Larry Don Suckla of Mancos announced that he will run for the Montezuma County Commissioner’s seat for Mancos District 3 last Wednesday at the Cortez Livestock Auction sales barn, west of Cortez. Although he has not filed yet, he plans to run as an unaffiliated candidate against the winner of the Republican primary between Tim Hunter and Dewayne Findley for the district seat.

Suckla is co-owner of Diamond Jim Land Auctions and Suckla Auction Service. His family entered the auction business 64 years ago and he has lived in the area his entire life.

He said one of many reasons that he considers himself qualified for the commissioner job is his business experience. As a cattle salesman, he deals with hundreds of business people and companies.

“I work with hundreds of CEOs, that’s farmers and ranchers, and I’ve never met one of them that is alike. They’re all different and I deal with them all,” he said.

Suckla, 47, said he is unhappy with the developments in county zoning of private property.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and I see the way things are going with zoning laws and I’d like to see them go in another direction. I’d like it to stay the way it has been,” he said.

Suckla said that zoning is a main issue for his campaign and he is for freedom of private property.

“The county wants to go ahead and zone a percentage of people’s property that hasn’t already been zoned, and I totally disagree with that. I feel like those people have not zoned their land on purpose,” Suckla said.

Suckla zeroed in on county zoning purpose and objectives.

“They want predictability? Let me tell you about predictability,” he told the crowd at the livestock sale barn.

Suckla told a story about living in Phoenix for six months and being warned by police that his truck was parked two inches over the sidewalk, which was illegal by the homeowners association regulations.

“I said I’d move it and park it on my land. He said I can’t do that and I would be fined. That’s predictability,” Suckla said.

“I feel like what they’re trying to do is turn this whole county into one big homeowner’s association. People in the county, they don’t want people telling them what they can do on their land,” Suckla said.

District 3 Republican candidate Hunter disagrees with Suckla’s homeowner’s association comparison, but said that zoning is going to be an issue in the election, and it will be an interesting discussion.

“He needs to read the code. It’s pretty simple. The voters voted to do this,” said Hunter.

Suckla also wants to keep business as local as possible.

“I think it’s very important to buy local. There’s a printer in town that wanted to do the printing for the city and he didn’t even get to bid on it. If all of the printers in town had the opportunity to bid and get within 5 percent, I’d be willing to keep that local and hire that printer,” Suckla said after his speech.

Suckla is also concerned with young people not having a future in the county.

“When our kids go to college, I’d like for them to have something to come back to, so they can get a job and raise a family,” he said.

He said he was also displeased with public land access being reduced in the area, and that it will affect the ability for people to use and enjoy those lands.

“I’m for multi-use. I’ve got a mountain bike. I believe in mountain bikes out there, I believe in loggers out there, I believe in cattle, four-wheelers. If they close those roads, they are taking opportunities away.”

As an unaffiliated candidate, Suckla will need to turn in a petition to make his candidacy official, according to County Clerk Carol Tullis. Suckla will be required to get valid signatures from at least 2 percent of the total amount of votes cast in the last election for that office. Deadline for filing is June 4.

Reach Brandon Mathis brandonm@cortezjournal.com