I'm Ken Bowles - a long-time, fiercely Independent, fiscally conservative resident of Pagosa Springs. My wife Anita and I, and our two children have been in town since 2007. Our kids started, attended, and completed their primary education here as Pirates. My first career was in law enforcement between 1982-88 in the State of Wisconsin, as a deputy sheriff specializing in long term drug enforcement investigations. After leaving Wisconsin, I attended and graduated Arizona State University with a B.S. in Conservation Biology in 1993. I worked my way through school in the retail furniture industry, and advanced in the industry after leaving school, working for numerous manufacturers between 1995 and 2012 as a sales representative. From 1999 to 2015, I ran a warehousing operation in the Phoenix metro area supplying product retailers nationwide.

I have been a vacation rental operator here in Pagosa since 2013, and have operated both short term and long-term rentals, both here and out of state. In addition, I operate a small online retail furniture business based in Albuquerque, and I've served as an assistant Scoutmaster for Pagosa's Troop 807.

In my years as an independent businessman, I have developed a wide range of skills, such as materials and product sourcing, logistics coordination (domestic and overseas), real estate purchasing, property management, and interpersonal communication. I know how to solve problems, and get things done.

I'm not a politician - and I certainly have no ambitions to end up making a career out of it - but I’ve reluctantly chosen to run for Archuleta County Commissioner - because I feel our county is at a turning point. Pagosa has always attracted dreamers looking for a quieter, more serene lifestyle, and folks who are looking to reconnect with nature and the great outdoors, whether it be for a week, or the rest of their lives. Covid-19 has certainly spurred this activity on like never seen before, and our little corner of Colorado is now one of the most sought-after housing markets in the entire country.

As residents, we can simply no longer afford to handle our looming problems with small-town thinking. Years of prior administrations have struggled, whether by inability or indifference, to address fundamental problems with our roads, our utilities, and our tax and revenue structures.

If we don’t address these issues head on – as a core agenda – we not only risk disastrous failures in our critical infrastructure – but we'll also continue to keep the next level of proper and healthy economic growth – and the corresponding revenues – away from Archuleta. We’ve already seen countless instances of this. Failing to address these items now will drive up the emergency costs to remediate them – and we'll be stuck with the absolutely astronomical costs – administered in the form of sharply rising taxes.

Archuleta County - It's time to tackle the big stuff. Elect me - and I'll do my absolute best to bring about the change we need to address long overdue issues - and help prepare us for a healthy and prosperous future!

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