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Good evening. Dang, that works great. Hey, listen, if it's okay, I'm going to start a little

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early. We have 155 minutes to get this done. We do not have enough time. So the kindness

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of the people in this room, including these people in the front, will determine whether

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or not this thousand dollars goes to the shod home team. I'll explain that in a minute.

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it. We don't have enough time. We have 14 candidates and you have to love that because

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where in the world do you get 14 people wanting to be on the council? I am amazed. You have

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these people around of applause.

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So I have like three pages of introductions to show

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you how incredible I am. I am not going to share that with you. I really want to

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take a very short brief moment to say thank you to the Chamber, Michelle and her team,

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Rhonda and the rest of the board, they put this on. You guys are guests of the

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Chamber of Commerce. This is not a town function. You are here as their guest. And

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very much like when I did Little League, I have benched more parents than I

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have ever benched the athletes. And I have thrown people out for throwing

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their bats, both the parents and the athletes. So we're going to behave. This

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This is the quorum like you've never seen.

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Government in this community is different than Washington.

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We do believe in compromise, but we will never compromise our principles.

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So I want you to know that as a group here, we support these people and we support the

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outcome.

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I want to thank Mayor Turnip Seed and his board.

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I want to thank our wonderful town staff led by Larry Partee.

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Thank you so much, Larry.

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You guys have been amazing.

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The technical team.

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You guys, we could not do this without you.

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There is a camera up there recording this live stream to everybody at home.

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The ones that couldn't be in the room tonight.

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Chief Kerry and her team, thank you so much for taking care of us tonight.

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And I appreciate, as I said, the 14 candidates.

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I won't go over their names.

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They're going to introduce themselves here in a minute.

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And really thank you guys.

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Thank the audience.

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Thank you guys at home.

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I sincerely appreciate your belief in democracy.

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It's a very fragile thing.

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Without participation, without votes, without your involvement, this stuff doesn't happen.

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It goes away.

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I would tell you about a gentleman at this point in history in Russia that would invent

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the nuclear bomb, the atomic bomb.

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I won't go into details, but he sacrificed his career for democracy.

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He looked back on what he had done.

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He got the Nobel Peace Prize on this date in 75.

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And I would tell you his name, it's hard.

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Andrea Dmitriev Sakovac.

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But anyway, this good man was in Gorky for a lot of years until finally Gorbachev let

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him out.

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But he wrote a piece that described democracy and pluralism and free speech and intolerance

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and dogmatism just can't happen in their country.

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We're facing that stuff today.

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And also, this is John Lennon's birthday, so give peace of chance.

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So what we're going to do, and we are right on time, is start with three minute introductions

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and then it's going to go left to right, or right to left a bit and you're looking at

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it, but they'll start in that corner over there with these candidates.

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They will introduce themselves and we're going to follow up in the opposite direction

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with two and a half minutes for just two questions.

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I wish we had more time.

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and then they'll have two minutes for their closing remarks.

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Are we clear?

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Clear.

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Good.

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Go.

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What's that?

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Timer.

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Oh, you got the timer?

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Okay, everybody can hear me testing, testing.

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Casey Glowacky, hi everybody.

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Thanks for coming out.

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This is amazing.

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I know I'm a little bit nervous,

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which means that I care,

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that I really, really want this position,

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in this job, if you will.

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I am an entrepreneur.

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I own Wild Sage, capital public house

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and cut meat and seafood here in Eagle.

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I live with my wife of 21 years today.

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So, my wife's here.

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And I'm a Colorado native that was a transplant

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in Charleston for 20 years.

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We started a family, opened up some restaurants,

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got involved in the restaurant business,

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and then Colorado started calling, the mountains started calling and we came here, I wanted

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to show my wife around and she said let's move here. So that was coming up on seven

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years ago. My strength is building relationships, fostering trust, leading by example and figuring

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out problems. I am a greedy little guy that gets things done. I'm not afraid to admit when I don't

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understand things, and I'll find out positions to do it, or the how to do it. I think there's

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so many businesses. When you look up and down Broadway and on Capitol Street, you see a lot

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of closed doors. It's sad to me. I have businesses. When I talk to other businesses, business

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owners around here, everybody is saying they need more traffic. They need more competition.

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They need, you know, retail stores. We need more retail. A rising tide lifts all ships.

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steps. Studies have shown that a town thrives in a certain area of population. I'm running

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on green lighting projects that will get us to that thriving nature. Whatever that is,

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sustainable growth, however you want to call it, we need more traffic, which is going

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to ultimately how businesses thrive and there's going to be a snowball effect.

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More people are going to make money in businesses, restaurants, retail.

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They're going to start dreaming.

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I've seen this in Charleston.

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I've lived through it and it works.

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I have a unique situation.

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I also own a restaurant in Edwards.

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Edwards has massive spikes in business.

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We don't get that down here.

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I've got 13 more seconds. So I will finish with if you so vote for me. I appreciate it. Thank you

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very much.

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Thank you very much because he real quick before you say anything. Shaw at home. $1,000.

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Nate Borgetsky, amazing comedian had this idea during the Emmys. If you guys go over your

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time limit. I subtract money off of this. If you go under, I add money to it. Now, this

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is my personal money, so don't spend it. Please spend lots of it.

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Good evening, everybody. My name is Scott Davison. I'm running for Eagle Town Council,

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and I am so honored and blessed and just so grateful for the opportunity to be able

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to throw my hat in the ring with all of these wonderful folks. They're all representatives

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and we together is what makes Eagle Eagle.

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So what my focus is, is to collaborate

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and to bring people in for more discussions,

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more transparency, finding ways to streamline

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local businesses, permitting to getting, you know,

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anything that they need done and communication-wise,

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and this is something that I personally attend to

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as well in my own business, is to make sure

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that you have somebody you can rely on

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that you can account with,

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And having that in the town when you're trying to build and develop, sustain or have a business

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in general or even just to live there, it's nice to know that you can depend on people

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and that you can count on them.

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And so I want to really focus on number one is transparency.

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I think it's just so important that people know what's going on in their community

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and the town has done a great job of having communications go out and I want to expand

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on that and look to have council in the community meetups where it's a very

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casual environment, but instead of me being behind a pulpit with other folks, it's going

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to be lax. It's going to be out and where you can have a conversation, you can express

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your concerns. And the most important part is we get to collaborate. I will be your

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advocate every single day when I'm a town council member, and I can't wait to represent

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you and understand that you have a voice for the next four years.

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Another object that is important to me as I was already leading into is local

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businesses and streamlining that if we can increase the amount of business that we have by volume

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we're going to succeed together not only by the business ship but we're going to have local

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residents wanting to work locally instead of transiting to the Vale Valley like upper area

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they want to go to Vale Beaver Creek all these and we have a lot of congestion on six

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we need to bring more opportunity to the local area and we have two commercial districts

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just as Casey touched on that there's probably eight to 10 percent of our

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commercial buildings are running vacant right now and I think that it's so

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important that we get these buildings filled in with wonderful business

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owners that are here locally and want to support locally and that will also

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entail to supporting the other local businesses because who doesn't love

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local Colorado is all about it and that's what I'm going to make sure

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that it is upheld every single day and I already love to be local I've been

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here in Eagle for about three years and I've been in the valley since 2017 and I can't think

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of another place I would rather be and that's why I've thrown my hat in the ring and I'm

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so excited to share how I can help you most importantly as we continue this journey to

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make an Eagle more vibrant, sustain the entrepreneurship that we have that is so vital and to grow

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together and share that success.

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Thank you.

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You just added money for the shod home team. Thank you so much. I also have a gavel if things

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get out of control. Oh shoot, there's the water. Wonderful. All right, Brian, three minutes.

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Thank you, sir.

