Horak wants open government

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Unaffiliated candidate Gerry Horak, a former Fort Collins City Council member and mayor, is making his first bid for county office in the race for Commissioner District 1.

Horak, 56, said he wants to bring changes to the commissioners' office. Like other candidates before him, Horak wants the commissioners to hold some of their administrative meetings in the evening and broadcast them on television. For example, the decision to place the criminal justice tax on the ballot should have been made in a televised night meeting, he said.

"If you're being paid $87,000, you should make it as convenient to the citizens as possible," Horak said.

A consultant who provides business development and project management services to companies who contract with federal agencies, Horak said Larimer County needs to develop a vision of what it wants to be in the 21st century. The county has an archaic way of budgeting, he said, when it should be budgeting for outcomes.

"That process should be done in conjunction with a shared vision and working with citizens," he said. "The county acts like whatever you had last year, you get this year."

Horak criticized the current county commissioners for not representing their constituents while the city of Fort Collins is forcing the Southwest Annexation. "The commissioners washed their hands of the matter and gave it to the city," he said, suggesting the county could have amended its intergovernmental agreement with the city because the southwest enclave was created by annexing natural areas.

Citizens attending public meetings on the annexation had questions that were not answered because there was no county representative there, Horak said. "The commissioners did a disservice to those citizens," he added.

Horak said he opposed the salary increases for elected county officials. As a candidate, he urged Gov. Bill Owens to veto the legislation, but the increases are now state law. Horak said, if elected, he would donate the 38 percent increase to charities for the next four years.

Horak, who has advanced degrees in resource economics and wildlife biology, had the following to say about other issues:

• Any additional livestock regulations should have a policy based on mitigation measurements, not on animal units. "The number of complaints is quite low," he said.
• If local governments pursue a regional transportation authority, the open lands tax model that divides revenue among cities and counties should be considered. "Each entity needs to be assured they are getting some money for the roads they care about," he said.
• He does not support the criminal justice tax as placed on the ballot because it is misleading. He also would not have hired an outside marketing firm to publicize the issue. The firm billed the county $13,220.

Horak said he would work full time as a county commissioner, but he has not decided if he would discontinue private consulting if elected. Any consulting would be minimal, he said, and there would be no conflicts of interest with county government issues.