Foster chosen for city council after split vote causes logjam

Foster chosen for city council after split vote causes logjam

Mar. 22, 2001

Harold Foster

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

After a lengthy stalemate on Monday night, the Cortez City Council unanimously voted to appoint retired construction superintendent Harold Foster to fill the vacancy left by former council member Karen Garner.

Foster will serve out the remaining year left in Garner’s term. She resigned in January, and would have faced re-election in April 2002.

"It will be interesting. I think I’ll learn more how the city is being run and how our money is being spent," Foster said on Wednesday.

"I liked his manner. He seemed to be thoughtful and not too opinionated."

— Joe Keck

As to what he wants to accomplish while on the council, he said: "I just want to see the growth go right, and I think streets need improvements."

Foster has been a resident of Montezuma County since 1973 and of Cortez since 1988. He retired from Triad Western Constructors in April of ’99 and told the council he now has more time to devote to community service. "I am interested in becoming a council member because I feel I have a lot to offer as a public servant to the people of the City of Cortez," he wrote in his application letter.

"Mr. Foster’s experience in water-line, road construction, and street improvements, I think will bring a lot to the table," said Mayor Joe Keck. "I liked his manner. He seemed to be very thoughtful and not too opinionated."

But Foster was not the council’s first choice. Of the eight candidates interviewed by the council before the special meeting — Jeff Gardner, Bill Yocom, Mary Bachran, Dennis Robson, Chris Chavez, Ken Banks, Jerry Wiltgen, and Foster — the council members settled on Robson and Yocom as their two top picks. But they couldn’t agree on one candidate, and Foster was a compromise.

"I would prefer to think I stepped to the middle in the best interest of council," explained council member Cheryl Walkenhorst, who offered Foster’s name after the six-member board took sides over Yocom and Robson.

Foster was on the short list of council members Bill Rutledge and Larry Kautz as well, and since the other three couldn’t agree on one candidate, they decided to bow to the will of the majority — but not until the matter had been thoroughly debated.

"I think Dennis has done the work and he’s earned the position," Walkenhorst said of Robson, her first choice.

"No, he’s not a guy who’s been a lender at all these institutions and put together subdivisions all over hell and gone, but you know what, he’s a local boy who has done good. He’s served us very, very well on planning and zoning and I don’t think we should penalize him for that by sticking him back on P and Z. He didn’t win the election, but he hasn’t given up."

Robson ran for a seat on the council in 1998, barely missing one by 26 votes. Since 1999 he has served on the Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission, a duty three council members cited in backing him.

Yocom, who owns the Aneth Lodge and has an extensive real-estate and mortgage-lending background, was the pick of Mayor Keck, Mayor Pro Tem Fred Torres, and council member Larry Kautz because of his business experience.

"The perspective of an independent business owner is worth a lot," explained Keck, who also cited Yocom’s "critical objectivity."

Kautz agreed and said, "Dennis’s slant on things would not be pro-business."

During their interviews, both Yocom and Robson cited growth as one of the biggest challenges facing the city.

"From my planning and zoning background I think it’s important that we maintain growth, but we want it regulated and organized the way we want it. The best way to do that is to make sure things that are compatible with the neighborhood," said Robson.

Yocom agreed. "I think first thing is we need to make sure we have a handle on it (growth), but I’m not for people in Denver saying how to do it. But I do think that we need to be aware that we’re going to have to have solutions. It’s going to happen."

Herrick said that although he was "impressed" with Yocom’s answers, he still had a problem with the guest column Yocom wrote for the Cortez Journal in August. Yocom’s column accused the council of destroying "the integrity of the city’s zoning laws" and "its position of trust" by passing an ordinance, while the Mesa Verde fires were going on, allowing medical clinics within the residential zoning of Highway 145.

During his interview, Yocom admitted to council he had made a mistake and said, "Actually, looking back on it, it worked out OK."

Keck said the council held public meetings on the re-zoning for several months before making a decision.

"The tone of the letter was that we snuck it (the ordinance) behind the public’s back using the fire as a guise. We all know how absurd it was, and letting him into the club, so to speak, does not sit well with me," said Herrick.

"I think it was very immature of him to write that letter," said Walkenhorst. "I think it was very non-professional."

Disagreeing with other council members’ desire for another member who represented the business community, Walken-horst said, "There is a segment of our population that has the right to be represented. They don’t have the polish to get in the paper, they don’t have the money and the wherewithal to do the wheeling and the dealing, but they have just as much right to be represented."

On Wednesday, Keck said the outcome of the voting, with the council’s third choice being ultimately appointed, was "pretty similar to what I’ve seen in the past."

Yocom has never run for council in an election year, but this is the second time he has been passed over for an appointment. In 1999, the council picked Walkenhorst to fill a seat vacated by Mike Kelly, as a compromise in a similar stalemate.

But in an interview with the Journal, Herrick disputed the normalcy of the procedure, calling it a "bizarre experience."

"Before, we were always able to easily reach a total consensus," said Herrick, who served on the council from 1994 to 1998, and was re-elected in April 2000.

"It really comes down to basic math. The mayor could see the writing on the wall, and he could no longer count to four (for a council majority) with Robson (being appointed)," explained Herrick, adding, "We had the opportunity to fill the seat with a qualified individual."