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Hi, my name is Brian Conkel. Many of you already know me. I've lived here for most

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of my life. I was born and raised here. I own two businesses in town. My family owns

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a plot in the cemetery. This is where I plan to be laid to rest. Eagle isn't just where

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I live. This is my forever home. Now, like many of you, there are things that I would

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like to improve about Eagle. But there's not a lot of things I'd like to change. We

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We are the heart of the valley.

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We are a community.

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Unlike other areas, the faces you see next door are the same neighbors that you're going

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to have for years, and sometimes even generations.

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But in a certain way, that's starting to shift.

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The medium home price here is above a million and a half dollars.

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It's pricing out to working class families, literally the backbone of Eagle.

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The teachers, the tradesmen, the bartenders, the small business owners, all the people

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who make this place cool and help it thrive are slowly being taken out.

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While we will welcome everyone in this community, including those with deep pockets, we have

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to make sure that Eagle remains a place where everyone can be.

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Saving the working class isn't just an economic need.

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it's preserving the soul of EGLE.

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It's the place we all call home.

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We also need to be a more business-minded approach,

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one focused on long-term, strategic financial growth.

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For too long, EGLE has had a pattern

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of making short-sighted financial decisions.

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We've passed on opportunities like Costco,

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lost revenue from the airport,

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and adopted policies

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without fully understanding how they impact or restrict our local businesses.

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A recent example is the local ban on flavored tobacco.

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I'll be the first to

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say flavored tobacco is harmful. It causes conditions like popcorn lung and

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there are national ban I'd support it. But a local ban does not solve this

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problem. With gypsum just five minutes down the road and most flavored

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tobacco products easily purchased online, that ban doesn't actually keep

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these products out of our community. What it does do is harm local businesses. It drives

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customers and their gas money down the road. It takes revenue out of the eagle at a time

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when our five-year financial projections look grim. If we want a strong future, we have

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to make decisions that balance both public health with economic reality. Decisions

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that protect both our people and our prosperity. Thank you so much.

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You're just bobbing 10 more seconds so thank you. Good evening. You're ready to add a bit more

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on there because I believe in being short and sweet. My name is Tanya Jordette. This evening

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I'm coming to you as a mother. I'm coming to you as a veteran, as a member of our community,

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as a member of our community that cares deeply for how things are done here. I

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moved here in 2021 with my daughter. She was 15 years old. She was going to

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Eagle Valley High School transplant as a military child coming up here. She

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graduated from there and is heading to CU Boulder this year as a freshman. My

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son he's 23 he's in the Navy serving our country in Washington State very proud

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of both of them and they had thank you they spent you know the last four years

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here in Eagle and it helped to frame them for who they are as

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I'm really proud of them. I'd like to share with you why I'm running for Eagle Town Council.

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I want you to know that I operate on principles and not profit. There is no financial incentive

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for me in filling this seat on the council. I'm running because I think the people of

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Eagle need to be heard. I have listened to voters. I have read through the 100 pages

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of the community survey that was done in 2024 and many town projects reviewed as quote-unquote

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expensive and non-essential. 75% of the constituents are unhappy with the current leadership per

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the survey. Constituents are concerned with a balanced budget, repairing and maintaining

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our current infrastructure, affordable housing, and civic amenities. I'm listening. I look forward

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to hearing what your concerns are tonight and over the next couple weeks as it leads up to the

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election. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tonya.

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Great. Thank you. Mark, you guys are spending a

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of my money.

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I don't like to stand with my back to people. I'm Mark Bergman. I was raised in a

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family that valued community service. I volunteered as a paramedic and a ski patroller for over 20

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years. My local government experience includes serving on a planning board where we tackled

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issues that are relevant here today, attainable housing growth, and balancing the needs of

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long-time families with those of newcomers and part-time residents.

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One of my proudest accomplishments was chairing a special planning commission that successfully

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rewrote a 30-year-old comprehensive plan and land use program.

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Despite years of failure, failed attempts by others, our team achieved approval from

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one of the nation's most powerful and restrictive regional planning agencies.

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processes.

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We're able to streamline and transfer jurisdiction to our small town. I've immersed

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myself in Eagle County. I've served on the Eagle County Health Services District Board.

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That's the paramedic service for short. I chair the Eagle County Zoning Board of Adjustment

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And I serve on the Eagle County Land Use Rewrite Advisory Committee and the Board of Equalization.

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I've experienced.

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Experience doesn't mean knowing the answers or finding the problems necessarily.

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It means knowing the right questions to ask to make informed decisions.

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I think experience matters.

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I don't think town councils should be at training grounds where because they make

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such serious and impactful decisions. I've done my homework. I've been attending town

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council meetings for over six months. I've read every town meeting agenda for the last

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year. Those are documents that are over 100 pages long. They're complex. They're tedious

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to read. It's a big commitment for a town council member. It's a lot of preparation.

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And to cost Kevin a little bit more money. I'll just close saying Eagles at a crossroads. There are exciting projects, but we face real challenges with limited resources.

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And I think we should balance smart economic growth with a strong sense of community that makes Eagles special. Pay up Kevin.

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Thank you, Mark. Okay, I got 34. Hey, I did fail to mention.

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with this kind of a crowd. Here's an exit. Obviously, there's an exit. We need to point

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those out to you. Okay. Next, we have Tim. Thank you, sir.

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Hello, everyone. I'm Timothy Haley. And I'm going to say things that most of you probably

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aren't expecting, and most of the candidates won't. I don't really care about getting

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elected. I care about seeing eagle thrive. That's my number one goal for being here.

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and a group of people not related to each other

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had approached me and said, would you consider this?

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And I at first said, no, I'm not interested.

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And then more people came and said, with your skill set,

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I think you can do good things for the town of Eagle.

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So I stepped in and I started listening first

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and that's what you can count on me to do most.

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But here's some of the stuff that I'm thinking about.

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What's most important for you to understand here

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is the how.

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Everyone's gonna tell you a ton of what they want to do

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but it's important for you

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and you online to understand how they're going to get it done.

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Because that's what actually is going to impact you and matter

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four years from now, three years from now.

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So a little bit about myself.

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I moved to Eagle County in 2002 full time.

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I came in 2001.

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I've worked for Alpine Bank since 2014.

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And I've got a unique job where

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I work exclusively with business, the private sector,

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the public sector, and nonprofit.

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I primarily work right now with Summit Eagle

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and route counties, but I've worked from Aspen to Glenwood to Rango to Junction, and my job is

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walking into businesses, municipalities, and nonprofits and figuring out how they thrive.

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So I spend all day with business owners, and I know that in order for a town to thrive,

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tax revenue is king. Tax revenue is a lifeblood of a town. And when you start to squeeze that,

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as you look down Main Street, you wonder, where's all the businesses? That's what's

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impacting the town. You can't get art done. You can't get the river park done. You can't

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get more trails done without tax revenue.

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So if any of these candidates are promising you things,

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you have to ask them, how are they going to do it?

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My vision is East Eagle.

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There's 260 buildable acres that Merv Lappin has

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with Eric and Spencer Blair.

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I believe that can generate tax revenue.

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And the infill, the work that Turnup Seed has done

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and the existing council has set a great platform.

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We don't need to get rid of it.

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We need to build on it and follow the plan

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that's in place for Eagle.

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The last part of how I would do this

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is immediately figuring out how the process can be improved for the private sector to come in and

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thrive in EGLE. And I will challenge anyone here tonight, go to town and buy me a pair of shoelaces

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and I'll match that thousand dollars. You can't purchase a pair of shoelaces in town. How can

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you have revenue if you can't tax revenue if you can't do the simple things? So that's my

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promise to you is I'm going to figure out the how and the rest of it doesn't really matter.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Oh, God.

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You guys are costing me money.

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This is great.

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Hey, Barbara, on your way out of here, can you swing by city market and pick me up some shoelaces?

