Timnath hires new administrator

By Dan MacArthur
Timnath Correspondent

Guy Patterson has returned home and found his place in Timnath following an eclectic career ranging from substitute teacher to political campaign manager.

Patterson began his latest venture on Jan. 18 as Timnath's new town administrator. It's one he expects to endure much longer than any other job he's held in his 35 years.

"In five years, I want this to be the jewel of Colorado," he said, still settling in on his first day of work in his spare office carved from a corner of the cozy town hall.

Patterson comes to Timnath from Red Cliff. He served as administrator of the Western Colorado town of 350 since the spring of 2003. While there, Patterson said, he worked successfully to repair the town's water and wastewater system, refinance its debt and mend torn relationships with other local and state governments. Patterson said he also served on the regional transportation authority and worked with the local congressmen to obtain a $1 million appropriation for improving the wastewater plant.

While the towns are about the same population and seemingly face similar issues, Patterson said they are quite different.

Although still relatively isolated, Red Cliff is a historic mining town only a few miles removed from the glitter gulch of Vail. The median price of a home is $350,000, according to Patterson, and its residents have arrived relatively recently for the most part.

In contrast, he said, Timnath has agricultural roots, lots of longtime residents and homes that are still comparatively affordable. The town's also unavoidably more intertwined with its neighbors by virtue of being surrounded by larger fast-growing communities.

"The challenges here are unique to the state," Patterson said. "No other town is going through what Timnath's going through."

Born and raised in Fort Collins, he earned his associate degree from Front Range Community College, his undergraduate degree in history and journalism from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and a master's of public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Interspersed with and following his education, Patterson said, he has worked a smorgasbord of jobs delivering pizzas, waiting tables, busting tires, substitute teaching, staffing the Vail Valley Chamber of Commerce, serving as a hotel night manager and investigating securities fraud.

But his passion is politics and public policy. Most notably, Patterson said, he managed the successful campaign for a $62.5 million school bond issue in Greeley. He served as political and policy director for Denver City Council member Ramona Martinez in her unsuccessful bid to wrest the Democratic nomination away from incumbent U.S. Rep. Dianna DeGette. He also worked as a legislative aide to his former teacher Bob Bacon and a researcher for the Big Horn Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit, progressive "think tank."

Patterson said his goal is creating accessible, accountable government committed to serving Timnath citizens. "This town is going to grow and as it grows it's going to pay for itself," he said. "My job is to get the most out of their tax dollars."

What he perhaps most appreciates about Timnath, Patterson said, is the deep grassroots community involvement typified by the plainspoken board of trustees and residents who stopped by the open house to meet him.

"You have people who are willing to speak their minds," he said. "Here you cannot be detached. They'll chase you down."

Single, Patterson said he now is shopping for the home he could never afford in the pricey Vail Valley. He replaces the town's first administrator, Joe Racine, who was asked to resign last summer. Patterson will earn $60,000 annually.