Budros is seeking re-election

Election 2011

EDITOR'S NOTE

Traverse City voters on Nov. 8 will determine the city commission's makeup for the next two years. Two candidates are vying for mayor, while seven commission hopefuls are competing for three open seats.

The Record-Eagle will profile each candidate, available at Record-Eagle.com/election as they are published.

BARBARA BUDROS

Age: 59

Occupation: Private practice attorney and mediator

Experience: Elected to first four-year term on the city commission in 2007

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Budros

October 13, 2011

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Thu Oct 13, 2011, 07:37 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Barbara Budros isn't one to use a rubber stamp.

Budros, first elected to the Traverse City Commission in 2007, often questions how things are done in city government. It's a pattern she expects to continue if she's re-elected in November.

"We always have to be looking at better ways to do things," she said.

Seven candidates will vie for three commission seats during the Nov. 8 election. Citizens also will choose a new mayor in a separate vote.

Budros, a private practice attorney and mediator, recently drew heat when she and outgoing Mayor Chris Bzdok questioned the way the city's tax capture districts operate.

The city has two tax increment financing (TIF) districts that "capture" nearly $2 million in taxes each year. A portion of city, county and other local taxes on properties within the districts are set aside and earmarked for improvements within those districts.

Budros believes it might be time to let some of that money flow outside the TIF districts, and if re-elected she'll continue to push for a possible change.

"I'm not questioning it because I'm unhappy with what's been accomplished or because I disagree with what's been done," she said. "But just like bidding out contracts every so often to make sure you're getting the best price, you have to constantly review these programs to make sure that they're not having some negative unintended consequences."

She's also been a skeptic of any projects that involve public money, especially when that money is to benefit a private developer.

"I don't feel like we have any business approving projects or putting public money into something unless we understand exactly what the ramifications are going to be. Forever, I feel like the city commission has just approved whatever the (Downtown Development Authority) ... wanted to do in terms of projects without giving them a lot of thought or a lot of study," she said. "It's time to say, 'Well, wait a minute, is this really a good thing the way we're doing it?'" she said.

Budros recently voted against a planned downtown development that would house an expanded Cherry Republic, in part because she wasn't happy with constantly changing taxpayer commitments tied to the project. She wants to slow the process of examining such projects so commissioners aren't pressured to approve developments that appear to be hastily pieced together.

"I'd like to see that process not result in a controversy almost every single time we look at a project," she said. "It's contentious, and it doesn't need to be, if we just get a complete package from the get-go."

Budros also wants to find a way to further engage the public in city government, possibly by pushing for a change in the format of city commission study sessions. Commissioners aren't allowed to vote at the sessions, held every other Monday, but they discuss significant issues before voting on them at subsequent meetings.

She'd like to find a way to make meetings more accessible to citizens, some of whom have said they aren't comfortable speaking at meetings.

"I don't like hearing that they're intimidated to come to the city commission meetings, and I feel uncomfortable sometimes sitting up there at those desks with our name tags and the microphones and looking so high-and-mighty," she said. "I would like to see our study sessions be a lot more informal. Maybe not even sit at the desks, but mingle with the people."