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All right, Gina.

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Thank you.

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Hi, everyone.

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It's lovely to be here tonight.

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It's an honor to be in front of a big group of people engaging in local politics.

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My name is Gina McCracken, and I'm running for Eagle Town Council.

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So I'm 28 years old and I'm a working class person in this community.

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I was born and raised in Metro Detroit, Michigan and have been in Colorado collectively for

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about a decade.

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I moved out here in 2016 to get my undergraduate degree from Colorado State University in human

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dimensions of natural resources.

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I've always been very passionate about civic engagement and local government and policy

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work and as such got very involved in my student government, served as a senator

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for my college at CSU and then served as the Director of Environmental Affairs for two years at

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Colorado State. After that, I moved up to Northern Utah for two years to get my master's degree in

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environmental sociology from Utah State University. While that was an incredible experience, I really

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missed being in Colorado and wanted to get back into the applied fields after a student in

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academia. In my job search, I was fortunate to find my previous job serving as the Climate

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Action Collaborative Manager at Walking Mountains and I think that's important to mention because

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it was in that role that I started to forge really critical relationships with the Town of Eagle

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regional communities and nonprofits. So in that role I organized and facilitated a group of over

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30 stakeholders towards meeting our climate action plan goals set at the county level

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and work with the Town of Eagle on a number of projects. It has been many times that I've

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stood at the podium before the town council side-by-side with staff presenting on policies,

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providing informative information for the community related to sustainability projects.

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So a couple examples of those are that I supported the most recent Town of Eagle building code

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update in partnership with the building planning and sustainability department within

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the town.

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I participated as a sustainability advisor in the Recode Eagle project to amend the

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zoning and land use codes here and make sure

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that those were done sustainably.

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I wrote the EV infrastructure plan for the county

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and presented that in an informational capacity

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to the town of Eagle and supported

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with the composting program rollout.

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The list goes on and on.

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So I share that because I have formed

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really impactful relationships with towns

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across the region, but particularly within this town

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that I have lived in for about four years

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and care about very much.

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And as such, I have a great amount of knowledge

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on how town functions work.

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I understand that the town council member role

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is to set the vision and give staff direction

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and make decisions and the staff role in that

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is to provide the town expertise and recommendations

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on how to achieve this role.

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I think understanding the function of government

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and how things can actually be done within communities,

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within budgeting and staff capacity constraints

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are incredibly important.

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Oh gosh, I have very little time left.

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I serve on a number of boards in my personal capacity

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including for New Roots, Colorado, and the Town Sustainability Advisory Committee.

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The platform that I'm running on is Community, Environment, and Progress, and I'll end there.

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Thank you so much.

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Hey, Jim, actually, I don't need shoelaces, and I went there looking for them, and they

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didn't have a very good supply.

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So you're exactly right.

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Okay, Scott, thank you.

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Hello.

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Thank you for coming.

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My name is Scott Schreiner.

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I was lucky enough to find Eagle in 2007.

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I believe that anyone that's in this room today is very lucky to be here as well,

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whether they're born here, whether they arrived here later or within the last couple weeks.

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We're all very lucky to live in this special place,

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and that's kind of one thing I do want to stress for everybody here.

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And because of that, we do have a shared vision in the shared community

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because we want to keep that special place just as special as it was when we found it.

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That doesn't mean that development is a bad thing.

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No, development is needed. We do need sales tax revenue.

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we do need density downtown. We do need to welcome other people into our community with open arms.

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In 2008, I married my wife of the Brush Creek Pavilion. Our first of two children was born

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at the Vale Valley Medical Center. Yes, it was called that way back in 2009. My second child was

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born in 2011. We have called Eagle Home for 18 years and I've been blessed with the opportunity

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to raise both of my kids here and to have a family and to live a very complete and fulfilling

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life. At its most basic, this is why I'm running for town council, so that these same opportunities

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are available to my kids, to your kids, the current and future residents, to our grandkids,

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to our grandparents, and to everybody that just wants to take the risk to come here and start a

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life. I believe in forming partnerships with other municipalities, with nonprofits, with HOAs,

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with community members and businesses, as well as other stakeholders in the community. I believe

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we need to form these partnerships to both tackle the big problems and the small problems.

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At its most basic, I believe in smart growth that protects and preserves

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our mountain culture, our connection to the outdoors, our shared community,

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and our small town character. When I'm making decisions of the town council member,

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these are the four traits and values I will go back to. I'll ask myself,

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how does this affect our mountain culture? How does this affect our connection to the

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outdoors? What does this do? Or how does it help our shared community? And how does it

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preserve our small town character.

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00:27:27,850 --> 00:27:36,510
Thanks so much Scott. Todd. Yeah. I've been in town 35 years. I'm an asshole. All right.

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I need the microphone I guess. So anyway, I've been in town 35 years. I'm the type of guy you should vote for for town council. I'm a change agent. If you want something done and you want something

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change, you call me. I want to hear from you people as well, all right? I run a

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construction company, I've run it for 30 years, and I've run it for profit. Tonya,

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sorry, I'm in the profit game, all right? I run it for profit, and I spend 20

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00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:13,440
million dollars a year in the town of Eagle, okay? The staff is too slow

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00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,780
with regard to plan review, the staff is too slow with regard to permit

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00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:24,420
approval. The staff is too slow with regard to major subdivision applications and they're too slow

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00:28:24,420 --> 00:28:32,200
with PUD. If you can't keep up, find new staff who can, who are capable. Okay? Because I'm telling

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00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:37,540
you, we have people on staff, we could pay half and they'd be twice as effective. Okay, enough

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00:28:37,540 --> 00:28:43,100
of my complainant. Like I said, I'm an asshole. My platform is give back to Eagle. Eagle has

404
00:28:43,100 --> 00:28:48,860
been very good to me. All right. I love my life partner. I've raised three kids in this

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town. I got my partner ran the local dance studio for five years and committed to tons

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of moms and little girls. Pain in the ass. And she did it. All right. I am super proud

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00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:07,020
of her. All right. My platform is GIF. G is for growth. Casey, how many people

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do we need to get your restaurant to where it's not closing at 8.30 at night? Give

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in number. 2500, 3000. Three people per household. You're going to get ready people because we

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need a thousand more units. Okay. I agree with Brian Kunkel. It's not affordable. It's a problem.

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But if I build at 500 a foot and I build a 800 square foot unit, that's 400 grand.

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I got to cover PITI and overhead. I got to sell it at 525. If you told the midwesterner

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that yet the buying apartment for $525,000, they collapse. All right? But operating materials

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are up, labor's up. Right now, Larry has us where revenues are down 33%. Expenses are up 13%. My daddy

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He always wanted it the other way around.

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Okay. Overall short, 40 percent, $23 million. So if you don't think this town can go broke,

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you're dreaming. Towns go broke every day. I just drug a boat down to Texas, drove through

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seven towns at one time. We're vibrant. They're not vibrant now. Infill development, let's

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bring vitality, good operators like Casey back to town and less exchange ideas.

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00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:34,040
We should be talking to Big Steve down the street and know what Gypsum's doing.

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See how we can help them and they can help us.

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God bless America.

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Thanks a lot, Todd.

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00:30:45,540 --> 00:30:45,640
Yeah.

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Robert.

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Well, good job, Todd.

427
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,420
But we don't have to explain anything anymore.

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We got it right here.

429
00:30:55,980 --> 00:30:56,160
Hi.

