HOUGHTON — Daniel Salo sees himself as the “blue-collar viewpoint” of the Houghton City Council.

“I went to college, but I didn’t get a degree,” he said. “I worked in construction. I think I have a middle-class view of the proceedings, so that gives me that look.”

Daniel Salo is one of four Houghton council members running for uncontested four-year terms.

He joined seven years ago, when he was appointed to fill the term of Lee Hauswirth.

Salo said he has always had an interest in city and county business, and was involved in union leadership at Michigan Technological University.

Salo sees the council’s biggest accomplishment during his tenure being Houghton’s adoption of the International Property Maintenance Code.

The rental housing issue has been a contentious one for the city, with some residents objecting to further rental properties in their neighborhoods due to what they fear will be more noise and worsened property conditions.

The city recently approved a report on rental housing from the city Planning Commission. it made several recommendations, including removing the Rental Housing Board and taking steps to educate residents about grandfathered rentals.

Asked how the city can ease relations, Salo said for now, the city will have to continue with the ordinances in place until it can create a plan to modify some ordinances or zones.

“You have to be very careful with that because you can get discrimination or some other suit filed, so you have to stay within the guidelines of the state and federal laws,” he said.

Along with the housing situation, Salo said the city’s budget will be a key factor over the next term. He credited the city’s maintenance of a large equity fund for aiding it in the response to the June 17 flood.

“That gave us some funds to do some thing that maybe we wouldn’t have been able to do,” he said.

Other priorities mentioned by Salo included keeping up on street and utility work, as well as adding new business on top of the existing core.

Salo credited the “team concept” for Houghton’s success.

Asked why residents should vote for him, Salo said he keeps an eye on what goes on in the city. And with he and his family being longtime residents, he’s invested in the city’s success.

“I’ll try to do the best I can to keep the City of Houghton moving forward,” he said.