City Council 2025: Mike Nelson

I was born and raised in Billings, Montana’s GREATEST city. I met my wife Judy at Billings West High and attended MSUB (then called Eastern Montana College). Since 2009 renovated and operated the Northern Hotel in the heart of downtown. At the Northern, we don’t just care to run a successful business, we strive to provide opportunities for our employees, neighbors and customers. Billings has been great to me, my family and my business. Serving as mayor would be another way for me to give back to the community I love so much.

I realize that we have some hard choices coming our way – as a city, we are facing financial challenges we have not seen before, workforce issues that could impact our ability to operate and safety issues that could cost us dearly. As a business leader, these are all issues that I have seen and taken head on. As a born-and-raised Billings native, I know how much Billings has changed – and I believe its brightest days are yet to come.

Serving as mayor isn’t about politics, but about service. As mayor, my top priority will be to serve Billings residents by taking action to address their concerns and creating a positive path forward for our community. I am committed to listening to the people of Billings and working closely with my colleagues on the City Council to meet their needs.

Public Safety, Economic Vibrancy, Quality of Life.

All three of these issues are interrelated. We can’t make progress on one without addressing the others. For instance, public safety isn’t just a function of policing or mental health services: Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research has said, “labor availability may be the biggest constraint on economic expansion in the state…” Billings has a shortage of qualified workers for our health care system, and we expect that shortage to grow. Quality of life issues are one of the reasons Montana has recently been rated 50th in quality of workforce.

If we are to maintain a healthy, vibrant and safe economy and community we can’t address just homelessness or crime. We also need to advocate for and finance trails, paths and a great cultural scene, and pass policies that bring new business to our city. We have to look at this issue in a holistic sense, and tackle all three.

Since 2018, when I hosted my first Public Safety Seminar at the Northern, I have worked with businesses, first responders and elected leaders to educate our community on simple but effective steps to prevent crime such as the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design program. I have funded micro-grants for neighboring businesses to invest in safety projects. I was Treasurer of Citizens for a Safer Billings, a group involved in passing a safety levy to fund police, fire and mental health efforts in Billings.

Our police force needs the opportunity to learn new tactics from other localities that have experience addressing these challenges. Billings’ “serial inebriate” program is an example. Adopted from San Diego’s police force, this program showed people, through accountability for minor offenses, that there is an alternative to future and escalated bad actions.

But, as I stated above, there is no “one answer.” A coordinated response to our other issues – encouraging new businesses to come to town, adequate housing inventory to meet our needs, quality of life issues to encourage new residents (and workers) to move here all are keys to the public safety problems we are facing.

Options b and m. Both allow the municipality room to zone within the vision for the city, and both encourage density where it is most appropriate. Mixed- use developments are more efficient for a city, as they offer a dense taxing environment (more property tax revenue per square foot) than suburban developments. These options would enhance the vitality of the city center and encourage smaller zones (like the development on Shiloh) to increase their tax density.

Zero-based budgeting can be a double-edged sword. While it can require each department to review their programs and expenditure annually, unless there is oversight from an informed and involved body, the exercise could be for naught. Budgets could grow every year regardless of what process was used.

I have first-hand experience with TIF grants. The Northern received a TIF grant, and as a result, I was involved deeply in the request, costing and reimbursement process. TIF, effectively is the only economic development program that our state has.

Used properly, it can be very effective at increasing the value (and economic activity) of the district. For example, when the Northern was due to receive its TIF reimbursement payment, we opted to leave it with the district, interest free to them, to increase its value, and aid in bonding the Empire Garage. As a result of the two projects, the district value increased six times faster than forecasted, and we received our payments over two years instead of twelve.

TIF is a hot-button issue with our legislature, and it is incumbent upon the districts, under the supervision of the city, to operate in a transparent manner that complies with the stated mission.

I’ve been a board member of another of those properties since coming back to Billings. The Billings Preservation Society (BPS), which operates the Moss Mansion Museum, is owned partially by the city and the state. It is leased to the BPS, which operates it, and is solely responsible for its maintenance and upkeeps as a historic property. It receives no assistance from the city. It is operated as an enterprise, supervised by the Montana Historical Society, but the BPS has the full onus of paying the bills.

I intend to work with the entities above to move them to financial independence. 

Our airport is enjoying a period of improvement; new construction and remodeling of the existing structure are moving forward with baggage area and new pads for freight aircraft. As a result, passenger count is growing, and new flights are being added. We have a SCASDP grant in place aimed at bringing non-stop flights to and from Souther California. We are almost busy enough to qualify as a hub airport. Our airport raises enough money to operate almost independently of city service.

Even though we are now enjoying success, I am an advocate of the “authority” option. Quicker decision-making, the ability to adapt and change to improve operations, and self-reliance when it comes to financial matters are important. Our airport must keep building on the momentum it has – this will increase passenger counts and freight traffic and reduce ticket costs for tourists and residents alike.

Done right, which would include proper oversight, our airport can improve its place as one of our “economic engines.”

YES. Most recent figures from ITRR show out-of-state travelers spent $446 million in Yellowstone County in 2023. In descending order, the top four spending categories were Gas, Restaurant, Lodging, and Shopping (Retail). This is a huge part of our economy and supports about 7,500 jobs here.

The TBID is in the business of marketing and encouraging visitation. While we do have a state agency that markets the different areas of Montana, that fund has to be defended at every legislative session. The TBID is controlled locally, by a board who understands the industry, and directs its expenditures. It helps the TBID to fund much needed marketing of our area, and funds other projects aimed at increasing interest of visitors in Billings.

Long-live TBID!