Tom Au appreciates Bayfield’s small-town feel, but the need to adjust to a growing area is not lost on him.
“I think a lot of the residents and longtime people in the area understand that growth is inevitable. It’s going to happen,” he said, adding it’s important to do it the right way.
To see the town continue to grow, Au is of the mindset that ongoing tasks must be completed. And that’s how he plans to govern after being elected as Bayfield’s mayor in April.
Au, who previously served on the town board of trustees during the late 2000s and early-2010s and between 2022 and 2023, unseated incumbent Ashleigh Tarkington to become the next mayor. Au told The Durango Herald he had heard concerns prior to the election from voters about government transparency and the way projects were being facilitated under Tarkington.
Bayfield’s town government is set up in such a way that the board of trustees decides on various agenda items as a collective unit as opposed to larger town and city governments in which a mayor makes the final decisions.
Au, who has resided in the Bayfield area since 1998, describes himself and his leadership style as proactive, and one particular experience while on the board of trustees helped shape that approach.
About a month into his first stint on the town board, Au said the town’s sewer plant was shut down because it was out of compliance with state regulations.
“That was big. That was a huge deal. The whole town was shut down,” he said. “There used to be a Bayfield sanitation district, and the district ran the sewer in Bayfield in Gem Village. … Their plant was noncompliant. They were dumping too much bad water into the river.”
It impacted the Southern Ute Tribe because its water intake area was within a mile of where the town would discharge sewage, Au said.
Au said that sanitation district was there at the time because Gem Village, an unincorporated community near Bayfield’s western town limits, wasn’t technically part of the town.
The situation reached a point where the tribe asked the state to shut down the sewer plant, and the town ultimately decided to build a new plant altogether, Au said.
“You need to be proactive in dealing with the problems. You can’t sit back and let a problem just keep festering,” he said.
Au also helped oversee the construction of the new Town Hall and senior center buildings and the expansion of Joe Stephenson Park when he was a board of trustee member.
Au, 63, believes his tenure on the board of trustees will help him as the town’s mayor because he has experience dealing with various budget processes. He also said understanding the town’s history for why a budget item may or may not work will be beneficial.
“It helps. It helps everybody. It helps our staff, it helps the board,” he said.
The town has multiple projects lined up, including the Pine River Commons townhomes complex and to finish work on the U.S. Highway 160/East Bayfield Parkway intersection. Au wants to not only ensure they’re completed, but he also looks to potentially bolster economic development via the agriculture scene and the town’s more rural areas.
Au looks to connect with local farmers looking to sell eggs, beef and other items and grow the economy that way.
Au said another area he’s exploring is to work with a ranch in one of the town’s farmland areas that does wedding events to help with economic growth.
Au is also encouraged about Bayfield adding a future Tractor Supply Co. store location and keeping future revenue in town, saying people won’t have to settle for the Durango or Pagosa Springs location to obtain their farm materials.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
