La Plata County Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick has been on the board for just over seven months, yet has already navigated a natural disaster response, the drafting of a new budget and fraught community-wide conversations involving the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure.
She’s no longer just a resident affected by the decisions of government, but one of the leaders making those often difficult calls, and reflecting on her experience thus far, Philbrick said the work has only reaffirmed her belief in the strength, effectiveness and importance of local government.
Philbrick assumed the position in July after the county’s democratic vacancy committee elected her to fill the empty seat left by Commissioner Clyde Church’s premature resignation.
Because she was sworn in outside the regular election cycle, Philbrick missed the weekslong on-boarding process typically afforded to new commissioners – including time given to shadow county departments and attend what she described as “commissioner school.”
Instead, she was handed 3-inch binders and expected to learn on the fly.
“I got thrown into sort of a perfect storm, and that meant I didn’t quite have the grounding,” she said.
In recent months, Philbrick’s comfort working from the dais has increased. Her questions about procedure have tapered off.
She said she has found her voice and begun to focus more fully on the issues she campaigned on, particularly reforming county code to better support small businesses and development.
Policy-wise, Philbrick has taken a lead role in county code reform, an issue she campaigned on. She helped form a code review team that meets every other week to examine land-use regulations, development processes and how those rules are communicated to the public.
“Our code is inundated with mandates that come from the state level,” she said, noting that many are unfunded but legally required. “That doesn’t mean we are not required to address them.”
Philbrick said the goal is not to add regulations, but to streamline them and align county rules with community goals.
“I want to make sure that our code is written so that we can build things again,” she said. “Governance is kind of boring, but it matters.”
She pointed to recent work on battery energy storage system regulations and lot legalization as examples of progress, noting high public engagement and civil discourse at recent hearings.
“That’s good governance,” she said.
Another opinion of hers that has been cemented: government should not be run like a business.
“Businesses are intended to be for-profit, whereas the government’s role is to be for safety and security and health and welfare,” she said. “Government needs to be good to everyone they encounter – whether those people agree with the government or not.”
She said much of the public frustration directed at county government stems from confusion about what counties actually do. During last year’s sales tax campaign, Philbrick said the most common question she heard was: “What do you even do?”
Her answer: The boring stuff, like road improvements and culvert repairs, or deciding on how far back power lines need to be from structures.
According to Philbrick, it’s not sexy but its critical to maintaining the quality of life, and ensuring residents safety.
“A really good government is one you barely hear about,” she said, describing herself as a proponent of “quiet government.”
The criticism though, places an emotional burden on her. She said she has received a significant amount of vitriol and harassment from online commentators.
“Whatever mean things someone said about me, and some horrible trail of Facebook comments, the online trolls, they hit hard,” she said. “… But the thing is, is in the end, when I come home and I get snuggled by my two little boys, I can think to myself this is the reason I’m doing it.”
“I’m willing to take the hits so that their world and all other young people’s world can be better in our county.”
Philbrick represents District 1, which includes the western, southern and northern portions of the county and the communities of Redmesa, Kline, Marvel, Hesperus, Bondad, Hermosa and Purgatory.
The District 1 board seat is up for reelection in November. Philbrick formally announced her intent to run for the position in late January, several weeks after she spoke with The Durango Herald.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
