There is another one in the race as Dave Blach has announced his candidacy for Yuma County Commissioner District 3.
Blach is running as a Democrat. He is the fourth to announce their intention of running for the District 3 seat. The field includes incumbent Robin Wiley, a Republican, Ray Prentice, also a Republican, and Philip Riggleman, who is running unaffiliated. (There are also four candidates running for the District 2 seat — incumbent Democrat Dean Wingfield, Republicans Chris Wood and Scott Weaver, and Mindy Whomble, who is running as unaffiliated.)
Blach is a fourth-generation ag producer in Yuma County. He is a Yuma High School and Colorado State University graduate. He and wife Karla have four grown children and three grandchildren. Their three sons are involved in the fifth-generation farming and ranching operation, and their daughter teachers in the local school district.
His father Harold was a county commissioner in the 1980s.
Following are portions of his announcement:
“Our family operation has allowed us to be lifelong residents of Yuma County since homesteading on the Great Plains north of Yuma in 1887. I have been involved in a dryland and irrigated production farm since I was old enough to hold a spade and fork as a young tyke. A big part of my residency of Yuma County has been caring for livestock from newborns to market ready for the consumer.
“I have a great passion for Yuma County and Colorado, serving on various organizations, in numerous capacities my entire life. Our four children all have returned to Yuma County after their secondary education.
“My passion for the future of Yuma County runs deep and continues to be on fire. I would like to take that energy and help our future generation residents cultivate a foundation to be able to call Yuma County their lifelong home, as well.
“In my career, I have been fortunate to see many rural areas of the state and county and have developed ideas to help make Yuma County sustainable in not only ag production, but other business areas as well. I believe in protecting our resources and continually searching for ways to be more efficient and innovative.
“I firmly believe in listening to the people in our county, all the while pondering thoughts and ideas along the way. These grassroots practices are very effective in trying to help bring about solutions to many problems.
“We need to find ways to keep our monetary values in the county as much as we can and not relinquish as much to the Front Range. Yuma deserves to have venues right here to help lower family costs of spending and traveling. Tax revenues lost due to outside county purchases can be a revenue source sometimes forgotten.
“In the last 10 years Yuma County is losing approximately 1 percent of its family farms each year. This is not a healthy trend in my opinion, and Yuma County needs more economic resources to be researched in a timely fashion to help sustain ag production in our county.
“I know natural gas revenues are very low, and I’m not sure when they will recover to a moderate price to generate more revenue in our county. Commodity prices are lower while our expenses have skyrocketed in the last few years. Budgets have had to be very conservative to ride the economic storm. New ways to be progressive and innovative need to continue to be a bottom-up approach. This is just one more reason for diversification of business in our county.
“Another area of concern is the shutting down of numerous coal-fueled power plants by Tri-State in Colorado over the next five years. This can have a major impact on our future availability of electricity on the plains, as Tri-State is a main supplier to Y-W Electric and Highline Electric in Yuma County. This loss of electrical production needs a thorough research directive to find a reliable and efficient replacement.
“Along with the concerns over future electrical production, are water resources in our county. We need to hold everyone accountable for their consumption of water, nationwide. This resource needs to be protected as our county will be affected immensely in the future if we lose this precious resource.
“I want to help Yuma County to continue to grow. I believe in teamwork and encouraging others to use their interests to help find the solutions and ways to continue to improve Yuma County in innovative and fiscally responsible ways.
“I would greatly appreciate your support and your vote for David Blach for Yuma County Commissioner District 3. Thank you.”
