David Kalis was born and raised in Newton, but it wasn’t until he worked a summer job manning a local ice cream truck that he felt he truly connected with the whole city.

“[I] would go to the schools with my ice cream truck, and just got to know everything going on within the city,” said Kalis, 56. “I learned all about the fairs and festivals, the different pools, the different streets to go down, and got to know a lot of people that way.”

That intimate knowledge of Newton came in handy when, in 2011, Kalis first ran for Ward 8 city councilor at-large. This year, after seven terms on the council, he’s aiming for an eighth, running unopposed for one of two seats in the municipal election Nov. 4.

His two main lessons from his seven terms on the council, of which he’s now vice president, are to listen to constituents and to maintain a service-oriented mindset: “You can’t underscore that enough.”

After his ice cream gig, Kalis strayed not too far from home to attend Tufts University. Afterward, though, he strayed much farther—in 1991, he moved to Russia, which was then the Soviet Union. He taught English at a school and worked in real estate before returning to the U.S. in 1994 to attend business school at the University of Chicago. 

Witnessing the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991 and talking to people there about government was “eye-opening,” Kalis said, and it piqued his interest in government. 

In 1999, he moved back to the Boston area. He now lives in Newton Highlands with his wife, Anne, and two children. 

“Coming back seemed like the natural thing to do,” Kalis said of returning to Newton. “I just think it’s a special place.”

Kalis first decided to run for the Newton City Council in 2011 after learning of an open Ward 8 at-large seat. 

“I’ve always been somebody who listens well, follows up with people and tries to basically put myself in their shoes and understand their situation,” he said, and that made him feel he would be a good fit for the job. 

As a result, Kalis said constituent services are his “number-one” priority. 

“When somebody has an issue and they call you, that’s the number-one issue going on in their world,” he said. “It’s a service industry, as far as I’m concerned, and we have to be responsive to our constituents.”

When he’s not involved in city government, Kalis is the director of digital marketing at ADP, a human resources management company. He said his business skills—such as problem-solving, decision making and understanding other perspectives—transfer over to his role as city councilor. Over the years, he said he tries to “take those listening skills to the city.”

The other two of his three key priorities are fiscal responsibility and infrastructure.

Kalis described the city budget as “a reflection of our priorities.” He said his continued goal is to determine where the city’s funds are going, adequately finance all municipal departments and find ways to increase revenue.

One way to do this, he said, is to revisit PILOTs, payments in lieu of taxes, and SILOTs, services in lieu of taxes. These are agreements with tax-exempt institutions to provide monetary contributions or services to the city because they don’t pay property taxes.

Another avenue to fiscal responsibility is to attract and retain new businesses. Kalis said he hopes to do so by building up the “business incubator” program to help grow start-ups and streamlining the processes to establish businesses in Newton.

“We are in competition with the cities and towns that are near us, and we have to make it easy for these businesses to set up shop,” he said.

Kalis said overriding Proposition 2½ would be his “last option” to increase city revenue if other budget-bolstering efforts fail. The state law limits how much the city can collect through property taxes and prohibits Massachusetts cities and towns from increasing property taxes by more than 2.5%, unless voters override it.

Regarding his third priority, infrastructure, he said he hopes to curb speed violations and reduce traffic. He said he wants to focus especially on stormwater management, because he’s heard from residents “time and time again” about flooding in their houses.

All Kalis’ stances are rooted in the same goal: serving constituents.

“They really live each and every issue daily,” he said. “We really need to listen and ask questions to find out what’s really going on, what’s at the root of their issue and how we can help.”

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This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.