By L. Parsons The Winslow City Council has been joined by three new members and a new mayor as of last week. Council members Melissa Butler-Nelson and Jim Maclean were among the newly sworn in alongside member Peter Cake and Mayor Roberta “Birdie” Cano. Butler-Nelson and Maclean are both first time elected officials and are looking forward to the momentum being felt in Winslow right now. Before last night’s meeting, Butler-Nelson said, “I ran for council because this town was feeling very divided at the beginning of the pandemic. I was unhappy with some of the decisions being made by our local government and instead of complaining, I thought I would run for office to become part of the change I wanted to see.” She is a mother of four and a local business owner who decided that public service was a challenge she was ready to take on. Maclean, by comparison, is a retired educator and Burlington Northern Santa Fe engineer who said, “I finally have some time to help to improve the community of Winslow.” Both new members are looking forward to helping citizens have issues addressed. Butler-Nelson said, “Believe it or not, I already have people reaching out to me with things they would like to see fixed or even just brought to the council table.” Some of those citizen concerns are the ever present blight abatement, park and alley way maintenance, and economic growth and development. Maclean touched on his thoughts on development saying, “You know, change is hard, but in order for our town to grow, we need to find businesses to come in and to stay in Winslow. We need to make this a place that people want to be and want to raise their families. He believes that affordable housing and gainful employment along with family-oriented activities will help encourage young families to move to Winslow. “We also need to encourage people to take personal pride in their property,” Maclean said. “Once citizens really buy in to the idea that we can clean the place up, they will be excited to work together to do just that.” Both Butler-Nelson and Maclean mentioned wanting to lead by example. Maclean said, “I have always maintained that idea, that in order to encourage people to do the right thing, you have to lead by example.” The example he intends to set includes, “Doing things right the first time.” He explained, “You know, we need to bring some things here. Like, maybe a splash pad that we have been talking about for a while. The thing is, I feel like if we do it, we need to make sure it is right. If that means we need to wait a while, and this is just an example, and get more money or design it better, we should do that.” Maclean will continue to coach youth basketball during his term on the council and plans to use some coaching strategies as a council member. “I am most looking forward to meeting everyone and really working together as a team. In small town government, we really all need to just work with each other and each other’s strengths to better our community.” Butler-Nelson is also looking ahead. “I want to keep Winslow progressing and moving forward. I also want to offer a younger mindset and view from a different generation.” Both first time council members are planning to have open door policies so that citizens may contact them with their concerns. Butler-Nelson concluded, “This year has been so challenging for all of us. I am really looking forward to helping our citizens and to bringing some positivity back to our town. It will be awesome to see what we can do when given a push in the right direction.” Newly sworn in Councilmember Peter Cake was not available for comment.
