ISSUES
County Commissioners play a vital role in our community, allocating a $450+ million budget, covering everything from public health and safety to housing, elections, and protecting our environment. As your County Commissioner, I will put your tax dollars to use making a HEALTHY, THRIVING, and SUSTAINABLE Arapahoe County.
HEALTHY
To be healthy, our communities must be safe and we must have access to the care we need to be mentally well, the conditions to be physically healthy, and the resources needed to succeed.
THRIVING
To thrive, we must be healthy and secure, our income must extend beyond housing and our basic needs, and business and personal opportunities must exist for all.
SUSTAINABLE
To be sustainable, we must address the issues of today as we set ourselves up for long-term success, valuing our health, prosperity, and environment now and in the future.
HEALTHY
Our health is the most important thing we have. Your health and well-being will be my number one priority. Our health is impacted by a variety of factors beyond public health such as education, transportation, finance, businesses, and justice. As your Commissioner, I will use a “health in all policies” approach to make sure our budget dollars are working toward the well-being of our residents.
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Arapahoe County is setting up a new public health department, to launch on January 1, 2023. The new Board of County Commissioners will be responsible for appointing the long-term Board of Public Health. As your County Commissioner, I will look for Board members who are public health and medical experts, who will work to address the many factors that impact our health, and who have integrity and experience directing efficient, high-quality departments of health.
The incoming Board of County Commissioners will also be responsible for evaluating and supporting our new public health department in its nascent years. Budgets are values documents and I will make sure we are supporting our new public health department with the funding and resources it needs to protect our health.
Specifically, in the wake of changes to our federal rights regarding reproductive health, as Commissioner, I will be intentional about ensuring our public health department has the funding and resources to continue to provide reproductive and sexual health services.
MENTAL HEALTH
As Commissioner, I will work with our new Public Health Department Director and Board to increase access to mental health resources and support their work to increase mental health support in our schools.
Big picture - I will work to reduce environmental, social, and economic factors that contribute to stress and harm our mental health.
Long-term - I will look at how all Arapahoe County residents can get access to mental health care.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Everyone deserves to be and feel safe in their home and in their community. As Commissioner, I will work with our Sheriff and the Sheriff’s Department to make sure they have the resources needed to keep our community safe.
Big picture - I will support programs and initiatives that modernize our Sheriff’s Department like our internal co-responder mental health unit and bringing our deputy training in-house.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
The quality and cleanliness of our air and water impact our physical health and quality of life. As your County Commissioner, I will support development that preserves open space and increases bike-ability, walkability, and access to public transit. And I will support our Public Health Department’s programs working toward healthy land use, clean water, and clean air.
SUPPORTING OUR SCHOOLS
As Commissioner, I will partner with our school boards to make sure our students are set up for success. I want to make sure we are connecting students to apprenticeship programs through our workforce development program, expand school district capacity to support our students’ mental health, and that our children are safe at school.
ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS
We are not a healthy community when our neighbors are experiencing homelessness. People have numerous needs that need to be met in order to exit homelessness. With needs ranging from documentation, medical attention, and substance use recovery to clothing, education or skills development, transportation and housing, our unhoused neighbors struggle to access the resources and services to move forward. As County Commissioner, I will support our County accessing funds and coordinating with government partners to provide our unhoused neighbors wrap-around services and a continuum of care so they can get back on their feet. I will also look at our budget, zoning, and human services through a lens of preventing our neighbors from becoming homeless in the first place.
THRIVING
In order to thrive, we must first be healthy and secure. From there, we can move past just surviving and into a place where we are thriving individually and as a community. With so much happening in the world and in Colorado, it’s easy to feel guilty about enjoying life. And for some, enjoying life seems impossible because we’re caught in a financial cycle, barely meeting demands that leave us little time to have fun. As your County Commissioner, I will work to lower the cost of living and increase opportunities so we can enjoy our lives.
HOUSING
For housing to be affordable, monthly costs, including utilities, should be no more than 30% of an occupant’s income. For some Arapahoe County residents, that’s not a problem and they have beautiful homes that meet their needs and more. For many Arapahoe County residents, the rise in housing costs means they can’t afford housing that meets the needs of their family. And for many of our renters, they are struggling with rises in rent that are outpacing a rise in income, creating housing insecurity.
As your County Commissioner, I will work to increase our housing stock with options affordable to people of all income levels. I will support programs and initiatives that will increase ownership. And I will support the work of our County Assessor to provide property tax relief for our veterans and seniors. Additionally, I will support the work of our Human Services department, ensuring our programs that provide food, medical, and financial assistance are accessible, responsive, and efficient, so when hard times come, you have the support you need to stay in your home.
INCREASING OPPORTUNITIES
To move toward a thriving life, we need access to jobs that pay a thriving wage. This means we need both the jobs to be available and the qualifications to access them. As your County Commissioner, I will seek to bring employers who pay thriving wages and value their employees in industries that will be relevant for decades to come.
