Girrens: What’s So Fun

By STEVEN GIRRENS
GOP Candidate For Re-election

During the past months I’ve been asked, why are you running again Girrens? Haven’t you had enough? What’s so fun about being a Councilor anyway?

Believe me there have been several times when I asked myself the “what’s so fun” question, particularly while driving home to White Rock after a Council meeting around 10 p.m. on a cold, snowy winter night. 

I played back the tapes of Council events over the past three years and 9 months asking myself what was fun.

Special highlights rose to the top:

  • the Teen Center dedication;
  • agreement on funding to revitalize Duane Smith Auditorium;
  • pride in our expanded recycling program;
  • progress on housing projects; and of course’
  • the extensive improvements in White Rock.

It was also fun supporting fellow Councilors on an item close to them and seeing their joy when that item moves favorably forward. This was especially the case relative to the enthusiasm generated by the creation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and its potential to stimulate our local tourist economy.

But in spite of all the prospects for fun, being a Councilor is a job that carries substantial responsibility. I view it like being a trustee. Someone willing to scrutinize, decide and be accountable on behalf of someone else like an aunt being accountable for an orphaned nephew.

But bottom line, and it may sound nuts; I enjoy being involved in county business. I enjoy being a part of our county’s policymaking body. I enjoy being a member of the seven-member team that is guiding our community into the future. Especially now because there is exiting, ongoing county business to be seen through that includes capital improvement projects for economic development and recreation, more housing projects, and continued benchmarking of county services.

Housing projects are needed now. Did you know that the Laboratory hired 400 new employees over the last 12 months? We need more housing stock ASAP for new hires to live in Los Alamos. And benchmarking county services is important to inform the effectiveness of our County government’s ability to deliver for our citizens.

So that’s it. I enjoy being a Councilor, a trustee of the citizenry, scrutinizing, deciding and being accountable to the citizens of Los Alamos. I am totally invested in this community. Thank you for the opportunity to offer my unique experiences and perspectives in continued service on the Council.

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