Denis Pitman

Billings City Council  Ward 2

2007-2015

 

 

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Friends of Denis Pitman

c/o Sharon Wolske, 520 Wicks Lane #7a, Billings MT 59105

 Famous Rabbit of the Back Yard.... Snowbell.  The rabbit that thinks it's a dog!  Our back yard is on Senator's Blvd., and many people stop and check out the big white rabbit!  Snowbell died peacefully under a tree in our yard in Sept. 2012...

     

KEEP GOING DOWN THE PAGE TO SEE SOME OF THE PROJECTS THAT DENIS HAS BEEN WORKING ON WHILE ON THE BILLINGS CITY COUNCIL!!!

What people are saying about Denis:

 

Thanks to Councilman Denis Pitman, for helping arrange the parking spot, to help Brookstone Monument, access to park their truck near the Montana Purple Heart memorial, in order to inscribe new names, Tomy Parker, Corey Sherwood, and many others, thanks to Marlene and Dennis of Brookstone.

 

 

 

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City of Billings web site:

https://ci.billings.mt.us/

                           

           

Check out #9!!!! go to the hyper link below!

https://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=18956823

726 Aquarius Place

Billings MT 59105

email: PitmanWard2@aol.com

“To laugh often and love much;

to win the respect of intelligent persons

and the affection of children;

to earn the approbation of honest critics

and to endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others; to give of one’s self;

to leave the world a bit better,

whether by a healthy child,

a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition,

to have played and laughed with enthusiasm

and sung with exultation;

to know that even one life has breathed easier

because you have lived -

this is to have succeeded.”

 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

SUPPORTING HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WITH DISC GOLF PROJECT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIGHT AT ST. ANDREWS AND WICKS LANE

 

 

FINISHING TRAILS UNDER MAIN STREET, ARONSON AND ALKALI CREEK!

 

 

 

 

 

The students in Skyview High’s advanced-placement government class are trying to practice what they’ve been preached.

The students are meeting with the Billings City Council later this month to propose building a disc golf course at High Sierra Park in the Heights.

“In the spring, second semester, I tell my students, the community has done a lot for you, now it’s time for you to do something for the community,” Jerry Jette, Billings Skyview High School government instructor, said. “The reason I do this is so they understand” how city government works.

Jette’s class got together earlier this year and came up with a plan to put a disc golf course in the Heights. It was an idea fraught with potential setbacks.

Last fall, after complaints from residents, the City Council voted to remove disc golf from the Pioneer Park Master Plan. The move caused an uproar in the community, and the council put disc golf back in weeks later.

Jette reminded his students of the controversy and told them he didn’t think proposing a disc golf course was the greatest idea. But his students persisted.

And he’s glad they did.

“We haven’t had anyone say this is a bad idea,” Jette said.

In fact, when the students made their presentation to Mark Jarvis, the city’s park planner, he was pleasantly surprised.

When the Pioneer Park Master Plan was revised by the council, members asked the parks department to look at other places in the city where a disc golf course could be built to alleviate some of the pressure on Pioneer Park.

“Turns out High Sierra Park is No. 2 on the priority list,” Jarvis said.

The students met with the Heights Task Force last week and then held a community meeting at Skyview High on Tuesday night. The response was positive at each gathering, Jette said.

Denis Pitman, one of the council’s two Heights representatives, was at both meetings and praised the students’ efforts.

“It’s a great civic lesson for the students,” he said.

Like Jarvis, Pitman believes High Sierra Park is just the place for disc golf.

“This is a park where there aren’t a lot of neighbors,” he said. “It’s an easy fit.”

Students will meet with the parks board next week and then the City Council at its May 24 planning session. Pitman believes they’ll get a positive reception from council members.

Jette is just pleased his students are learning how local government operates. They’ll live in towns and cities their whole lives, and it’s important they know how government functions, he said.

Jarvis agreed.

“I think that it’s great civic acumen,” he said.

Contact Rob Rogers at rrogers@billingsgazette.com or 657-1231.

 


Read more: https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/education/article_8e6be0f0-c3a8-55a3-9025-f492983608d9.html#ixzz1TWxqHZyf

 

 

Heights business growth more than a sign of recovery

Posted: Sep 29, 2011 5:24 PM by Drew Trafton
Updated: Sep 29, 2011 5:26 PM

 

 
 


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BILLINGS- If you were new to Billings and were driving around Metra Park, any evidence of the Father's Day Tornado of 2010 could easily be confused with maintenance work or road construction.

Heights City Council representative Angela Cimmino said a little more than a year ago, the current appearance of Main Street post-tornado would be considered fantasy.

But the fantasy came to life today, as it has several times in the recent past, as two stalwart Billings businesses broke ground on a new location Thursday at Main Street and Hansen Lane.

The Brewer Dental Center plans to open their new dental office in March of 2012, and Dr. Kevin Brewer, D.D.S., hopes his new building's tenant, City Brew, can open its doors before spring.

For Brewer, the move to the heights seemed like a smart business decision.

"Well, it's the fifth largest city in Montana is what I'm told," said Brewer. "And we've got Lockwood not far away, which is they say, is the seventh largest community in Montana. So, it's just a huge population base. If you look at dentist ratios, how many thousand people there are per dentist in a location, this location is pretty good."

According to Rick Leuthold of the Big Sky Economic Development board and Sanderson/Stewart, that's really the story of the heights.

"There are several locations, even right along Main Street, where this was an old dilapidated corner, it had a car lot on it, and could be used in a better fashion," said Leuthold.

But even with the prime real estate, Brewer noted the difficulty of establishing a brand-new cliental base, calling the move "risky" while also describing it as "exciting".

