Fort Collins City Council hopefuls make their case to fill Overbeck's vacant seat

Community engagement tactics, economic development and unique issues facing northeast Fort Collins steered interviews held late Wednesday to determine the next City Council member.

Eight council hopefuls leaned on family history, elected office, public service, professional qualifications and expertise and, most of all, passion and love for the city in their answers.

Each hopes to replace former City Council member Bob Overbeck, who resigned to assume the mantle of Larimer County assessor. The candidate selected will represent District 1 — northeast Fort Collins — until the April election, when voters will determine who will fill the final two years of Overbeck's term.

While nine people applied for the position, one did not show up to the interview. Christopher Staten said there was a miscommunication and he's working with city staff to reschedule an interview. He's also eyeing a run for the seat in April, regardless of this outcome.

"It was no fault of anybody," Staten said. "It was just a mistake."

Here are the key takeaways from the interviews, in order of the candidate's appearance. Residents can weigh in on the candidates at FCGov.com/council1vacancy. The City Council plans to make its appointment Jan. 15, with a swearing in Jan. 22.

E. John Clarke

Clarke offered his service and experience in elected office, including a stint on City Council in the 1980s and as Larimer County commissioner in the 1990s, as a stopgap until the city election in April. That includes helping guide major development in District 1. Growth and development was a key issue for the district, he said.

He called the crop of people interested in the seat, as evidenced by those applying for the short-term role, a good field for voters to chose from in a few months — without one having an advantage of being selected to the seat already.

"We'll be able to have an election with a level playing field," he said, adding that he would not run in April.

Jerry Gavaldon

Gavaldon noted a long history in the district, dating back to a grandfather being named a top sugar beet farmer there in the 1940s. But he's not running solely on family longevity.

A lifetime in Fort Collins has given him a wide network of people to keep in mind and seek a variety of opinions on contentious issues. Some of that comes from his time on the board of his homeowner association, where he helped cut community water usage by more than 1 million gallons.

He noted that growth in the northeast — home to the most developable land in the city's growth management area — is coming and bringing its own challenges.

The city is largely on the right track, he said, and has been for some time. He noted that Greeley used to be the economic hub of Northern Colorado, only to be overtaken by Fort Collins.

Danielle Buttke

Buttke called the opportunity to serve on City Council a chance to give back to a community she fell in love with during a veterinarian externship a decade ago. She's since made a home here and serves on the natural resources advisory board and West Nile virus technical advisory board.

Her background as a scientist would bring a unique view to council, she argued, and tied it back to a discussion earlier in the night about asphalt roof shingles. If the city is worried about those overwhelming the landfill, for example, it needs to acknowledge climate change is spurring more severe storms — and more roof replacements as a result.

She would also bring a perspective that melds Fort Collins' past and present, she said. She's a first-generation college graduate from a family of farmers.

But that perspective would be short-lived: Buttke wouldn't be able to run for a full term on Council because of potential deployment as a federal public health service officer, she said.

Susan Gutowsky

Gutowsky hopes to parlay her almost eight years on the Poudre School District Board of Directors into another term of public service with the City Council.

She notes that the school board has experience with multimillion-dollar projects and working with constituencies that may not be happy about decisions or circumstances. It also means she brings experience running two successful campaigns for public office.

Gutowsky said she's watched the city change over the decades to the point where the home she bought on what was the southern edge of town is now considered Midtown Fort Collins. And it's not done changing yet. She noted that growth will need be be planned and managed to make sure it doesn't hurt quality of life, and name-dropped the proposed Montava development as an exciting change.

"There's not a lot of land left to develop, so we have to be careful with how we do it," she said.

Jessica Hazlett

Hazlett helped start a volunteer organization and completed Fort Collins' City Works education program, and set her sights on greater public service. When this seat opened up, she said she "might as well give it a shot and see if this is something I'd like to do and run for the full-time position."

She said she fell in love with the city after moving here from Denver to go to Colorado State University. Instead of leaving for a big city after graduation, she's made the Choice City home.

Hazlett said she'd work with the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce and CSU to promote economic development and balance the needs of businesses already in town and those hoping to come here. Homelessness is a key issue for the Old Town area and the district, she said, but was hopeful the behavioral health services tax approved by Larimer County voters will soon help mitigate related issues.

Nathaniel Budd

Budd noted that he essentially laid the groundwork to serve District 1 two years ago in his failed bid to unseat Overbeck.

He noted that the district would include the Mulberry Street corridor when it's annexed into the city, as well as other growth slated for the area. He hoped to tap into existing state resources to maximize economic development and make the most of Fort Collins' human resources. While about 45 percent of Fort Collins residents have a college degree, only about 20 percent of jobs require that level of education, he said.

Affordability is an issue that needs to be addressed and he praised the city's efforts with the land bank. But homelessness still exists and needs to be destigmatized.

"Homelessness and housing affordability isn't  a transient issue; it's a friends and neighbors issue," Budd said. "People you went to school with, go to church with, who have fallen on hard times."

Joseph Somodi III

Somodi is one of two people to have already officially declared for the seat in the April election. The other, Glenn Haas, plans to run in April but didn't throw in to fill the temporary vacancy. Somodi said he was motivated by the Fort Collins community to further his volunteerism and give back more to the city.

He praised efforts like the the whitewater park as an example of the city mixing multiple priorities into one project: environmental restoration, spurring tourism and visitation to the River District, and opening more land to development by taking it out of the floodplain.

He also promoted denser housing in Old Town as a way to preserve downtown's economic vitality and affordability. 

Richard Cress

Cress said he was finally able to mostly retire from a business he owned in Minnesota and now hopes to give back to his new home. He cited his background as the owner of a small publishing business and being a salesman "basically all my life" as how he'd be able to engage with and represent the community.

He promoted the city continuing to build its relationship with Larimer County and CSU as a path to prosperity, and said the city should "keep the pedal on the ground a little bit" for economic development. He used a similar analogy for managing growth: Slow and steady versus going too extreme.

"Just controlled growth," he said of issues facing the district. "But you guys are doing a great job with that."

He also proposed dividing District 1 before it grows to be too much for one person to represent.