Boulder Weekly sent candidate questionnaires to all candidates on Boulder County ballots. These are their written responses, edited for length and clarity. Read more Election 2024 content.
Brandon Bell
bell4erie.com
Relevant experience
Erie Board of Trustees (2020 – 2023)
Erie Town Council Member (2023 – present)
Liaison to Airport Economic Development Advisory Board (2020 – present)
Liaison to Historic Preservation Advisory Board (2021 – 2022)
Liaison to Erie Economic Development Council (2020 – 2022)
Profession: Software Quality Assurance Engineer
Priorities
- Bringing the General Fund Spending back in line with revenues.
- Moving the landfill entrance off County Road 5 to a safer location.
- Empowering our Police to improve public safety and reduce property crimes.
What are you most proud of from your most recent term?
In early 2022, I and former trustee Christiaan Van Woudenberg accompanied senior staff to meet with the Weld County Commissioners to re-establish the revenue sharing agreement for our Urban Renewal Authority area for development along I-25. The agreement was finalized by the Town Council recently as part of our Phase 1 I-25 URA area.
Lightning round
Do you support Erie joining RTD? Yes.
The question is somewhat misleading. 90% of Erie is already annexed into the RTD district. There are only a few communities that aren’t. Erie Highlands, Grandview, the Airpark, and a few others. Many people are already paying the RTD sales tax, but aren’t receiving the benefits.
Do you support allowing recreational marijuana sales in Erie? No.
Industry lobbyists told the council that there are no areas in the current plan that will accommodate a dispensary for many, many years. It makes no sense to vote for this, but whether it passes or fails, there will be no dispensaries in Erie.
Do you support more diversity of housing in Erie (townhomes, apartments, efficiency units, etc.)? Yes.
This is a goal both the town and the homebuilders share.
Do you support the development of the Draco Pad? Erie doesn’t control.
This is another misleading question. The Draco Pad is located in unincorporated Weld County. The Town has advocated for a public hearing at the ECMC, to allow affected parties to give testimony. I support that effort.
The town, as a municipality, legally cannot apply as an affected party. Southern Land Company that owns the Westerly Development and SVVSD have both applied as affected parties. Southern Land has done a great job in negotiation to mitigate impacts to future residents in their communities.
Do you support local efforts to increase the minimum wage? No.
The market in Erie generally pays above minimum wage. Local wage controls would kill small business, and we have been told so by our economic development staff, despite some on council who keep trying to force the issue.
Do you support an end to the state prohibition on rent control? No.
My approach is either to work with builders to provide funding for them to build reduced rent housing, or provide housing annuities to town employees, police and other local workers. Rent controls are a bad approach and disincentivizes rental properties being available on the market.
Do you support interventions for human-caused climate change? Depends on the intervention.
The town has a sustainability plan, this is what we follow. I am against outlawing natural gas appliances, outlawing gas vehicles,and other radical approaches to reduce GHG. Science and technology advances over time are the way to go.
Do you support for SB24-157 which narrowed the definition of what constitutes a public meeting? No. This is clearly a move to try to remove public transparency.
When was the last time you paid rent? How much was it? And where?
1996, around $1,000 per month
Long-form questions
What would you say are the top three issues facing Erie, and what are your plans to address them?
The town has numerous unfunded capital improvement projects such as the $30 million-plus expansion need for the police department. The police expansion is an issue that I think needs to be bonded and put before the voters for approval. The town wants to use certificates of participation (COP), which would be $2.5 million annual General Fund expense with no new revenue to fund the payment. Also, COP’s have a higher risk than municipal bonds that carry a higher interest rate and are a lease back from the investors.
We need to get development started in our Phase 1 URA area in order to complete the sewer line extension that will allow our Erie Gateway to proceed. We also need this to begin collection of tax increment revenue which will help pay off the bonds. The issue here is expedience in ensuring development applications for this project are not being held up.
With the growth that has occurred in Erie, our roads have not kept up with the pace. North-south access through town is extremely limited, and road maintenance is extremely disruptive as there are few alternative routes. The town is making some road improvements, but it has been at the expense of re-routing residents through residential areas. There needs to be better coordination and communication with residents and businesses in planning project timelines.
What are your perspectives on the planned growth? What mechanisms would you use to handle growth responsibly?
Erie has a great deal of land that already has entitlements. Our staff can work with the applicants to ensure that the platting meets the expectations and goals of the town for new development. The town has done an excellent job over the years of obtaining water rights necessary to grow, the challenge is ensuring we will have the necessary infrastructure in place when we need to access those water rights. The challenge for growth is we need to ensure we are respectful for existing residents and listen to how they want to see their community grow.
Do you believe there is a need for more affordable housing in Erie? If so, what is your plan to make it happen?
Affordability is a macroeconomic problem that has affected every sector of the economy, not just housing. Erie has become an affluent community, which has further driven housing prices up. I believe the best focus to help housing needs of people in Erie is to start with town employees, our first responders, teachers and others that have a need to live closer or in town. I think providing housing annuities to these folks is one tool we can use.
My approach with the second would be to concentrate on reduced rental properties rather than ownership products. Deed-restricted housing is not a good solution: It is putting an albatross around someone’s neck for 30 years. The best advantage to home ownership over rentals is building equity. Deed restrictions only keep people in perpetual poverty and limit their ability to move if they need to go elsewhere.
Given the realities of a changing climate and limited government resources, how do you plan on balancing mitigation and adaptation for already-impacted populations in Erie?
The town adopted a sustainability master plan before I was elected to the Board of Trustees. We have adopted air quality monitoring and entered into a data sharing agreement with Weld County, as Weld did not have much in the way of data collection for air quality in Erie and neighboring parts of Weld. We can gain access to data in other parts of Weld to see how those impacts affect us.
As a town council member, what tools at your disposal would you use to protect residents from the impact of oil and gas operations, both existing and future?
The town has already passed stringent updates on oil and gas applications within Erie with the updates to the Chapter 12 and Chapter 6 sections of our Unified Development Code. Currently, oil and gas applications would have to be zoned for heavy industry before a drilling permit would be considered. The town also added air quality monitoring stations throughout town.
How do justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) factor into your policy making?
I believe Erie is already a very diverse community. I believe we need to ensure equality of opportunity for all residents, and our policies should reflect that. I also believe one of the overlooked aspects of diversity is diversity of thought.
Sadly, the current board is one that resorts to shaming and bullying if you don’t agree with the majority opinion. The prior board I served on did a better job of ensuring all members had a voice at the table.
What efforts do you make in your daily life to consider and understand people with different lived experiences from your own?
Having worked in the technology sector for over 25 years, I have had the opportunity to work with, travel with and form friendships with many people who all have very different life experiences than myself. They are my friends and colleagues, and every day I have the opportunity to learn something new from them.
When’s the last time you changed your mind about something, and what was it?
Despite the town pushing the town hall expansion forward with no revenue to back the measure and against the wishes of voters who had the issue before them in 2018, I voted to secure a contract because pricing would have gone up and it was already going to proceed with or without my vote.
What question would you ask a fellow candidate on the ballot?
I would ask them about what they are going to do, to balance the out-of-control spending they have approved over the last two years.