They’ve loved being a county commissioner and made some fantastic friends, but when their terms end in mid-January there are some things they won’t miss.

“I’ve been chewed out more than I’ve been chewed out in my life,” Montezuma County Commissioner Larry Don Suckla said.

“Our skins are not made thick, but they grow thick with the experience of being in elected office,” Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese said.

The two commissioners are among the 58 who will leave office this month, taking with them decades of experience on a vast range of issues, from public lands to child welfare to transportation. They’ve worked closely with their local communities and legislative delegations at the state Capitol.

“We are losing giants,” said John Swartout, the executive director of Colorado Counties Inc.

The majority of commissioners are leaving because of term limits. Some, such as Alamosa County’s Darius Allen, Adams County’s Mary Hodge and Fremont County’s Tim Payne, opted not to run again. And five commissioners were defeated in their elections this year. 

Their successors will be sworn in in mid-January, but the pandemic sweeping the world most likely will make the ceremonies virtual. That’s how current county commissioners participated in Colorado Counties’ annual winter conference in December, which normally is an in-person affair.

“It was a very hard year anyway, and then not to get to say good-bye to these people in person was tough,” said CCI’s policy director, Eric Bergman. He admitted he got teary when introducing a video at the conference highlighting the departing commissioners.

Commissioners serve four-year staggered terms – some counties do not have term limits or allow three terms instead of the traditional two terms. Many of the outgoing commissioners were first elected in 2012 and again in 2016. 

“They are really close,” Swartout said. “It’s really great when an urban and a rural county commissioner become friends.They learn what it’s like to walk in each other’s shoes. They become each other’s allies at the legislature.”

He pointed to Pueblo County Commissioner Terry Hart, who has spent 40 years in Pueblo County government. Hart worked as an assistant county attorney, county attorney and even a stint as chief of staff in the district attorney’s office before first being elected to the commission in 2012. 

“Terry bridged the divide between rural and urban, between Republican and Democrat,” Swartout side. “He is the foremost diplomat and finds the middle ground on everything. Terry is a huge loss.”

Said Hart: “I’m blushing. That’s sweet.”

Other departing commissioners include Larimer County’s Steve Johnson; Jefferson County’s Casey Tighe and Libby Szabo; Teller County’s Norm Steen; El Paso County’s Mark Waller; Saguache County’s Jason Anderson; and Morgan County’s Jim Zwetzig, who just completed his term as CCI president.

The new president is Fremont County Commissioner Debbie Bell, a former journalist (yes!).  

Within the association, nine steering committees review policy and provide direction in certain subject areas, including public safety and taxation and finance. A number of departing commissioners put in extensive service on the committees, which is another reason the exodus will be so deeply felt.

For example, Fremont County’s Payne served five years as chair of the Land Use & Natural Resources Steering Committee. Fremont doesn’t have term limits, but he opted not to run for a third term.

“Tim Payne is a huge loss,” Swartout said.

Mesa’s Pugliese and Weld County Commissioner Barb Kirkmeyer have focused on child welfare and human services issues during their service. 

“Mesa County is such an anomaly,” Pugliese said. “We are the 10th-largest county in the state, but the only large county on the Western Slope so we have rural and urban challenges.”

Small and “super small counties” struggle with the lack of resources, which makes child welfare in those counties difficult, an issue Pugliese said she tried to address during her eight years in office.

“I’m going to miss the people and the collaboration we’ve built with the business community, especially the hospitals during COVID,” she said.

Kirkmeyer served two terms on the Board of Commissioners in the 1990s, then joined Gov. Bill Owens’ administration. Afterward, she ran again for the Weld County commission, and has just a few days left on her third term. She will be sworn in as a state senator this month.

“No one has done more to get funding for children in this state than Barbara Kirkmeyer,” Swartout said.

Another longtime commissioner is Alamosa County’s Darius Allen, who is leaving after serving six terms, or 24 years.

“I’m no quitter!” he joked.

Allen made news in 2007 when he charged at a person speaking at a commissioners meeting. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

“It probably wasn’t the wisest thing I’ve done,” Allen said.

But he added he had grown tired of “seeing the gals in the office” get harangued by the public.

When he went to Denver that year on business, his friends took him to a Mexican restaurant, where he was served a large burrito with a file hidden in it. Allen laughed his head off. 

Allen, who received CCI’s Distinguished Service Award in 2015, serves as vice chair of the Public Lands Steering Committee.

In addition to serving on CCI’s steering committees, many commissioners also sit on a variety of regional and national boards. 

For example, Douglas County Commission Chairman Roger Partridge, who is leaving in January, is the board’s representative on too many groups to list. A sample includes the Castle Rock Economic Development Council; Denver Regional Council of Governments Board of Directors; Denver South Economic Development Partnership Board of Directors; Metro Area County Commissioners; and the E-470 Public Highway Authority.

Montezuma’s Suckla, who is chairman of the Public Lands Steering Committee, credits longtime commissioners such as Allen, Kirkmeyer and Garfield County’s John Martin for helping mold him.

What’s he going to miss the most?

“Changing minds,” he said, without hesitation. “Government officials and appointed people will say, ‘That’s the way it’s always been,’ but you can work to change that decision.”

Yes, Colorado Counties Inc. will definitely have a different look next year with all those new members, but as Suckla likes to say, “I guess if I learned it, someone else will eventually.”