s something to have some pride in,” he said. “We’ve got a vibrant downtown.”

He admits years ago he would have opposed such a development, but the town is changing and so have some of his views.

“We’ve all got to evolve a little,” he said.

He admitted to being a skeptic of the city’s resort tax when it was first proposed, but now the city is seeing the dividends and it’s paying for critical public safety services like paid firemen and additions to the police force.

He supports “attainable” housing — he noted that when he bought his first home he had to make sacrifices, like not having a brand new car or a big boat in order to afford a home.

He said he opposed a proposed subdivision by Location Ventures east of the river because he didn’t think the city needed housing that badly to do such a dense development. He said he sees the housing situation in Columbia Falls leveling out. He noted more homes are on the market and eventually a developer will propose something that meets the zoning requirements east of the river, though he has concerns about putting sewer and water under the Flathead River.

“Had it been in the county and not in the (city’s) doughnut it probably would have already been developed,” he said.

The doughnut is an area around the city that is not in the city limits, but is still subject to city planning and zoning regulations through an agreement with the county.

On the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. cleanup, he said the city needs to continue to be a watchdog on the project and hold officials accountable.

“It’s about my grandkids and their kids,” he said. He said it was important to make sure a cleanup plan worked.

On other matters, he’s like to see the city explore ways to address the pit to park, which is a former Plum Creek wood waste dump off the Truck Route the city owns. It’s about 10 acres and the land has sat unused for decades.