Commissioner John Martin receives Commissioner of the Year award

PRESS RELEASE
December 12, 2013

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – Honored by his colleagues statewide, John Martin received the Commissioner of the Year award from Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI) at the annual winter conference in Colorado Springs, December 4 and 5. CCI is a non-profit membership association which offers assistance to county commissioners, mayors, and council members and encourages counties to work together on common issues.

The Commissioner of the Year award is determined through votes from CCI members, and the CCI board makes the final determination. John received the award not only before peers statewide, but Garfield County Commissioners Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson, County Manager Andrew Gorgey, and county staff were also in attendance.

“It is quite a feather in the cap of Garfield County,” said Commissioner Mike Samson at Monday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, held at the Silt Municipal Building. “It was a unanimous decision. It is quite well deserved. Working with you the past five years, I appreciate you as a mentor in helping me understand county government. It is very complex in a lot of ways.”

“Many people throughout Garfield County and the state are very appreciative of the 16 plus years you have given to Garfield County, but not only Garfield County, also to the state of Colorado. It was great that you were honored such. It was well deserved,” continued Samson.

Commissioner Martin shared with fellow commissioners Monday his surprise at receiving the award. “It was truly a surprise to me, because we all work as a team. If I win something, I definitely share it with the entire group, every elected official, everyone in Garfield County, because that is who we work for, the citizens. They bring out the best in all of us, and that is what we want to give them,” Martin stated.

The commissioner went on to say “I am extremely humbled. I try to work quietly and behind the scenes and try to give the credit to just about everybody under the sun. It is not about raising one single flag, it is raising our flag to make sure it is working, and it is successful. Hopefully we will continue to do that, and I will not have an ego out of proportion. It is truly an honor. What a surprise.”

Martin was elected to his fifth term as Garfield County Commissioner in 2012 and has been a public servant for more than forty years in Garfield County. “We are humbled by this record and grateful for the example it is to us all,” Commissioners Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson stated in their letter of support to Colorado Counties, Inc., when they nominated Martin for the award.

John Martin, Chair of the Garfield County Board of Commissioners, was installed as President of the Western Interstate Region (WIR) of the National Association of Counties (NACo) in May of 2013, and CLUB 20 honored John with the Dan Noble Award in the spring of 2013, career recognition for his “outstanding public service” to Western Colorado.

John Martin