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My name is Robert D'Agostino and I want to thank the Council for Puttiness on and the town of Eagle the people of Eagle

431
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,440
this is where we thrive right here and

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The reason why I'm running for council is well, I played in the sandbox a lot

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We're looking right now for a new captain of the ship and

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I've worked with Tom olden a lot and I'll tell you what he is the salt of the earth

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He's grounded and he would steer the smartest people that I've ever been

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00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:33,380
associated with behind us. So it's actually your job to pick who would work

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00:31:33,380 --> 00:31:41,600
well in the sandbox and move this town forward. For myself, I joined the Navy in

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79. I was becoming a jet mechanic and along the way I saw a poster on the

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wall jumping out of planes, blowing up and shooting a lot of guns. I said

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said, that's what I want to do. So for the next 20 years, I went through the hardest training

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00:31:57,380 --> 00:32:02,940
of my life, Navy SEALs, got out in 89, been all over the world, talked to a lot of people

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and you had to negotiate wherever you want to to get things done. People that even speak

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00:32:08,220 --> 00:32:12,380
your language. But if you look them in the eyes and you show that you cared, you

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00:32:12,380 --> 00:32:17,680
know what? They would say, they would just do the head nod. And so that's how I get

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00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:22,800
things done. I got two ears for a reason, one mouth, and I listened. I've been a very

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00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,160
good listener all my life and I don't know about my wife, I don't know if she would even

447
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:32,640
agree with that, but we're here to listen to you. I don't need to be the smartest person.

448
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,820
I can surround myself with the smartest people and then we can move the ship forward.

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00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,440
So I appreciate you coming out. I appreciate your vote. Thank you very much.

450
00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:47,740
Robert, thank you. You just spent some more of my money.

451
00:32:49,060 --> 00:32:49,800
Jeff, please.

452
00:32:51,220 --> 00:32:53,600
Good evening. My name is Jeff Germer.

453
00:32:54,820 --> 00:32:58,540
I'm married to my wife McKinley. We've been here since 2007.

454
00:32:58,920 --> 00:32:59,660
We have two sons.

455
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,820
Owen is 21. He's at CU also.

456
00:33:03,620 --> 00:33:06,460
And my 17-year-old is a senior at Battle Mountain.

457
00:33:07,380 --> 00:33:09,260
So we're getting ready to be empty nesters.

458
00:33:09,460 --> 00:33:10,860
My wife looked at me. She's like,

459
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,740
She's like, oh man, I'll be stuck with this guy with no one else in the house, you know.

460
00:33:15,580 --> 00:33:18,160
But hopefully we can keep it forward.

461
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:24,920
I think I'll tell you what my day looked like because I think it will express the role that

462
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,340
I see myself playing on this council for the next four years.

463
00:33:29,100 --> 00:33:35,000
I woke up in Summit County, was at a conference for two days representing the town, attended

464
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,520
the CAST meeting, had to be there at 8 a.m., went from 8 to 12.

465
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:46,320
We had Birch Baron from Emergency Services presenting on how as local municipalities

466
00:33:46,780 --> 00:33:54,420
we intend to respond to a fire scenario. So I know I have an advantage because I'm the only one

467
00:33:54,420 --> 00:33:59,780
of these 11 that's already been on the council. So they can't say what they've done for the

468
00:33:59,780 --> 00:34:06,840
council. Having said that, I've tried to commit myself to really making sure that

469
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:12,400
we're not flying blind and that we have the resources and the support we need to keep

470
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:20,320
our folks safe. I have before that and currently I'm on the Northwest Council of Governments

471
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:26,260
so that's the 11 counties in Northwest Colorado and I represent the town of Eagle in that

472
00:34:26,260 --> 00:34:33,680
capacity. I'm also the representative of the Colorado Municipal League which is a group

473
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:38,820
that represents all the municipalities in the state of Colorado. Each of these boards comes

474
00:34:38,820 --> 00:34:46,440
with nuances. And I respect everything that's been said. I especially appreciate the comments

475
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:52,220
about the vitality of business, but we can't go about this unless we can build teams,

476
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:58,180
unless we can build bridges, unless we can build trusting relationships with other entities.

477
00:34:58,180 --> 00:35:01,500
And that starts right here as the county seat.

478
00:35:01,940 --> 00:35:05,680
We should be doing a little bit more to build that relationship with the county.

479
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:14,040
We have a great opportunity to leverage our position as a county seat, whether it's jobs,

480
00:35:14,780 --> 00:35:16,020
whether it's housing.

481
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,960
These are things that are real things that have to be done to run a town.

482
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,080
It is popular right now to be divisive.

483
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:31,460
If it is popular at the national level to think that the loudest voice wins, I would

484
00:35:31,460 --> 00:35:32,920
challenge that at a local level.

485
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:37,760
I think we need to be teammates, the seven of us who end up on this council.

486
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:40,760
We really need to function as one team.

487
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:47,660
If we can't do that, we're going to send all of you and all of us as a giant ship

488
00:35:47,660 --> 00:35:50,980
of fools, we're going to send it all down in a negative direction.

489
00:35:50,980 --> 00:35:57,680
and I do really worry about trying to bring federal politics to the local level.

490
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:03,740
I appreciate your vote in November. Thanks. Hold on to that microphone, sir. Hold on to that microphone.

491
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,980
We're going to reverse the order on the question. So right now we're going to go to two and a half

492
00:36:08,980 --> 00:36:15,020
minutes per question, two questions for each candidate. So we'll start at this end.

493
00:36:15,660 --> 00:36:19,880
The next set of questions we'll start at the other end. So Jeff's going to start.

494
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,040
These questions came, a lot of them came from chamber members.

495
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:28,460
Many of the items we're going to talk about tonight were items that the candidates themselves

496
00:36:28,460 --> 00:36:30,280
answered me in a questionnaire.

497
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,880
We're going to touch on a lot of topics that you already know we're going to talk on,

498
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,560
like housing and climate change and traffic and so on.

499
00:36:38,860 --> 00:36:45,240
So, Jeff, one of the things that you and Gina both have a high degree of interest in is climate.

500
00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:49,480
And so this one actually, this question came from one of our chamber members.

501
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:55,680
So EGLE's net zero plan sets ambitious goals of achieving 100% energy,

502
00:36:56,140 --> 00:36:59,080
I'm sorry, electric energy and sustainability across the community.

503
00:36:59,860 --> 00:37:03,000
With state funding and incentives now largely unavailable,

504
00:37:03,500 --> 00:37:07,360
how does the town plan to realistically fund these initiatives

505
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:12,160
without increasing costly regulations, burdens on residents and local businesses,

506
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:19,520
particularly restaurants and trades that rely on natural gas, how do you balance out sustainability

507
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:26,200
goals with a need to keep eagle affordable and business friendly? How will these businesses

508
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:33,400
rely on natural gas that rely on natural gas survive? Great questions, Kevin. Listen,

509
00:37:33,620 --> 00:37:38,620
I'm the son of a naval officer, so there's a special place in my heart for oil and gas.

510
00:37:38,620 --> 00:37:44,320
we won two world wars with it. I acknowledge that. You have to have your head in the sand

511
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,960
to think that 30 years from now we're going to be running these communities on oil and

512
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:53,480
gas. It's just not the case. Four and a half cents per kilowatt hour. Four and a half

513
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:58,540
cents is what we pay for wind. So when Holy Cross Energy is trying to decide how to

514
00:37:58,540 --> 00:38:04,510
get you cheap energy, four and a half cents per kilowatt hour for wind. Five and

515
00:38:04,510 --> 00:38:10,210
half cents per kilowatt hour for solar. After that, it only goes up. If you think we're

516
00:38:10,210 --> 00:38:17,630
going to burn coal to create electricity in the future, I think it may be time to revisit

517
00:38:17,630 --> 00:38:23,790
that idea. And so when we talk about, hey, let's get involved in how we're going to

518
00:38:23,790 --> 00:38:30,370
do this, I think the term used was climate. It's a pretty loaded term, right? I think

519
00:38:30,370 --> 00:38:34,850
what I'd like to do is look at it from a financial perspective and really ask tough questions

520
00:38:34,850 --> 00:38:38,090
about what the actual cost of that electricity is.

