Jody Shadduck-McNally and Ben Aste are running to serve as a Larimer County Commissioner in District 3, an area that encompasses Estes Park, Loveland, and Berthoud.
The Estes Valley Voice caught up with both candidates this past week for interviews about their campaigns and goals.
Jody Shadduck-McNally
Democrat Shadduck-McNally is the incumbent, having been elected in 2020.
She prides herself on a life-long connection to Estes Park. Born in Longmont, with a mother from east of Berthoud, Shadduck-McNally says she has been coming to Estes since she was a child.
“My uncle ran cattle and horses up from the Cheley Camp. That’s the 1940s. That’s a lot of history, right? And so, I just really care about this valley and Estes Park and its history really resonates with me and matters to me. I just want to make sure people know I do this job because I love it, and I love serving the community and serving the people and all the people, and I welcome diverse voices.”
In her role as a commissioner, her priorities have included the expansion of internet access across the county with NoCo Community Fiber, an alliance of Pulse Fiber Internet, Trailblazer, Fort Collins Connection, and the County. Ironically, Shadduck-McNally, who lives in unincorporated Loveland, says, “I still don’t have it.”
Another one of her initiatives has been the work of the Larimer County Behavioral Health Services Longview Campus in Fort Collins. The program provides mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Rather than to put American Rescue Plan dollars into the county’s general fund, Shadduck-McNally says Larimer County gave out funding to transformational projects such as $3 million in small business grants.
She also is proud of her work with housing initiatives, helping to steer funding to Estes Park for the Fish Hatchery workforce housing project that is in development, and championing the 6E lodging tax that passed two years ago.
Shadduck-McNally is concerned about wildfire mitigation, forest health and restoration efforts. “I literally go up every spring and help plant a hundred trees a day when I go up in the burn areas.” She is also concerned about the watershed. “We have really strengthened our partnerships with these watershed collaboratives and fire shed collaboratives to work on wildfire mitigation across organizations, agencies, and jurisdictions.”
If reelected, Shadduck-McNally is interested in developing a smoke preparedness plan to provide an alert system and continuing her work on many initiatives including expanding mental health services, providing affordable and attainable housing options, and protecting the environment.
To read more about Shadduck-McNally, click here for her campaign website.
Ben “Uncle Benny” Aste
Republican Ben Aste is making a second run for a seat on the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners. He ran against Shadduck-McNalley in 2020, who received 53% of the votes (107,600). Aste received 47% (95,087).
His three campaign bywords have been reasonable, affordable, and sustainable.
Aste, the son of an immigrant father and a mom from Detroit, grew up in Loveland and has made his home in Larimer County for 50 years.
He is the owner of Uncle Benny’s Building Supplies, a new, used, and salvaged building materials company in Johnstown that has diverted some 4 million tons of usable building materials from winding up a landfill. Calling himself a “recycling guru” Aste said, “I don’t say I am a conservative. I say I am a conservationist. I will conserve anything that I have been given stewardship over in whether it be natural resources or our climate, or money or a budget.”
Aste is proud of his business which he says provides jobs to Larimer County residents who work for his company and for contractors who are able to purchase materials at a savings.
Focusing on the environment, Aste is concerned about problems such as the county’s landfill which he says is at its capacity.
Aste’s campaign stresses a need for balance in county government. As a business owner, he says there are many impediments that make it hard for businesses. He says he sees this with contractors and developers who do business with his company who often have difficulty getting through the permitting process to proceed on building projects. He would like to reduce red tape and make it easier for businesses to be in the business of business.
Aste is concerned about a 25% increase in the size of the county staff over the past four years from 1639 to 2048 employees. “That’s a big ticket,” he said acknowledging that some of that is related to the county’s new mental health facility. “I’m concerned about the growth of our government,” Aste said.
With a background in building materials, he says he is interested in finding solutions to help first time homeowners to be able to purchase an affordable home. He is also interested in both the Big Thompson Reclamation Project, one of the largest and most complex projects undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation that directly affects the Estes Valley, and the 402 Corridor plan in Loveland.
To read more about Aste, click here for his campaign website.
Election Day
To vote in the 2024 local, county, state, and national elections, Colorado voters must cast their ballot by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
In Estes Park, drive up and walk-up ballot boxes are located outside Town Hall, 170 MacGregor Ave., and at the Estes Park Vehicle Licensing Office, 1601 Brodie Ave.
In-person voting is available at the Estes Valley Community Center, 660 Community Dr., on Monday, Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Tuesday, Nov. 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.