A Hayden home-building contractor has filed for a seat on the Hayden city council, and says he's looking to boost the building and business climate in the city.

Seeking his first elected office, Tim Timmins, 62, is owner of Eagle Ridge Builders, which makes unsold or "spec" homes.

He is seeking the city council seat No. 1, which currently is held by Nancy Lowery.

Lowery's term is expiring and she's running for mayor against fellow City Councilmember Dick Panabaker and incumbent Ron McIntire, who filed Friday.

Timmins moved to Hayden four months ago, after living in Coeur d'Alene since 1990. He has been married for 18 years, and has four grown children.

He is president of the Hayden area concerned business group, but is resigning because of his candidacy.

He sits on the contractors board of the Idaho bureau of occupational licenses, and is a director on the executive committee of the Idaho building contractors association.

He's also a director on the board of the North Idaho Building Contractors Association.

He said Hayden needs increased building activity, which would help raise revenues, which haven't covered expenses in recent budgets. The city has had to draw money from its reserves to balance recent budgets, including this summer when nearly $400,000 was used.

Citing the National Association of Home Builders, he said that each home built generates three full-time jobs for a year and generates $90,000 in tax revenue.

"Building fees are too high in Hayden and nobody wants to build here," he said. "The city is slow on growth because of that."

Additionally, he said, Hayden and Hayden Lake need to work better together on resolving differences concerning Strahorn Road. Hayden Lake designated a half-mile section of Strahorn - between Miles Avenue and Hayden Avenue - a southbound one-way in September.

It needs to be changed back to a two-way, Timmins said.

If that were to happen, he said, the road would need to be widened.

However, he's not sure how it's going to be widened as the Hayden Lake Country Club isn't going to allow trees to be cut along the road.

Having Strahorn a one-way is "forcing too much traffic through Hayden residential streets," he said.

On the issue of revitalizing the downtown corridor along Government Way, he said, "It was the worst thing that could have been done."

He said business owners he's talked to hate it.