521
00:38:38,890 --> 00:38:42,870
If you think that cars are going to stop being electric, I think you're wrong.

522
00:38:43,370 --> 00:38:47,210
I think we need to plan for the future of EGLE and not the past, right?

523
00:38:47,910 --> 00:38:53,310
Now with regard to small businesses, I had a small business for six years.

524
00:38:53,630 --> 00:38:54,130
It failed.

525
00:38:54,530 --> 00:38:55,130
It fell apart.

526
00:38:55,910 --> 00:38:56,430
It sucks.

527
00:38:56,850 --> 00:39:00,990
I know what it's like to not be able to make payroll or to be on the edge

528
00:39:01,650 --> 00:39:07,530
It's the worst feeling and I respect that and I think the chamber probably has a pretty good idea how that feels

529
00:39:08,970 --> 00:39:11,590
So of course we need to figure out ways to do this and do it cheap

530
00:39:12,210 --> 00:39:18,730
But I just think that the idea that we're going to try to go back to you know the 1930s and power everything with

531
00:39:18,730 --> 00:39:19,910
with oil and gas

532
00:39:20,910 --> 00:39:23,850
Is really looking backwards at a time where we need to look forward

533
00:39:28,110 --> 00:39:34,270
And he cost me some money. Good man. Thank you. And we'll pass that mic on to Robert.

534
00:39:35,210 --> 00:39:36,070
Thank you so much.

535
00:39:38,130 --> 00:39:42,430
Robert, growth. This is something I think concerns a lot of people

536
00:39:42,430 --> 00:39:48,190
here in our community. You responded to my questions. It hit a nerve that I think we

537
00:39:48,190 --> 00:39:52,750
all share in this community, which is how do we manage or not manage growth?

538
00:39:57,090 --> 00:39:57,090
You

539
00:39:57,090 --> 00:40:02,430
that is intentional and not reactive thoughtful development that respects our small-town culture.

540
00:40:03,390 --> 00:40:07,390
Please share with us your ideas of what that looks like and what type of growth we should

541
00:40:07,390 --> 00:40:14,190
avoid to protect our small-town culture. Good question. Since that's,

542
00:40:15,810 --> 00:40:20,650
if we're going to thrive as a community, we need to provide for business owners,

543
00:40:21,270 --> 00:40:26,230
which is sitting behind us, a way that they can get in business for themselves without

544
00:40:26,230 --> 00:40:32,930
cost an arm and a leg. Now, how's that done? That's done through communication and working

545
00:40:32,930 --> 00:40:38,230
with the people of the town of Eagle because Casey's got the polls, Todd's got the polls.

546
00:40:38,770 --> 00:40:46,270
So that's not my area expertise, but I'm a quick learner to figure out what to do because

547
00:40:47,090 --> 00:40:52,030
when I was building my own house, everything tapped fees, everything was so expensive.

548
00:40:52,030 --> 00:40:59,390
So, how do we make it where people can actually afford to be in business here because that

549
00:40:59,390 --> 00:41:02,510
is the generation, a generator for money for this town.

550
00:41:03,210 --> 00:41:07,330
So, that is a great question and we have a lot of work to do about that.

551
00:41:08,030 --> 00:41:10,970
And personally myself, I'm all ears.

552
00:41:11,330 --> 00:41:12,990
I love to learn something brand new.

553
00:41:13,370 --> 00:41:16,210
This is new to me and I'm all in.

554
00:41:16,910 --> 00:41:17,430
I'm all in.

555
00:41:17,610 --> 00:41:17,930
Thank you.

556
00:41:18,590 --> 00:41:19,050
Wonderful.

557
00:41:19,350 --> 00:41:19,710
Thank you.

558
00:41:19,710 --> 00:41:20,630
Tell

559
00:41:25,650 --> 00:41:28,010
you what, you guys are wonderful.

560
00:41:35,300 --> 00:41:38,940
I was about to ask the wrong question for the wrong person.

561
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:39,680
So sorry.

562
00:41:43,990 --> 00:41:45,210
For you they are.

563
00:41:45,610 --> 00:41:47,010
The dice are definitely loaded.

564
00:41:47,970 --> 00:41:48,650
All right.

565
00:41:49,290 --> 00:41:51,010
That is definitely not the question either.

566
00:41:51,170 --> 00:41:51,510
Hold on a second.

567
00:41:51,650 --> 00:41:52,070
I'm going to go back.

568
00:41:52,410 --> 00:41:52,910
Here we go.

569
00:41:53,230 --> 00:41:53,810
Gotcha, Todd.

570
00:41:54,570 --> 00:41:56,070
Let's talk about housing, Todd.

571
00:41:57,130 --> 00:42:00,870
Your vision for EGLE is financial stability,

572
00:42:00,870 --> 00:42:06,970
sustainability, reasonable growth, infill development with density, vitality, progressive

573
00:42:06,970 --> 00:42:10,870
business, exchange of ideas with constituents and surrounding towns.

574
00:42:11,050 --> 00:42:16,710
Since housing is a cornerstone of our community, I would like to hear a few more on this issue

575
00:42:16,710 --> 00:42:22,590
and what works and what does not work and how do we go forward and really support attainable

576
00:42:22,590 --> 00:42:23,510
housing for our community.

577
00:42:23,910 --> 00:42:24,250
Thank you.

578
00:42:24,250 --> 00:42:33,630
Yeah. Affordable housing is a very difficult topic. I don't even like the word. I rather

579
00:42:33,630 --> 00:42:39,730
have it be reasonable housing. Okay. And it has to be reasonable, reasonable region to

580
00:42:39,730 --> 00:42:45,030
region. All right. The building costs are fixed. I don't care if you bring in Turner.

581
00:42:45,350 --> 00:42:49,910
I don't care if you bring in Hazeldon, who you bring in. Okay. A sheet of plywood

582
00:42:49,910 --> 00:42:55,070
would cost them as much as it costs me. And the man hour cost them as much as it costs

583
00:42:55,070 --> 00:43:02,110
me. All right. That doesn't change much. We're going to have to build smaller units. All

584
00:43:02,110 --> 00:43:06,730
right. It's the only way you're going to get the price down. All right. And we want to

585
00:43:06,730 --> 00:43:12,250
be bringing in young vital people because nothing disappoints me more than going and

586
00:43:12,250 --> 00:43:17,810
driving by Casey's restaurant and it's closed in Eagle Ranch at 8 30. And I know he's

587
00:43:17,810 --> 00:43:24,130
not happy about it either. All right. The other benefit to building more units that are smaller

588
00:43:24,130 --> 00:43:31,550
and reasonable is we get more tax. Right now, and again, this is somewhere where I'm not

589
00:43:31,550 --> 00:43:40,110
sure how this is calculated, but there are $224 million worth of assets valued in Eagle

590
00:43:40,110 --> 00:43:48,550
County. We get 2.301 mills worth of taxes that goes into our general fund. And that's

591
00:43:48,550 --> 00:43:57,790
down now. That's down to $586,000. I don't know who sets that mill levy. All right? I

592
00:43:57,790 --> 00:44:03,550
don't know how that's audited. And I don't know if that's based on population or value

593
00:44:03,550 --> 00:44:08,710
of the assets in EGLE but I'm going to find out because that line item has to

594
00:44:08,710 --> 00:44:14,330
go up. All right if we don't bring in revenue we are going to be boarded up.

