Two candidates are vying for the District 1 seat on the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners. The district makes up Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and the southeast portion of the county.
Democrat Jonathan Godes, 48, is the current director of the I-70 Coalition. He was previously elected to Glenwood Springs City Council from 2017 to 2025 and served as mayor.
His opponent, Republican Eric Rudd, 40, has served on the Garfield County Planning and Zoning commission for 13 years. He currently works for his family's development company.
Godes and Rudd participated in a debate on Sept. 28 at the Ute Theatre in Rifle. It was put on by the Colorado River Valley Chamber, the Glenwood Chamber, Rifle Community TV and CoWest Noticias Collaborative.
The candidates were questioned on data centers, transportation challenges, immigration enforcement and Spanish-language services.
Data centers
Garfield County hasn’t had any formal applications for data center developments, but elected officials believe it’s only a matter of time.
The city of Rifle has started creating guidelines for these potential proposals, which Rudd said he would also do if elected as a county commissioner. He’s concerned about the impacts data centers could have on the county’s water resources and electrical grid.
“When it comes to data centers in Garfield County right now, honestly, our answer is we’re not open for business,” Rudd said at the September debate. “We have too many issues with water and our electrical grid to be saying, ‘Come on in.’”
However, Rudd also said the industry could potentially fit in Garfield County one day. He believes that artificial intelligence could eventually help local businesses, but the county needs amended land use codes first.
Godes also raised concerns about what data centers could mean for the local environment. However, he disagreed with Rudd and stood firm in his position that these developments should never come to Garfield County.
“I would fight data centers,” he said at the debate. “I wouldn’t just create regulations and guardrails around it. This is something we have to grapple with and be prepared to fight.”
While serving on Glenwood Springs City Council, Godes agreed to take legal action against the Uinta Basin Railway and voted against the RMI limestone quarry expansion. He said he’ll do the same with data centers.
South Bridge project
Both Rudd and Godes said that, if elected, they would work to improve existing relationships between the county and the city of Glenwood Springs. They both said that the relationship has been strained for years.
In June, the county filed an injunction against the city over the South Bridge project, which crosses both city and county lands.
The lawsuit asks the Garfield County District Court to determine whether the city acquired sufficient permissions to move forward with the project.
Both candidates support the project, which will serve as an emergency evacuation route in the southern part of Glenwood Springs, as well as provide an alternate route for traffic.
But they differ on whether or not they supported the injunction.
Godes doesn't. He said more delays could cause the city to lose millions of dollars in federal funding it’s already been awarded. He said the region can’t afford to lose those investments as wildfires become larger and more destructive in the region.
“I live in south Glenwood,” Godes said. “I’ve had to load up my car five times in the 20 years I’ve lived there in preevacuation mode. Not having a second way out is critical.”
Rudd, however, agreed with the county’s decision.
“The county staff are the experts,” he said. “I think it’s important that the commissioners rely on their judgment.”
Rudd said he’s also concerned about the project’s $80 million price tag as the county faces an increasingly tight budget.
Hogback route
Both candidates supported the county’s decision to allocate funds to the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s Hogback route for one more year. After 2027, the future of the route between Glenwood Springs and Rifle remains uncertain.
The county recently gave RFTA $200,000, but said that this would be its final contribution. The Hogback route serves Rifle and Silt, but they aren’t a part of the transportation authority.
County commissioners are pushing these two municipalities to find a more permanent solution.
Godes wants to see the county work with other local governments to keep the buses running. He said he would collaborate to find funding and increase the frequency of buses on the route, which serves about 200,000 people every year.
“It’s a bare-bones schedule, but provides a vital community service,” Godes said. “It’s our workforce, and that workforce needs to get to our businesses. So it’s an economic issue. That conversation needs to continue to happen.”
Rudd largely agreed with Godes. He said he also supports funding the route — even after the one-year agreement ends — and he wants to work with regional partners to find a more permanent solution.
He said buses are critical for the future of the county’s economy and that the Hogback route needs to be funded beyond what the current commissioners have allocated.
Additional support, he said, would allow taxpayers to continue to use the service and give municipalities a chance to explore other funding options.
“We cannot have people spending four hours in their cars every day to get to work when it should be two hours,” Rudd said. “This system is breaking. We need to have a transit solution that works.”
Immigration enforcement
Immigration enforcement has ramped up in Garfield County this year. Colorado state law prohibits local governments from assisting with civil immigration enforcement, and both candidates want to keep local law enforcement officers out of it.
Rudd said he endorses a more secure U.S. border, but the country’s current system needs reform. At a local level, he said law enforcement should have no involvement in federal agents’ work.
“Our national system on immigration is broken. Period. We need to have reform,” he said. “County commissioners cannot and should not be responsible for immigration policy. That’s a federal matter.”
Rudd said he judges immigrants — and other county residents — on their character, work ethic and how they contribute to their communities. He said, as a commissioner, he’ll ensure the safety of everyone in his community.
Godes said he was disturbed after news broke of people dying in immigration-related shootings, including in Minneapolis. He said after watching ICE tear families apart, he would like to see local officers focus more on keeping the public safer within Garfield County rather than assisting with ICE operations.
“Colorado state law is very clear. That is a federal job,” he said. “Immigration enforcement is important. Secure borders are important. But the coordination that our local police force has should be to stop criminals.”
Spanish-language access
One-third of Garfield County residents are Latino, and both candidates argued that the county should improve Spanish-language access.
Rudd said he’s purchased translation devices so that he can communicate with Spanish-speaking applicants when they come to the county’s planning and zoning commission. But he said it’s still difficult to ensure everything is translated in applications and at county meetings.
“We have a lot of bilingual people, or Spanish people, and we need to make sure that with any of the applications that they’re handling, that they understand what they’re doing,” Rudd said.
Godes said that translation would also be a priority if he’s elected. He also wants to see more Latino residents become involved in county government.
He proposed creating a Latino outreach board to encourage more of the community to attend meetings and get involved in county government. He said it would serve as an advisory board.
“We need to have people that can advise us as county commissioners on what their communities are facing, what challenges they have, and what opportunities,” he said. “We need to encourage more Latino leadership in our communities, both in staff and elected officials.”
Godes also wants to move county meetings later in the evening, so working residents can participate.
The winning candidate will join Republicans Perry Will and Mike Samson on the board. Current county commissioner Tom Jankovsky is not seeking reelection after 16 years. Garfield County commissioners have no term limits.
You can listen to the full debate here.
Election day is Nov. 3.
