Effective.
Experienced.
Committed.
For Eagle County Commissioner District 2
Sarah Smith Hymes
I’m running for Eagle County Commissioner to keep working to preserve the quality of life that makes Eagle County an incredible place to visit or call home. Resort real estate development, post-COVID mountain migration, rising temperatures and prolonged drought are putting unremitting pressure on our natural and human resources. Growth needs to be managed with an eye to protecting our most valuable assets: our people, water supply, and public lands. We can overcome these challenges with innovation, collaboration, empowered staff, and committed leadership. From day one as Eagle County Commissioner, I will put my experience as an elected official, entrepreneur and educator to work to ensure our diverse community can continue to thrive.
Notes to myself:
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Dive deep to fully understand the issues. Listen to all sides. Make decisions based on what you believe is best for the community. Not what your neighbor thinks, or your best friend, or the person with the loudest voice. You won't please everyone.
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There are no stupid questions. Keep asking them, especially the hard ones.
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You can’t freeze time. Change is inevitable. Fight hard for what matters.
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Focus on what people are saying, not the way they say it. Every viewpoint deserves consideration, especially when contrary to your own.
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Listen with an open mind – it’s enlightening.
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Beware of analysis paralysis. Push for action when the time is right, and don’t be afraid to change course.
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Use your platform to advocate at the state and federal level for policy that advances our goals.
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Offer solutions, not complaints. Be humble, not defensive. Don’t judge. Be gracious. Slough off the arrows.
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Embrace the challenges!
Sarah's continued energy and passion for service to our community astonishes me. She is a leader who digs deep and uses her smarts to solve our big problems and create good, effective public policy every time. Sarah's leadership is an unstoppable force!
Tamra Nottingham Underwood
Avon
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Town of Avon, Mayor (2018-2022), Mayor Pro Tem (2016-2018), Councilor (2014-2016)
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Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, Board Director (May 2023- present)
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Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority, Board Director (2014-2022)
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Climate Action Collaborative of Eagle County, Chair (2016-2022), Governing Board (current)
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Colorado Communities for Climate Action, Board Director (2018-2022)
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Eaglebend, Buffalo Ridge, Kayak Crossing Affordable Housing Corporations, Board Director (2018-2020)
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Colorado Association of Ski Towns, Board Vice President (2021-2022)
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Eagle County Charter Academy (ECCA), Board, Board President (2003-2009)
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ABC Preschool, Board President (1998-2000)
Leadership
Sarah has unrivaled drive to push forward effective public policy. She is sharp, inquisitive, and eager to fully understand complex issues. Her leadership in climate action, community housing, fiscal accountability, transparency and inclusion is well-established. Sarah is an excellent choice for Eagle County Commissioner.
Eric Heil
Avon Town Manager 2019 -
Avon Town Attorney 2008-2019
Sarah has unrivaled drive to push forward effective public policy. She is sharp, inquisitive, and eager to fully understand complex issues. Her leadership in climate action, community housing, fiscal accountability, transparency and inclusion is well-established. Sarah is an excellent choice for Eagle County Commissioner.
Eric J. Heil, Esq., A.I.C.P.
Manager, Town of Avon
Former Town Attorney, Town of Avon
Sarah has unrivaled drive to push forward effective public policy. She is sharp, inquisitive, and eager to fully understand complex issues. Her leadership in climate action, community housing, fiscal accountability, transparency and inclusion is well-established. Sarah is an excellent choice for Eagle County Commissioner.
Eric J. Heil, Esq., A.I.C.P.
Manager, Town of Avon
Former Town Attorney, Town of Avon
Because I learned from her how to be kind and better person without waiting any favor or something. She is so kind, so sweet I never met people like her. She has been motivating us and encouraging us. She always listening to us.
Student Nomination, CMC Adjunct Instructor of the Year
2023
Equitable access to recreation, education, employment, and healthcare builds sustainable, thriving communities:
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Community grants for non-profits
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West Nottingham Park upgrade to landscaping, tennis/pickle/basketball courts
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Avon Recreation swim program expansion
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Public land improvements and access
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English instruction for immigrants
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Free community-focused special event programming
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Town clean-up
Community
Colorado Mountain College ESL class
Our diversity is our strength. Without housing within reach of people across the economic spectrum, we lose the cultural and economic vitality that makes our communities thrive. In Avon, we have addressed the crisis with:
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¡Mi Casa Avon! pays local home buyers to place a deed restriction on their property, preserving the unit for full-time residents in perpetuity.
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Tax and fee waivers for community housing
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Increased employee housing mitigation requirements
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Short-term rental regulations that distinguish traditional visitor-oriented accommodations and second home developments from long-term housing for locals
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Affordable housing development on town-owned land
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Increased occupancy limits on unrelated residents
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Regional partnerships
Housing
EagleBend Affordable Housing
With our high-altitude outdoor recreation-based economy, we have been disproportionately impacted by warming temperatures that shorten ski seasons, reduce stream flows and accelerate wildfire risk. Local action and individual responsibility do have an impact. As Eagle County Commissioner, I’ll facilitate a cultural shift to consider climate impacts in all decisions, and aggressively pursue beneficial electrification, EV adoption, reduction in vehicle miles traveled, carbon sequestration, and regional waste diversion, while exploring emerging technologies that will work in Eagle County.
