The La Plata County Democrats will hold a vacancy committee meeting on Tuesday to appoint the replacement for Commissioner Clyde Church, who announced his resignation last week.
Church was the District 1 representative, which includes western La Plata County – Redmesa, Kline, Marvel and Hesperus – as well as the southern areas like Bondad and northern areas such as Hermosa and Purgatory Resort.
About 50 Democratic Party members will sit on the vacancy committee and vote on who to appoint.
In an op-ed on Friday, The Durango Herald’s Editorial Board suggested the vacancy committee appoint a Republican, saying such a move would add a broader range of perspectives to the board, which has been dominated by Democrats. But Church was elected as a Democrat, and by law the committee must appoint a registered Democrat as his replacement.
For this story, the Herald spoke with three candidates who have thrown their hats into the ring – Erica Henner Max, Elizabeth Philbrick and Robert Logan – about various issues facing the county.
All three candidates agreed that updating La Plata County’s land-use code is critical to encouraging healthy growth while preserving the area’s rural character. Each emphasized the importance of encouraging economic development, especially in rural parts of the county.
When it comes to young people, all three pointed to affordable housing, child care access and career opportunities as essential to retaining the next generation of residents.
Robert Logan, a U.S. Air Force veteran and a longtime educator, has deep roots in La Plata County.
A fifth-generation resident – perhaps even further back – Logan earned his bachelor’s degree from Fort Lewis College and spent 27 years teaching at Durango High School, where thousands of students passed through his classroom.
Teaching has been the joy of his life, Logan said, and his enduring connection to the community’s young people is a driving force behind his desire to step into the role of commissioner.
“How do we help young people find a place in Durango, build a home and build a life?” he said. “That’s one of the most important questions we need to answer.”
He believes the path forward will require a multipronged approach, addressing issues commissioners are already working on: diversifying the economy, improving infrastructure and expanding affordable housing.
Among the county’s most urgent priorities, Logan said, is revising the land-use code.
He pointed to the ongoing controversy surrounding the Roberts RV Park proposal. Years ago, the county downgraded the zoning in that area from major to minor to accommodate the Trimble Crossing development. As a result, the RV park now falls under administrative approval and does not need commissioner approval.
“It doesn’t fit the dynamics of the area,” Logan said.
When it comes to addressing the county’s budget shortage, Logan said it requires harsh scrutiny.
More about Robert
What was the last book you read?
“Paranoia” by James Patterson
What song will you never remove from your playlist?
Anything by Jim Croce or John Denver
What is your favorite way to spend time outside?
Hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter
If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
Tigger from “Winnie-the-Pooh”
If you could have dinner with any famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Abraham Lincoln
Every line item besides those dealing with staff needs to be placed under a microscope.
The county needs to be more effective with the money it already has before searching for other revenue sources, he said.
“A property tax increase is a nonstarter for the county,” he said. “It’s not an avenue that makes any sense.”
Instead, he said increases to sales or lodgers taxes could be more palatable and help fund critical needs like road maintenance and child care.
When it comes to affordable housing, Logan cited Ignacio as a creative example. The town applied for infrastructure grants and used the funding to subsidize infrastructure costs for new housing developments – reducing the cost for individual homeowners. Deed restrictions helped prevent homes from being flipped for profit.
Logan, a lifelong Republican, switched parties three years ago, saying the GOP’s platform had shifted in ways he could no longer support. He now considers himself a “moderate Democrat.”
“Sure, progressives will disagree with me,” he said. “But I am emphatically opposed to the MAGA movement and to Donald Trump. There is no party that matches all of anyone’s values.”
Logan grew up closely connected to local agriculture – many of his family members have worked in the industry. That deep history, he said, gives him a unique ability to serve both rural and urban residents across the county.
This job requires someone who can represent the entire county and Logan believes he is the one to do that.
He is not sure if he will run for commissioner in 2026, but said it is likely.
Elizabeth Philbrick and her husband realized their dream of moving to La Plata County in 2017 when the couple opened EsoTerra Ciderworks.
Now a mother of two young children, Philbrick is looking toward the future. She’s worried about whether her kids, and the many others growing up in the area, will be able to live and work here as adults.
“At this point in time, we do not have an economy that young people can look forward to here in Durango” she said.
Her biggest concern is making it easier for small businesses to survive. La Plata County is a great place to start a business, she said, but for local entrepreneurs trying to expand – it borders on hostile.
It took nearly two years to receive approval to open EsoTerra in La Plata County, Philbrick said.
In 2023, she and her husband conducted a full feasibility study on the property they intended to purchase. But as soon as they closed on the sale, most of the county planning department staff resigned. Then the rules changed.
