Roaring Fork Young Professionals Monthly Meeting
October 13, 2008
Program: Meet the Candidates for County Commissioner!
Short speeches by the candidates as well as a time for asking questions.
Stephen Bershenyi- (SB)
Native of Colorado
Pivotal election b/c of significant issues that are coming up.
Wants the input and the intellect of young people to come to play in GarCo
Future of Garco hangs in the balance
Gas is very important but doesn’t want to make the tradeoff for West end of Garfield County. Needs to be done in the right way..highest and best practices.
Open Space is very important issue. Development.
Very hopeful that he will win but regardless, his experience campaigning has been wonderful.
This is still a county filled with wonderful folks.
Really wants to draw on knowledge
Mike Samson-(MS)
Lived in Rifle all his life.
He is the youngster here.
Been in education all his life. Teacher, admin.
Loves Garfield County.
Has 7 children. Youngest is a Senior this year.
3 things:
Grows weary of what we see on the national level. Believes in civility in government. Wants to work together for a united Garfield County.
Natural Gas industry. Has to be a balance. Things must be done properly. Our economy is doing extremely well compared to the rest of the country. Fueled by the natural gas industry. We don’t give them everything but they are our business partners.
Transportation. Roads are still very important.
Health and Safety is what County Commissioners should be concerned about.
Steve Carter- (SC)
Just for clarification– Steve and Mike running against each other and Stephen and John running against each other.
Steve has been a district attorney and then became a district judge in Rifle. 26 years old at that point. Stayed in that position for a long time and retired 4 years ago.
Practice of law has been municipal, govt, real estate and will and estate law.
Has 3 kids. Surveyor and twin daughters— one served in Irag and one in the Peace Corp.
Mike and Steve’s positions pretty close.
This half of the county has growth and tourism problems and the other end has growth related to gas industry. We have a unique opportunity because we have stayed stable despite what is going on in the markets.
Has Land use and legal experience. Represents other counties in dealing with land use issues.
Our biggest concern is managing our growth.
John Martin- (JM)
Born in Utah. Raised for 10 years there.
13 yrs old ran away to Leadville.
If you want to eat you have to work.
Get your work done so that you can eat.
19 ½ married, child on the way, started in business.
Worked for Jim Fattor.
At 25 lost all his sense and learned humility. Became food and beverage manager. Went to Silverthorne and started working at Inverness.
He is a hard working man.
Worked as a policeman for 25 years.
Knows hard feelings and hardwork.
Took GarCo to being in top 30 run counties in the nation.
Took young professionals and gave them a task and asked them to make it work.
Experience, hard work, dedication.
Economy, environment, respect.
Starts with respect for yourself.
You only get out of life what you put into it.
Solomon Liston: Can you explain the role of county commissioner?
SC: Have to live in the district. Run county government. Public Helath and Safety. Take care of Roads. Public Welfare. County Fair. County Airport. Biggest thing is dealing with planning and control of development.
MS: Health and Safety of county residents is most important. 107 million dollar budget. This coming year it will be 135 million budget. This is appropriated through County Commissioners. Sheriff’s dept and Road and Bridge take biggest part of the pot.
JM: County government is 3 bodies. Make laws, interpret, appropriate money, etc. Deal with needs and evaluate whether are giving them enough to do their job. Trying to make sure that the county is giving good customer service which means have to give them tools to do their job. Amounts to priorities and budgeting. Collect taxes and distribute taxes. Have to prioritize how to provide the services that required to provide at county level.
SB: Wants to guide the county’s vision for the future. Done by promulgating land use regulations. Promulgating policies to guide business. Solving problems which are a solution based on what is best for largest # of citizens in the county. Your input is vitally important to GarCo. It is a participatory process. Have to achieve a shared vision for the community.
Jeff Peterson–Balanced Budget?
JM: Absolutely.
Jeff Peterson—Well permits and natural gas permits are state level- is there anything that we can do with land use and planning for everything coming in future—
MS: COGCC—Traci Houpt is on this. Right now they are debating the new rules and regs. Mike wants to pressure the state because they aren’t doing enough of their part in bringing qualified people over here to make sure rules and regs are enforced. Companies have drilled on private land right now. Need to work with the state going forward as that changes. Also— problem going forward is who owns mineral rights and who owns land! Make sure you own both or you can have someone drilling under you! New Land Use coming out and hopes that people gave their 2 cents!
JM: 1973 rules and regs for Oil & Gas exist and are being updated. They follow the guidelines and then have the county has its own. They can enforce theirs, but not the states. State needs more regulators. They are working on revisions because there are holes. Counties were only given 15 minutes of input on the state level. Need more input on the state level.
SB: Thinks that there hasn’t been enough creative thinking about tools that are needed. Publically proposed an impact fee on every permit granted by the state. Suggesting $15k per well permit which would allow for us to deal with roads, water and other issues created by industry. Pitkin county has sold land for wells so will affect Carbondale and Glenwood Four Mile due to access. Thompson Creek and Four Mile roads are how to get there. If we ask for more authority we will get it.
