Larimer Clerk Angela Myers lauded for innovation, nonpartisanship 'There are no finer people' - Coloradoan
Thomas Clayton
Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Angela Myers lauded for innovation, nonpartisanship
Pat Ferrier
On Election Day 2023, Angela Myers will do something she hasn't done in more than two decades: watch results come in from the deck of her home as the sun sets.
After being Larimer County's clerk and recorder for nearly 10 years, and deputy clerk before that, Angela Myers is retiring today, May 31.
Myers, 60, announced her unexpected retirement in April.
At the end of June, she and her husband, Gary, will move to St. George, Utah, where they bought a retirement home in 2021. "We just happened upon something we could not pass up," she said, "but we knew it wasn't time yet."
They sold their Old Town house and have been renting since then in preparation for her eventual retirement. "We went into this election thinking one more term," she said. "It was a lot of little personal things that fell right into place" that made her think retirement might come sooner rather than later.
"We kept fighting against it, but we eventually had this discussion of: 'Why are we pushing back on this so much?'" Gary retired in 2020 and has been "waiting for me," said his wife of 38 years.
When Deputy Clerk Tina Harris said she was interested in being clerk, "that was a bit of the icing on the cake," Myers said last week, on her next-to-last day in the office before finishing out her tenure remotely. "I could not have drawn or outlined a better person for this job than Tina."
Harris will be sworn in Thursday and will become county clerk and recorder until the November 2024 election, when voters will elect a clerk.
"Angela will be sorely missed," Harris said at Myers' retirement party last week. "I will miss her laugh. She brings that every single time to every interaction. She's always the most positive person in the room, and she's been an amazing clerk all these years. I admire her so much."
In November, Myers defeated Democratic challenger Toni Baker with 57% of the vote.
Myers' was a witness to history in her field
During her tenure, Myers had a front row to overseeing the first same-sex marriage license, shepherding her office through COVID-19, transitioning to full mail-in balloting and staunchly defending the integrity of local elections as false information spread nationally about a "stolen election."
While some county clerks began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples soon after the 10th District Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Utah's ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional in July 2014, Myers held off until the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay on same-sex marriages.
Her office began issuing the licenses within minutes of when it became legal to do so. Myers said at the time, her office had been preparing to issue the licenses but was waiting for the go-ahead.
"When there are processes that change people's lives, it's a pivotal moment for everyone," Myers said. The first couple was "giddy," she said. "It was a momentous occasion for this office."
Myers said she took some heat for not issuing licenses before the court ruled, but as clerk, "I don't get to choose which laws I follow. What if the ruling had gone the other way?"
Myers says officeholders should be nonpartisan
Myers often says her office, which issues property titles, marriage licenses, vehicle registrations, passports and more, touches nearly every Larimer County resident. It's a responsibility she has taken to heart.
Myers said she has always believed her office should be nonpartisan. "In this job, I feel a responsibility to be the clerk and not a Republican."
It's one of the reasons she agreed to be appointed clerk after the unexpected retirement of longtime clerk Scott Doyle in 2013. She had served as Doyle's executive assistant, then the office's business operations coordinator before being named chief deputy clerk shortly before Doyle's departure. But she never wanted to be clerk until that "aha!" moment.
"I didn't want a politico to come in here," she said. "I didn't want someone to come in with political intent. That troubled me. This office has to be nonpartisan."
What others are saying about Myers
As Myers greeted dozens of well-wishers at her recent retirement party, those who have worked with and known her for decades repeated the same words to describe her: nonpartisan, transparent, honest.
From election judges she guided through long and arduous election nights to her peers in county government, all said the same thing: Myers cares about the process, not a person's party affiliation.
Election judge Stephanie Stern, a self-described liberal Democrat, said Myers is the only Republican for whom she's ever voted. "I say that with great respect for her," said Stern, who decided to become an election judge because of "controversy, vitriol and missing information" in recent elections.
