The Woodland Park City Council has selected Carrol Harvey as its newest council member, filling a seat vacated by David Ott in March.
The Council held interviews with applicants Harvey and Woodland Park resident Don Dezellem prior to the May 4 meeting. The council voted to appoint Harvey by a vote of four to two. Councilmembers Robert Zuluaga and Frank Connors voted for Dezellem. After getting sworn in, Harvey took her seat that evening.
“I’m certain I can fill the service gap between [former] Councilmember Ott’s departure and the next election cycle, which is only 11 months away,” she said.
Harvey is no stranger to local government, with previous stints on the Woodland Park Planning Commission and city council, the latter of which she resigned in 2019.
During the interview process, Zuluaga pressed Harvey on her sudden departure. He questioned how the council could justify appointing someone who did not honor her full term previously to replace Ott, who similarly quit, and asked how it could possibly be in the best interest of the city of Woodland Park.
Harvey explained that her resignation followed a series of events involving death threats she received for spearheading a task force to control the mule deer population in the city at the time. The threats, which targeted her own pets, resulted in a police investigation.
In response, the deer herd management plan was scuttled to protect Harvey’s safety. But with all the work that had already gone into the plan, that only frustrated Harvey, sparking her resignation in what she now considers having been a “rash decision.”
Most recently, Harvey has been serving as a member of the planning commission, a seat she will be resigning to serve on city council, Harvey told the Courier.
As a member of council, Harvey identified the processing of the new budget as a top priority and also said she is “ready to listen and act” on the crucial topic of short-term rentals. In addition, Harvey touted her past experience as a means to dive in without any learning curve or downtime.
Separately, the city council appointed Eric Cabrera, a local business owner and resident of Woodland Park since 2017, to fill a vacated term on the Downtown Development Authority.
