City council candidate wants improvements on Nucleus Ave.

Dave Petersen sees a lot of opportunity for Columbia Falls, and he believes his work experience fills a niche on the Columbia Falls City Council and can help the city.

Petersen, who moved to Columbia Falls about eight years ago, is running for a second four-year term. He also was appointed to finish a two-year term, so he’s been on the city council for six years.

“This will be my last term if I’m elected,” he said. “I have some other projects I want to work on that will keep the ball moving down field for Columbia Falls.”

Petersen grew up in southern Minnesota, got a bachelor’s in history with a minor in coaching from the University of Northern Iowa, and spent most of his working career in sales and marketing for the TV broadcast business.

“It’s good for the city council to have various expertise,” he said. “I like it here and believe my experience and knowledge can really help the council.”

Petersen’s focus has been on promoting the Nucleus Avenue business neighborhood. One way to do that is with signs on U.S. 2 promoting Nucleus.

“There’s millions of cars that pass through Columbia Falls every year that totally miss us,” he said.

Petersen would also like to eliminate warehouses on Nucleus, which are not active retail businesses and are prohibited by city code. He also wants to improve pedestrian crossing on Nucleus.

He said some progress has been made on strengthening the Nucleus business neighborhood, but he’d also like to see more improvements at River’s Edge Park.

“I’d like to see multiple uses of the park,” he said. “This is good for the business community. I can see the park used as a meeting place for businesses from across the valley. The point that needs to be made about Columbia Falls is that it’s on the Flathead River.”