Longtime Steamboat Springs resident and small business owner Kelly Phillips has announced his candidacy for the District 1 seat on City Council, setting up a November race against incumbent Council President Gail Garey, who has confirmed she will seek re-election.

Phillips, who has lived in Steamboat for 33 years, said his decision to run stems from a deep commitment to the community — and frustration with recent decisions among city leadership, particularly around the controversial Brown Ranch housing proposal.

“I don’t know if I have the time, but I have a passion for it,” Phillips said of serving on council while running his business, Precision Repair Service & Sales, in tandem with making time for his family. 

“I think the current city council is out of touch with the community, and I think that became readily apparent with Brown Ranch,” he added. “There’s not just one person — it’s the whole council. Something’s got to be done.”

Phillips arrived in Steamboat in 1992, following a friend who landed a job at the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp. He worked maintenance there, then moved into guiding snowmobile tours, all while pursuing a career as a commercial diver in locations ranging from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa and the Middle East.

That offshore work, he said, prepared him for running a business.

“I had 120 people under me, and it was more of a management position,” Phillips said. “It actually set me up pretty good for [running my shop]…I wanted to be here with my kids, my wife and everything else. I haven’t looked back since then.”

Owning a local, service-oriented business, Phillips added, helped him integrate into the community in ways his transient diving schedule never allowed.

“One of the coolest things about being in this business is getting to know all these people,” he said. “I feel real strongly about this community…I’ve kind of scratched and clawed to try to become a part of it.”

Phillips points to the council’s 2023 vote against sending the Brown Ranch annexation proposal to the voters as the moment that “sealed the deal” on his view of city leadership.

“That hit me to my core,” he said. “Even (former City Manager) Gary Suiter told them, ‘This is too big of a decision for seven people to make.’ And we still had four of them not send it to a vote.”

A vocal participant in the petition effort that eventually placed the Brown Ranch annexation on the ballot and member of the Brown Ranch Deliberation and Stewardship Team, Phillips said he supports affordable housing — just not the scale and structure originally proposed for Brown Ranch.

“I’m 100% pro-affordable housing in this town,” Phillips said. “But the mix was wrong, the size was wrong…We could have been a year-and-a-half ahead of the game by now if they had just stopped and talked to us. Instead, it became way more divisive than it ever needed to be.”

Phillips, who has been critical of the DST process, argues that the city needs a broader housing strategy beyond Brown Ranch — including down-payment assistance grants targeted at first responders, nurses and teachers; starter home options such as mobile homes; and commercial-industrial development to support job growth.

“We’ve been so focused on Brown Ranch, it’s stopped us from thinking and doing other things,” he said.

If elected, Phillips said transparency and community engagement will guide his decision-making.

“I’ve tried to put myself in people’s shoes that voted no on sending the Brown Ranch vote to the people, and I just can’t find a reason,” he said. “There were some times during Brown Ranch where (council) went into executive sessions and made decisions that shouldn’t have been made in executive sessions. That’s where the transparency thing for me comes in.”

He also said his “first order of business” on council would be to seek the removal of Yampa Valley Housing Authority Executive Director Jason Peasley, citing frustration over what he sees as a lack of communication and collaboration between Peasley and community members.

While housing stands as the primary issue on Phillips’ platform, he is also passionate about managing growth. Currently a member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, Phillips wants to ensure existing amenities aren’t neglected while new projects are pursued.

On the vacancy tax currently under council consideration, Phillips noted that he wasn’t entirely familiar with the “inner-workings” of the proposed policy, but expressed opposition to the concept in general. 

“The thing that sticks with me is taxation without representation. I really have a problem with that,” he said, adding that it can unintentionally penalize local families who keep secondary units for visiting relatives. “I know it’s going to be popular with the voters because it doesn’t touch that many people that are voting, but I just have a constitutional issue with it.”

Phillips is supportive of the proposed Regional Transportation Authority and envisions a transit system similar to Aspen or Vail, where residents and visitors can move between communities without relying on cars.

“Craig’s getting ready to go through a huge change. They’re losing the coal mine. So I worry about Craig,” said Phillips, who emphasized the value of having expanded transportation options for those commuting from Craig to Steamboat. “I hope that it can reinvent itself, but it’s inextricably tied to our economy.”

Despite his outspoken positions, Phillips said that running for office is not something he entered into lightly.

“I’m a private person. I don’t want my name on signs in people’s yards,” he said. “I want to be the guy who comes to work, goes home, plays with my kids and my dog and my ten chickens. But I feel strongly enough about this to do it.”

Phillips’ campaign slogan is “Community First,” which he said reflects his approach to leadership. “I think Steamboat is a special place…I truly want the best for it,” he said.

Garey, first elected in 2019, will face Phillips in the November election. 

“I certainly believe that our community is better served when we have competitive races,” said Garey of Phillips’ candidacy. “Our community is clearly at a crossroads and has the opportunity to make choices in terms of which direction it wants to go.”

Petitions to run for one of the four open seats on the Steamboat Springs City Council are available until Aug. 25.