All four Garfield Board of County Commissioner candidates drew a crowd to the Ute Theater and Events Center in Rifle on Thursday for their second debate in a week. 

Moderated by KMTS News Director Ron Milhorn, the event was streamed live on Channel 10 and Facebook.

“We’ve got a month until the election,” said Alicia Gresley, director of the Colorado River Valley Economic Development Partnership, as she opened the event. “So help yourself, get informed and make good decisions.”

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There are two seats up for election on the three-person county commission this year. County commission candidates are elected by Garfield County voters at large. For District 3, Incumbent Republican Mike Samson is facing Democratic challenger Steven Arauza.

In the District 2, incumbent Republican John Martin declined to run; Democrat Caitlin Carey, who currently serves on New Castle Town Council, is running against Republican Perry Will, who currently represents Senate District 5.

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Candidates answered a number of questions over the course of the debate Thursday, three of which are highlighted below. The full, recorded debate can be found on the Ute Theater and Events Center Facebook page. 

What are your short term and long term aspirations for Garfield County and its communities?

District 2 candidates

Carey touched on her desire to create accessible health programs and stated that she’s developing a women’s health summit that will provide free health information for women in both English and Spanish. 

Carey added that she wants to expand mental health training for 911 operators and build a database of mental health providers. Even “if I have to build it myself,” she said.

She emphasized her desire to increase wildfire mitigation tactics and mentioned how she’s working on the New Castle Town Council to ensure that owners of undeveloped land create fire breaks.

Carey also wants to collaborate with the agricultural community. “I want to work with our ranching communities,” she said. “They’re on the heels of not one, but two predators being reintroduced. That’s a little scary.”

She briefly spoke about some of her long-term goals, which include creating additional housing and expanding Roaring Fork Transportation Authority services to address the county’s lack of public transportation.

Will said he wants to ensure Garfield County preserves it’s “way of life, our time honored traditions and our heritage.”

“The number one thing I want to do is retain the appeal of why people choose to live here in Garfield County,” Will said.

He added that Garfield County needs to expand industry, stating that the best way to address affordable housing issues is to create jobs that pay well. 

“Some of the things that Caitlin spoke about she was working on, I’ve read 172 bills at the state legislature dealing with the exact things that she talked about,” Will said. “I don’t care if it’s about wildfire, about mitigation, about education, about public safety in our schools. That’s a constant thing at the legislature.”

In the other county commission race, Arauza emphasized that his priority is supporting Garfield County’s working families. 

“And that includes supporting the development of affordable and attainable housing,” he added, again stating his plans for expanding inclusionary zoning laws, which he explained in the 2024 Issues and Answers Election Forum on Sept. 26. 

District 3 candidates

Arauza also stated his desire to further Latino representation at the county level.

“I think it’s important that Garfield County be intentional in engaging our Latino community to ensure and encourage their participation and that their voices are heard,” he said. “There’s a lot of trust to be rebuilt in the community.”

Arauza’s other goals included restoring the library board of trustees’s previous candidate appointment process, as well as diversifying the economy, promoting renewable energy projects, and making the Board of County Commissioner meeting public comment periods more accessible. 

“Aspirations. That’s an interesting word,” Samson said, who has been a Garfield County Commissioner for 16 years, began when Milhorn prompted him to answer the same question. “I thought, why didn’t they put goals or objectives or something, and I thought, aspirations, that’s a little bit different.”

Samson echoed Will’s desire to maintain Garfield County’s way of life.

“There’s a lot of forces on the national level. There’s a lot of forces on the state level,” he said. “I don’t want to ruin our way of life, to be real blunt.”

He stated that during his time as a commissioner, he attempted to have a dialogue and work with the federal and state government on topics like Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT).

Samson also reiterated his support for the oil and gas industry. 

“Our nation needs to be energy independent,” he said. “We look at what is happening in the world today, God forbid it, I don’t want a war. But there’s a lot of things pointing towards a war. We’ve got to be energy independent.”

What do you identify as major budgetary priorities and concerns for Garfield County and how will you maintain a balanced budget?

District 2 candidates

Will answered Milhorn’s question first, stating his intention to keep the county’s budget surplus before emphasizing his concern over youth leaving Garfield County. 

“We export our most precious commodity. That’s our youth. They leave us,” Will said. “…We need to keep people in the community. And those that are homegrown have a lot less issues with housing than those that are imported.”

He also stated that the county should regulate who has access to certain housing opportunities. “There’s a lot of people that want to move here,” he said. “If they thought it was affordable, they’d be beat footin’ for the West Slope.” 

Will’s other goals include drawing new industry and business to the county and diversifying the economy, as well as not taxing “the middle class to death,” he said. “That’s my whole thing.”

