Susan Thornton provides the Hughes & Stuart team with award-winning technical writing and editing skills. With a master’s degree from UCLA in Journalism, Susan is an experienced writer having served on the L.A. News Bureau staff of U.S. News & World Report for four years, and later was a stringer for Time and Money magazines. Susan also wrote a biweekly opinion column for the Denver Post from 2004-2012.
Susan served on the Littleton City Council for 16 years (1987-2003), serving eight of those years as mayor and four years as mayor pro tem, until she was term limited.
While on the City Council, Susan:
• Was elected by her peers to the board of the Colorado Municipal League for 10 years, including a term as president of the League
• Founded the Metro Mayors’ Caucus, which brings mayors together to study and cooperate on difficult issues
• Served on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the National League of Cities for eight years, advising the League’s water and environmental policy lobbying in Congress
• Chaired Governor Bill Romer’s Renewable Energy Task Force
Susan is very familiar with water and wastewater issues, having approved controversial expansions of the Littleton-Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant while the Mayor of Littleton.
In addition, she helped cities across the U.S. gain de minimus status in Superfund issues, saving the cities billions of dollars:
• She was the mayor when Littleton and cities across the U.S. were caught up in Superfund issues and faced billions of dollars in costs. Susan took the issue to the National League of Cities, where other elected officials joined her in a national coalition opposing costs for cities that contributed to Superfund sites that had been contaminated by others.
• She appeared before Congressional subcommittees on several occasions, and appeared on the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on the cities’ behalf
• She was the sole municipal representative on the National Commission on Superfund, which advised Congress on CERCLA re-authorization.
Susan also helped conduct an EPA grant to develop public education/outreach messages that urge Coloradans to keep their water clean. Susan writes the monthly newsmagazine SDA News, including frequently covering water and wastewater issues. For example, Nutrient Standards for Water in Colorado Drive Controversy, SDA News, Heroic Efforts of the Republican River Water Conservation District, SDA News, and One Year After the Flood, SDA News,
Susan holds 22 state and national awards for her professional accomplishments, including a Visionary Leadership Award from the University of Colorado Health Science Center and two distinguished leadership awards from the Denver Regional Council of Governments.