What's Your Favorite?
City Councilman and Vice-President of Marketing, Watts Radiant
Picking out the most interesting element of city councilman and local businessman Dan Chiles’s story is like trying to pick your favorite child: They’re all special—and indeed quirky—in their own way. There’s the part about how he and his brother constructed specialty tree houses for a time. There’s the part about how he has 10 patents for his inventions, including a toy. There’s the part about how he traveled east to west across the country by bicycle. Or even better, the part about when he and some friends rode their bikes from Springfield all the way to Alaska. Yeah, that Alaska. During that trip, they even built a raft on-site that they used to float the Yukon River for 30 days.
It may have been that trip that most influenced Chiles. “Once you’ve carried everything on your bicycle, it’s hard to feel like you need much,” he says. “You boil it down to the essentials. In a sense, what people complain about with middle-class life, you see it viscerally. You learn to throw off things that have no immediate value to you, and you hang on to things that do.”
The ethos of that realization has stuck with Chiles and was one of the main reasons he ran for city council two years ago. “This was an interest in translating some of these new ideas about energy efficiency and sustainability into practice,” explains Chiles. “I think, on a civic level, that is one of the greatest opportunities we have is to fashion a community that’s resilient.”
Chiles is vice-president of marketing of Watts Radiant, where his brother, Mike, is president. He is firmly planted in today, but is constantly visualizing the future. For a guy who has such an interesting past, who knows what the future will hold? Well, adding to his varied story, Chiles has an idea: “I am planning an organic farm west of town.”
What’s Your Favorite…
Opportunity on city council?
“Plan a sustainable future. That is going to be cool.”
Thing about your bike ride to Alaska?
“Northern lights. Once we were in Yukon Territory and in Alaska, they were spectacular. It turns out that when you get away from urbanized areas and light, the sky is
spectacular.”
Thing about Springfield?
“I have a lot of friends and family in Springfield, very close relationships. I could never have anything like that any other place in the world.”
Invention?
“I invented a fastener known as a clip tie. It’s a little flat sheet of plastic that comes in a strip and it deploys into a machine that forms a diamond shape, and you can fasten things with it. You’d have to look hard to find it because it’s not in commercial use now.”
Watts Radiant product?
“Our electric radiant floor known as Sun Touch. It’s a heating element that gets woven into a mat, and it goes into bathroom floors. We sell it all over the place.”
Thing overheard at city council meeting?
“One day our esteemed mayor, Tom Carlson, was trying to bring some order to the crowd, and they were being unruly. So he said, ‘The next person who makes a noise will be executed.’ He brought the whole room to a complete standstill. Then he said, ‘I meant escorted from the room.’”
Brand of bike?
“I like my Trek.”
Light-bulb wattage?
“I’m kind of an 8-watt guy, 8 to 13. That tops me out.”
Potluck item?
“Coleslaw.”
Thing to recycle?
“We recycle everything. I would say, anything aluminum because there’s so much energy in aluminum.”
Thing to find?
“Arrowheads.”
Rock, paper, scissors choice?
“I never play, but if I did, I’d probably say
paper.”
Amphibian?
“I love frogs. Frogs are an indicator species. They don’t have any natural defense against pollution in the water or the air. When the frogs start dying or mutating, the rest of us are in trouble. If we take care of the frogs. we take care of the world.”
Fact about Chile?
“If you’re going to go someplace and be on a beach and have great seafood and wine, I think you want to go to Chile.”