SC: There are tensions because of the oil &gas industry. Gas industry can resolve them— have in San Antonio, LA, etc. But they have to be asked. The state regulates some things. County has been invited to regulate other things. Need to balance the energy needs with surface owners needs. GarCo has most wells and smallest regulation. La Platta has taken the lead. They have created more of a balance and Garco can learn from them.
Mandy Murray- I feel like there isn’t enough communication between the county and the public—do you have any suggestions on how to change that? In particular with regard to the Land Use Plan that is about to be approved…
JM: Garco advertised, posted minutes, had work sessions. There were invitations to the cities. Did off site visits in each of the communities. We have between now and January 1 to find out what we don’t like and we can make changes at that first meeting. Tom Beard worked hard to build a municipality group at one time, but doesn’t exist in true form today.
SB: Doesn’t think that there has been enough working together. If elected, county govt will have an umbrella under which municipalities can work. 6 mayors of cities in Garco have formed their own task force because they don’t feel that Garco was working with them. Wants to change how county govt works with EVERYONE in Garco. Municipalities and county gov’t should work together.
Need to hire people who won’t forget that they work for you.
SC: People don’t attend meetings unless it affects them. Some governments have moved beyond that and use the internet to simplify everything.
MS: Agrees with need for technology. Would form the Garfield County Forum. Would be the county meeting on a quarterly basis with the municipalities to find out what the concerns are. Thinks that is an important part of county government. Need to get the municipality group back. Compromiser and healer. Even with the internet not everyone wants to use that. Personal communication is the key . Need to reach out as a commissioner. County Boards need people to fill positions. Volunteer! Encourages us to be involved. Most people in this world won’t campaign but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be involved.
Jay McGlade :What is the most important thing to address as Board of County Commissioners?
SB: There are so many issues in GarCo— largest issues in near term is the human resources problem. Need for human services. We are going to experience rapid growth and that puts pressure on families. Need to support them. Need to be prepared for not so good economic times to avoid black Sunday of 82. Need to have a plan to take care of ourselves and our families going forward.
SC: biggest issues is planning ahead for two scenarios— we continue to do well and people will bombard us or we will crash and deal with depression. Trying to predict the future and trying to plan is biggest problem.
MS: Civility in government. There is polarization in our government and we have to get people working together. Nobody has all the answers. Together we can come to a consensus.
JM: The most important thing we are facing is knowledge and lack of knowledge. How do we use that knowledge to make things better. Not being afraid to make a step forward and take a risk. It’s the knowledge you have to have in our economy. Have to get more knowledge and be involved. Learn from mistakes and move forward.
Last question: What is the number 1 thing that you would say sets you apart.
SC: Mike and Steve have been good friends for a long time. Steve has a broader resume and is more familiar with this area of government. Has more relevant experience. Has listened carefully to all sides of issues and makes a fair decision. Has been a referee and knows how to red card someone. He is a professional mediator.
MS: I’m younger… I’m better looking..(laughs). Steve’s experience is different than mine. I’m and educator. I’ve been elected to an office before. He’s never had an opponent before. Served 4 years on City Council and been Mayor protemp. They’ve had tumultuous times in Rifle. Was councilman in late 70’s and early 80’s. Went through recall where city council was put out and he remained with Mayor. Has more experience on the legislative ends. Was a coach and head umpire for Rifle muni league.
JM: PhD in the school of hard knocks. Took in hard work values. Accountability was big in his family. Has rebuilt shoes and human beings through being a cop. Community policing is every day life. 55 years worth of knowledge and willingness to work. Passion for people. Trying to stop the polarization. Don’t listen to the sound bites and judge everything by it. Making sure things are researched and what’s best is the decision. Will not sacrifice values for political support. He believes in doing this job and doing it right. When he feels it is done, he will step aside.
SB: Haircut is different than John’s. (laughs) Has a lot of different experience. Has managed people. Has built budgets and managed those budgets. Has had to answer for decisions. He has a small business that is a labor of love. Has thought a lot about the future of Garfield County. This is where he springs from and he has a tremendous amount of concern for the county. Should you elect him, he will represent everyone to the very best of his ability regardless of affiliation. He brings a quality that is different and that is the ability to be creative about Garfield County’s problems but can’t do it himself. He will never forget that we are his boss and that we elected him and that all the wisdom that he needs is in us.
The candidates were thanked for coming and the meeting was adjourned. The agenda below is tabled to next month’s meeting!
Agenda:
1. Update from committees
2. Update on progress of Bylaws
3. Voting on dues for membership to RFYP

