Johnny Russ, Council Ward 2

Name: Johnny Russ

Address: 330 N. Pine St.

Why did you want to re-run for city council? I have enjoyed being on the council and have gotten to meet and talk to people that I normally wouldn’t get the opportunity to if I wasn’t involved in the council. I also think we have accomplished quite a bit in the past four years and look to keep working on infrastructure of the city to keep things updated and in good-working conditions.

What are some challenges the city will face in the near future? I know that we are going to have to update out water treatment plant in the near future and would like to see it done before the DNR makes it mandatory so we aren’t put in a situation where we would have to rush anything.

     We also have some decisions to make in regards to certain services that we offer. Recycling, yard waste, and garbage pick up are all pretty good, but we need to make sure we are offering the correct service for the general public and possibly make some changes with who/how we offer those services.

How should the city of Monticello manage growth and economic development? We need to make sure, as a city, that we have plenty of commercial and residential sites for businesses and individuals to build on. I know that residential sites in town are becoming scarcer and we need to make sure that we are working with developers to make it feasible for them to get more lots to build on.

     As far as the commercial side of things, we need to figure out how far as a city we want to be involved with it. We need to get a feel from the residents of Monticello to see if they are comfortable with us using more tax dollars to get more commercial development into town.

     We have been fortunate with the industry that we have in the city and with the expansion that we are currently going through, and would love to see more businesses come to town.

     I also think we need to update our offering to downtown businesses for building improvements and make sure we let new business owners know what we do have to offer.