BRECKENRIDGE – As he sat down alongside fellow commissioners Karn Stiegelmeier and Thomas Davidson for his first Board of County Commissioners’ work session Tuesday morning, Dan Gibbs faced a term that promised a multitude of challenges.

An already-strapped county budget, which has forced the layoff of 10 employees, will face even bigger shortfalls next year as property tax collections catch up with the sharp fall in property values of 2008.

To make matters worse, Gibbs said he expects more fiscal responsibilities to fall on local governments in the coming months and years as the state and federal governments attempt to balance their own broken budgets.

There will be no more money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help the county pay for needed projects and Gibbs said he fears the county will be picking up the tab on new requirements and policies from the state.

But even looking at the challenges to come, Gibbs said he’s excited to start his new job.

“It’s really a dream come true to be able to make a difference in the home community that I live in,” Gibbs said at his first work session Tuesday morning.

He remembers advising the graduating Summit High seniors in a recent commencement address to follow their passions.

“I took my own advice to heart,” Gibbs said of his decision.

Coming off four years in the Colorado state legislature, which included a brief stint in the state House of Representatives followed by an appointment to the Senate District 16 seat, Gibbs said he knew he wasn’t ready to leave public office, but he did want to be closer to home.

“I’ve always been a mountain guy through and through,” said Gibbs.

The commissioner seat was, in his eyes, the perfect compromise.

Gibbs will take over the spot left behind by Bob French, who retired this year after 6 years on the commission and more than 30 years before that as a local attorney.

As a commissioner, Gibbs will serve as the county liaison to the state legislature, staying connected to his work and friends at the capitol. He will also attend meetings for a number of other boards and commissions, including the Summit Stage Board and the Interstate 70 Coalition.

Many of the roles assigned to Gibbs as a commissioner play to his background and experience. Gibbs is a wild land fire fighter and as a legislator, chaired the state Senate Transportation Committee.

But some of his assignments, including his post as the commissioners’ representative to the hospital board, have required some homework, Gibbs said.

Gibbs, a Democrat, spent the last four years making a name for himself in the state legislature as a hard-liner on environmental and transportation issues.

In 2007, Gibbs sponsored a successful bill imposing harsher penalties on truckers who did not comply with chain laws on I-70. With Rep. Christine Scanlan, he pushed the Colorado Forest Restoration Act, requiring state agencies to seek out ways to reforest areas damaged and susceptible to fire danger due to the pine beetle.

He was also outspoken against bills proposing tolls on I-70.

“I believe in common sense problem solving,” Gibbs said.

Becoming a commissioner

Growing up, Gibbs split his time between Gunnison and East Lansing, Michigan. He became interested in a career in public policy at about age 10 when he shared a meal with former president Jimmy Carter, who was an acquaintance of his mother’s.

Years later, Gibbs earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from Western State College in Gunnison. He would go on to complete graduate studies in public administration at the University of Colorado at Denver. Out of school, he signed on to work with then Congressmen Mark Udall. He rose in the ranks of Udall’s staff over the next six years.

Gibbs was in California fighting a wild fire when the opportunity to run for elected office himself came up.

“I literally looked in the mirror one day and said, ‘why not me?” Gibbs said.

He won the race for House District 56 in 2006.

Now, moving on to a new chapter in his political career, Gibbs said he is grateful to have the guidance of those who have held his seat before him, including French and Gary Lindstrom, French’s predecessor.