Submitted Biography
My name is Sharleen Farmer and I am running for Conejos County Commissioner District 1. I am a Colorado native. My husband and I purchased our home outside of Antonito in 2017 and became permanent residents in 2019. I have spent the last 5 years getting to know Conejos County and the incredible people who call this place home. I have been active within the community and have volunteered on the Conejos County Sales Tax Committee, the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area Board, the Conejos County Sheriff’s Advisory Board, the Redistricting Committee, and the OTR Committee. I currently work part-time as the Director of the Antonito Senior Citizens Association. I have fallen in love with the San Luis Valley and intend to spend the rest of my life within this community. I am committed to protecting the history, culture, natural resources, and the people of Conejos County.
Campaign Phone
7202206181
When I talk to citizens of Conejos County about what they would like to see for the future, the overwhelming response is to bring back what Conejos used to be - a safe, thriving community with businesses, jobs, recreational activities, good roads, and opportunities for kids. As County Commissioner, I will work hard to bring these things back to the community. In the first 100 days, I will create a survey for citizens to capture what type of businesses and economic development they would like to see in Conejos. I will then start reaching out the companies that offer those services. I will also start up classes on operating small businesses so that local residents will have opportunities to work and improve their communities. I will work closely with the Sheriff's Department and local police officers to put programs into place to improve the safety of our communities. I will work with the school districts and local businesses to create internships and scholarships for our kids.
The citizens of Conejos County deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent. I will work to increase communication and provide opportunities for our citizens to have a voice. I will work to ensure that all financial and budgeting decisions are made with a focus of improving the lives of the citizens of our county. I will also work to ensure that funds are spent responsibly and frugally.
Living in a rural community with a long abundant history of hunting and ranching, I support citizens owning guns for those purposes. However, I am very concerned that with every traffic stop or response call our sheriff deputies make, they are potentially in danger due to the increasing number of firearms. I am also alarmed by the continuation of school shootings in our nation. I believe that we need to continue to have regulations about who buys and owns firearms and to ensure that those regulations are upheld. We need to ensure our deputies have the tools they need to do their jobs and keep themselves safe. We need to improve the safety of our school buildings and train school employees to identify potential issues and respond to emergencies.
I believe that it is our responsibility to protect the earth that we live on. As a county commissioner, I would work to help clean up environmental issues in our county. We have too many unauthorize dumps and storage of materials that threaten our environment. I would work with land use to help clean up the county and I would work with the trash companies to ensure we have opportunities available for responsible disposal of hazardous items. I would work closely with the Emergency Manager to determine steps that need to be taken to protect homes from wildfires and work to provide assistance to homeowners to perform wildfire mitigation.
Unfortunately the need for affordable housing is growing in our community and it goes hand in hand with the lack of jobs in our area. One of my goals is to help bring back businesses into our community which will also bring jobs into our community. In regard to housing specifically, I will reach out to other small communities that have successfully created more affordable housing and utilize their experience and expertise to bring programs back to Conejos County.
I believe that county government officials have a responsibility to uphold the laws of our country and if there are laws that no longer work or are not right for our country, we should work to change them. With that being said, I also want to recognize the benefits to the agricultural industry to have workers to tend and harvest crops. Many of those workers are immigrants who travel seasonally to work at the farms. During the Covid pandemic when travel was halted, many farmers suffered due to the lack of workers to harvest and process crops. We need to ensure that our immigration laws provide work visas and ways for immigrant workers to enter the country legally to provide this service.
I have spent the last five years learning about the county. I feel that I have the knowledge to step into the role and hit the ground running. I am committed to working full-time and being available for county citizens who have concerns or questions. I believe that I can make positive changes that will honor that goal to restore Conejos back to the thriving community it once was.
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