They had to start the process all over again. Philbrick emphasized her campaign is not a “revenge plot,” but an attempt to ensure other businesses don’t have to navigate the same red-taped web she did.
“At this point in time, trying to have a business here is death by a thousand cuts,” she said.
More about Elizabeth
What was the last book you read?
“Abundance” by Ezra Klein
What song will you never remove from your playlist?
“At Last” by Eta James, or Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”
What is your favorite way to spend time outside?
Gardening
If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
Hiccup, the boy from “How to Train Your Dragon”
If you could have dinner with any famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Julia Child
One example Philbrick gave: If you want to open a small, at-home business, like cutting hair, you must install a commercial well on the property. It’s a lengthy and expensive process and often, the returns don’t justify the investment, she said.
As a result, some people operate under the radar, which hampers growth and costs the county valuable revenue.
Philbrick sees this as a missed opportunity to increase the county’s budget.
“Our county needs to focus on small pockets of economic development throughout both the rural and the incorporated parts of the county,” she said. “Incubating a new generation of small businesses is how we weather a budget storm that the county is already facing.”
Philbrick said she is well aware that regulations and red tape are common, and necessary, across every county; but the lengthy, expensive and un-intuitive planning process needs to be addressed and the land-use code needs to be modified – with extensive public input.
Additionally, she supports increasing the sales and property tax.
As a rural resident with an agricultural business, she is well-equipped to communicate the need for the tax increase to people living outside city limits.
She plans to run for county commissioner in 2026, regardless of how the appointment process plays out.
“I am doing this work already, and I’m doing it because it is important work to do,” she said. “I’m not waiting to be elected. I’m not waiting for a title.”
Erica Henner Max moved to La Plata County with her husband 30 years ago, leaving behind a successful career in finance to raise sport horses and focus on her family.
Since then, she’s become deeply involved in the community – engaging with Durango School District 9-R, the affordable child care movement, the Powerhouse Science Center, and the 2019 campaign to raise the county’s mill levy, to name a few.
“I like helping people. I love this community,” Henner Max said, adding that as a county commissioner, she’d have greater leverage to do just that.
And she’s genuinely fascinated by the work. She recently attended a two-hour budget meeting with the county commissioners and “wasn’t bored for a second,” she said.
When it comes to the county’s ongoing budget strain, Henner Max acknowledges that short-term cuts may be necessary, but that the long-term solution is to raise more revenue.
Both property and sales taxes need to be increased, she said.
“It’s crazy how cheap our property taxes are,” she said. “Yeah, I don’t ever want to pay more. But I’m of the opinion that taxes are a good deal. It’s probably a terrible thing to say as a politician.”
La Plata County has unsuccessfully tried to raise taxes through ballot measures in the past. Henner Max believes the key to success is changing the messaging – and showing voters what their money would support.
For her, the budget shortfall is just one piece of a larger economic challenge: working-class residents being priced out of the community they’ve called home for generations.
Her solution: Focus on growing medium-sized businesses.
Attracting more companies like Stone Age and Agile Space Industries (started by her husband) could help create well-paying jobs that make it more feasible for young people to build a life in the area, Henner Max said.
“I’m not talking about turning Durango into the Silicon Valley of the mountains,” she said. “But there’s so much talent in this town that goes untapped. You’ve got people who are eager and well-educated working two jobs just to pay rent.”
More about Erica
What was the last book you read?
“Abundance” by Ezra Klein
What song will you never remove from your playlist?
“Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffett
What is your favorite way to spend time outside?
Brushing my horses
If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
SpongeBob
If you could have dinner with any famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Mahatma Gandhi
She pointed to the vacant BP building – a high-quality, Class One facility – as an ideal opportunity for new business investment.
Her personal story includes some experiences far removed from daily life in rural La Plata County: She’s had tea with Margaret Thatcher, gone boating with Jimmy Buffett, and received a personal phone call from President Joe Biden. She shows dogs and breeds European sport horses.
But that doesn’t change the innumerable experiences, joys and problems she’s shared with the other county residents she’s spent three decades living, working and raising a family alongside.
Henner Max is attuned to the challenges rural residents face. In areas outside Durango city limits, for example, water access is a pressing concern, which urban dwellers may not be as fully attuned to.
She also emphasized the importance of setting aside partisanship.
“I do not believe that county commissioner is a partisan political job,” she said. “I’m a Democrat, but I don’t think partisan politics belong in county government. This is our home, and we all need to listen to one another and find common ground – because I believe it exists.”
The election for county commissioner is in 2026, and Henner Max said the likelihood of her running is still up in the air. It is partially dependent on the outcome of the Tuesday appointment meeting, she said.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
