{"id":1317770,"date":"2020-01-19T16:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T23:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992781"},"modified":"2020-01-19T16:06:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T23:06:00","slug":"democrat-announces-challenge-to-martins-garfield-county-commission-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/democrat-announces-challenge-to-martins-garfield-county-commission-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat announces challenge to Martin\u2019s Garfield County Commission seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Katrina Byars<\/strong>
Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Former Carbondale trustee Katrina Byars announced Saturday that she will run for the Garfield County Board of Commissioners, challenging current Chairman John Martin for his District 2 seat.<\/p>\n

Byars, 40, said she is running to focus on environmental sustainability, protecting natural resources and \u201chealing the political divisions that have kept people from working together.\u201d<\/p>\n

 \u201cI want to run for Garfield County commissioner to bring the county together, so that we can put aside our differences and collaborate on solutions for the future,\u201d Byars said.<\/p>\n

As a native to Garfield County and now a resident of Glenwood Springs, Byars has a close connection to many communities and the surrounding environment.<\/p>\n

Byars went to school in Garfield County, and received her degree in sustainability studies from Colorado Mountain College. She recently completed her master\u2019s degree in legal studies at the Sturm College of Law at Denver University.<\/p>\n

She also founded Sustainable Planning and Development, a nonprofit that is about to launch a sustainability journal.<\/p>\n

Byars served most of one term <\/a>on the Carbondale Board of Trustees, resigning in 2017 to move to Glenwood Springs after struggling to find housing in Carbondale. She also ran for Carbondale mayor in 2016.<\/p>\n

Byars has worked on several projects with the county, including the Garfield County clean energy plan, but said she thinks it\u2019s time for new voices leading the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I personally respect the service of our sitting Garfield County commissioners, I don\u2019t feel that they always represent the range of diverse opinions and people in this county. I think I could do that better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Announcing her candidacy at the Garfield County Democrats\u2019 Martin Luther King Day dinner,<\/a> Byars said she was unaffiliated until a few months ago.<\/p>\n

Byars believes the slowness to change is due in part to the longevity of Martin\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a leadership role is held by a single person for decades, it can be difficult for things to change. My opponent, who I have a great deal of respect for, has been serving for almost a quarter of a century and it\u2019s time for a changing of the guards,\u201d Byars said.<\/p>\n

More than half of Garfield County\u2019s current budget comes from property taxes from the oil and gas industry, a reality that Byars recognizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appropriate level of oil and gas extraction in Garfield County or anywhere is one that protects human health and water quality, while providing the resource. I don\u2019t think that is what has happened up to this point,\u201d<\/p>\n

One area Byars would like to focus on is protecting waterways, and restoring any streams that have been contaminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have friends and family in Rifle that don\u2019t drink out of their tap because they don\u2019t trust their tap water,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Starting with the county party assembly process this spring, Garfield County Democrats will formally nominate candidates to run for both the District 2 commissioner seat and the District 3 seat currently held by incumbent Republican Mike Samson of Rifle.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katrina ByarsThomas Phippen \/ Post Independent Former Carbondale trustee Katrina Byars announced Saturday that she will run for the Garfield County Board of Commissioners, challenging current Chairman John Martin for his District 2 seat. Byars, 40, said she is running to focus on environmental sustainability, protecting natural resources and \u201chealing the political divisions that have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 04:48:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}