Mayor Brinson reflects on his time in office

PLAINS – After eight years as mayor, Michael Brinson is finally ready to step down from his position and start focusing on himself and his business.

In what he called a learning experience, Mayor Brinson said he initially had no interest to run for mayor, however, after numerous council members asked him to run, he decided that he would.

His drive came from the wants of others.

“There were people who felt I could do a good job before I ever was in office so I felt comfortable (running),” Mayor Brinson said.

When he started his first term, he said he had no agenda. He spent the first 100 days getting accustomed to his new role, learning the ins and outs of the position. As he slowly adjusted, things became easier. Mayor Brinson remains humble and credits the council for many of their shared successes.

“I think I have been a good mayor for the town but only because I had a good council as well,” said Mayor Brinson.

Throughout his time, the town of Plains has seen many improvements.

One of his first major projects was upgrading the town hall. He said someone approached him with a $30,000 grant for improvements and that’s when the work began.

Although the building did not have to meet ADA requirements for handicap accessibility because it was grandfathered in, Brinson decided he would redesign the building to meet those.

Along with that, the town hall received a new heating and air conditioning system, as well as a new steel back door.

“It was a good idea. It upgraded the town hall but I don’t look at it like something I did,” explained Brinson.

Since he did not actively look for the grant and the opportunity came to him, he believes it was a good accomplishment for the town but personally he did not mark it on his list of achievements.

“I’m a ‘we’ person,” explained Brinson, always crediting others when it is deserved.

Overall, he explained the last eight years have been good and he will miss the job. However, with the good comes the bad and he explained the one thing he will not miss is how personal things can sometimes become.

Mayor Brinson said it is something that cannot always be avoided. He said he has always treated everyone the same and has never handed out any favors.

“I never tried to be personal about anything. If I tell you something, I tell the person who comes in two days from now the same thing,” said Mayor Brinson. “When you go through that door in that meeting you can’t have any friends or relatives that live in the city limits.”

He explained his focus was always on what was best for the town – something that he constantly worked towards.

“You do what is best for the town and if you can’t do what is best for the town or at least try to, you may not get anything accomplished. I have been here to help people to the best of my ability,” said Mayor Brinson.

He said the council also strived to help whoever they could and he enjoyed working with them.

Brinson explained the mayor does not get a vote and it is always the council’s decision – something that typically went smoothly.

“I can’t make them do anything. They have their own minds, they do what they want but in meetings we discuss things,” said Mayor Brinson.

The council worked closely with the mayor and often bounced ideas off of each other. The goal was always in the town’s best interest.

As mayor, Brinson always tried to be involved with the employees. Often times he would head out to the streets and spend time with the employees to get a first hand experience of what they went through on a daily basis.

When asked what his biggest accomplishment was, he referred to the new water system. The project cost $616,000 in all with part grant money and helped increase the water available for the side of town across from the town hall.

“We increased the volume of water that can get across the railroad track and run underneath the railroad tracks by a third,” said Brinson. “We need that volume of water for the other side because that’s where the school and hospital are.”

Over his two terms, he enjoyed seeing the town change in a positive way.

“I feel good that I was able to be involved in the things that happened,” said Brinson.

He stressed the most important thing he took from the job is a sense of equality for all things.

“You just have to do the best you can all the time. You can’t slip some place,” said Brinson.

Brinson decided to leave the position to focus more on his business and also for some personal reasons. He wants to be able to travel with his wife and see more of Montana, a state they both love.

“There’s so much of Montana we haven’t seen. And I’m not talking about traveling and seeing New Mexico – I would just like to see the rest of Montana,” said Brinson.

Leaving office in a few short weeks, Mayor Brinson said there are a few things he would change if he could. Over his terms, the town experienced problems with the UV system at the lagoons as well as with the town well – both problems costing additional money.

“If I had a better understanding, the money would have been spent the first time properly,” said Brinson.

Even if two tries fixed the problem, Brinson said it needed to be done.

“I would still want to do that but it just didn’t get done properly the first time,” explained Brinson.

As he moves on to the next chapter of his life, Brinson has full trust in the new mayor, Gregory Jay Eitelberg. Once Brinson decided he was not going to run again, he reached out to Eitelberg, asking him to consider running for the position.

“I think he’ll do very good. There will be good things that he’ll bring to the table,” said Brinson.

Because of Eitelberg’s business mindset, Brinson believes he will run the town properly.

As of now Eitelberg has been learning from the current mayor, becoming more comfortable with the position before he steps into office.

“I’m always going to fall back on you have to treat people fairly and the same. There’s just no other way for me and I think Greg will be the same way,” said Brinson.

After what Brinson deemed a great eight years, he is ready to move on.

“I appreciate everyone in town, and I appreciate them putting me in office for eight years. And I couldn’t have done anything without the council,” said Brinson.

It is apparent that Brinson is also appreciated.

Town Hall Clerk Cathy Emmett has worked with Brinson for his eight years in office and said she enjoyed working for him.

“He’s a good guy and he always tries to do the right thing,” said Emmett. “I’ll miss him.”

President of the town council, Carl Reeb, echoed Emmett’s thoughts. Both Reeb and Brinson began work at the same time eight years ago. At first the two did not know each other but now their relationship has grown stronger both personally and professionally.

“We started off strangers and ended up friends and I think we’ll continue to be friends,” Reeb said. “He was very amiable and nice to work with.”

Reeb was recently re-elected and plans to work with Eitelberg one day at a time.

“I know he has the town at heart and so did Michael and so do I,” said Reeb.