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Prioritized greenhouse gas reduction strategies as Mayor of Avon
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Stakeholder on Climate Action Collaborative (CAC) formation committee
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Chairman of CAC 2016-2022 View 2022 impact report
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Avon plastic bag ban
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Implementation of Avon’s recycling ordinance
Climate Action
Sylvan Fire burn area
I have witnessed Sarah’s drive for climate solutions since the earliest days of the climate action collaborative for Eagle County where she served on the formation committee and was named its first Chair. She was instrumental in transforming the Town of Avon into a leader in climate action. Her dual focus on practical local initiatives and pressure on legislators in Denver and D.C. for policy change has served our community well.
Kim Langmaid
Founder, Walking Mountains Science Center
Mayor, Town of Vail 2019-2023
Sarah recognized the need for more comprehensive public transit from her days as Avon’s representative on the ECO Transit Advisory Board. She helped make the Regional Transportation Authority a reality through her work on the RTA formation committee and efforts to educate the community in advance of the 2022 ballot measure. As a lifelong proponent of public transit, I appreciate that Sarah helped make it happen for Eagle County.
Amy Cramer Phillips
Mayor, Town of Avon
Providing public transportation alternatives to single occupancy, gas-powered vehicles reduces greenhouse gas and commuting expenses, keeps us competitive with other resort communities, relieves parking and traffic congestion, and provides health and recreation benefits:
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Eco Transit Avon representative
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Regional Transportation Authority formation committee
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Tennesse Pass, Uinta rail lines monitoring committee
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Bike-share, E-bike rebates
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EV chargers
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Wildridge mini-bus shuttle pilot
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Swift Gulch bus route
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Bike path
Transportation
A primary responsibility of government is providing protection against threats to public health and safety.
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Wildfire mitigation, preparedness, response: sirens, drills, secondary egress; Wildridge recognized as a firewise community
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Relocation of police/fire to new public safety building
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Focus on community policing
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COVID response: first mask mandate, weekly business support, restaurant vouchers
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Pedestrian/bike safety improvements: I-70 underpass, sidewalks, West Beaver Creek Blvd redesign; Highway 6 safety improvement project
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Passage of tobacco tax
Public Health & Safety
State and Federal policy decisions can dwarf local action. I lobbied legislators in Colorado and Washington, D.C. and testified in Colorado General Assembly to advocate for local priorities:
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U.S. Postal Service
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Methane capture legislation
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Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent reauthorization
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Camp Hale National Monument designation
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Oil & gas royalties on public lands
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Management of single-use plastic products and polystyrene
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Greenhouse gas reduction
Legislative Advocacy
Through testifying during hearings at the State Legislature, Sarah has been very effective in speaking up for Eagle County. Providing legislators with local perspective is often what it takes to swing undecided votes our way. I know she will continue to be a pragmatic and persuasive voice at the State Capitol for our mountain community priorities.
Meghan Lukens
Colorado State Repressentative
Contact
Water underpins every aspect of our community and is essential for drinking, irrigating, environmental health and our tourism-based economy. Sarah Smith Hymes is the one candidate running in the democratic primary for County Commissioner with significant water experience.
Water may well be our most challenging issue in the next several decades as climate trends diminish the natural water supply, and uncertainty in the Colorado River system challenges how we adapt to avoid the very real risk of water shortage. It is critically important to our community that water is not the limiting factor in solving our affordable housing need. With the departure of Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry, the new commissioners will need to assign one of their rank to the water issue, and fill the influential county seat on the Colorado River Water Conservation District. I endorse Sarah to ensure that water issues are kept front and center in county and regional planning and strategy.
Linn Brooks
Eagle River Water and Sanitation District General Manager 2011-2022
Colorado Water Congress Upper Colorado River Basin Board seat 2013-2023 and chair 2020-2022
Holy Cross Energy Board Director
I’ve been tuned into water supply and wastewater since growing up in a rickety old house in Connecticut that ran on well water and septic. Summers working on a remote ranch in Red Wing, CO that depended on snowmelt from Blanca Peak into the Huerfano River made me acutely aware of streamflow and the relationship between snowpack and water supply in the Rockies. Concern about diminished flows in the Eagle River prompted my desire to serve on the Boards of the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority (2014-2022) and the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District (2023-present). I've studied water law through the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and the Sonoran Institute, made multiple site visits to the Front Range water districts that divert water from our watershed, and toured the Upper Eagle and Upper Colorado River basins with water professionals from the Colorado River District, the Bureau of Reclamation and the local water utilities
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Overall management and administration of public water and wastewater systems from East Vail to Edwards, including water service to Bachelor Gulch and Cordillera
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Water supply modeling
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Water conservation
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Resiliency planning
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Regulation compliance
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Revised tier rates
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Bolts Lake reservoir
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Shoshone water rights preservation
