Rennels eyes alternative energy

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

With Larimer County voters allowing their elected officials to serve three terms, Republican Kathay Rennels of Livermore is running again for the District 1 commissioner's job.

As she winds up her eighth year in office, Rennels, 60, said she would like to concentrate on rural economic development and alternative energies if re-elected. Commissioners have spent more than a year discussing ways people can start small businesses outside city limits, but many of the ideas would require changes to the county's land-use code.

Alternative fuel sources could become the county's new crop, Rennels added, noting Colorado State University, private industry, cities and the county should work together on innovative ideas.

Proposed livestock regulations drew the biggest crowd to the commissioners' land-use hearings this past year. Facing strong opposition to many of the changes, all three commissioners voted against the code amendments. Rennels said that task is not completed, however, because owners of livestock like llamas, alpacas and emu need to know if they are going to be regulated.

"We need to say 'yes, you are' or 'no, you're not,'" she said, noting the issue has remained unresolved since she first took office.

Rennels said she would push for some resolution next year after meeting with livestock user groups. "We heard loud and clear they want to be part of finishing the solution," she said. "...I want to give people the chance to do the right thing."

Commissioners have the job of setting the county's annual budget. While they can't tell other elected officials how to spend their budgets, they do allocate the dollars each department spends and approve new job positions. Noting Sheriff Jim Alderden's request for an additional $600,000 for a gang unit, Rennels said, "The taxpayers don't have $600,000."

The county will have to look for more-creative, less-costly solutions, just as county staff has done with alternative sentencing programs to relieve jail crowding, Rennels said. "The easy thing is throwing money at it," she said. "The problem is there is no money."

Rennels' opponent has criticized the state legislature's decision to substantially raise salaries for county elected officials. The annual salary for the District 1 commissioner moves from $63,203 to $87,300 in January. Salaries for District 2 and 3 won't change until the new terms start in two years.

Elected officials have to take the state-set salary, Rennels responded. "It's not a bargaining chip," she said. "Otherwise the office becomes an auction" with the job going to the lowest bidder.

Without salaries that are competitive with private business, county government would be more likely to attract retired or independently wealthy candidates, she noted, adding that elected officials' salaries may not change again for a number of years.

As a county commissioner, Rennels is a member of the board of directors for Colorado Counties Inc. and serves on its tax and finance committee. Before being elected to office, she was a member of the county planning commission. She has a background in ranching and real estate.