Arvada City Council candidates discussed crucial topics surrounding the city’s future in a video forum ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

All six of the candidates answered three questions in a video produced by the Jefferson County League of Women Voters on Oct. 13. The questions keyed on affordable housing, homelessness and transparency between local governments and residents.

The Arvada candidates are running for three separate seats on the city’s council — District 1, 3 and at-large.

Overall, the Arvada City Council includes a mayor, one councilmember for four districts and two at-large members that represent the entirety of the community. All councilmembers are considered part-time except for the mayor.

Backgrounds

The two at-large candidates are Michael Griffith and Denise Vargas, both looking to replace current councilmember Brad Rupert who is not seeking re-election.

Griffith has lived in Arvada since 2014 and said he is running because he cares about the future of his city, especially for his children. He has a background in transportation engineering and design and has served on the planning commission.

Vargas was raised in Lakewood and has lived in Arvada since 2014. She’s basing her campaign off of three pillars: connection, conversation and community.

The two District 1 candidates — which covers the northern central section of the city — are Randy Moorman and Eric Bodenstab. Moorman is the current councilmember for the district and Mayor Pro Tem running for re-election.

Bodenstab has lived in the city since 2018. He is a civil engineer and decided to run because Moorman was not being challenged. He believed it was important to have a competitive election.

Moorman was first elected as a councilmember in 2021. He said he is running because he believes in community and coming together to improve the city.

The two District 3 candidates — which covers the southern central part of the city and Olde Town Arvada — are Rebecka Lovisone and Aaron Skoff. They are running to replace John Marriott, who’s term is up this year.

Lovisone said while she doesn’t have solutions to every problem, she has bravery, growth and reliability. She wants to lead conversations to shape the community.

Skoff, an Arvada native, has always loved the city, according to the video. Overall, he just wants to be a part of the future of the city he adores. He has a history of serving on the Arvada Festivals Commission, Sustainability Commission, Jefferson County Citizen’s Sheriff’s Academy and Arvada Citizen’s Fire Academy.

Affordable housing and homelessness

The first question asked by the Jefferson County League of Women Voters involved each candidate’s plan to address both homelessness and affordable housing in the city.

In the 2025 Regional Housing Needs Assessment by the Denver Regional Council of Governments said that 48.8% of Arvada renters in 2022 faced severe housing burden, meaning their rent was more than 50% of their monthly income.

The report also indicated that Arvada would require 4,990 new housing units by 2032, with 3,000 of those needing to be aimed at households earning between 0 to 50% of the area’s median income.

“We have to address the need for cold-weather sheltering immediately,” Griffith said.

Furthermore, Griffith said the price of development in the city is too high, with permitting and water tap fees reaching upwards of $200,000 before development begins. He would like to create a sliding scale throughout the city to reduce development costs.

Vargas said creating affordable housing near services for currently homeless folks is the first step.

“Unhoused people aren’t looking to be unhoused, but they are looking for a community,” she said.

Bodenstab said the problem is both region-wide and national. He said that homeless people should be expected to comply to all the laws others should and would like to build a navigation center to help.

Moorman said his plan is to build on the success he has already seen within the city. The city has been housing homeless people in suburban studios since January and around 75% of those individuals are now on their way to permanent housing.

“We need to treat everyone as they should be treated as residents of Arvada,” he said.

Regarding affordable housing, Moorman wants to invest in the existing housing that they already have and provide greater incentives for developers to build within the city.

Lovisone believes that addressing both affordable housing and homelessness should be the priority, as they’re related issues.

“At this time, it’s not affordable for a lot of folks to live here. Also, folks who live here don’t work here,” she said.

Skoff said the city has a long way to go.

“I’m extremely sympathetic to those who have been displaced,” he said. “My concern is more of the problematic cases.”

His methods include a possible navigation center, offering services but then enforcement when necessary.

Transparency

Each candidate was asked how they would improve transparency between residents and the city council and build trust around its decisions.

A 2024 survey by Statista found that 67% of 1,007 nationwide respondents said they trusted their local government to handle issues correctly. That percentage dropped from the steady 70-72% between 2013 and 2020.

“A wise person once told me whether or not you take an interest in your government, your government is going to take interest in you,” Griffith said, adding that he would push staff to try and get packets and information out earlier so people can review the content in time to speak on it.

“Being people of our words. If we say we’re going to do something, we need to do it,” Vargas said, highlighting responsibility within the role.

Bodenstab said that people need to be able to comment on city council meetings online. The City of Lakewood, for example, already does this with it’s online portal, allowing commenters to speak on every agenda item. He also asked for citizen assemblies for enhanced public engagement.

Moorman said improving engagement and actually taking feedback into consideration is key, using the actual communication to help shape decisions.

Consistency and presence is crucial to Lovisone: “If we are showing up, that’s how we can find more transparency and hopefully engage the community a little bit more.”

“I’m not a politician, I’m your neighbor,” Skoff said. “We need to make practical and reasonable decisions through openness. I intend on being a good custodian of the city. I plan on being there and available.”

Skoff then added that he plans to make himself available to anyone at any time, even dropping his full phone number during the video.

Arvada’s elections will be held on Nov. 4. More information can be found at Arvadaco.gov.