County-commission candidates Rebecca Busic and Rodney Cox voiced similar views on some issues but clearly disagreed on others during a forum put on by the Republican Women of Montezuma County in Cortez on Thursday.
Busic, a Democrat, and Cox, a Republican, are running for the seat now held by Jim Candelaria, who is term-limited.
In answer to a question, both said they support a county sales tax, though one isn’t on the ballot this year.
They also both said they support the national conservation area that has been proposed for the lower Dolores River, though they said it’s largely out of the hands of the commissioners since it’s been introduced in Congress.
However, they voiced differing views on affordable housing and child care.
A question, apparently written by the GOP organizers, said there is “no transparency” in who receives housing assistance and that it isn’t a constitutional right. (Many of the questions contained a fair amount of commentary.)
Cox said housing prices are high, but it would be best to “just let the private sector build.”
He said the county doesn’t receive property taxes from affordable housing and, though it is good to bring more people into the county, they’ll be using county services.
People in the private sector can start day-care centers or build houses and sell them as cheaply as they want, Cox said. He asked why the government is expected to be a solution to everything.
He also said it’s too easy for people to get by here without working.
“The more handouts we take, the more we expect,” Cox said.
Busic said affordable housing and child care are two of the county’s top issues.
“We are seriously lacking in affordable housing,” she said, speaking of a 74-year-old grandmother who is raising two children here. All of them are living in their van while waiting for someplace to live, Busic said.
The fastest-growing group of homeless people is seniors on fixed incomes, she said.
She said businesses are discouraged from starting up or operating locally if their employees can’t find child care or a place to live.
“It is not that people don’t want to work, it’s that working people can’t afford to live here,” Busic said.
She and Cox were asked their opinion of data centers.
Busic said she asked the current commissioners whether they might impose a moratorium on data centers and they said no because there isn’t enough water here to support one.
However, data centers are being built in deserts in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, she said.
The county land-use code needs to adopt a section regulating data centers, Busic said. “If people in Montezuma County decide they want data centers, that’s one thing, but no one I talked to did,” she said. “I would support a ban in Montezuma County.”
About 500 counties and municipalities have imposed bans or moratoriums on data centers since the beginning of the year, she said.
“We are sitting ducks.”
Cox said there are different kinds of data centers, but if something will be a draw on water, “I’m out.”
Data centers don’t fit his idea of what the county should be, he said.
In response to a question about why the candidates decided to run, Cox said he was the last Republican to enter the race and had to petition onto the ballot.
“I felt I had as many or more skills than the others,” he said, adding that, if elected, he will “represent everybody in this room equally.”
He has run small business for 28 years, Cox said, and served on numerous boards, including water boards and the Mancos School Board.
It’s been 26 years since a Democrat was elected to the Montezuma County Commission, and a woman has been elected only one time, for one term, but Busic said she’s running because voters should have a choice.
She said the commissioners represent the highest elected office in the county and to have someone run unopposed is like giving them a job with a six-figure salary without even an interview.
“I have talked to tons of Republicans and unaffiliated people and it has been a joy,” Busic said. “I wish these elections weren’t as divisive as they have come to be.”
