Mayor Randy Westlund’s vision for the future of Post Falls is encapsulated in large part by developing downtown both for commercial side and community recreation. 

“One of the big things is cultural engagement. Right now, everybody goes to Coeur d’Alene and there’s not as much to do in Post Falls as there should be,” Westlund said. 

Between the available space, the position of the economy and focus on American manufacturing, Westlund said Post Falls has “a golden opportunity” to create a city center that works for residents. 

“I think we can actually be better than Coeur d’Alene, because Coeur d’Alene is a tourist economy,” Westlund said. “We can build things that serve the local residents more than they serve people visiting from out of state.” 

Up to this point, Post Falls has focused on more of a piecemeal development system and Westlund wants the city to take more of an active role. 

“There's more coordination that’s needed to set a cohesive vision,” Westlund said. 

Using intentional planning, Westlund wants resident input on the comprehensive plan and other guiding city documents to discuss the future. 

“You can really help shape the vision, that’s what I want to see. Everyone has to come together to shape this vision. It has to be a community product,” Westlund said. 

Career in high-tech

After leaving his family’s land in rural North Carolina, Westlund got a job utilizing his engineering degree working for NASA. 

“I did satellite communication work and got to work in Antarctica. It was a pretty fun experience doing snow survival school and seeing the research station down there,” Westlund recalled.  

His career then took him to MIT, where he worked as a research engineer on autonomous drones. Westlund's work assisted environmental conservation efforts to protect endangered species by capturing 3D images. 

For the last decade, his work has been entrepreneurial, dealing mainly with finding efficiencies for American manufacturers. 

Goals as mayor

Westlund hopes to use his background in efficiency to root out red tape in Post Falls.

“I’d like to get rid of some of those and streamline things to the greatest extent possible, but still, follow best practices,” Westlund said. 

Some of the city items he’d like to tackle include frontage improvements and parking requirements. 

Growing housing is also a necessity. 

“Post Falls should be a family-friendly city where it’s a good place to raise a family where you have things available and you can afford to live here,” Westlund said. “That’s a really big deal right now, no one can afford to live here.”   

Westlund wants his children to be able to follow in his wife’s footsteps and remain close to the family’s generational roots in Post Falls. 

“Younger generations are looking at difficulties in the housing market and some of them are leaving,” Westlund said. “There's so much pressure to leave and go to cheaper places.” 

Planning ahead

While praising the city’s past work to keep to a tight budget, he also pointed out that forecasting the general fund is an important tool for city planning that hasn’t been utilized. 

“I think the city has done really well with that, but at the same time, we’re facing inflationary pressures and there’s a lot of financial constraints because we don’t have control over our revenue to a large extent,” Westlund said. “You're not really running it like a business.” 

Planning what levy increments are needed by the city over the next decade and how decisions by the Legislature and sales tax will play into the city’s purse. 

Family matters

The Westlund family welcomed their fifth child in December, mere weeks after the mayoral election.  

As part of the experience he hopes to imbue in his children, Westlund said they place a lot of value on a deep connection to nature and the family cultivates bees and raises chickens on their property. 

Part of his vision for the city involves viewing it through a lens of the community his children will inherit. 

“I want to be known as a visionary, as somebody who cared and got involved and was able to bring the community together,” Westlund said.