AURORA | Longtime at-Large Aurora City Councilman Bob LeGare announced Saturday he’s running for the District 5 Arapahoe County commissioner seat.
The announcement comes less than four months after LeGare, a Republican, won another term as at-large councilman in Aurora. LeGare has served on Aurora City Council for 13 years.
“Although I recently ran for re-election and have thoroughly enjoyed my years on city council, the commissioner office only opens every 4 years, including 2016. I need to take action now to bring my city council experience to the county level,” LeGare said in a press release announcing his candidacy. ” I believe my years working with city financial matters, community services, quality of life, transportation and infrastructure issues would transfer well to a role in Arapahoe County government.”
The District 5 seat covers portions of Aurora and Glendale. LeGare will face incumbent Democrat District 5 Commissioner Bill Holen in the November 2016 election. Holen is seeking a second term on the commission.
“Over recent years Aurora has focused more financial resources toward services traditionally provided at the county level such as homelessness and mental health,” LeGare said in the release. “Through the role of Arapahoe County Commissioner I believe that I can more effectively align the spending of taxpayer funds from Aurora and the county to more efficiently provide these services.”
LeGare has worked in commercial property management since 1984 and holds a degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. He also is a certified property manager as designated by the Institute of Real Estate Management.
LeGare won re-election to his at-large seat last fall after a competitive race that saw the Aurora police union endorsing against him, saying that he pursued city budget policies they thought undermined public safety. LeGare pushed back, saying they balked at his insistence on policies encouraging prudent staffing and spending levels.
Beyond his service on council, LeGare served on Aurora’s first Open Space Advisory Committee and has served on the Arapahoe County Open Space & Trails Advisory Board.
If LeGare wins the commissioner race and resigns his council seat, the remaining council members would interview and appoint a replacement for the at-large seat. The last time council had such a vacancy was in October 2012, when Sally Mounier was appointed to the Ward I seat when then-Councilwoman Melissa Miller moved out of state. The previous year, then-Ward V Councilwoman Sue Sandstrom resigned after being elected Arapahoe County Treasurer. Bob Roth was appointed to the seat and served until the next election, when he was elected to his first four-year term.