Arapahoe County has a strong workforce development program, Arapahoe/Douglas Works!, that connects people at all stages of life to career, training, and education opportunities. As your County Commissioner, I will work to strengthen that program, expanding the connections available and meeting our residents where they are.
I will also look for ways to build on the investments our County Commissioners have made into educational attainment and retraining in the healthcare, STEM, and sustainable energy industries.
SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES
Pursuing your dream of owning your own business should be supported, not just because small, locally-owned businesses keep our dollars local, help our environment, and add character to our community, but because the more we own our own labor, the more we can make our own destiny, the more we are free and thriving.
As your County Commissioner, I will look to continue investments in small business development and commercial rent assistance.
Big picture - as Arapahoe County grows and we make decisions about development and zoning, I will work to foster an economic environment that will favor and support our small, locally-owned businesses. I will also look at what the County can do to support employee-owned businesses and ownership structures that keep the revenue from your labor in your pocket.
ENJOYING LIFE
On a basic level, we know that life is meant to be enjoyed. As your County Commissioner, I will support our Open Spaces department as they maintain, improve, and expand our trails, parks, and recreation centers, preserving as much open space as we can. Our parks should be accessible to all and you have my commitment that I will work toward financial and physical accessibility of our parks. I will also partner with our municipal colleagues to build upon entertainment options, so we can have fun where we live. And I look forward to hearing from you about entertainment and recreational options you would like to see in Arapahoe County.
SUSTAINABLE
We deserve to be healthy and thriving as individuals and as a community now, and so do our kids and future generations. As your County Commissioner, I will partner with the other county elected officials and department directors to work across the more than 18 departments the County budget covers to ensure Arapahoe is developing, operating, and functioning sustainably.
GROWTH
With a current population of 650,000 residents, Arapahoe County is expected to grow to 875,000 residents by 2040. Those people are not all showing up in 2040, they are on their way now. Growth in Colorado has already put pressure on our housing market, transportation, and our environment. We must be proactive in planning for this growth so it becomes an opportunity rather than worsening the challenges we’re already facing. County Commissioners have zoning authority over our unincorporated areas. I will be looking to foster sustainable development that increases our housing stock and commercial options while preserving open space.
This kind of sustainable development will get us on a positive feedback loop as we create safe and healthy, walkable, bike-able communities that can support local business, have access to public transportation, and offer housing for students and young professionals, families, empty nesters, and retirees. These healthy communities have the added benefit of protecting our environment by reducing water use and carbon emissions. This kind of smart, sustainable growth is possible when we are intentional about the kind of future we want. As your County Commissioner, I will do everything I can to direct our County so we are growing sustainably.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
In Colorado, we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change. Drought, wildfires, and poor air quality threaten our health and safety. If we do not act with urgency, willing to make changes, the situation will only get worse for our kids and generations to come. You have my commitment that as your County Commissioner, I will work diligently to protect our environment.
Water is a scarce resource in Colorado. Arapahoe County is in the process of conducting a water study - the first in 20 years. Once we have those conclusions, we can make a plan. This study will tell us the level of urgency with which we must act, but either way, we know we need to conserve water and I will push for action and reform. From incentivizing xeriscaping to re-evaluating the kind of businesses we allow to operate in Arapahoe County, I will work with our county departments, community partners, and government partners to address our water needs.
Additionally, we must - and I will work to - hold polluters accountable, increase public transportation and EV use, move toward a green economy, cultivate the use of renewable sources of energy, and increase healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings.
While we are doing this, we must be intentional about a just transition for employees working in non-renewable energy jobs. As Commissioner, I will work to ensure a transition to a green economy leaves no one behind.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Our society, our democracy, is not sustainable when people do not have the ability to engage with or hold accountable their elected officials. Our democracy and our community is stronger when residents that are representative of our population participate in governing. As your County Commissioner, I will do my best to meet you where you are, communicate in ways you can interact with, and will lead with transparency.
The County Commissioners approve the budget for our County Clerk and Recorder who is responsible for our elections. I am proud of Colorado’s accessible and credible elections. I will support continued investments into our Clerk’s office, so Arapahoe County residents can rely on the security of their vote and the veracity of election results.
County Commissioners are responsible for appointing residents to a variety of boards and commissions. I am eager to foster broad representation on those boards. Differing perspectives working together strengthens our County.
JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
The discordance and division in our society and country are not sustainable. As County Commissioner, I will approach every situation and every decision seeking to do what is just, what is equitable, and what honors the civil rights of all our residents and employees.
From our Human Resources department to our Sheriff’s department, how our county prioritizes our constrained budget and interacts with our residents can heal wounds or sow grievance. I will work to rectify harms of the past and bring our communities together toward greater understanding and respect.