By Andy Dennison
 The Taos News

  Many critical issues face Taos County, and Andrew Chávez believes the time is right for him to become a Taos County commissioner.

  A native of Llano Quemado, Chávez hopes to cash in on that timing in his second run for District III county commissioner in the June 3 Democratic primary. He will face six other candidates to fill the four-year term to be vacated by Gabriel Romero at the end of the year.

  “I’ve always wanted to run for elected office,” said Chávez, 59, in an interview with The Taos News. “It’s there you can do the most good.”

  Public safety, emergency services, land-use regulations and road maintenance are the county’s “statutory responsi­bilities,” he said, and they top Chávez’ list of areas needing attention in the coming years. Balancing growth with tradi­tion underlies much of what he talks about.

  “We need to address our statutory responsibilities in a way that fosters keeping of traditions in Taos while it attracts more people,” Chávez said.

  To that end, Chávez would like to see less “red tape” put up in front of homebuild­ers that “make it difficult for families to build their own homes.”

  Road repairs and main­tenance, which are included in Chávez’ category of public safety, need to be prioritized more closely — and the com­missioners must back off of managing.

  “The commissioners must make a decision to let the pub­lic works director do his job,” said Chávez. “Right now, it’s always an emergency, we just responding to constituents. We need to get our managers to man­age, and let them manage.”

  The condition of roads and how the coun­ty main­tains them bothers Chávez.
  “We can’t pave everything at once,” he said. “We have to figure out priorities for pav­ing and then schedule main­tenance. Rural addressing or new equipment don’t mean much if we don’t do that.”

  An ongoing project for the county, assigning addresses to all county properties is a task that should be “broken down into manageable pieces,” said Chávez, who worked on a sim­ilar project while employed by Santa Fe County.

  In his district, Chávez, a member of the El Valle de Los Ranchos Water & Sanitation District board, supports the extension of the district’s sewer line. In addition, he is concerned that the proposed upscale Miranda Canyon development above his dis­trict will adversely affect water quality and traffic.

  “Water dictates every­thing,” he said. “Miranda will affect supply and qual­­ity, because we live downhill from it.”

  Chávez listed his adminis­trative experience in a num­ber of government agencies as a plus for his election. The recipient of two master’s degrees, Chávez worked for 17 years in state government, including the Department of Finance and Administration, and Environment Depart­ment. He lost the 2004 com­missioner’s race to incum­bent Romero.

 ■ adennison@taosnews.com