John Murray—Dentist in town- 5 years in the biz
Derron Cloud- Food and Beverage at Aspen Glen
Krista Kaufman—Valley Events- Civic Events planning biz
Mandy Murray—Broker for Mason Morse
Emily Huetl—Civil Engineer
Christina McCloud—Mechanical Engineer
Michael Corbett—Loan Officer
Jamin Heady Smith- CPA
Angie Anderson— VP Ops & Comm for Chamber
Tammy Sommerfeld-Marketing for Land title
Caleb Liston—Marketing Biz, Raft Guide in summer
Solomon Liston— E Commerce Biz, Raft Guide, toying with event planning, Search engine optimization
Chad Lee— Real Estate Attorney for Balcomb and Green
Jeff Peterson—Design engineer for tramway engineering
 
 
6:00— Mingling and introductions
 
 
6:15—Meeting begins-
- Update from committees
1. Social— Derron, Sara,
Golf event
Food demonstration
Wine tasting
Other ideas
Have an event where everyone comes to brainstorm at volleyball tourney—send out vote
Use survey to get a vote before October meeting
2. September Social— Tammy is going to investigate Chomps volleyball either on a Sunday (dollar beers) or a weeknight
3. Monthly socials will be brainstormed at the monthly meeting and planned for 2 weeks later
4.
- Update from financial subcommittee INCLUDING ESTABLISHING A LEVEL OF DUES TO BELONG TO RFYP— If you have an opinion on this, be sure to be at the meeting!
1. Jay, Jamin, Krista, Solomon
1. $20 membership due— annual fee— to be paid on anniversary?
1. Discussion on the anniversary date—Use google docs to keep track of it perhaps.
2. What do you get with membership?
1. Networking— contact information-until you pay, you can’t have the password!
2. Website advertising
3. Event sponsorships
4. Discounts to events—member price versus non-member price
3. Attendance policies—if you come to two meetings, you are a member and owe dues
4. Amping up the web-site— use that as a way to bring in additional revenue—do member versus non-member pricing
5. Hiring out RFYP services— minimum cost—low price but good services
Guidelines: Money is to be used for operating expenses, seed money for revenue streams, marketing materials, venue rental for events, community projects.
 
Send out minutes with discussion.
 
Need Bylaws. We are a committee of 501c6.
Angie will get Articles of Incorp to Chad.
 
Holiday Party— with award for Young Professional who has contributed to the group
Talk to Derron to be on the Holiday Party planning committee
 
6:30—Annual planning-
-instead of a program this week, we will line up programs for the next 12 months of meeting as well as discuss quarterly “special events”
 
1. City Council, County Commissioners
2. How to purchase a house panel
3. How to start investing as a young professional
4. Glenwood Police Department to do a sobriety test- TIPS testing
5. Tax strategies
6. Candidates to come and speak— October- debates
7. Hospital coming to talk on what they are doing
8. Update from Glenwood Caverns
9. RFTA
10. CARE
11. Cattle Creek Crossing
12. The Lodge at Roaring Fork
13. The Arts
14. Water park stuff