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Candidates give crowd quite a show

John GardnerGlenwood Springs correspondent

The races for the Garfield County clerk and recorder, county treasurer, and county surveyor are proving to be quite a little show this election season. Candidates from those three races bantered at the 21st annual Issues and Answers Forum at Glenwood Springs City Hall.County clerk and recorderLongtime Clerk and Recorder Mildred Alsdorf is retiring from office after 27 years, and the two vying for her position are co-workers in the office – Republican Marian Clayton and Democrat Jean Alberico.Clayton has worked for the Garfield County clerk’s office as an administrative secretary to Alsdorf and a deputy clerk to the board of county commissioners.”I have the education and the training for the position,” Clayton said. “I have the leadership experience in private business and in the public service industry.”She stressed the importance of initiative.”I think you have to have some creativity along with knowledge for the job,” she said. “Without the drive to get it into place, knowledge alone wouldn’t be as effective.”Alberico has 24 years’ experience in the county clerk’s office and has worked as the chief deputy clerk since 1999.”Take a walk with me into the 21st century,” she told the audience.She would like to see the office in Rifle open five days a week, instead of only Tuesdays through Thursdays.County treasurerRepublican Gala Ivie is the deputy treasurer and deputy public trustee for the Eagle County Treasurer’s Office, and said she believes that a change is necessary in Garfield County.”If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Ivie said. “But this office is broke, and it’s time for a change.”Democrat Georgia Chamberlain has been the Garfield County treasurer and trustee for the past 20 years. “I will give my opponent the benefit of the doubt,” Chamberlain said. “She doesn’t work there and does not know how this office works.”The most important issue of the office is to make sure that the money gets to the bank every day, Ivie said.”The money in our office on a daily basis is put in the bank on that day,” Chamberlain said. “The reason you don’t hear much about this office is because it runs efficiently and smoothly.”County surveyorDemocrat David Nicholson is challenging incumbent Republican Scott Aibner for the Garfield County surveyor seat.Aibner said knowledge of the industry will make him a success, and working along with the other county offices is an imperative relationship.”The clerk and recorder are really in charge of record-keeping,” Aibner said. “We really do not have much to do with keeping records.”Aibner was appointed as surveyor in 2003 and elected to the position in 2004. He owns River Valley Survey in Rifle.Nicholson wants to update the surveyors’ records and data to be more readily available for the public.”The big issue here is growth,” Nicholson said. “With that growing burden we need to be able to record data accurately and timely in order to keep up with it and to keep the people informed on the latest issues affecting the county.”Nicholson worked for Schmueser Gordon Meyer Engineers and Surveyors for 18 years in Garfield County and now is owner of Divide Creek Surveyors.