Leuthold says some of that risk is due to the Billings heights historically being behind the curve when it comes to development-but recent and anticipated growth in the area is catching the massive neighborhood to speed--mostly due to the regional pull of Billings enjoyed by the community at-large.

"We benefit a lot from the natural resource industries in and around the area," said Leuthold. "Of course, we have a strong medical community, a strong agricultural community and services sector."

And it's the services sector heights city councilman Denis Pitman hopes the continuing development of amenities helps to expand.

"I think we're looking at hoping to, at some point, attract the movie theaters, some more restaurants, family restaurants that'll accommodate larger groups, things like that," said Pitman.

But both Pitman and Cimmino say a big part of that development will depend on the ability of a roadway like the inner belt loop or the Aronson Bridge project to take the pressure off of Main Street.

"They're looking for alternative routes to make sure that their customers have easy access in and out of the heights," said Pitman

 

 

 

 

Denis Pitman, Billings City Councilman

 

2007 Elected      

 

8 years in review

“If you are not at the table,

you are on the menu!”

 

  • Father’s Day Tornado   2010
  • Aronson Road Opened
  • Bench Road, bypass in front of Metra Park, Entire Project – Silly, but colored concrete was because I was driving by and realized how ugly it was going to look, remembered what we did on Aronson….
  • Oasis Facility
  • First Phase of IBL   Skyway Drive
  • Stop light at St. Andrews and Wicks
  • Dorothy Lane Paved
  • Reconstruction of Alkali Creek Road
  • Dehler Park
  • Billings Library
  • Shilo Road
  • Empire Garage
  • Airport Road Reconstruction
  • Castle Rock Park, Spray Park, Tennis Courts
  • Lake Elmo Drive
  • National League of Cities and Towns   Energy, Environment and Natural Resources
  • Montana League of Cities and Towns, Billings Representative
  • Dog Park
  • Swords Park Trail system,
  • Medical MJ, Chair
  • Back yard Chickens
  • NDO
  • Shilo Conservation Area
  • Countless ribbon Cutting and ground breakings
  • Billings Bypass, SAVED MARY
  • Helped get infrastructure projects in the BURD, gateway
  • Educator for a day
  • Yellowstone Veterans Cemetery Board, Friends of the Cemetery, Yellowstone National Cemetery
  • Independence Hall, VOA
  • QRV’s in fire department
  • Landfill methane gas into revenue for city.
  • Shawnee approach to Main Street
  • Answered thousand of emails and hundreds of calls from people in the heights
  • Deputy Mayor ProTem
  • Updated web site, council email, electronic devices, attempt to move council paperless.
  • Learned a lot about Montana open meeting laws…. Education by Gazette Reporter Matt Hagengruber… 
  • Babcock Theater project
  • In 8 years had 3 different Ward 2 members to work with Stevens, Brewster, and Cimmino, 2 mayors, and one city administrator
  • Appointed a City Judge to replace Knisley.   Judge Kolar
  • Jani McCall the only person remaining on the council since I began…..
  • PCC alternative Representative 
  • Priority Based budgeting
  • Balanced City Budget for 8 years.  Leaving with 13 million in unbudgeted reserves
  • Reduced lawsuits for directing staff to aggressively defend city…
  • Toured every department in the city
  • Elected officials disaster training
  • City, County, School District meetings, didn’t happen before getting on council
  • City now on facebook
  • Hiring of additional police and 911
  • Community Conversations
  • Miles of connected bike trails
  • Re-Opening of Northern Hotel
  • Billings Hosting MLCT
  • Strategic Plan for Billings
  • Quiet Zone downtown
  • Lockwood Waste Water agreement
  • Larger Holding ponds at Airport
  • New MET Bus Wash
  • New Radio system for police and fire
  • Educator for a day
  • Storm Drain system in West Heights, Hilltop and Nutter – still go out after every storm and clear intake drains.
  • New Fire Station on west end
  • Rock removal from rims
  • Chairs at Cemetery
  • Sale of some unused public land
  • New and larger water reservoirs
  • VISTA Volunteer Program
  • Restroom at Cemetery, Swords Park
  • Redrew council boundaries,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still in process:

  • IBL 2nd phase
  • Barrett Road  Spring of 2016
  • Billings By-pass   Outer Connection
  • Airport remodel
  • 911 Center

 

Disappointments:

  • PMD1.  Not because of what it has done but how it was put in place.  Protest process..
  • Water Bills and City billing depts..
  • Air Force One never landed in Billings in 8 years
  • Cell Phone Ordinance
  • Park and Ride at Castle Rock Park never took off

 

 

 

 

 

Because of being on the council, I have:

  • Walked in the disaster of the Metra tornado
  • Stood on the Dome of the capital in Washington DC
  • Children have grown up with me in public life, support what I do  youngest was a year old when I started now 9
  • Walked in parades for Toys for Tots
  • Got to work with many great public servants, elected officials, staff
  • Represented an amazing and growing community
  • Helped with Independence Hall, National Cemetery, Veteran Issues
  • Been a voice for the people of the Heights
  • Brought the heights from Red headed step child to full influence on council

 

 

 

 

 

Not done alone, but working together for the betterment of Billings….

 

 

For everything there is a season….

A time for Breaking down

Silos and sandboxes.

A time for change.

 

 

Future:

  • Yellowstone County Commissioner
  • Outer Belt way Billings By-Pass
  • IBL  Skyway Drive
  • City County cooperation
  • Growth

 

 

 

 

 

In 8 years approved budgets totally over

$2,025,958,224.00 Billion

 

FY09     233,070,527 
FY10     229,981,167 
FY11     209,395,404 
FY12     237,123,824 
FY13     262,158,305 
FY14     259,801,777 
FY15     277,427,633 
FY16     316,999,587