HELENA — Melinda Reed says, since she was elected to the Helena City Commission in 2021, she believes city leaders have made a lot of progress, but there’s more work left to do.
“I feel like I have some things that I've been working on that I'd love to be able to finish,” she told MTN. “It has been an absolute honor to serve on the commission, and I love my job.”
Out of the four finalists running for two open seats on the city commission, Reed, 52, is the only incumbent. She is the director of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, an international human rights organization. She was formerly the executive director of Helena’s Friendship Center, and in 2020, she spent several months as the interim city manager.
(Watch MTN's full interview with Reed.)
Reed says housing affordability was the biggest issue facing the city four years ago, and while some of the details may have changed, that’s still what she hears most from voters.
“We have the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is a fantastic resource to have, and I know that sometimes we are going through cycles with no applications,” she said. “I think we need to look meaningfully at the criteria and the guidelines and ensure that it is meeting the needs of the community, and I think that is something I'd like to prioritize if I'm reelected, for early in 2026.”
Reed says the city has done a better job in the last few years of getting services online and making things like the building permit system easier for the public to understand. Still, she believes leaders need to make sure they’re improving outreach and communications.
“I've heard a lot of people who still feel like they don't know how to get to a meeting or can't get to a meeting,” she said. “We want to make sure that the community members know how to reach us, how to access us, how to get to a meeting and how that whole system works.”
Reed wants to continue working to improve connectivity and walkability in Helena. She says the city should be looking at opportunities like accessory dwelling units to provide more infill development. She says there’s no “one quick fix” to address the issue of homelessness, but that stakeholders are all committed to working on solutions – and she hopes to see momentum on possible solutions in the next year.
Since joining the commission, Reed says she’s developed a good working relationship with the other members. She believes they’ve done a good job of listening to residents’ priorities, and she wants to make sure the city budget is in line with those priorities.
“Are we funding the things that we say are priorities in our community, are we underfunding them, what can we do better?” she said. “How do we look forward five years, knowing that things like our public lands and recreation are such a priority – how do we look forward to that resource and the exponential growth in use that we see, and are we in fact investing as much as we need to maintain that?”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of our four profiles on the candidates running for Helena City Commission. The profiles are being published in alphabetical order based on the candidates’ last name. On Wednesday, you will be able to see our third profile, on candidate Ben Rigby.
Ballots will be mailed out to Helena voters on Friday. Each voter can choose two out of four candidates, and the top two vote-getters will win seats on the commission. You must return your ballot by Nov. 4.
