Democrat Erin Kelley, a Salida resident and Colorado native, is running for the Colorado House District 60 seat against Rep. Jim Wilson.

Kelley said she is running because she believes there are several issues affecting our rural area that currently are not a focus on the state level.

Town clerk Paula Barnett calculated a voter turnout rate of 62.1 percent. “Easily 30 people” registered to vote on election day, she said, and 287 people delivered their ballots to town hall that day. Fifteen came in by mail on April 3.

Next week, Buena Vistans will decide on four trustees and one mayor out of a slate of 11 trustee candidates and two mayoral candidates, the most competitive municipal race in recent memory.

The Buena Vista Event Cooperative and The Chaffee County Times co-sponsored a well-attended candidate forum March 14 to familiarize BV voters with its slate of 13 candidates seeking public office in the April 3 elections.

Two are seeking to take the seat of Mayor Joel Benson, who is term-limited: Duff Lacy, a town trustee and the co-owner of Buena Vista Automotive and Jed Selby, the developer of the South Main neighborhood and the Surf Hotel, which is scheduled for a spring opening.

Eleven people are running for four trustee positions. Two of those terms will run for 4 years and two will be 2-year terms.

Trustee candidates, as a resident of Buena Vista, what is your personal vision of town in 5, 10 and 20 years. How do you see it changing, how will it remain the same?

Q How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q: How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q: How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

Q: What role should the town play in addressing our critical workforce housing shortage?

Q What role should the town play in addressing our critical workforce housing shortage?

Occupation Owner, The Jailhouse Craft Beer Bar

Q: What role should the town play in addressing our critical workforce housing shortage?

Occupation General manager and buyer, The Trailhead.

Q: How do you see the board of trustee’s role in managing growth in town?

To familiarize readers with the 13 candidates seeking to fill four seats on the board of trustees and the seat of mayor in April, The Times sent out a questionnaire including a prompt for the would-be public servants to gaze into the future of this mountain community, as much as anyone truly can.

With the word growth inspiring such strong reactions as it does in Buena Vista, the question is a pertinent one from voters to the town’s future stewards: “What is your vision for Buena Vista 5, 10 and 20 years from now?”

The two candidates for mayor, Duff Lacy and Jed Selby, peered into their proverbial crystal balls and gazed forward.

Living in aptly-named 8,000-foot-high, dog-friendly Buena Vista is like living at summer camp, with lots of interesting people, good restaurants, fun music and easy access to outdoor activities like hiking, rafting, skiing, biking, snowshoeing and kayaking—all of which make me happy to be li…

 Board directors serve four-year terms and are term-limited after eight years. Board members Debbie Farrell, Dr. Harry Payton and Tom Eve will complete their first four-year term in May 2018 and are up for re-election. The other board members, Jeff Post and Jean Moltz, have served 2 years of their first 4-year term and are not up for re- election.

Consider the vile political environment at the national level – and please leave it there. As we move forward with our election, let’s remember that what makes our community so special is that we’re neighbors.

A meet and greet, candi-dating and a voter forum already planned for a dozen-plus candidates for board of trustees and mayor ahead of election day on April 3.

The Buena Vista Event Cooperative will be hosting a candidates’ forum on March 14 at the Buena Vista Community Center, giving voters a chance to hear the positions of the 11 people running for four seats on the Board of Trustees and two people running for mayor before they turn in their ballots.

Duff Lacy will go up against Jed Selby in the race for mayor of Buena Vista this spring.

BVHS students earned the most points in the competitive program, and will compete at the state hearings for the opportunity to represent Colorado at the national finals held April 30-May 2 in Washington, D. C.

Pokrandt has been providing interim campus leadership in Leadville and Chaffee County since Aug. 1, 2016, after the previous campus vice president, James Y. Taylor, accepted a position with Utah State University.

Unaffiliated candidate Greg Felt won the District 2 Chaffee County commissioner race Tuesday with 41 percent, or 4,578 of the 11,037 votes cast, according to preliminary results from the Chaffee County clerk’s office at 9:34 p.m. Tuesday.

Chaffee County's District 1 commissioner winner is Keith Baker, D, unofficial Chaffee County general election results show. In a contested election that was decided by less than 450 votes, Baker said affordable housing and infrastructure were his two biggest issues.