La Plata County Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick was appointed to replace District 1 representative Clyde Church. With seven months on the board, Philbrick is hungry for four more years.
She formally announced her intent to run for the District 1 seat this week. The election will mark the first time voters can weigh in on her leadership. District 1 covers much of western La Plata County.
Philbrick was appointed in May by the county’s Democratic vacancy committee, which selected her from three other Democratic candidates to serve out the remainder of Church’s term.
Philbrick’s initial campaign focused on supporting small business, streamlining the county’s land-use code and strengthening rural economic development – and several months later, those remain her priorities, she said.
Philbrick said affordability and overregulation continue to be among the biggest concerns she hears from residents, particularly business owners.
Those issues are ones she’s experienced firsthand. Philbrick and her husband own EsoTerra Ciderworks, and while she stepped away from the day-to-day business operations, she said she still brings a perspective heavily rooted in the challenges La Plata County business owners face.
“I do have one foot in agriculture and one foot in policy, and apparently another foot – call me a three footed monster – in business,” she said.
However, she said many of the regulations residents attribute to the county originate at the state or federal level, limiting the commissioners’ ability to intervene.
Although she remains idealistic as when she started, Philbrick said she is, “definitely more informed about how to make change.”
The county’s land-use code, long criticized by some as overly restrictive, must comply with state legislation – a requirement that can make changes difficult, Philbrick said. In some cases, frustration is directed at the county even when decisions come from outside agencies, such as the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“Sometimes a property owner gets a ‘no’ because of a CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) requirement, and the county is blamed,” Philbrick said. “We’re furiously working toward change, but the majority of the letters I receive are about projects the county has no fingers in at all.”
Still, ensuring government regulations do not stifle local growth and that the community’s children have a place to return to and be financially successful is possible – and her focus.
“There’s quite a bit of room for improvement available at all tiers of government,” Philbrick said. “And anyone who tells you otherwise is not paying attention.”
She’s leading the code review team, a movement within the county to ensure the code evolves to meet the community’s needs. Philbrick said she wants to make intentional changes to pieces of code that are adversely impacting residents – which requires direct, specific communication from the community.
Residents and the board won’t – and don’t – always see eye-to-eye during those conversations, but Philbrick said she welcomes the disagreement, and the conversations that they can create when people, commissioners included, are open to different perspectives.
Heading into the campaign season, she anticipates lively discussion over government’s role.
“I’m finding that the greater the rising concern in our community right now is what government can and cannot do,” she said. “And really honestly, I find that the majority of my correspondence with our neighbors is sort of clarifying the various jurisdictions of what a county government can do.”
Philbrick hopes to keep having those conversations.
As of this week, she is the only candidate – Democrats or otherwise to formally announce a run for the District 1 seat.
Primary elections are scheduled for June 30, and the general election is Nov. 3.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
