Steve Conklin, candidate for Edgewater City Council
We asked each candidate for Edgewater City Council five questions to help community members get to know the candidates and their views.
Here are the answers sent by Steve Conklin:
Your Occupation:
Founder and owner of a small business that provides services for not-for-profit associations.
What do you love about Edgewater?
I love this city. Edgewater has an amazing history and has a bright future. This is a community that values where it has been, appreciates individuality and is working to bring people together while making things even better.
We have a great location, outstanding businesses (with many more on the way) and wonderful people. There is multi-generational strength and energy in Edgewater… we have neighbors that just moved in, young families that have been here a few years and others that have lived here all their life.
I love Edgewater, it is a great place to live.
What do you view as the role of the Edgewater City Council?
The legal role is set out in the charter and law.
City Council is made up of seven representatives of the community, elected to make legislative decisions based on our best possible judgement. Fortunately, it’s a non-partisan office, so there’s not a lot of taking political sides… we just work together to serve the city. As an entire council, we select and supervise the city manager who in turn supervises city staff.
During the time I’ve been on Council, we’ve been able to disagree without being disagreeable or making it personal. We’ve been respectful to each other, to staff and to the public. That’s allowed us to get much more accomplished then if we didn’t demonstrate that respect.
As a member of City Council, I try to listen, to understand and to help. I believe I’ve been able to use reasoned judgement and respect for others to make a difference. I’ve worked to elevate and celebrate others, hopefully making things better.
Which of Edgewater’s recent legislative actions is your least favorite? Which is your favorite?
My least favorite legislative actions we take are those needed to comply with state or federal laws where we have little local say. Fortunately, that’s rare.
My favorite legislative actions have been those that enabled the remarkable progress we’ve had in the past few years (including the partnership with Gold Crown Foundation at 25th and Chase, the creation of the Edgewater Civic Center and the long-awaited development the Edgewater Public Market at 20th and Depew).
More recently, the adoption of the mobility plan and the resident-led sustainability plans have been important steps for the community. The next steps are responsible legislation to make the plans a reality.
What role can Edgewater City Council play in supporting current small businesses and attracting new ones?
As a small business owner myself, I have great respect and appreciation for the small businesses of Edgewater. While I don’t have a storefront, I understand – through my time on Planning and Zoning and City Council – that it takes a great deal of work to open and run a physical location. The City Council needs to continue to work with City Staff on streamlining processes when possible.
In all we do, we need to be thinking about how we can create the best possible climate for our existing businesses and those we’d like to attract. We brought a group of business owners together to get their ideas as a part of the mobility plan process and we should do that for other issues as well.
Why should Edgewater residents vote for you?
Having served on Council since 2013 and appointed Mayor Pro tem in 2017, I am already up to speed on our issues and processes. I have the added dimension of having served as past commissioner and Chair of the Planning & Zoning Commission, and for the last four years representing Edgewater as a Director on the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Board alongside 50 other municipalities to solve common issues together.
I have lived here for 21 years am dedicated to this community. I want to be sure Edgewater is a great place to live now, and years from now.
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
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