“I maintain it is high time to legislate for term limits for all elected [Garfield] county positions,” offered Carbondale resident Susan Rhea during the public comment period at Monday’s Garfield County Commissioners’ (BOCC) meeting. For the second week in a row, a small crowd showed up at 8am to speak before the BOCC dove into the day’s agenda. And for the second week in a row, the public comment period lasted a full hour.

Rhea wanted to have a conversation about term limits. After a bit of a rocky start, she spoke about her years of public service in an attempt to create common ground with the BOCC and then gave a brief history of term limits in Colorado. “In 1994, the State of Colorado passed a statewide ruling about term limits for public office,” she explained, referring to Colorado Amendment 17, approved by just over 2% of voters. 

Rhea added, “In 1998, when John Martin was one of the county commissioners, Garfield County, along with most of the rural counties, eliminated the term limits rulings.” According to Colorado Counties, Inc., 58 of Colorado’s 64 counties eliminated term limits between 1996 and 2021. 

In her Nov. 12 letter to the editor published in The Sopris Sun, Rhea questioned the BOCC’s approach to their own term limits in light of how they took control of the county library board of trustee appointments. She wrote, “If the library would benefit from more frequent turnover of its board members, wouldn’t the county benefit from more frequent turnover of its members?”

She posed the same question at Monday’s meeting. She also pointed to changing times and economics, stating that new voices are necessary to run the county. Jankovsky pointed to the importance of institutional knowledge. Rhea added that the idea of term limits needs to be reviewed and possibly put before voters again. 

“There is term limits [sic],” said Commissioner Mike Samson. “And it is called an election.” He continued, “I’ve been a commissioner now 17 years. It’ll be 20 years.” He added that he plans to retire at the end of his current term. “The people have the right to decide, and if the people want to take the initiative and get it on the ballot and so on, then that’s how they can do that. But there’s an election every four years for one of us here, and the people of Garfield County have re-elected me for 20 years.”

Jankovsky said that it took him one full term to get used to the job.

Samson said he is tired of revolving door legislators and has seen how term limits have hurt smaller counties. He added that a “bad commissioner” would need to go and took the time to opine about liberal politics. “I really, really, really hope and pray in my heart that Garfield County stays a conservative county,” he said. “I see what happens when liberal-type people, New York City, whatever, San Francisco, they take over places and it is a detriment not only to the people that live in that city or that county or that state, but it is a detriment to our nation.” 

Commissioner Perry Will said he’s not a big fan of term limits, citing the benefits of institutional knowledge.  

Moving on to more public comment, Glenwood Springs resident Siri Olsen expressed concerns about Highway 82. “With our population growth and the attendant vehicular traffic that comes with that, we feel that our current transportation infrastructure is overloaded,” she said.

Olsen cited 2024 Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) data showing 27,000 vehicle trips daily at the lower end of the Roaring Fork Valley. “I believe we need a study done in conjunction with CDOT and other appropriate local jurisdictions,” she said. “We need to define what is truly the safe carrying capacity of Highway 82.”

She suggested an analysis of the highway and mentioned that, according to CDOT, local government, such as the BOCC, needs to initiate a request. CDOT’s Mark Bunnell and Chris Barnes were also on-hand. “We do not feel like we are going to safely be able to get out of this valley should the need arise due to a wildfire or some other emergency,” Olsen added.

Wildfire, weather, local evacuation routes and strategies from around the West were discussed. Samson liked the “ready, set, go” method for the Lee Fire in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties this summer. The discussion mirrored what could happen during a future work session, which was suggested. 

Funding became a sticking point. Jankovsky questioned the outcome of such an analysis even if funding were obtained. “Realistically, if we agree and vote on a letter to CDOT asking for that study, what’s the reality of that even happening?” he queried. “We get very little funding for improvements in this region.”

Speaking of the state legislature, Samson took full advantage of the opportunity to commentate. “I don’t think Garfield County is represented very well by our state legislator right now. I really don’t,” he said. “And I think that is a perfect example of gerrymandering; I don’t think she [Elizabeth Velasco] represents us.” 

Democrat Velasco represents Colorado District 57, which includes Garfield County. She serves as vice-chair of the Energy and Environment Committee and as the majority co-whip.

Samson added that Velasco was on the agenda for a BOCC meeting earlier this year, but did not call or show up. The Sopris Sun reached out to Rep. Velasco for comment, but did not receive a response before press time.

Olsen urged the BOCC to press on. “It’s not acceptable to me to just say, ‘Well, we shouldn’t do anything because we can’t afford it,’ or, ‘What are we going to do with it anyway?’” She wants Aspen to create more workforce housing to reduce traffic impacts on 82. “I am tired of my quality of life and my safety being degraded by this assumption that if we plunk some new housing project in Spring Valley or wherever, we’re all going to pretend that [it will] bring us workforce housing.”

She called it a bait and switch and said it’s time to do something different. “Maybe it’s time we start addressing the macro issues and start saying ‘no’ to this stuff,” she said.

Other issues officially on the agenda included a brief presentation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife about the new bison rulemaking, updates from Alpine Legal Services and other nonprofits and updates from the county’s Public Health Department and Human Services. You can view the entire meeting on the Garfield County website: www.garfieldcountyco.gov