"Angela tells judges, 'We are here to do our job and do it to the best of our ability,' " Stern said. With the transparency in the clerk's office and the message Myers radiates to her staff and judges, "I can say, at least in Larimer County, our elections are on the up and up. They're rock solid."
After her first election cycle, Stern said, she was sold and has continued serving as an elections judge.
Hugh Fenderson, an election judge and supervisor for four years, said Myers taught him "it is never too late to learn" and that it "wasn't about party affiliations. She didn't look at parties, she believes elections are about fairness, transparency and honesty." Fenderson's wife, Cynthia Thomas, who previously served as an election judge, said she typically votes Democrat, "but I always vote for Angela."
Irene Josey, Larimer County's treasurer and public trustee, said "it's been amazing to have a mentor, a friend and colleague who is steady, sincere and genuine. She did a good job for Larimer County. She and Gary deserve to enjoy their retirement."
Rae Todd, a retired spokesperson for Platte River Power Authority and an election judge, said Myers cared about her election judges and "wanted you to do the best job you could for the citizens of Larimer County. She was one of the most dedicated public servants I've ever met."
Myers sends election judges home around 11 p.m. on election night even though ballots are not all counted, Todd said, because she doesn't want to put their lives in jeopardy, driving home late at night sometimes as far as Estes Park.
That wasn't always the case, Myers said. As a new clerk, "I was going to be the one" who delivered election results on election night, she said. "I pushed the judges to stay until results were done ... (candidates) lives were hanging in the balance."
As she sent judges home at 6 a.m. with snow on the ground, "I put all those people on the road after working 20-plus hours. I said, 'Bye, thanks.' "
But Myers said she was "undone when I realized what I had done that morning and vowed never to do it again." Since then, she's cut off counting at 11 p.m.
How Myers changed the clerk's office, operations
When Myers first took office, she was greeted by long lines at the vehicle licensing office every morning.
"I knew that was going to have to be a place where I would really focus."
She asked the staff — whom she calls the "brain trust" — for ideas to attack the problem. "That began our culture of innovation," Myers said.
She replaced the recording system, the vehicle licensing system, which hadn't been done in 36 years, and the election system.
"Those are all major milestones in my mind," she said.
The innovations included a processing center that allowed transactions to take place over the phone, which set up the clerk and recorder's office for success for the COVID-19 pandemic that was about to shut down life and business. When it did, her office still had to serve the public.
"We never missed a beat, mainly because of the innovations we'd already put in place. We were poised and ready to take care of people in a much more distant way."
How she got to Fort Collins and what's next
Myers grew up in Illinois, where she and Gary started a heating and air conditioning company in their hometown of Hillsboro. After selling their business, they moved to Fort Collins, a place they'd heard of from friends and came to know through motorcycle trips on their Honda Gold Wing.
After their move, Myers started working as an office manager for National Pet Care Centers, which owned dozens of vet hospitals nationwide. National Pet Care sold to Veterinary Centers of America, and Myers went to work for the clerk and recorder's office.
Gary, a former aviation technician, worked for Poudre Valley REA and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association before his retirement.
They still have and ride a Gold Wing and recently bought a Jeep, which they plan to take into the hinterlands of Utah, including its famous canyons.
"My husband's a great guy, a lot of fun," Myers said. "I can't wait to hang out with him."
While Myers might be watching the next election from her Utah deck, she said she'll be "cheering on her cohorts" in Larimer County.
She thanked county residents for their confidence in her and said, "I have done my very best to live up to their expectations and be fair, honest and accountable.
"I am honored to have served in the company of an amazing crew and election judges. There are no finer people who walk the planet."
Editor's note: County Treasurer Irene Josey, Sheriff John Feyen and Surveyor Tom Donnelly are all Republicans elected in November. The number of elected Republican officials has been updated in this story.
 | Tom Clayton Communication and Media Specialist, Public Affairs |
| Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80522 | 2nd Floor W: (970) 498-7005 tcla...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org |