Eagle County Board of Commissioners results: Matt Scherr holds considerable lead over challenger Gregg Cooper
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Election night offered few surprises in the District 1 race for the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, with incumbent Democrat Matt Scherr poised to claim a win over Republican challenger Gregg Cooper.
As of 9 p.m., Scherr leads with 13,335 votes compared to Cooper’s 9,087.
Scherr, running for a second full term on the board, has stressed his experience and his desire to effect change in the valley through public policy.
Scherr has said he wants to continue to work for the county at the state level since almost all of Colorado’s counties are arms of the state government. The county is also the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to stop a rail line from Utah hauling crude oil along the Colorado River.
Reached by phone the afternoon of Election Day, Scherr said he’d spent most of his time campaigning knocking on doors, primarily in Latino neighborhoods, working to connect with those residents, and leaving his campaign information, either in person or on doors.
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Reached by phone riding a Pegasus bus to Denver, Scherr said he’d heard from Cooper, who’d called to congratulate him on his win. Scherr said he was on his way to a couple of events. One was a new state board he’d been appointed to, the Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise, which is looking for ways to find ways to find markets for recycled goods. The other event was a state counties association meeting.
Scherr was challenged this year by Cooper, a resident of Avon. Cooper had proposed an ambitious agenda for reforming the county government, from transforming the county to a five-commissioner, home-rule form of government to an idea for housing that includes small homes starting at just $133,000, including the land. Cooper, a Republican who is retired, had self-financed most of his campaign and said he’d serve without pay. He also said that county spending, which now relies on spending millions in county reserves for many projects, isn’t sustainable, and said savings could be found in many ways by consolidating services through technology.
In an email, Cooper said that his ideas for home ownership and streamlining the county government were well-received by “every person” he’d spoken with on the campaign trail. “I wouldn’t trade it away for anything,” he wrote.
Looking at the early returns, Cooper offered his congratulations to Scherr, saying “he earned” what appeared to be another term in office.
Tom Boyd in June won the Democratic primary to run for the District 2 seat being vacated by longtime Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry, who was appointed in 2013 to replace former Commissioner Jon Stavney. No other candidate ran for the seat, so Boyd has known for months he’s the likely next commissioner. As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, Boyd had collected 14,298 votes.
In a phone interview, Boyd said he’s ready to transition in January into that new role. Boyd said he’s been talking frequently with Chandler-Henry, as well as community leaders and residents.
Housing is “easily the most common topic” he’s hearing from virtually everyone, Boyd said. But, he added, talking about housing means “restoring balance to the housing market. To do that you need to have partnerships 鈥� It’s not the government’s job to fix housing single-handedly.”
Beyond housing, Boyd said he’s also been talking to residents about transportation, water, recreation and about responsibly spending the county’s limited resources.
“I’m just looking forward to serving the people of Eagle County,” Boyd said.
