By Lauren Lifke
After a close race for the Edgewood Town Commission District 1 seat, incumbent Ken Brennan held onto his seat by just over 100 votes, beating out opponent Adrian Chavez.
“I’m feeling relieved,” Brennan told The Independent. “I’m glad it’s over. In my opinion, this race got kind of nasty.”
Brennan started his term in 2022, and he has since been appointed mayor. He said his first term was a learning curve, and he sees more positive progress moving forward in his second term.
Chavez and Brennan have been at odds with each other for months, with Chavez alleging that Brennan and other members of the Town Commission have been lacking in government transparency. Chavez has not been a Town Commissioner before, but he served on the Edgewood Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this year. Chavez has voiced his concerns at town meetings, one of which yielded a rebuttal on social media from the Town of Edgewood.
In his second term, Brennan said he plans to continue addressing problems he’s discussed already as a Town Commissioner. The most important, he said, are road construction and water rights.
“Next year is going to be a really good year for road-building in the town,” Brennan said. “It’s just a fact of life that when you’re doing this stuff — and you’re applying for grants and things for the materials, everything to build roads — it can take up to two, even three years, to get all the pieces in place to build a road. It’s not an overnight thing.”
The town also recently passed its water ordinance, which is a step toward making Edgewood a water utility, Brennan said. This would allow the town to apply for state and federal grants. This can help with water treatment to help provide Edgewood the ability to turn its hard water soft, he said.
Brennan said the previous administrations ran into obstacles in turning Edgewood into a water utility because they were unaware of the full process. After doing further research, the town is more knowledgeable of the steps it needs to take during Brennan’s second term.
Chavez told The Independent that, despite his loss, he plans to remain involved in local politics.
“I’m not a sore loser,” Chavez said. “But in the same breath, I can’t in good conscience allow 566 people — who voted for me and trusted me to fight on their behalf —to just simply say ‘Oh, well, I lost the election,’” Chavez said.
He plans to continue to attend public meetings and provide his input as a citizen, he said.
“I’m just going to concentrate and do right by the community, and continue to raise awareness,” Chavez said.
In Districts 2 and 5, candidates ran unopposed. District 5 incumbent Mike Rariden was reelected. District 2 Commissioner-elect Devon Taylor hasn’t served in office before.
District 4 incumbent Filandro Anaya was beaten out by Stephen Murillo, who is currently serving a term as District 2 commissioner. Anaya earned 479 of the 1,252 votes, leaving Murillo with 62% of the votes.
Brennan said he plans to help the commissioners improve on what he’s already learned in his first term. Brennan said he has been on the commission the longest. Out of the current commissioners, Brennan said, Milligan and Murillo have been on the commission for under two years, and Rariden for under one year.
Taylor has no experience in local government, Brennan said, so training him will be a focus.
“When I came in, I had no clue, but I went to every single possible training that came my way,” Brennan said. “The more you know, the better you go.”
