Aligned with the community

Our community is very special and it is important that we preserve our rural way of life. Growth needs to be controlled, well-planned and needs to have measurable benefits to our community. Higher-density developments are a significant drain on our resources. Growth, especially through high-density developments, has long-term impacts on our water, schools, police departments, fire departments, and infrastructure.  Our community has spoken on future residential growth and I support having new housing being built on sites with acreage. It is important that the counties zoning regulations align with what we want as a community. Let's keep Elbert County rural.

Elbert County is one of the few counties in Colorado that does not have a reservoir or a comprehensive long-term plan for water conservation that is being followed. Water is a critical resource and we need have a comprehensive plan that is  implemented over time. 

Elbert County Government has limited financial resources. It is important that county funds are used in areas that make the most sense for our community. Since Ken has a long history in finance, he will be able to work with the other commissioners to make sure that county funds are being spent in the right areas and in appropriate amounts. He will also push for a balanced budget at the county level. Cost savings will be the focus. Ken would like to establish financial incentives for county employees that discover and implement cost-savings while not affecting the level of services to the community. 

A majority of roads in Elbert County are dirt roads. These roads require a lot of maintenance to keep them drivable. Paving roads is extremely expensive. We need to validate that we are using state-of-the-art technologies in a cost-effective way to maintain our roads. It is important that the county has a solid plan with regards to our roads and bridges so that they can safely support the amount of traffic today and for the future.

 With the growth of AI that will use large amounts of electricity to run data centers and the State of Colorado pushing to reduce the use of natural gas which will force people to convert to electric appliances, there will be a lot of pressure to convert farmland into wind and solar farms. This is a big concern of mine. If elected, I will have a top down review of our regulations with respect to solar farms, wind farms, data centers and battery storage facilities to make sure we have the protections in place for our agricultural community. 

Agriculture remains the main economic driver of Elbert County. Our county needs to focus on helping our agricultural industry by making it easy to build facilities  for agricultural use, providing education on business structure and business development, encourage new business that support agriculture, enhance infrastructure that affect the agricultural industry and help facilitate legacy planning.