Steamboat Springs — If Paul “Loui” Antonucci gets elected in District II this November, he will have served on the Council in three very different decades. First elected in 1989, Antonucci served until 1993, but lost his reelection bid that year.

Now, a year after he and his partner Joe Pete Larusso sold the Old Town Pub, Antonucci wants to get back into the political game and he thinks he’s ready to give current Councilman Ken Brenner a run for his money in District II. Antonucci said this week he is almost positive he will be running, but needs to think a little more before Monday’s deadline for petitions.

He said the city has changed a great deal in the past eight years, with certain basic assumptions falling by the wayside.

“When we were on council, we were concerned with getting the economy going, not slowing it down,” Antonucci said.

Antonucci thinks he lost the election in 1993 because he was seen as “pro-growth,” a label he said was unfair.

During his time on the council, the city was able to complete such projects as the Yampa River Core Trail, make the bus system free and pay for river improvements with “fishing-is-fun” grants, among other accomplishments.

Despite the time gap, Antonucci said he is still very much in tune with the local populace and understands the “plight of the locals.”

He currently works in construction as a project manager and still owns the Old Town Pub building.