LP McKay
Okay, so first I want to give you the opportunity to introduce yourself. And if you have a party affiliation, you can go ahead and give that as well.
Shane Prentice
All right. Well, my name is Shane Prentice. I am, I have some raised a few dairy cows up at Dolores, out right outside of Dolores history and farming and ranching. For the last nine years, I've been the pastor at Mesa trails cowboy church. I am running as a for county commissioner as a Republican.
LP McKay
And what motivated you to run?
Shane Prentice
Well, I guess, to practice what I preach. You know, on a on a weekly basis, you know, or daily basis, in many, in many times, you know, I'm encouraging people to be the change that they want to see in their world, to actually take action and use the voice that we've been given. And so, yeah, I just decided that I kind of convicted a little bit to practice what I preach and use the voice I've been given.
LP McKay
If elected, what would be your top two or three priorities for the county in your first year?
Shane Prentice
I would like to see, first of all, a little transparency, a change in the way that meetings are run and the public interacts with the commissioners. I go to all the workshops and meetings, and I would just like to see a little real time transparency, a little interaction between the people. It's not to say that the commissioners don't allow that. With coffee at the county and the traveling town halls, they're very open and and they answer a lot of the questions that people have and address issues. It's just not in real time that would be one thing that I would like to see changed. And I guess I would like to see government stay small. You know that I want to see the wave of life that we've grown to love here preserved and not changed a whole lot. And I believe that in order for that to happen, government needs to stay small, quit expanding,
LP McKay
and there's room for one more priority, if you have one. But
Shane Prentice
I could go on...
LP McKay
I'm sure we'll get to more throughout the talk. As you're probably aware, Montezuma county is facing many ongoing financial challenges. How do you view the county's current budget situation, and what steps would you support to improve long term revenue stability?
Shane Prentice
I probably have a little different view than most people. As I've seen it over the last six years, the general fund and the reserve fund have both grown. That means that we have more revenue coming in than we have in the past. It continues to grow.
One of the biggest things that that I see is, you know, there's a there's a big push for, there's the short term rental fees, county sales tax. I disagree. I think if you want to see more revenue come in, then we rely on what we've already had. So one of the biggest things, I think, is if we can improve life around here a little bit, outsiders are going to see that, and they're going to come they're going to buy a 35 acre parcel, they're going to put up a $700,000 house that brings in revenue.
They're they're going to come in and they're going to start buying up all these subdivisions that are being formed, and they're going to put up a $400,000 house, and that's going to bring in revenue. I really think that a county sales tax? I know that's a big thing right now. I'm against it, and the reason being, for the most part, is, like I said, I see revenue.
It may not be huge, but I do see revenue coming in still, and it's growing. I. Um, but from my perspective, every time the government gets more money, the government grows. Every time the government grows you have, you have an increase of corruption, an increase of fraud, an increase of waste and abuse.
And not only that, as government grows, it takes away the rights. It always gobbles up people's rights. It makes more regulations, it makes more laws. And I see that as one of the the biggest downfalls of government is once it takes something, it never gives it back.
And so I'm not in my I believe that if we're going to, if we can't provide basic services with the funds that we already have, then we need to scale back the scope and the size of the government.
LP McKay
Yeah, and kind of dovetailing on that point you're making there at the at the end, how would you see the county balance funding for core services that they have to provide, like road maintenance, public safety, with other community needs?
Shane Prentice
Well, from what I can tell, I mean, looking over the budgets and everything road and bridge is doing well, they have, they get a milk mill levy, tax. They're sitting on a surplus, and I understand that that surplus is for future projects where we got to replace a couple bridges or something like that, and we need that in our reserves. But road and bridge is funded, as far as you know. The The other big issue we're facing right now is funding for the Sheriff's Department.
I fully believe that there is probably enough room in our reserves to start funding the Sheriff's Department. I commend the current commissioners. They have. They've put together an incredible reserve fund.
The issue I see is there they have a rainy day fund, but the Sheriff's Department not being funded is the definition of a pouring outside. So there's not it doesn't make sense to sit on a rainy day fund if it's raining outside, not only that, you know, I've learned through many years of ministry now that people want to see where their money's going. It's one thing to have it invested, and it's one thing to be sitting on on a fund for a rainy day, if you will. But if we're not putting that money to work for the people, government's not doing its job.
And so, you know this goes back to even even bringing people in and improving the quality of life here in Montezuma County, that if we were using some of that money to for law and order to make our community safer, to combat some of the cartels and the drug and the increase of crime that we see county wide, if we were using that money and the people could actually see it at work, I believe that it not only would it make it safer, but I mean, we could be paving roads, and I would like to even see red roads turned into county maintenance roads, and that improves the quality of life here in Montezuma County, with an improved quality of life, and it's safer, and our roads are better and our infrastructure is stronger.
More people are going to see that, and they're going to want to move here
LP McKay
and kind of along that line as well. What role do you see the county playing in things like supporting local businesses job growth and the workforce in Montezuma County?
Shane Prentice
I guess, you know, I mean, as far as supporting, I don't know that. I'm not a big fan of dumping a whole lot of taxpayer money into private business. I believe that private business should live or die on its own. You know, if you have a good business model, your business is going to be successful. But that being said, I mean, I don't see any problem with incentivizing certain businesses to come here, to try to increase the desire for businesses to come here. A lot of that is making it tax friendly.
LP McKay
Let's see, how would you work to make the county government you kind of mentioned towards the beginning of our time together that you feel that there is some need for more transparency. So how would you work to make the government more accessible and ensure residents feel heard in decision making?
