HELENA — Several months into the campaign to become Helena’s next mayor, the two contenders both say they’ve heard a desire for change from voters.
“I think that we have made a lot of really good progress for the last few years in stabilizing city government,” said Emily Dean. “I think now that we are stable, there is really a desire for the next big thing – getting some of these larger projects done for the community.”
“I think as a city, we need to build our trust back up with our people of Helena, so they feel like they have an avenue to be able to express their feelings and their thoughts and feel like they've been heard, as well as having a response and follow-up,” said Andy Shirtliff.
Watch the video here:
In last month’s primary election, Helena voters narrowed a field of five mayoral candidates to two: Shirtliff and Dean, both of whom are currently in city government, serving as city commissioners. Together, they won almost 85% of the primary vote, with Shirtliff getting 48% and Dean around 37%.
In some ways, serving as mayor won’t be that different for whoever wins. Helena’s mayor has one vote, the same as any other commission member. The city charter gives the mayor some other duties: presiding over commission meetings, making a State of the City address, performing ceremonial functions. The mayor appoints members of boards and commissions, but with the consent of the commission.
But both candidates say they envision a different role for the mayor. For Shirtliff, the mayor is an ambassador for Helena – someone who should be advocating for the community and showcasing it.
“If there's a company that wants to start here, great; if there's a company that wants to relocate here, we should be the first ones to welcome them, because we need to keep our economy going, creating good paying jobs,” he said. “That's something that I'm not just doing now that I'm running for mayor; it's something I've done since I've been on the commission.”
(Watch MTN's full interview with Shirtliff.)
He also sees the job as a liaison between the city and the public. He wants the city doing more to make sure people are aware of what leaders are doing and that they can participate.
“The more information, the better; the more engagement, the better,” Shirtliff said. “Our democracy works when people show up and when people are involved. I want to find ways that we can do more of that. Again, I don't have all of the ideas, but I want to bring more people to the table.”
For Dean, the mayor should be someone who’s ready to dig deep into the details of city issues.
“The voters are hiring you to spend the time being very thoughtful about how you are voting and spending a $100 million budget of taxpayer dollars, working on really complex issues, collaborating with partners across the community – and I think that requires a level of expertise, and doing the actual work to make lives better in Helena,” she said.
(Watch MTN's full interview with Dean.)
She also wants the mayor to play a role in driving discussion – something she says she’s ready for because of her experience as a teacher.
“You've seen enough commission meetings to know that sometimes there is not as much discussion and deliberation as I think the public really deserves,” Dean told MTN. “As mayor, I'm going to make it my mission to ensure that we are having robust deliberations on every topic that's important to Helena citizens.”
Shirtliff, executive director of the Montana Building Industry Association, and Dean, director of engagement for the Montana School Boards Association, have been on the city commission together since 2022. They say they’ve known each other much longer than that.
It’s possible that, after the new mayor takes office in January, the two candidates could still find themselves needing to work together. If Shirtliff wins, Dean will still have another two years in her term on the commission. MTN asked both candidates if they believed they could work together successfully in that situation.
“Absolutely yes,” said Dean. “I think that, regardless of who wins the commission seats and in this mayor's race, we've really worked hard the last few years to build collegiality that wasn't necessarily there five years ago. It's taken work, it's meant having some hard conversations. I think we have a long way to go – that includes the way that we govern ourselves, and in terms of our bylaws that severely need updating and the rest. But I wholeheartedly know that we will all be able to work well together.”
“I think that we could continue working together to move Helena forward, even though all five of us have different ways of looking at things, we have different backgrounds,” said Shirtliff. “We're going to have a new commission. We're going to at least have one new commissioner, possibly two. But I think we'll have new voices at the table, new expertise, new backgrounds. I think that's something I really appreciate about the current commission is that we're all different, five different walks of life.”
Shirtliff’s commission seat was up for election this year, so if Dean wins, he won’t remain in office after January. Dean’s commission seat would be vacant, so the new commissioners and mayor would need to appoint someone to replace her.
MTN also did interviews with Shirtliff and Dean ahead of the primary. You can watch those full interviews here and here.
Election officials are mailing ballots out to Helena voters on Friday. Voters must return them to the Lewis and Clark County elections office by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
