Editor’s note: The Crestone Eagle is running all letters of support it received for county commissioner candidate Adam Kinney and incumbent Tom McCracken as of press time. They are presented in no particular order.
Dear editor, Â
I am writing this letter to express my support for Tom McCracken in his bid for re-election as Saguache County Commissioner.
Tom’s steadfast leadership has brought progress and support to our community as evidenced by successfully bringing Chaffee Shuttle Service to the kiosk weekly and getting Southern Colorado Seniors to provide their Meals for Seniors, in person and home deliver for handicapped seniors.
I am grateful for Tom’s long hours and progressive results; I think the most significantly began in June, 2022 at the Sonoran Institute’s Growing Water Smart workshop. On the last day, when proposals were requested from participants, Tom McCracken stood up and presented a visionary blueprint to eliminate the continuing and powerful threats to take water out of our San Luis Valley aquifer; this resulted from participant input at luncheon talks. Each county representative then stood up and joined him in supporting that idea. Beginning with that proposal, and through his work as chair of our regional Council of Governments, all six counties of the SLV have, as of April 2, 2024, entered into an intergovernmental agreement to work together through a joint planning board to review all proposals to take water out of our aquifer.
This IGA is unique in the State of Colorado and allows all SLV counties and municipalities to work together to jointly prevent any group or individual from taking water out of our aquifer. This is hugely impactful for all of us as efforts by Douglas County and so many others have caused continuing and extremely significant threats and expense as they tried strenuously to take water from our aquifer over the past decades. As a member of the COG Executive Board for many years, I personally participated in that Sonoran Institute workshop and also participated in the subsequent, preparatory long hours in seemingly endless COG meetings, chaired by Tom McCracken, which resulted in the recent innovative IGA.
I am grateful for the progressive efforts of Tom McCracken and look forward to the positive effect of his re-election on our community in the years to come.
Kairina Danforth