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Sturges crushes Blazier in Glenwood council race

Pete Fowler
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Dave Sturges
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Glenwood Springs City Council election results

– At large seat: Dave Sturges ” 1,274, David Blazier ” 186

– Ward One: Russ Arensman ” 250



– Ward Three: Shelley Kaup ” 195

– Ward Four: Mayor Bruce Christensen ” 328



GLENWOOD SPRINGS ” Dave Sturges won the only contested Glenwood Springs City Council race by 1,088 more votes than David Blazier’s 186 votes, according to unofficial preliminary results.

Of the two, Sturges has a much longer presence in the community and more experience in municipal government. He works as a strategic planner, mediator, facilitator and driver of Downtown Drugs’ “Drug Bug.” Sturges has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and has served on the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Transportation Commission, the Water Quality Control Commission. He’s also served on boards for United Way and LIFT-UP and serves on the boards of the Two Rivers Community Foundation and Roaring Fork Leadership.

He’s said his goals include helping the community discuss and decide opportunities and challenges the city faces.

Sturges couldn’t be immediately reached for comment Tuesday night.

Blazier campaigned as the less known of the two candidates, having been in Glenwood Springs for about four years. He’s worked in the hospitality industry and drives for Colorado Mountain Express.

Blazier billed himself as the younger, different candidate who sought to infiltrate a city government he described as an “old boy’s club.” But he received criticism for what were called his “extreme views” after attention was drawn to some of his past he sent to newspapers criticizing baby-boomers and saying they should be killed off; an arrest years ago at the Hotel Jerome also came to light. Blazier said previously the letter was not well written and didn’t establish clearly enough a link between the elderly and the rich in “A Tale of Two Cities.”

“I knew that when I got quoted in the newspaper that I wanted to take old people’s homes away from them, which I didn’t say at all, that I was going to lose most of the elderly vote,” Blazier said Tuesday night.

He also thought city councilors unfairly criticized him to keep him off the council. He questioned whether it was proper for them to make the critical comments, saying it could stifle the democratic process.

“When you read about it in the newspapers, it sounds very similar to people crucifying Jesus,” he said Tuesday night.

The new officials are on the agenda to be sworn in at a Nov. 15 city council meeting.

Garfield County Clerk and Recorder Jean Alberico said voter turnout seemed slightly low for a mail-ballot election. Turnout came in at barely over 30 percent of almost 20,000 ballots mailed to active registered voters. In the past it’s been about 45 percent or more, she said, but it could be because there were no county, state or federal issues.

Ballot Questions

All four Glenwood Springs ballot measures passed, according to unofficial preliminary results.

Question 2A means municipal elections will be carried out in the spring rather than the fall.

Question 2B means that only the titles, and not the full text of city ordinances must be published in newspaper legal advertisements. The city questioned whether or not people even read the small print in legal ads and said it could save money and better keep people informed by posting them on the city’s Web site.

Each question passed by four hundred votes or more, except for question 2B, which passed by only 3 votes in the unofficial results.

Question 2C allows the city to approve its budget in December instead of October. This allows the city and its staff to gather more financial data from the current year to help prepare the following year’s budget, according to the city.

Question 2D allows the city to alter language in the municipal code. The city plans to clear up confusing sections, errors, obsolete and gender-specific language. It would also be updated to properly describe electronic postings of meeting agendas and other computer-related procedures. Voting no means language in the code would remain unchanged.


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