All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Last Tuesday, the Niwot Community Association (NCA) hosted a virtual forum for the Boulder County Commissioner Candidates. This year, two of the district seats are up for a county-wide vote, District 1 and District 2. Though the third commissioner, Matt Jones, is from District 3 which includes much of the Left Hand Valley, all commissioners are elected on a county-wide basis.
County commissioners assist in making a number of decisions that affect the whole county--road maintenance to allocation of funding for services such as mental health and housing.
Each candidate seemed to be passionate about their beliefs and desire to serve the county. For District 1, the candidates are Claire Levy (D), an attorney and former state legislator, and Cinda Kochen (R), a teacher and entrepreneur. District 2 candidates include Marta Loachamin (D), who has experience in real estate as well as leading local programs, and Jim Crowder (R), a longtime resident of Boulder County and mortgage broker.
The NCA’s forum was available for livestream on its YouTube channel and the recording is still available for viewers. While there were anywhere from 24 to 28 people at any given time who viewed the livestream, in the four days since, there have been nearly 60 views.
NCA president David Limbach hosted the event, which included opening statements from each candidate, and three questions--about roads; land use/cost of housing; and the structure of county government--before candidates were allowed to make closing statements.
Each of the candidates gave well-thought-out answers to each of the questions. While none of the questions were particularly partisan, there were some subtle nuances among them as to how to implement changes.
Crowder, for example, came out strongly on the issue of roads, “I’m a big bug on roads, it bothers me to no end that the county has been a complete breach of trust on our roads.” He further elaborated, saying that it’s a “total dereliction of duty” that the county (and the commissioners) have not been more involved. He described how 35% of the budget goes to health and human services, while only a small amount goes to roads, bridges, and trails; ultimately proposing that not only do roads need to be maintained, but that they ought to be repaved every 20 years or so.
The matter of funding was a common theme on this issue--all four candidates said it was a matter of priorities and finding funding. “I’ve been told there isn’t money,” said Levy “[But] it’s a core function of government.” Levy emphasized this point by saying that the commissioners are sometimes the only source of services for smaller communities, and that it’s vital for them to participate more. The other two candidates definitely agreed that it’s still an issue--Loachamin said that she was committed to revisiting the issue of roads and emphasized the importance of coming to a solution with the contribution of community members. Kochen on the other hand, who lives on a county-maintained road, expressed frustration and some confusion as to why it’s still an issue.
As for the matter of Niwot’s moratorium and land-use codes, again, all candidates identified the need to be involved with individual communities in terms of land-use. One of the more interesting follow-up questions to this topic was the matter of whether or not land use policy was a matter for the commissioners themselves or the land use department staff.
Crowder said that he felt the commissioners should get input from community members and pass that on to land-use staff, while Levy said that the commissioners should set policies but not necessarily the regulations. This sentiment seemed to be shared by Loachamin, who said, “How do we include that [digital outreach] and some of these hybrid approaches so that more folks can participate in the process so that we can make sure that the reach is greater when talking about these really important questions?”
Again, Loachamin--who reiterated her experience as a realtor and knows how cumbersome some of the regulations can be--emphasized the need to go back to the community for input. Kochen had a slightly different perspective on the issue. She started out by saying that she loved the uniqueness of the smaller communities across the county. “I believe the county commissioners should be involved [in land use issues]...There’s so much on the commissioners’ plate that they can’t get into it and handle each issue.”
Finally, both Loachamin and Kochen supported moving toward a five-person board of commissioners while Crowder and Levy did not entirely agree. Nonetheless, all candidates acknowledged the importance of representation for all Boulder County residents.
For more information about each candidate, you can read profiles written for the Courier on each candidate at these links; Candidate Crowder was not available for an interview, but you can see his site below:
District 1:
District 2:
Jim Crowder (R): https://crowder4commissioner.com/
Reader Comments(0)