Candidates running for Steamboat Springs City Council participated in a sustainability forum Wednesday afternoon to discuss their plans to lead the city with respect to a range of local environmental and conservation issues.

Hosted via Zoom by the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, a local nonprofit working to build a sustainable and resilient Yampa Valley through climate action, the 2023 Sustainability Forum covered topics including energy, waste diversion, resource conservation, tourism and wildlife readiness.

Bryan Swintek and Michael Buccino are running uncontested for District 1 and District 2, respectively, but there is competition in the remaining City Council races.

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Amy Dickson and Jeff Liter are running for the District 3 seat. The race for the at-large seat features four candidates: John Agosta, Robert Galorath, Daryl “Dog” Levin and Steve Muntean.

The first question posed asked the candidates what they believe is the key role in implementing the Routt County Climate Action Plan.

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Created in 2021 by the county, Steamboat Springs and the towns of Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa, the plan provides the municipalities with a set of climate action strategies designed to enhance overall quality of life and long-term resiliency.

Liter said it would be important that he “come up to speed” on the climate plan but cited his experience as the chief executive officer of two biotech companies, saying it was important to emphasize leadership and build momentum.

“The way I try to build momentum in facing a variety of different problems and challenges is first and foremost, what are the one or two easy wins … but then what is that big, hard gnarly problem that really if you dug into would have the most impact,” Liter said.

Dickson stated full support for the climate action plan and said she believes it should be incorporated in City Council strategic planning sessions so that its goals would run through all the council’s decisions, including its fiscal responsibilities.

“Our decisions represent our community values and we have heard loud and clear from our community that they support the (Climate Action Plan) and so we have to make that investment for our community and for our future,” Dickson said.

Candidates running for the at-large council position responded to a question asking how they would work to balance tension between protecting and enhancing the Yampa Valley River corridor with the desire for continued economic growth.

Agosta stated his bid for the seat began over a concern for the watershed.

“I was actually dismayed to see how little of our wetlands are left compared to the studies of the wetlands in 1983. Nonetheless, we need to force developers to preserve the few remaining tracts,” he said.

Through building and zoning codes, Agosta would work to require the utmost protection of riparian zones and work with the city Parks and Recreation Department to ensure turf maintenance at fields adjacent to the river are not part of the pollution problem.

“Keeping the Yampa clean is a huge concern of our citizens,” he added.

Galorath responded by pointing out that the Yampa River is as big of a resource for the community as the ski mountain.

“I am not an expert, but maybe a solution is a reservoir where we could capture and maintain a great deal of this water instead of just letting it flow downstream,” Galorath said, adding that encouraging households to use rain barrels to collect and harvest the rain could be another idea.

Levin underscored that the Yampa River is life support for local wildlife and noted that for the 48 years he has lived in Routt County, “we have built on a lot of wetlands.” This year, Levin said the community “dodged a bullet” after a heavy snowfall in the winter led into a “fantastic slow melt” in the spring.

“I don’t have all the answers, but I would say that we need to really dig into this deeply, as this is a serious issue,” Levin said. “We are in a drought-stricken time and some people don’t believe that, but the Yampa River suffers dearly when we don’t have the water that we need.”

Muntean said he believes the city’s duty to protect wetlands is critical, along with acquiring more open space and building on partnerships, with organizations like the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, to address protecting the local watershed.

“We control a very small portion of the Yampa River and with the increased demand on the Front Range and everything else, we really have to partner with others to maintain the health of the river,” Muntean said. “We don’t have all the answers on this, but my focus is always on bringing groups of people together.”