Highlands Ranch – Steve Taraborelli is a candidate for mayor in search of a city.
And he is willing to wait until Highlands Ranch becomes one.
The state’s largest unincorporated community, pushing toward 90,000 residents, is governed by neighborhood boards and civic groups. It doesn’t have a city council. No mayor, either.
Taraborelli is campaigning to lead what he believes will be a city, citing the recent decision by residents to consolidate four neighborhood governing boards into one.
He has officially declared his candidacy – at a salary of $1 for the first year – to the town he hopes never materializes.
That’s right.
The lone candidate running for mayor, in a city that doesn’t exist, is adamantly opposed to Highlands Ranch’s actually becoming a city.
But if it has to happen, then the Internet marketer says he’s the best person for the job.
“Say you’re in a family and the kids want a dog, but the husband and wife are against getting a dog,” Taraborelli said. “But if you’re going to wind up with a pet anyway, the parent at least wants to say what kind of dog.”
In many ways, Highlands Ranch has been “going to town,” so to speak, for years, boosted by a growing retail, medical and industrial presence. The community has added a “town center” with a nostalgic square and clock tower, not to mention Civic Green Park, immediately south of the Highlands Ranch Library.
Not only does the subdivision have its own ZIP code, but it has one of the nation’s top-rated post offices this year.
“How do they run this place without a mayor?” asked retail worker Jan Walters, between bites of lunch at the Fat Burger restaurant in the Highlands Ranch Town Center.
There is no organized movement afoot for incorporation, and all but one of the 20 sitting metro district board members who serve residential areas have said they would oppose forming a city in the near future.
Nevertheless, Taraborelli expects an incorporation effort in three to five years.
Jumping into the race now “gives me three to five years of name recognition and listening to residents. Other mayoral candidates might have six months of campaigning,” he said.
He won’t accept campaign contributions, at least not until an election is set.
Taraborelli, who works for Sun Microsystems, writes a blog about the governance and spending by the metro districts.
His website – www.steve taraborelli.com – lays out a 10-point plan for running the future city of Highlands Ranch, which includes outsourcing nonessential services, creating better jobs, more mass transit and “random audits to uncover waste and inefficiencies.”
Taraborelli’s “candidacy” is the latest grist in the misconception that Highlands Ranch – with vast parks, municipal-type services and all kinds of shopping – is already a city.
For retiree Abe Monaghan, the lack of a town father merely proves his theory that less government is better.
“If (Highlands Ranch) has come this far without one,” he said, “it just shows me there’s no need to add one more bureaucrat to the public dole.”
Currently, Highlands Ranch is governed by four metro districts, special boards that provide services in the absence of a town or city council. Highlands Ranch’s districts provide parks, major roads, landscaping, water, sewer and other public services.
Last month, residents voted to consolidate the boards into one townlike council. Once new boundaries are drawn, the community will move a tremendous philosophical step closer to operating like a city.
Taraborelli was one of the few public critics of the proposal, which passed by a 2-to-1 margin.
Metro district board member Kathy Smith is the first elected official to openly support incorporation but said there’s still a lot of study and deliberation to be done.
“It’s tough to say what’s going to happen with Highlands Ranch,” she said. “… There are still a lot of studies and debate that need to take place.”
And when the talking and studying is done, Taraborelli says he’ll be ready.
Just in case.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