595
00:44:15,410 --> 00:44:21,830
Everything store goes down. We should have units over there. That's CMU commercial

596
00:44:21,830 --> 00:44:29,290
mixed use and that should be retail with regional or very solid local

597
00:44:29,290 --> 00:44:37,470
operators and there could be 12 to 16 more units over there. Reasonable. $500,000 for an apartment

598
00:44:37,470 --> 00:44:43,450
is never going to sound normal to a person in Cleveland. It's never going to sound normal to

599
00:44:43,450 --> 00:44:51,290
somebody in Hamilton, Ohio. Ever. I mean ever. So that is just the reality. We need smaller,

600
00:44:51,630 --> 00:44:58,350
more efficient units and we need to infill. Instead of sprawl, those units should be

601
00:44:58,350 --> 00:44:58,730
downtown.

602
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:03,660
Thanks, Todd.

603
00:45:06,150 --> 00:45:06,570
Scott,

604
00:45:09,430 --> 00:45:13,590
we're going to talk about small business events. You have an interest

605
00:45:13,590 --> 00:45:18,210
in supporting small businesses and local events to bring people to our downtown. This question

606
00:45:18,210 --> 00:45:21,870
actually comes from our MIAC committee, which is our Marketing and Events Advisory Committee.

607
00:45:22,490 --> 00:45:25,970
In the face of many significant needs and decisions about the infrastructure issues

608
00:45:25,970 --> 00:45:32,210
and investments within our town, this question is about how can we attract more widely beneficial

609
00:45:32,210 --> 00:45:39,130
economic activities here. And what do you believe sets EGLE apart in its destination compared to

610
00:45:39,130 --> 00:45:42,410
its destination competitors? Any suggestions for improvement?

611
00:45:44,790 --> 00:45:46,030
Thank you for that question.

612
00:45:46,570 --> 00:45:53,690
Because what sets us apart is also what makes us unique and wanting to live here. I'll talk

613
00:45:53,690 --> 00:45:58,750
about both Scott Schreiner. I'm sorry. I'm going to talk about both big and small events.

614
00:45:59,670 --> 00:46:02,830
Small events and what I would call micro events are things that can bring people

615
00:46:02,830 --> 00:46:06,870
the downtown both community members and up and down the valley. These are things like

616
00:46:06,870 --> 00:46:13,210
the art walks, the craft fairs, the pop-ups, maybe like a little mini October Fest, closed

617
00:46:13,210 --> 00:46:16,390
down Second Street, closed down a couple of side streets, and just kind of have a nice

618
00:46:16,390 --> 00:46:21,650
small, intimate event and eagle rather than the big, large events that pack them in up

619
00:46:21,650 --> 00:46:24,690
valley. I think people are definitely looking for something that's a little bit more

620
00:46:24,690 --> 00:46:29,170
unique and not veil. In that way, we can actually showcase our very walkable downtown,

621
00:46:29,170 --> 00:46:34,110
our small town character and again some of our mountain culture that makes us

622
00:46:34,110 --> 00:46:40,490
unique and you know in demand. So those are some of the kind of small events you

623
00:46:40,490 --> 00:46:42,910
want. I do believe that we do need to work with community partners and

624
00:46:42,910 --> 00:46:45,690
businesses. When they have an idea we should listen to it and we should

625
00:46:45,690 --> 00:46:49,390
think about well how can we help this idea come to fruition and then we can

626
00:46:49,390 --> 00:46:52,450
look at how many people we brought in, look at some sales tax revenues and

627
00:46:52,830 --> 00:46:55,250
differentiations on those days and say okay well was this event

628
00:46:55,250 --> 00:46:59,690
beneficial? How is this event beneficial? I think it's all right to lose 500 bucks to

629
00:46:59,690 --> 00:47:03,130
close down the street as long as we're bringing people in to Eagle and having a good time.

630
00:47:03,970 --> 00:47:10,150
$500 is a small little price to pay to showcase our town and its unique livability.

631
00:47:11,070 --> 00:47:16,310
As far as kind of a bigger issue or a bigger event, we have the Colorado High School races

632
00:47:16,310 --> 00:47:21,130
come here twice a year. We have the town of Eagle actually owns 12 acres right at the

633
00:47:21,130 --> 00:47:26,330
very base of Haymedow Trail, okay, or the Haymaker Trail, sorry, between Haymedow Development,

634
00:47:27,330 --> 00:47:34,170
you know, why can't we kind of embrace our outdoor connection as well as, you know, our

635
00:47:34,170 --> 00:47:39,410
wonderful world-class trails and our access to wild places right here in the heart of

636
00:47:39,410 --> 00:47:43,890
Eagle by putting on a big outdoor signature event right there, very much like the high

637
00:47:43,890 --> 00:47:48,210
school races, but with less high schoolers and more beer perhaps, okay?

638
00:47:48,210 --> 00:47:50,690
We can bring in vendors, we can bring in food trucks,

639
00:47:50,830 --> 00:47:52,270
we can get the Eagle River Brewing Company

640
00:47:52,270 --> 00:47:53,750
come on out and serve draft beer.

641
00:47:54,230 --> 00:47:55,610
Okay, we can have informational tents,

642
00:47:55,870 --> 00:47:57,710
we can have trail ambassadors bringing people

643
00:47:57,710 --> 00:48:00,630
to our riding locations throughout town.

644
00:48:01,230 --> 00:48:03,010
I'm sure I know Jeff's a big Strava guy,

645
00:48:03,070 --> 00:48:04,490
I'm sure he can figure out something on Strava

646
00:48:04,490 --> 00:48:06,290
where people can pull up stats

647
00:48:06,290 --> 00:48:08,130
and just kind of mark all the trails they're doing

648
00:48:08,130 --> 00:48:10,070
throughout the week or throughout the long weekend

649
00:48:10,490 --> 00:48:11,690
and make it kind of a fun

650
00:48:11,690 --> 00:48:14,730
but semi-competitive little event, okay?

651
00:48:14,870 --> 00:48:16,110
Maybe have a little bay in there.

652
00:48:16,110 --> 00:48:20,650
but close down at five o'clock, let everyone go home, get out of their tights and their Lycra,

653
00:48:21,010 --> 00:48:25,270
and then hit the town later on for dinner in the downtown eagle area or downtown itself.

654
00:48:28,190 --> 00:48:28,490
Wonderful.

655
00:48:29,050 --> 00:48:35,990
Thanks so much, Scott. Gina, you are the only one that brought this up, so I want to thank you

656
00:48:35,990 --> 00:48:42,830
for this. Childcare. Well, I listed child care as a serious concern for our citizens

657
00:48:43,350 --> 00:48:47,030
in our questionnaire to each candidate. You are the only one who addressed it head on.

658
00:48:47,030 --> 00:48:52,450
as an issue we need to solve. You said you were passionately supportive of the

659
00:48:52,450 --> 00:48:56,290
town using tax dollars to provide necessary social services such as

660
00:48:56,290 --> 00:49:01,510
childcare. Have you able, have you been able to flesh out what the town can do

661
00:49:01,510 --> 00:49:09,170
to make this statewide, countywide, federal issue, municipal issue, how can

662
00:49:09,170 --> 00:49:13,870
we solve it? Yeah great question and I will preface by saying I am not an

663
00:49:13,870 --> 00:49:19,690
expert in how small communities like ours bring essential services like childcare to the community.

664
00:49:20,150 --> 00:49:29,690
Gina McCracken. You know, I think the point of my response to your question was that in order

665
00:49:29,690 --> 00:49:34,270
to provide social services that are so needed in rural communities like ours, we need to have the

666
00:49:34,270 --> 00:49:39,810
tax dollars to do so. And so I very much support the town, utilizing the expertise within the

667
00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:44,970
town staff and innovative ideas from neighboring communities to understand how we can look to

668
00:49:44,970 --> 00:49:50,770
our state tax policies and what local municipalities are able to do and find innovative tax policies,

669
00:49:51,050 --> 00:49:55,870
be it through bringing in other businesses and getting sales tax revenue or other mechanisms

670
00:49:55,870 --> 00:50:00,490
to make sure that we can raise the funds to solve issues related to a lack of social

671
00:50:00,490 --> 00:50:01,950
services such as child care.

