Rockwell Collins project manager running for Iowa City Council

Richard Finley deals with multimillionaire-dollar budgets every day, and it's a skill he'd like to bring to the City Council in Iowa City.

Finley, age 55, on Wednesday announced he'd run as an at-large candidate in this fall's City Council election.

Finley plans and executes government contracts as a technical project manager for Rockwell Collins. He said he estimates the cost of the work, determines what equipment is needed and organizes a team to undertake the project.

He described it as a leadership position and said the $60 million city budget is similar in size to what he's used to handling.

“Dollars is what I work with, and I also have to have people skills,” he said.

Local governments are still feeling the brunt of the recession, and Finley said he's running for council to help get the most out of the city's budget while maintaining city services. The most important ones in his view are fire and police protection, fire inspection, parks and the public library.

Finley said he approaches issues through analysis, looking for creative solutions and holding high-priority items as sacred. The council received some criticism earlier this year when, after years of stressing the importance of public safety, it cut a police officer position and one in the Fire Department in order to hold down the tax rate increase for this fiscal year.

Finley said he's willing to tackle tough budgeting decisions while keeping the focus on protecting vital services.

“It's something I can do and something I want to do,” he said.

Finley, of 704 Ronalds St., is the fourth person to declare for one of the two at-large seats open in the November election. Mayor Matt Hayek and challengers Josh Eklow and Mark McCallum have already entered the race.

The District A and C seats also are up for election.

Rick Dobyns has announced in District A, and Dan Tallon and Jim Throgmorton said they are running in District C.

Candidates can file the paperwork to run for council starting Aug. 15.

The first forum for the Iowa City race is tonight at 6:30 in the Iowa Memorial Union's Illinois Room on the University of Iowa campus.