SOUTH FORK— July is quickly approaching and with it comes a large decision for the residents in South Fork. In 2014, the town board, under the suggestion from local residents began to pursue the idea of becoming a home rule community. Many residents of the town have expressed trepidation for the idea due to a fear that the home rule municipal code would allow governing bodies to pass additional taxes on the town. In an interview conducted by the South Fork Tines, several of the people running for the home rule commission gave their thoughts on the proposal and answered a few questions as to why they want to be a home rule municipality.
Bruce Steffens is a San Luis Valley native. He and his wife, Kris, along with four children, owned and operated a ranch southwest of Monte Vista, plus a real estate brokerage business for most of their life until moving to South Fork full-time in 2010. Upon arriving in South Fork they established their full-time real estate business here and purchased a home on River Greens, where they currently reside in the town of South Fork. Bruce owns and operates “Steffens & Company Realty, Inc.” with is located in town and serves all of Colorado, including South Fork.
“I’m against big government and that is why recommending Home Rule will give power back to the town’s people, where it belongs, not the state,” Steffens said. He continued to state that the home rule municipality could be compared to a private school setting, stating that the people would have the power to change South Fork in the way they wanted to change it without having to go through state mandates first. “As a home rule municipality, we could choose to fire someone in local government without repercussions, whereas with a statutory municipality like we are now we have to pay for those choices both financially and regulatory.”
Local Community Banks manager Kit Salway is also interested in being on the home rule commission. “I am a fourth generation Colorado native, growing up and raising my family on the Front Range. I grew up in the Colorado mountains enjoying all aspects of outdoor activities which I in turn passed on to my kids. After 52 years on the Front Range I moved to Arizona to help family and quickly found it wasn’t where my heart strings sang.”
Salway continued saying, “When I wanted to come home I decided I wanted to live in the mountains and here I am. I have a creative soul spending my off-work hours in various artistic mediums as well as volunteering in the community. I have been involved in the communities I live in throughout my life, so the idea of being a part of a committee to write Home Rule, putting the town in the hands of the people was very appealing to me. I would like the chance to explore Home Rule and develop a charter to be voted on by the people in the community.”
Former Mayor Jerry Hixson commented on the endeavor stating that the people would be the ones to create their charter and the town’s constitution. “The constitution is something the town’s people create. The board and town staff have nothing to do with the creation of the constitution,” said Hixson. He continued by recounting an incident two years ago, when South Fork had to remove some of their town staff due to several issues and had to undergo a myriad of barriers to comply with state mandates. “We can streamline that process and others if we give this a chance,” finished Hixson.
Other local residents and business owners that will be considered for the commission should home rule pass include, Kris Steffens, business owners and long-time residents Howard and Carol Fleming, Keith Helmstetler, firefighter Tony Perrone and business owner and fireman Tyler Schmidt. According to Town Manager Tom Acre, “We invite residents to a town hall meeting on June 28 at 6 p.m. at which we can provide some factual and educational information about home rule.  We will also answer any questions that folks have and provide a FAQ sheet on home rule. I have also invited some folks from Hudson to attend as they were the last community to become a home rule charter municipality.”