672
00:50:02,650 --> 00:50:06,550
I know a lot of young parents in this community and I know that we are a community of

673
00:50:06,550 --> 00:50:11,710
young families and real year-round residents, and I hear about how difficult it is to get

674
00:50:11,710 --> 00:50:16,450
a service like childcare in our community, and so to me it just reads as we need an injection

675
00:50:16,450 --> 00:50:21,910
of funds in social services. Governments are not run like businesses. They should not be

676
00:50:21,910 --> 00:50:26,630
thought of as profiteering agencies. When there are tax dollars raised in a community,

677
00:50:26,890 --> 00:50:31,530
the intention is that those are reinvested in the community for social services for

678
00:50:31,530 --> 00:50:35,950
needs of our people, and so I, you know, in my relationship with community members,

679
00:50:35,950 --> 00:50:39,910
Whereas I think that's an incredibly important priority for the town to make.

680
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:48,180
Thank you.

681
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,700
Timothy, let's talk a little bit about East Eagle.

682
00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:59,020
You have described to me as this is a top issue facing our town.

683
00:51:01,220 --> 00:51:05,380
The activity of East Eagle parcel, or I'm sorry, the activation of the East Eagle parcel,

684
00:51:06,020 --> 00:51:09,540
that Eagle needs to step into this opportunity to embrace smart growth.

685
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:11,380
A little feedback on me.

686
00:51:11,380 --> 00:51:15,580
I was the chairman of the town planning the zoning the last time this got approved

687
00:51:16,820 --> 00:51:22,120
So this is something that I know a little bit about we filled that room many a times talking about it

688
00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:27,420
What is your vision for the site and what do you see as the pros and cons of its development?

689
00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:32,880
Thank you. I'm Timothy Haley. It's controversial like not everybody wants to see it developed

690
00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:34,980
But when I look around I

691
00:51:34,980 --> 00:51:40,600
I understand that municipalities thrive when they invite other agencies and

692
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:45,900
entities in. We have a landowner with 260 buildable acres that encompasses south

693
00:51:45,900 --> 00:51:50,280
of the river, north of the river, south of 70, north of 70. It's basically the

694
00:51:50,280 --> 00:51:53,020
barren land that you see as you drive out. You wonder how has that not been

695
00:51:53,020 --> 00:51:59,800
developed? I got first introduced to that land through my children. They play

696
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:00,360
They travel hockey.

697
00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:05,900
And with Dobson going down, Shawna Topper and I were in Telluride, mentioning the fact

698
00:52:05,900 --> 00:52:10,320
how much we spend when we travel and that none of our children were going to be able

699
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:14,680
to play home games in town because the rink was going to go down in Eagle.

700
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:16,600
We were going to be traveling the entire time.

701
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,960
She mentioned that none of her daughters doesn't get to play volleyball tournaments

702
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:22,760
in town either.

703
00:52:22,980 --> 00:52:24,060
They have to travel every weekend.

704
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:26,700
And through that conversation, we met Eric Eves.

705
00:52:26,700 --> 00:52:30,800
Eric Eves is partnered with Merv Lapin and Merv Lapin came in and said I'll donate five

706
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:33,520
acres of that East Eagle parcel if you guys can do something with it.

707
00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:35,860
Can you use it to bring sports tourism to Eagle?

708
00:52:36,500 --> 00:52:40,160
And I met Jason Coles through that process and we sat down and started to pencil this

709
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:43,840
out and say, well, our entire valley is based on tourism.

710
00:52:44,260 --> 00:52:47,100
That's how our home value's got to be a million dollars plus.

711
00:52:47,660 --> 00:52:49,580
So what is Eagle's value for tourism?

712
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:51,840
There's a water park that needs some work.

713
00:52:51,980 --> 00:52:53,800
There's the mountain bike trails that continue to expand.

714
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:59,720
But sport tours and this climate control that could happen 365 days a year the basketball the volleyball and the hockey

715
00:53:00,380 --> 00:53:02,360
Clubs are very strong and a lot of those

716
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:09,260
Parents live in Eagle. So as we started to explore this Merv and Eric came in and laid out their vision for what their plan

717
00:53:09,260 --> 00:53:13,540
Looks like and what they're trying to do is have a public-private partnership on that land

718
00:53:13,540 --> 00:53:16,800
That's where the larger development can go the tax revenue dollars

719
00:53:17,380 --> 00:53:21,120
70% of our tax revenue comes from one source in that city market

720
00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:27,380
So as Gypsum grows, how long will Ridley's supply their daily grocery needs?

721
00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:29,480
Like at some point, we will lose that access.

722
00:53:29,900 --> 00:53:34,920
The other piece is that the Koolimesa interchange goes in 2029, I think they're slating.

723
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:40,560
50% of the traffic that drives down Highway 6 currently originates or terminates in Gypsum.

724
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:46,960
So all of a sudden in the next four years or so, we could see a potential where the traffic count is half.

725
00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:52,080
So what are we going to do to get people off I-70 to spend money in the town?

726
00:53:52,380 --> 00:53:54,280
Because that's how you generate sales tax revenue.

727
00:53:54,400 --> 00:54:00,500
The 7,500 of us in this – I'm about to run out of time – 7,500 people in this community can't support it.

728
00:54:00,620 --> 00:54:05,420
So working with that private landowner or public-private partnership, I believe, is where the big development goes.

729
00:54:11,220 --> 00:54:13,560
You guys are amazing. Thank you for staying on track.

730
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:19,080
Mark, I want to talk to you a little bit about economic resilience.

731
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:25,980
You say that in your vision for EGLE is economic resiliency or resilient community, retaining

732
00:54:25,980 --> 00:54:30,180
a sense of community and belonging for all of our residents who choose to participate.

733
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:35,360
In 2009 recession, the town was not economically resilient.

734
00:54:35,660 --> 00:54:40,880
To be fair, not many businesses or towns actually were adequately prepared for that

735
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:41,780
economic decline.

736
00:54:42,900 --> 00:54:47,420
Is the town adequately economically resilient?

737
00:54:47,420 --> 00:54:51,200
If not, what do you propose to implement to realize your vision?

738
00:54:57,650 --> 00:54:58,310
I don't know.

739
00:54:59,990 --> 00:55:02,110
That's a really...

740
00:55:03,710 --> 00:55:08,350
If you're asking about how the town as town government is going to be resilient,

741
00:55:08,770 --> 00:55:13,510
that's done with smart financial planning and maintaining the reserves.

742
00:55:14,630 --> 00:55:20,970
I sat through what it was at four or five hours of budget workshops over the last month.

743
00:55:22,290 --> 00:55:29,630
And I heard a lot of dedicated, smart planning going on in terms of the town's finances.

744
00:55:30,370 --> 00:55:33,750
I can't recite the formulas that go into these calculations.

745
00:55:34,230 --> 00:55:41,070
That's why the town hires, employs a CPA and people like Larry and Melissa who've

746
00:55:41,070 --> 00:55:43,470
been doing this way longer than me.

747
00:55:44,730 --> 00:55:45,410
Yes.

748
00:55:45,730 --> 00:55:47,450
I think the town is resilient.

749
00:55:48,550 --> 00:56:00,490
For now, I don't think this town is anywhere near bankruptcy, but to be resilient, we need

750
00:56:00,490 --> 00:56:03,770
to continue to find new sources of revenue.

751
00:56:04,230 --> 00:56:07,010
In this town, that mostly means sales tax.

752
00:56:07,010 --> 00:56:16,310
So now we have to balance that with people's desires or opposition to any sort of growth.

753
00:56:17,350 --> 00:56:25,990
And I'm probably going off topic here, but my concept of how we develop the economy is first infill.

