John Gauthiere is running for mayor. Here’s where he stands on the issues.

By Kelly Ragan

John Gauthiere is running for mayor. 

At a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization, Greeley mayor and city council candidates answered questions from the league and from audience members regarding where they stood on various issues, what their plans would be if elected, and more. 

Some of the major topics included housing, transportation, water, diversity, and communication. Candidates were also asked about three ballot measures, 2F (also known as Keep Greeley Moving), and 2G and 2H (also known as the water ballot measures). 

The NoCo Optimist included candidates’ opening and closing statements, answers (with edits for clarity and brevity when possible) as well as the questions asked for context. The NoCo Optimist’s goal here is to give you an idea of who a candidate is and where they stand on issues that matter to you. 

Opening statement

I’m John Gauthiere. I’m married, luckily, to Mary for 50 years, and before I go too much farther with myself, I’d like to recognize a few people that I call my modern-day suffragettes, and you all know what that is. Those are folks who go out of their comfort zone and go out and circulate petitions and exercise their constitutional right to petition their government (specifically regarding 2G and 2H). So, I’d like to just mention a few names. I won’t mention any last names, but Mary of course was key. Sandy, Robin, Anita, Gloria, Maggie, Shannon, Molly, those folks stood out in the broiling sun so that you folks could have a potential right to vote on ballot measures 2G and 2F. It might affect your health, your family’s health, and your well-being.

I’ve been a resident of Greeley for 42 years. I’m a registered professional engineer with degrees in civil engineering and environmental science. I have 50 years of experience in the water industry, and I served as the Greeley water department’s chief of engineering and management for 22 years between 1979 and 2001.

In 2001, I founded Gautheire Engineering, and that’s my small business. We’ve completed many successful projects.

Question: As the city of Greeley continues to experience increasing population growth and diversity, moving from a town to a big city, this growth has impacted a number of areas such as housing, transportation and water to name a few. What ideas or strategies do you have to address future issues impacted by this growth?

One of the most important things that I can think of that would address those issues is coming up with a solid, economical water supply system. I have some ideas on that. I think we’ve missed the point on the Milton Semen Reservoir enlargement. That’s a tough job to do, but that has to be done and would be much more cost effective than what’s going on right now with Terry Ranch.

The other thing is creating some diverse industry here that will create the prosperity so that people can afford the houses. You know there’s one thing about trying to build an affordable house – but let’s get some good jobs in here so the folks can all have a decent quality life.

Water is going to be critical because that’s the big costly item. We’re talking not millions of dollars but billions in the long run.

Question: Do you think the city is effectively communicating with the community about its activities and needs? If so, how are they doing that? If not, what needs to be improved?

We need to do a little better job. You know we had a really big project that just went through city council and that thing was called the Terry Ranch Project. There was a public hearing on that, and I had to dig quite deep to find out what was going on with this thing, and it took a lot of time.

At the public hearing, I was going to offer some input to it as a citizen, and I was given three minutes, which in my case is never enough. I was threatened after I did my couple minutes with a strategic lawsuit to prevent public participation. I’m not saying who did it, but I think it’s against the law to do that, and so that’s the kind of communication that I don’t want to see in this council ever again.

That’s one of the many reasons why I’m running for mayor.

Question: Offer some specific ideas on addressing growth and housing challenges.

Development is an important thing to Greeley, it always has been. It's a developer's town, maybe too much so sometimes, and we see those development costs start to drift onto the shoulders of the existing citizens. I think you probably end up paying some things anyway, but you know by making a purchase of water that is of low quality, that’s going to be a low first-time cost, but a forever high cost that would be loaded on the existing customers and citizens.

I think we need to keep a careful balance on what we do for development and what we do for our citizens. You know we shouldn't forsake our existing citizens for the sake of some new folks coming into town.

The metro districts are probably a band-aid for a situation where we don't have enough good economic development here, that's a basic industry, to create a prosperity that will allow people to buy those homes.

Question: About 40% of Greeley’s population identifies as Latino or Hispanic. But there aren’t many language services to reflect that. How will you support the Latino population and other minorities in Greeley, including undocumented people?

I was at that same meeting (with prominent GOP member Greg Lopez) with Paul Wood last night, and I got to meet a bunch of really good folks, some passionate Hispanic folks that are going to stand up, and I think you'll see them come aboard pretty quickly.

I see a lot of concern and desire to become part of the community and to lead that community, so again, these Hispanic folks are definitely a major factor in this city and they're part of the wonderful fabric of Greeley.

I got to meet a lot of them when I was collecting signatures on a petition recently, and I'm very impressed with their knowledge and how quickly they picked up on the particular situation we were collecting signatures for.

Question: What is your position on Keep Greeley Moving? Why? What is your position regarding the changes to the home rule charter on water decisions? Please explain.

As far as Keep Greeley Moving, that's a great thing. I'm all for that.

As for the home rule charter amendments, I wrote those two ballot amendments, so I certainly know what they mean. I know how the water department operates. I know what is true and what's not. And those ballot issues, you should vote yes on them. They're not going to require special elections, and boy what a lot of confusion over what a simple majority is. You won't need a super majority. That's a concoction from the law department that I certainly would like to have a second opinion on.

So, you really need to vote on something that big. We’re talking about a billion-dollar deal. That has to be something every citizen should have a say on, especially if it’s something as personal as water. It’s something you’re going to be drinking. That’s something to do with your health. And also the cost.

Closing statement

My goal overall as mayor will be to ensure our community safety in a lot of ways. John (Gates) did a good job of that in the past. I'm talking about a little bit different kind of safety, and that's your health. Those are the insidious things that you can eliminate from your environment that will give you a better quality of life. So, I just want this this town most of all to be a safe and friendly city, and a great place for families to live, for students to learn, and business to grow in.