Missoula in the Rearview Mirror. An exit interview with outgoing Mayor Mike Kadas and thoughts from Mayor-elect John Engen

After nine years as Missoula’s mayor, Mike Kadas says it’s time—for him and the city both—to move on. Appointed in 1996 to fill out the term of Dan Kemmis, who left office to direct the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, Kadas has held a central position in Missoula’s political landscape during a transformative era.

He’s watched, planned, steered and heralded as the city has increased its numbers and expanded its borders. And he’s taken part in the resultant battles over what makes for good growth and how to prioritize local government resources. It was on Kadas’ watch that Missoulians banded together to preserve some of the city’s most visible open space.

And it was at his urging that the city has expanded its riverfront trail system and built new infrastructure like the California and Orange street bridges. His laid-back approach has both matched and shaped Missoula’s collective attitude about how we deal with one another.

by Jessie McQuillan, photos by Yogesh Simpson

Full Story: http://www.missoulanews.com/News/News.asp?no=5384

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Missoula Mayor Mike Kadas prepares to leave office after almost 10 years

When Mike Kadas came to Missoula as a kid of 21 or 22, he noticed something different: People greeted each other when they passed on sidewalks or in parks, and they struck up conversations waiting in lines. Perfect strangers, even.

That wasn’t the case in the small Oregon town where Kadas grew up.

“I thought, ‘Oh, I’d better do that, too,’ ” he said recently in his office in City Hall.

By GINNY MERRIAM of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/12/29/news/top/news01.txt

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An audio discussion with Missoula mayor-elect John Engen

The idea of becoming the 50th mayor of Missoula first occurred to John Engen about two years ago – roughly halfway through his term on the Missoula City Council. And it came from several different sources.

Listen here: http://missoulian.com/audio/engen-121905.wav