Arvada 2021 Election Results: Griffith Concedes To Smith

This story was updated at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

ARVADA, CO — With around 99 percent of the vote counted, Arvada City Council at-large candidate Lisa Smith led Michael Griffith by 3,121 votes, according to unofficial election results.

In a message to his fellow Arvadans on Patch neighbor posts, Griffith conceded the race.

"I just spoke to Lisa on the phone and congratulated her on her win, wishing her a successful term on City Council," Griffith said. "I am grateful to have received nearly 16k votes from across the city and thankful to all my supporters who helped walk neighborhoods and shared my message with family and friends.

"I am also thankful to all the organizations that helped put candidates in front of voters. Moving forward, I will continue to serve the City as the Vice Chair of the Planning Commission and look forward to other opportunities to stay involved. Arvada is an amazing place to live and I extend my congratulations to John Marriott in District 3 and Randy Moorman in District 1."

Arvada voters have returned their ballots for the election, which will decide the fate of six candidates who are running for City Council.

Smith, Griffith, Chelsea Canda, Randy Moorman, Suzie Schuckman and John Marriott have each been campaigning for a council seat.

Our state has a 7-year history of successful mail-in voting, and Jefferson County had one of the highest ballot return rates leading up to Nov. 2.

Arvada City Council Election Results

Unofficial results as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

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At Large

• Lisa Smith: 19,091
• Michael Griffith: 15,970

District I

• Chelsea Canda: 4,418
• Randy Moorman: 4,678

District III

• Suzie Schuckman: 3,859
• John Marriott: 4,121

At Large

Smith went up against Griffith for the at-large seat on City Council.

Smith is an Air Force police veteran who works for Team Rubicon, a veteran-based disaster and humanitarian response organization. She also spent more than a decade employed as a social worker, and served on the Arvada Chamber Resiliency Taskforce.

"I want to take my ground level experience in police and social work to bring real world solutions to our complex community challenges," Smith said in her Patch profile.

Smith said she believes that housing is the most pressing issue the city is facing.

"One goal is to help create a clear, obtainable path for any renter to become a homeowner," she said.

"I have ground-level experience in creating affordable housing programs that gives me a unique lens to approach this challenge in an innovative way, like investing in home-sharing, landlord rental guarantee programs, down payment assistance, and financial literacy programs."

Smith's campaign platform also focused on improving public safety and the city's multi-modal transportation system.

Griffith, an urban designer and landscape architect, was appointed in 2017 to the City of Arvada Planning Commission. He's spent the past five years reviewing applications from residential and commercial developers and builders who aim to create new spaces in the city, and he's now the vice chair of the commission.

Griffith said that one of his top goals is to increase transparency in City Council.

"The role and scope of local government is becoming increasingly unclear to the public," Griffith said in his Patch profile before the election. "As a member of the Arvada City Council I will advocate for strict adherence to the guiding documents that define the operational capacity of the council and the various departments within our city."

Griffith said his background in engineering and place making is "sorely needed on council, where the rubber meets the road on development and public investment decisions."

Griffith volunteered his design knowledge during the early months of the pandemic to assist Olde Town BID — he worked on street closure concepts that helped the project become what it is now.

District I

District I candidates included Chelsea Canda and Randy Moorman.

Canda, a former high school teacher and current office manager for her family's small business, said she ran for office because she's "concerned about the direction our beautiful city is headed."

"I believe that we need leaders who serve the people and the people's interests rather than their own. I want to preserve the Arvada community as a safe, family-friendly city."

Some of Canda's top platform issues included public safety, responsible growth, infrastructure improvement and facilitating diverse small businesses.

"As a small business owner, I know our city thrives when small businesses are allowed to operate and grow," Canda's Patch profile read. "We should get out of their way."

Canda's opponent, Moorman, shares her belief in helping small businesses.

"I think there is more we can do to help our small businesses and residents, especially now with a rise in the Delta variant," Moorman's profile read. "I would like to see the city assist small businesses with loans, finding employees, employee vaccinations, and new air filters to improve ventilation that helps protect workers and customers indoors."

Moorman, a scientist who spent 18 years working on environmental policy and 3 years as a science educator, said he ran for office because he wants to give back to his community.

"Over the past ten years, I've gotten to know our city very well from serving on the Arvada Sustainability Community, being a foster dad, running a pie baking business out of my home to volunteering with my church," Moorman said.

"As a committee member, I researched best practices from around the country and gathered feedback from Arvada residents for a variety of issues relating to our city's infrastructure and environment."

Moorman said he believes the city's most pressing issue is recovering from the pandemic and "building a stronger, more resilient economy."

"Everyone should feel safe and be able to thrive in Arvada. I will prioritize stimulus funds and city resources to improve the local economy and help our residents and small businesses. This includes improving our roads and public transportation. We will make our streets safer by investing in services, housing, infrastructure and jobs. We know crime goes down when everyone has opportunities to thrive."

District III

Candidate Suzie Schuckman went up against John Marriott for Arvada's District III race.

Marriott, an entrepreneur who spent nearly four decades developing a successful small business, has served on Arvada City Council since 2013.

He said his top priority for the city is long-term infrastructure.

"I plan to dedicate a portion of tax revenue growth to long-term projects," his Patch profile read.

Marriott said he aims to boost the local economy through policy decisions that strive "for the least restrictive environment necessary to have a vibrant economy."

Marriott's opponent, Schuckman, has spent more than 15 years in non-profit leadership and management.

"I am running for Arvada City Council because I truly know what the daily lived experience is for Arvadans," Schuckman's profile read. "I understand the highs and lows of our hard working families. I also represent a diverse perspective that is inclusive of Arvadans who value welcoming all families to our community."

Schuckman said she believes one of the most pressing issues Arvada faces is attainable housing.

"I would like to see two strategies implemented moving forward that will elevate residents' voices," she said.

"First, I would like to expand the membership of the Planning Commission. As of today, this commission does not represent the growing community we must serve. Secondly, I would advocate for a resident advised Community Land Trust model to be adopted. This would provide residents with the empowerment to determine how we best utilize our land resources. Residents' voices and values are the priority."

Schuckman's platform also included improving local parks and facilitating a more culturally diverse Arvada.