“I’m not so sure that Ron was not reading my mind,” Carey said, beginning her three minute question to the same question. “Because until 10 o’clock on Tuesday night, I was in one of the most intense conversations with my colleagues on town council in New Castle over balancing our budget.”

Carey emphasized her experience balancing small budgets, stating that “you sit down with the audit and you sit down with the budget and you start to ask hard questions.”

Allocating resources to rural infrastructure is a priority for Carey, as well as funding the sheriff’s department. 

“I also want to make a point that utilizing y’all (county residents) to balance the budget is just not an appropriate thing to do,” she added, reiterating her commitment to maintaining a financially healthy county. “It is our job as the public servants to find ways to make sure things work.”

District 3 candidates

“One of the top priorities that I have is to ensure that the county is able to establish and maintain high-quality public services for our residents,” Arauza said in answer to Milhorn’s question regarding budgetary priorities. 

He made clear that he will prioritize expanding the reach of the county’s senior services. “There are folks in the community who have been here for decades, who have paid into the system,’ he said. “We need to prioritize being able to provide services to them.” 

Arauza, referencing his experience as an officer in the Colorado Workers for Innovative and New Solutions union, said recruitment and retention of county employees will reduce turnover expenses and ensure the county’s ability to provide quality services.

“When budgets are being balanced on the backs of our employees, we run the risk of pushing people away and creating a much larger problem,” he said, reiterating his support for prioritizing Garfield County’s human infrastructure. 

Arauza also touched on the county’s declining oil and gas revenue, stating that the county needs to work with oil and gas companies to incentivize renewable projects. 

“We need to draft a comprehensive climate action plan in order to prevent continued degradation of our environment,” he said.

“What do you identify as major budgetary priorities and concerns,” Samson stated. “I can sum that up in three words: health, safety and welfare.” He then explained that he asks himself ‘What is best for Garfield County?’ and prays before making difficult budgetary decisions as a commissioner. 

“Garfield County has been very good to seniors,” he later added, responding to Arauza’s previous comment. “All the programs that we have, they are a priority for us, the seniors. And I’ll stand on that.”

Samson then emphasized his commitment to helping low income residents. “My goal is to try and help those on the lower end of the spectrum,” he said. “To help them with housing, cost of living, all of those things.”

If you are elected, what is your job description?

District 3 candidates

Arauza began the next round of answers.

“If elected, the initial job description as new county commissioner is to meet with the folks who are making all the decisions,” he said, stating that he would discuss priorities, challenges and missed opportunities with  department heads and county employees.

His job would then shift to the daily work of budgeting the balance and delivering decisions on potential county projects and opportunities.

“I admire folks who have stepped into this space, who have been doing the work. And I understand there is a steep learning curve,” he added. “But it is, at the end of the day, about making decisions and prioritizing those that have a beneficial impact on the quality of life in Garfield County. And that can be a difficult process.”

 “If I’m re-elected, instead of elected, I’d keep doing what I’m doing,” Samon said. “I think I’ve been doing a good job.”

He stated that if he is re-elected, he will reinstitute the mayor’s forum he created earlier in his career as commissioner and meet with the mayors of all six municipalities quarterly. 

Samson added that he instituted remote Board of County Commissioner meetings, which take place annually in Carbondale, New Castle, Silt, Rifle and Parachute.

“Somebody said in a forum that we don’t work with the other county commissioners,” he concluded. “We work extremely well with Moffat County, and Rio Blanco County, and Mesa County, and Delta and Montrose County.”

District 2 candidates

Carey said she’d dive in to continuing to learn and listen to others — and then get to solving the challenges facing Garfield County.

“Listen, learn, problem solve, advocate. That’s the job description,” Carey said. “What am I going to do? The first thing I’m going to do is the same thing I did when I was elected to town council, was I got the code book and I read the code book.” 

Carey said she will attend meetings, where she will “do the listening and the learning.” She added that she would like to institute lunch sessions, ‘Lunch and Learns,’ with Pitkin and Eagle counties and Garfield County municipalities, reinforcing the valley community while discussing collaborative projects.

“Coming from two different standpoints and having a good, hard conversation that sometimes gets really excited always yields a better outcome for the entirety of the public,” she said. “Because everyone’s opinion, everyone’s position, has been contemplated. We desperately need that.”

Will was the last candidate to answer Milhorn’s question. 

“What I do understand about the job description is I work for you all. That’s number one,” he said. “You tell me my job description.” 

He reiterated his familiarity with the county commissioners in Senate District Five, stating that “I think I do know the job because I spent many decades doing it and going to those county commission meetings and doing it in my own career.”

The debate, scheduled to run for an hour and a half, ended around 8 p.m. on Thursday after almost two hours of discussion.