The Woodland Park City Council/Mayor Candidates Forum made it clear that we need to add Don Dezellem, not Mary Sekowski, to our current high performing city council team.

The synergy on the Dias is there to move our city into the future, a future we can all be proud of, a future our current City Council positioned our city for success. A team that is securing our water availability for decades to come. Brought us the Meadow Wood Sports Complex Master Plan that all of us will enjoy even more, the Avenger Open Space, the Shining Mountain Golf Course and open space and a new reenvisioned Bergstrom Park, a tremendous new asset for our downtown area.

As a former Planning Commissioner and mayoral candidate, I’ve seen what effective local leadership looks like, and it’s clear who would be the best addition to work with the current City Council.

The choice is clear; add Don Dezellem to the team. Don is already a planning commissioner with three years of experience sending recommendations to city council that included a major rewrite of a portion of our ordinances. These recommendations benefit all of us. Don has absolutely no personal or financial agenda, except to continue to do what he’s always done, serve and support our city to help make it a better place for all of us.

Don has lived and worked in Woodland Park for decades and spent thousands of hours on numerous Woodland Park government teams and committees.

Or, do we add someone who seems to have done nothing over the last few years but generated divisiveness within our city? Someone who sued every Woodland Park resident, not once but twice, and now wants our votes. Someone who lost three “battles” against the citizens in less than a year, fighting us all the way to take away our residential property rights. Someone who, after losing those “battles” trying to reverse what the Citizens put into law, seems to continue to refuse to accept the will of the people. Someone who is now personally in the appeal court to apparently try to find judges that will allow Short-Term Rental investors from anywhere in the world to take over our residential neighborhoods. Someone who asked for a $1.7 million dollar TIF from the city to support her downtown Tava House restaurant.

Her answer at the candidate forum pertaining to conflicts of interest raised a big, red flag by saying the lawyers will decide for her. Our city attorneys provide legal advice and counsel, they do not make decisions. You know when you have a conflict of interest and a moral responsibility to recuse oneself, or by majority vote city council can force a recusal. If neither works, the citizens could make the decision to take away that vote.

That’s the Mary Sekowski choice.

Help keep our high performing city council team together to continue to move our city forward into the future.

Vote for Don Dezellem, Catherine Nakai, Seth Bryant and Jeffrey Geer…ALL FOUR.