Summit County Commissioners Davidson, Stiegelmeier say ‘goodbye’ after over a decade of leadership | SummitDaily.com

When members of the Summit County Democrats discussed the campaign commissioner with Thomas Davidson in 2006, he was not sure about this idea.

At the time, Davidson, who had served as development director at Vail Resorts Development Co., participated in a campaign that required voters to approve property taxes to help support early childhood care and education.

Once the measure is passed, Davidson hopes that things will continue as normal. However, the women who participated in the campaign with him had other plans.

He said: "All these women who have worked with me, who are also active in the Democratic Party, come to me and say,'We want you to put on your hat and become the new commissioner." "I kind of deny it, I will admit it at first. I just think that people who work at Vail Resorts and those who are engaged in real estate development will not be considered commissioners by the Democratic Party."

Davidson was elected to the county committee summit in 2007 to fill a vacancy left by Bill Wallace, who stepped down to become the county treasurer. After fourteen years and three election cycles, Davidson and his colleague Karn Stiegelmeier (Karn Stiegelmeier) have completed the full term of the board.

On Tuesday, January 12, the newly elected commissioners Tamara Borg and Josh Blanchard will be sworn in to replace Davidson and Stiegelmeier.

For Stigmeier, joining the board of directors in 2009 was a natural step. At that time, she was a director of the Friends of the Lower Blue River, chairman of the Sierra Club Blue River Group, a member of the board of directors of the Continental Demarcation Land Trust Fund of the United States, and a mountain representative of the I-70 Corridor Collaborative Work Group. She has also served as a volunteer for many other environmentally focused community groups.

She said: "I have been involved in a number of non-profit organizations. These matters have allowed me to work with commissioners and plan commissions and ask for things." "When I have the opportunity, I find,'Oh, being commissioners is better than letting them do what I want It’s much easier to do.’”

Together with commissioner Dan Gibbs and later Elisabeth Lawrence, Stiegelmeier and Davidson used their expertise in many areas to achieve their goals.

Stiegmeier’s knowledge of water rights and fire protection has helped the county move towards

The agreement helped resolve a long-standing dispute over the waters between the Denver Water Company and the Clinton Ditch and Reservoir Company. It also provides more water to Summit County and other areas of the Colorado River Basin.

Stegmeier said: "My main position when I started in this county was water, which was the lifeblood of Summit County." "I still believe this is true, whether it is snowflakes or water for development or entertainment. "

Davidson (Stevegelmeier) and Davidson (Gibbs) have made great strides throughout their tenure on the board to protect land in the state and provide more affordable housing. Davidson pointed out that for

As an example of the commissioner’s political will.

He said: "Without Kahn Stigmeier and Dan Gibbs, Hushan would not have happened."

The county was able to obtain the land through Stegmeier’s negotiation skills with the local environmental community and Gibbs’s connection with former Washington Senator Mark Udel. Eventually, former President Barack Obama signed the "Affordable Housing Act" in 2014.

Gibbs said: "We were able to obtain a bill through Congress and actually purchased land from the U.S. Forest Service to one day provide labor housing in that specific area." "In Summit County, when 80% of the When the land is federal land, it is not easy to take out the land (for housing)."

The Lake Hill project is expected to bring more than 430 affordable housing to a piece of land near Dillon Dam Road.

The project is

, Working in Summit County and Frisco Town to

And solve the problems related to the infrastructure.

Gibbs, who has worked with Stigmeier and Davidson for eight years, said that even after he became the executive director of the state's Department of Natural Resources, he still rarely saw politicians like the two outgoing commissioners.

He said: "They are the most dedicated civil servants I have ever seen." "They know Summit County very well... I think they are very, very useful in their position as Commissioner of Summit County."

Davidson and Stiegelmeier are also committed to solving social problems.

In 2015, the state’s first openly gay commissioner, Davidson, formulated a set of policies to protect transgender employees in the county and implement transgender health insurance.

Davidson said that because people suspected transgender employees at the time, some people questioned the county's decision to make this effort. Then, in 2017, Lesley Mumford, the then-Summit County Sheriff’s Office Operations Commander and SWAT team leader, was born as a transgender woman.

In an article in "Summit Daily News," Mumford said that the county's policy decisions kept her in Summit County when she was preparing to resign.

"When they announced the news, I went back to Sara and said,'You won't believe this, see what the county has done,'"

"I am ready to get rid of all this, but this move by the county forces us to stay here and become part of this community."

For Davidson, the fact that he is gay basically does not exist in Summit County. The county has a history of supporting gay rights even though it was not popular at the time. In 1992, the state passed Amendment 2 prohibiting cities, counties, and towns from enacting anti-discrimination policies against LGBTQ communities. Summit County was one of the three counties in the state that publicly opposed the amendment at the time.

Davidson said that although it doesn't seem like a big deal now, he and Blanchard, who is also gay, are paving the way for young people.

“If you talk to young people who are trying to drive a car, it is very useful to know their community. This can make people become judges, commissioners or leadership roles, not just being accepted or tolerated, or even celebrating.” He said.

Neither Stegmeier nor Davidson expected their wish to come true during the past year of their decades-long tenure.

For Stigmeier, the job of being a commissioner during the pandemic can be described in one word: "hell." Commissioners must participate in the bi-weekly meetings of the health committee, which previously only held three to four meetings per month. They have a say in local restrictions and have become the target of scrutiny of these decisions.

"I've been getting complaints from people all the time, and it's all because'You haven't done enough. You have done too much," Stigmeier said.

Starting Tuesday, Stigmeier and Davidson will no longer handle these complaints. Knowing that his time on the board is nearing the end, members of both parties have made an effort to let Lawrence, who was elected in November, lead the way in working against COVID-19.

Lawrence said: "When I start the next semester, I really appreciate that I can continue all the COVID experience, there is a certain continuity in the community." "Thomas and Kahn have been very supportive throughout the process. I."

Lawrence added that if it were not for the work of Stigmeier and Davidson to establish the county's emergency reserve fund, the county would not be able to fund business and rent relief efforts.

When Davidson joined the board of directors in 2007, the reserve was approximately $6 million. Since then, it has grown to more than $30 million.

Lawrence said: "During their tenure, they provided such an excellent service to the community through financial management." "In their time, they saved a lot of money, and it has now proven to be helpful."

Ten and a half years of public service can exhaust anyone.

Stigmeier plans to spend some time relaxing in the next few months before he starts participating in local environmental organizations.

She said: "I made a promise to myself. I will not say'yes' to anything until a few months after I retire."

Davidson will serve as the first executive manager of "County and Commissioner Acting Together", an organization established to help commissioners lobby the state government for reforms to benefit their communities.

Davidson said he will continue to live in Summit County and will spend a lot of time in Denver, where he will work closely with state leaders on oil and gas, housing, healthcare and other issues. Cooperation.

He said: "The (organization) concerns are the unbelievable problems in my heart, and the things I am actively working on as a commissioner in Summit County.

When Davidson and Stiegelmeier embark on a new adventure, they will feel happy to leave Lawrence, Pogue and Blanchard.

Davidson said: "The three of them have come to Summit County and must really fight for survival." "They are all incredible hard work and hard work. Once they enter here, they make me look like a lazy person. ."

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