The four candidates for two Routt County Commissioner seats answered questions in a meet and greet event hosted by Chuck and BJ Vale on Tuesday.
Candidates for Routt County Commissioner fielded several questions about the SBT GRVL bike race and work on Routt County Road 56 at a forum hosted at the ranch of Chuck and BJ Vale on Tuesday evening.
The audience question portion of the forum started with North Routt resident Lyssa Lewis talking about recent work on the county road that goes by her house — work that the county acknowledged was not up to county standards in a press release on Monday.
“One of the last things that I did before I left the office, well, was chew some ass,” said Commissioner Tim Redmond, to which the question was directed. “The buck stops here. You are right to be calling me out on that, because I am the one that you should be coming to, to make this complaint.”
The release says county road and bridge staff were working to widen the road, which had become overgrown and needed improvements to “grade the road, improve the shoulders, ditches and drainage, while also increasing clearance.” The release says aspects of the work may have exceeded the county’s right of way and was not to the standard required. Crews are out on the road trying to fix the issue.
But some North Routt residents have speculated work on the road was brought on by the SBT GRVL bike race, which has a route that uses CR 56. While he acknowledged that perception, Redmond said work on the road had nothing to do with the bike race on Tuesday. County Manager Jay Harrington and Commissioner Tim Corrigan were quoted by Steamboat Pilot & Today on Tuesday both insisting there was no connection between the work and the bike race.
“Whether or not it had anything to do with the bike race, you have to understand what people will see and what they will think,” said Redmond, a Democrat running for reelection to his District Two seat. “Yeah, I’m not happy.”
Chuck Vale then pitched the question to the rest of the commissioner candidates including Republican Tracy Lawton, who is running against Redmond for the District Two seat, and the two District One commissioner candidates, Republican Brent Romick and Democrat Angelica Salinas.
Romick was quick to criticize Redmond and the commissioner’s decision to approve the race, saying the whole issue is “the worst case of representational government in Routt County history.”
“It is a complete mess now,” Romick said. “You villainized those us in the agriculture-based business, you villainized SBT GRVL, you villainized mountain biking because of poor leadership. You can’t say no to nothing.”
“I agree with that,” said Lawton, who joked he was repeating what Romick had said. “It’s a very simple word, no. … It’s a very simple process, just say no once and a while.”
Salinas said maintaining rural roads and protecting community character comes before a bike race in her mind.
“If I was in the commissioner’s office, and hopefully when I am, that we can be proactive in addressing these road situations, not just when there is a race, not just when constituents complain,” Salinas said. “I’m also concerned, especially with the environmental impacts that’s going to have.”
The next question focused on balancing recreation and tourism with the quality of life of local residents — “When is enough, enough?”
Lawton started saying leaders need to be working for the citizens that live in Routt County first — “The citizens here take precedent over all of the tourism and everything else. We deal with that first, and then we can deal with all of that,” Lawton said. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a filter.”
Romick said Steamboat Springs’ reliance on sales taxes is one of the things that is driving more events and that it is time to have less.
“The authenticism of Routt County needs to be maintained,” Romick said, pointing to his work with Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo as an example of authenticism. “Getting back to what makes Steamboat and Routt County that, we have to do and we have to ask everybody to do their part so we can all enjoy this beautiful environment that we live in.”
Salinas said to her balancing tourism is really a quality of life issue.
“Routt County is losing 25-45 year olds faster then any other demographic in the state… We are losing our middle class,” Salinas said. “At the same time, here’s another one, one-third of our county workforce is over the age of 60. … We have to invest in who is here and the quality of life for the people who are here. That is investing in housing and childcare and keeping people here.”
Redmond agreed that quality of life for residents was a priority when balancing recreation.
“I’m here to make life better for the citizens of my county,” Redmond said, adding that the issue isn’t just tourism but an influx of wealthy people coming to Routt County since the pandemic. “We have pressures coming on us from outside of us that is going to make some changes in our county and the easiest way for them to make those changes is for us to start fighting with each other. Because while we are fighting with each other, they are slipping in the back door.”
Caption: From left, District One Republican candidate Tracy Lawton, District Two Republican candidate Brent Romick, District Two Democratic candidate Angelica Salina and District One Commissioner Tim Redmond, a Democrat. (Dylan Anderson/The Yampa Valley Bugle)
The last question came from Chuck Vale and was about why the commissioner’s approved the SBT GRVL bike race.
Redmond started by noting special events like the bike race used to be reviewed administratively, and that commissioners changed that process so they would have oversight after community complaints.
“After we got those complaints we asked everybody to come in and have those listening sessions and we listened to our community — both sides,” Redmond said. “We approved it, yes. Does that mean we will approve it in the future? No.”
Salinas said she felt is was important to watch what happens with this year’s event very closely and see if changes commissioners have made led to improvements.
“If they didn’t, then we absolutely need to continue to address this, not just with SBT GRVL but with all of our events,” Salinas said. “I want to be very solutions focused. … It’s my job to bring you to the table, to bring our recreation people to the table and to say, ‘Okay, what do we need to do so that this is productive for our entire community and not just one part of our community.”
Romick say he believes the commissioners “sold us out,” as he criticized them for approving the race.
“You did not listen to the public,” Romick said. “I think that this issue is way more large then SBT GRVL, because politicians won’t address what we have. … We need to have responsible county commissioners that listen to us.”
Lawton closed the question saying that this is an example of when county commissioners should be saying no.
“They already had this, they already had that — that’s too bad,” Lawton said. “You could have said no still, and I would have said no.”