General Election Candidates: City Council Pos. 7

Fred Crowe

Fred Crowe is a candidate for Dayton City Council Position 7. He was recently appointed to fill a vacancy.

"At 73 years old and retired, why bother? On retirement, I sought to live in a small, busy rural farming town, as I grew up. Dayton and Columbia County have charmed my wife and me for the past eleven years now. I hope to help it thrive.

"I have always been service oriented. As an agricultural professor at Kansas State and Oregon State, I actively worked with farmers, county agents, commodity commissions and ag business to solve farming problems. Even today, I serve as technical advisor to the onion and garlic farmers and industries of California. Until recently, I served six years as a commissioner on the Port of Columbia, working for economic improvement of this region. Appointed to the City Council six months ago, I try to focus on improving our tax base, approving budgets and expenditures, and finding appropriate grants.

"City Council members each have their own opinions, but we compromise as necessary, and work with the mayor to keep the City operating and progressing. Budgets are lean, prudent fiscal management is important. As a research center manager at the university, I learned how to get the most out of limited funding.

"Many of Dayton's problems are common to all small towns. Businesses in all small towns have ebbed away for decades. Business taxes became insufficient to pay for the greater city services once available. The taxes we now collect, even when supplemented by state and federal grants, are insufficient. City budgets can't replace an aging swimming pool. Today, state funds pay for most street maintenance in Dayton, but mostly only those leading to schools and hospitals, so other deteriorating city streets worsen. A recent large federal grant to improve infrastructure in cities arrives here in Dayton in two parts over two years. Some people think the funds should have been used to improve streets or reduce taxes. The City has taken criticism by instead using the first half to improve internet broadband service around town. The City Council, me included, believes that new businesses will relocate here if high-level broadband is available. This will improve the city business tax base and lead to improved roads and other city services into the future, not just on a one-time basis. The City has yet to decide how to use the second of half of the federal infrastructure grant.

"I think we on the City Council should play a part in improving communications among residents, the mayor, the Council, the county officials, the port, businesspeople, schools, service groups, and others. Communications among these groups currently is not good enough. Too often, we forget that we have many common goals and don't work to achieve them cooperatively. As just one example, the current difficulties in funding of police services for Dayton could have been avoided if the city and county planned and budgeted more closely in prior years. An example of good cooperation and planning among diverse groups and the public is the Main Street Safety Action Plan which now is before City for consideration. I would do my best to improve communications and I hope others will as well."