Michael Edwards
Profession: Retired from a publicly traded energy company.
Biography: Born in Greeley, raised in Denver. Graduated from John F. Kennedy HS. Graduated from CSU with BS in Business Administration, Concentration in Real Estate. Independent landman in Denver and Durango. Moved to CA and worked for a start-up energy company. Attended law school at night, received a JD and passed the CA Bar (still an active member). Last 14 years in Investor Relations for two publicly traded companies, responsible for interacting with top Institutional Shareholders (like Fidelity, Blackrock, T.Rowe Price) and explaining financial and operational information to stock analysts with top commercial banks (like JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America).
Why are you running for the South Suburban board?
I learned to swim at the South Suburban Harlow pool when it opened in 1969 and learned to ice skate at the seasonal ice rink off Arapahoe and University in the early 1970s. When we moved back to Centennial in 2007, my children benefitted from activities at South Suburban facilities - my son took karate lessons and golf lessons and my daughter took ballet and ice skating lessons (40 years after I learned to skate with SSPRD!) I'm running because I want to contribute to this organization and make sure that current and future generations can enjoy the programs, facilities, trails and open spaces.
When it comes to serving on this board - what are your top three priorities?
1) Financial - making sure that the diverse set of properties and programs are well run, well taken care of and that tax dollars are invested in a responsible manner.
2) Listening to taxpayers to hear their wants, needs and for ways to improve existing programs and properties.
3) Finding ways to connect more residents to nature and wildlife experiences.
What needs to be done to address those priorities?
1) Diving into the financial information to understand fixed costs, variable costs, cost saving measures, contingency planning for various economic conditions.
2) Visiting as many of the facilities, parks, trails and programs as I can and engaging in conversations with participants.
3) Talking with staff to understand current outreach and to look for ways to collaborate with the District's municipal and county partners. Also, asking residents for ideas.
With continued growth in the region and call for more rec centers and youth programs - How does the board keep property taxes from going up and meet budget obligations?
Taxpayers get to make the decision on tax increases at the ballot box. So, outreach and interaction with taxpayers is vital to understand if there is a desire to add rec centers and youth programs AND if a tax increase is needed and, ultimately, something taxpayers would approve. New urban developments will add residents, so increased revenue from adding those residents should be part of the calculation of any tax increase.
If elected, how would you improve community outreach to educate all eligible voters about upcoming elections, property taxes and South Suburban business?
I have read about the process and procedures used in writing the Master Plan to solicit feedback from residents about what they think the District's priorities should be in the future. I do not know how community outreach is handled for elections, property taxes and South Suburban business, so my first need it to understand how it is handled.
