Aspen had its turn, and Glenwood Springs is now gearing up for its municipal election on April 4.
There are six candidates on the ballot for Glenwood Springs City Council running in four separate races, and no issues or measures. Ballots have already been mailed out to registered Glenwood Springs voters.
Incumbent Tony Hershey and challenger Erin Zalinski are running for an at-large council seat, incumbent Charlie Willman and challenger Sumner Schachter are running for the Ward 3 seat and Marco Dehm and Mitchell Weimer are running unopposed in Ward 1 and Ward 4, respectively.
On Monday, the candidates participated in an issues and answers forum where the uncontested candidates shared their views and the contested candidates were able to debate.
Hershey is an Aspen High School alum and currently completing his first term on the council. He also is a former Aspen City Councilman. Zalinski is the former owner of TreadZ, a clothing and shoe store located in downtown Glenwood Springs.
“I ran to be that voice of I’d say half the people in this community — not all of them, but probably half. I think the other five or six [council members] probably represent the other half,” said Hershey, a 9th Judicial District prosecutor. “So what I’ve endeavored to do for the last four years is speak for those people.”
Zalinski is running with the promise to represent Glenwood’s business community, and she said that she understands the concerns facing locals and local businesses and feels that perspective would be valuable at the council table.
“Glenwood Springs has the opportunity to purposefully evolve, not just get swept along in growth,” she said. “I have a close connection to the reality of living paycheck-to-paycheck and questioning whether or not you can remain in this community.”
Hershey and Zalinski differed in their opinions on a few issues, such as the pathways to workforce housing.
“It is not the government role to give people a house, to give them a house for ownership,” Hershey said. “We cannot provide an infinite number of housing and that’s what you’re proposing.”
He said when he hears people propose 1,000 new free-market, single-family homes, that means another 4,000-5,000 people, adding that he didn’t think Glenwood could support that many new residents or that current residents would want to live in Glenwood anymore.
“I think that one of the things we keep talking about is our character, and what kind of community do we want to live in, and I think embracing young families and having some sort of pathway to ownership is part of that,” Zalinski said. “So I think that some of these other solutions are critical for the greater conversation.”
Willman is currently Glenwood’s mayor pro-tem and also is completing his first term on the city council. Schachter is running for his first term on the council but has served on a number of local boards and commissions, including the steering committee for the city’s comprehensive plan.
Willman said the top three issues facing Glenwood are owner-occupied workforce housing, traffic and maintaining his membership on the Colorado Municipal League board of directors to ensure that Glenwood is not mandated to do things.
“They’re trying to get a requirement that the city be given the right of first refusal, which would seriously infringe upon local landowner rights,” he said. “Those are the kind of things that I’ve done. I’m an effective leader both at the state and local level.”
Schachter did not disagree widely with Willman on the issues but said he differed slightly on their impacts. He said he would like to prioritize taking care of “us” and the city’s infrastructure, and that fire safety, traffic, growth and housing also stood out to him as important issues.
“We have to nip away at the problem to get employee workforce housing for Glenwood employees and more owner-occupied in a manner that makes sense for Glenwood character,” he said.
Willman pointed out that while he and Schachter agreed on many issues, he sees a difference in their qualifications.
“The difference that I bring to you is that I’ve got the background in working with the infrastructure system,” he said.
Dehm was appointed to the council in February 2022 after former Councilman Steve Davis resigned from his seat. This will be the community’s first opportunity to elect Dehm to a council seat.
Dehm recalled the adoption of a contract for Habitat For Humanity to build affordable housing units, the 2022 accommodation tax approved by voters in November to fund workforce housing and the approval of the 2023 comprehensive plan update as highlights of his time on the council.
“I feel proud and honored to have been part of adopting those items,” he said. He added that he looks forward to creating more workforce housing, and focusing on economic development, disaster planning and safety in the next four years.
Weimer is running to replace current Councilwoman Paula Stepp, who will step down after serving one term.
“Paula Stepp has done a great job, I feel, in representing our ward for the last four years,” he said. “After a few conversations, I decided that it made sense for me to step up at this time and give back a little bit to the community that I feel is currently giving me so much.”
A complete recording of the forum can be viewed on the KMTS YouTube channel.
Ballots can be returned to the Glenwood Springs City Clerk’s office by mail or in person at three dropbox locations. Ballots are due no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day and should be mailed early. Voters who are voting by mail must remember to sign the inner envelope.
The dropboxes are located inside the Garfield County Courthouse, in front of the courthouse on Eighth Street and inside City Hall in front of the finance department’s office. The courthouse is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and City Hall is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The outside dropbox is available 24/7.
On Election Day, City Hall will be open for in-person voting and ballot drop-off from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Replacement ballots can be picked up at the city clerk’s office anytime between now and Election Day.