Shane Prentice
I would like to. Business meeting to be open as it is now. And like I said, it's not that the commissioners aren't being transparent in certain venues. You know, with the county at the coffee and the town halls, they're extremely transparent. But in real time, I would like to see open business meetings, which would include, I understand that that would make maybe the meetings very long at times, but, but that is, that is the business of the government. So, you know, in the book of Proverbs, The Bible tells us that there's much wisdom in many counselors. I fully believe that if the public were able to ask questions, give insight, even opinion, during in real time concerning the events that are taking place on the agenda, then it would we have a much better chance of reaching a better solution.
LP McKay
And what do you see is the biggest challenge facing Montezuma county right now, and what opportunity are you looking most forward to if you're elected?
Shane Prentice
I think the biggest challenge that we have right now is really funding the core services that we have. You know, I look forward to hopefully helping to solve some of the rift that exists between the sheriff's department and the BOC. It's apparent, especially if you go to the meetings and so, you know, I look forward to kind of just trying to solve some of that rift, not only that, but there is a growing, I guess you'd have to say, a growing political environment here that we haven't had in the past. You know, it became very apparent through covid, and it is carried on since then. You know, I think that in many regards, we all want the same thing. We just think there's a different way to go about it, and so I think that opening up that conversation would probably benefit us all.
LP McKay
Yeah, and I think you're touching on this a little bit throughout what we've talked about as well, but just so we can get, like, a clear vision for folks, county commissioners often have to work closely with staff other elected officials at all levels of government, neighboring governments as well. How do you describe your leadership and collaboration style?
Shane Prentice
As far as leadership, I lead by example, I'm not going to ask anybody to do anything I wouldn't do myself and wouldn't you know, I'm not going to ask anyone to be a part participant in anything that I wouldn't participate in, as far as collaboration, you know, like I said, I think that the more voices that we can get, the more clear our path will be. And so, you know, I look forward to bringing in, you know, if we're dealing with an issue, I think that we should be bringing in experts in in those fields and and gaining from their wisdom before we move forward.
LP McKay
And kind of we're getting closer into the questions. And then I'll allow you some time. If we haven't touched on anything, we can talk about that as well. How would voters measure your success if you're elected? And what would you like point to as, here's my accomplishment in my first year. What would you point to? Hypothetically?
Shane Prentice
Um, I think it, you know, I think one of the major like, I've touched on this, but I think one of the major issues we're looking at here is the safety and security of the people in the county, which means, obviously, better funding for our Sheriff's Department, maybe more deputies. You know, crime has risen county wide, in all the different areas of the county, crime is going up, especially property crime and theft. If you saw the year end sheriff's report, there was, you know, a fairly significant seizure of drugs, which tells us that, you know, we have, we we have organizations working here in Montezuma County that are that are trafficking drugs, and, who knows, maybe people. And so I think you as far as accomplishments that I'd like to see in the first in my first year, would be definitely full funding and an increased strength that of our Sheriff's Department.
I. As far as looking back and seeing how people would measure my success, I would like for people to actually be able to point out and say, you know, hey, this, this was accomplished. Whether, like I said, you know, there what the county commissioners actually have control over is somewhat limited compared to what people really think they have control over. But, you know, I would like to see our infrastructure strengthened.
That's really, you know, one of the main things, I think, where people can really see our their money at work, you know, when they have a nice road drive down instead of, you know, a dirt road or a red road that doesn't get plowed or something like that. You know, I think just seeing their money at work.
LP McKay
Thank you for that answer. I think that makes a lot of sense. Is there any issue or topic that we haven't discussed, that you want to make sure that you let folks know what your views are on that
Shane Prentice
Well, I mean, the other hot button issue, I guess, that's facing us right now is the Dolores. NCA, that's a that's a political train wreck. I don't know how else to put it. You're not, you're not going to please anybody with that. It doesn't matter which way it goes overall.
You know, I have a farming and ranching background. I believe that agriculture is the backbone of this county. It always has been. I would like to see that promoted and extended, strengthened.
That being said. In order to do that, we have to keep our local resources local under local control, and we have to keep our public lands open to multi use public entities. Whether you know our grazing we do not want to see our grazing rights. You know that being able to graze on public lands keeps us, keeps our cattle industry healthy.
As far as the NCA goes, I am, overall, I am against handing federal control of our local resources over to anyone. The worry here is that since the Dolores River Basin drainage area has a wild and scenic designation, then it is a prime candidate for a monument. Now, what we've seen out of sand Canyon is that when a monument is formed, there's no more public use. You can go hiking on it and you can go biking on it, but you can't ride motorized vehicles like we used to be able to that there is no grazing.
It kind of shuts everything down. Now, I would rather see an NCA over a monument, but ultimately, I don't want any federal designation over our local resources that just leaves it susceptible to further, I guess, further action by people who aren't here to control our resources. But that being said, if an NCAA is the only way to get the to ensure that we don't get a monument, then unfortunately, that's something that I would have to look at supporting. But as of now, I'm not a big fan of it,
LP McKay
yeah, and it's ultimately in Congress's hands kind of right this point. So...
Shane Prentice
Yeah. I mean, you can offer support or or not, but ultimately we don't have anything much to do with it at this point.
LP McKay
Yeah, okay, well, is there anything else you wanted to share?
Shane Prentice
Not really. I mean, I guess you know, it's just my view that government should work for the people should be run more like a church than it is a business. And so that's what I have experience in, is running things like a church.
LP McKay
Excellent. Well, I appreciate your time, Shane, and for you coming down here.