754
00:56:26,890 --> 00:56:29,750
I think we need to be looking at East Eagle for sure.

755
00:56:30,210 --> 00:56:34,590
I think we need to be planning ahead and nudging it forward, if you will,

756
00:56:35,610 --> 00:56:42,350
because I don't think the town should pay for all the infrastructure, you know, the tens of millions

757
00:56:42,350 --> 00:56:48,610
of dollars that would be required there, but I think we need to look at ways to incentivize

758
00:56:51,890 --> 00:56:57,870
bringing Broadway back and making those businesses affordable, not affordable,

759
00:56:57,870 --> 00:57:03,210
making them successful and helping attract business here.

760
00:57:04,130 --> 00:57:06,090
That's sort of basic economic development.

761
00:57:06,910 --> 00:57:09,190
I'm not sure if that's where you were headed, but that's where I went.

762
00:57:10,030 --> 00:57:10,570
No, it's perfect.

763
00:57:10,950 --> 00:57:14,170
Hey, when you're bringing Broadway back, I'm going to jump in.

764
00:57:14,250 --> 00:57:15,270
And this is a real quick response.

765
00:57:16,330 --> 00:57:19,970
Do we incentivize these, since we are now a home rule town,

766
00:57:20,650 --> 00:57:25,150
do we incentivize businesses to locate in certain commercial districts?

767
00:57:25,690 --> 00:57:26,590
That's kind of a yes or no.

768
00:57:27,210 --> 00:57:35,410
The answer is yes. And I really do like pilots, payments, and lieu of taxes. Some

769
00:57:35,410 --> 00:57:41,370
breaks for the first year or two to bootstrap up that new business that comes

770
00:57:41,370 --> 00:57:47,250
into our town. Wonderful. Thank you. Now, I just used up some of my own money, so I

771
00:57:47,250 --> 00:57:54,250
apologize for that. Okay, Tanya, protecting open space and wildlife.

772
00:57:54,250 --> 00:57:58,870
life. Thank you so much for your response to my questionnaires. You mentioned that protecting

773
00:57:58,870 --> 00:58:04,090
open space is critical. While surveys show this is a top concern of our citizens, you

774
00:58:04,090 --> 00:58:09,730
feel this priority has been largely overlooked by our town. Reviewing the 25 budget for the

775
00:58:09,730 --> 00:58:16,330
town and I'm sure you found that we have spent or at least budgeted $682,000 to manage

776
00:58:16,330 --> 00:58:23,710
1,300 open space, open acres of open space. As a member of the town council, would you

777
00:58:23,710 --> 00:58:31,070
advocate the town change something to protect this open space and wildlife? Do you recommend

778
00:58:31,070 --> 00:58:34,310
additional resources and where do you think these resources will be generated?

779
00:58:36,970 --> 00:58:43,650
Great question. Yeah, the open space is near and dear to my heart. Most importantly,

780
00:58:43,650 --> 00:58:52,310
the L-Curds which I think define EGLE. They're on photos all over town showing what EGLE is all about.

781
00:58:53,890 --> 00:59:01,430
Oh, I was just trying to make sure that everyone can see me. I think what's really important

782
00:59:01,430 --> 00:59:07,790
in the open space is maintaining the trails that we have out there and keeping an eye on

783
00:59:07,790 --> 00:59:16,370
the use of the trails and how they're managed. There's been proposal of officers

784
00:59:17,150 --> 00:59:21,710
managing them, but they've only put forth one day a week, which really does not

785
00:59:21,710 --> 00:59:27,150
make sense. People are out there all week long, most importantly, on the

786
00:59:27,150 --> 00:59:33,390
weekends. Our elk herds, they don't keep track of a calendar, so when the

787
00:59:33,390 --> 00:59:39,170
trails are closed, that doesn't necessarily coincide to when they come and go.

788
00:59:40,450 --> 00:59:47,330
The growth of the trails and the addition of more miles, I don't think it takes into account

789
00:59:47,330 --> 00:59:52,070
where the herds prefer to migrate through in the town.

790
00:59:52,070 --> 00:59:59,910
and largely the mountain bike clubs in town, in my opinion, have

791
01:00:00,050 --> 01:00:06,070
It's been given free will to whatever they want is what they get and it's largely voted

792
01:00:06,070 --> 01:00:09,590
in without concern for what's happening with our wildlife.

793
01:00:18,200 --> 01:00:19,820
Thank you so much, Tanya.

794
01:00:22,860 --> 01:00:23,180
Brian,

795
01:00:25,530 --> 01:00:30,690
you operate two businesses in the town and several employees.

796
01:00:31,770 --> 01:00:36,470
In your response to my questionnaire, you stated that housing of our workforce is one

797
01:00:36,470 --> 01:00:38,950
of the biggest issues facing our community and local businesses.

798
01:00:40,010 --> 01:00:44,330
As an employer and elected official for the town of Eagle, what solutions do you propose

799
01:00:44,330 --> 01:00:48,310
to mitigate this critical gap in attainable housing?

800
01:00:49,290 --> 01:00:56,130
Well, I really believe, Brian Kunkel, by the way, we really have to lean in on deed-restricted

801
01:00:56,130 --> 01:00:56,390
housing.

802
01:00:56,850 --> 01:01:00,590
And I know that a lot of people are really against deed-restricted housing because they

803
01:01:00,590 --> 01:01:02,410
don't see it as an investment property.

804
01:01:03,150 --> 01:01:07,750
But for a lot of people, it's not about an investment, it's about a forever home.

805
01:01:08,690 --> 01:01:15,850
There's people here that we are sick of doing what they call the valley shuffle every year.

806
01:01:16,610 --> 01:01:22,030
And this is how we are constantly losing employees because there's nowhere for them to go.

807
01:01:23,650 --> 01:01:28,910
And this has literally been a problem in our town and in our valley since I was a kid here.

808
01:01:28,910 --> 01:01:32,230
So it's not something that we've really been really able to tackle.

809
01:01:32,670 --> 01:01:37,870
So it's something that we really need to look at, because at this point, no one in the working

810
01:01:37,870 --> 01:01:40,550
class can buy a house here at a million and a half dollars.

811
01:01:40,850 --> 01:01:42,170
I own two successful businesses.

812
01:01:42,350 --> 01:01:45,610
I would be no more close to being able to afford to be able to buy a house here.

813
01:01:46,050 --> 01:01:51,150
So if we want to have a community where we have working class, where we are able

814
01:01:51,150 --> 01:01:56,790
to have our kids come back to our community, we need to be able to have houses that

815
01:01:56,790 --> 01:02:01,870
are affordable and the only way to really do that up here is deed restricted because in truth on

816
01:02:01,870 --> 01:02:08,910
the open a marketplace it's not going to go down. We do live in a magical place. Everyone wants to be

817
01:02:08,910 --> 01:02:14,070
here. It's beautiful here and that's why it's just artificially the housing prices are never going

818
01:02:14,070 --> 01:02:22,930
to drop. We have to protect our working class. Investment firms are coming in literally buying

819
01:02:22,930 --> 01:02:29,170
up our stock right now. Our rental prices are about to skyrocket because of it. So if

820
01:02:29,170 --> 01:02:33,870
you actually want to have a community, we have businesses, we have thriving businesses,

821
01:02:34,390 --> 01:02:39,670
we have young people. These are the kind of things that we have to do. Or we're just

822
01:02:39,670 --> 01:02:44,530
going to be a community of old rich people. So it really depends on what you guys want.

823
01:02:44,530 --> 01:02:55,160
thank you I'm starting to feel a little bit a little bit attacked here old rich

824
01:02:55,160 --> 01:02:56,980
people that's

825
01:03:00,430 --> 01:03:03,550
okay I have very thick skin Scott

826
01:03:05,570 --> 01:03:10,970
yeah Scott D Scott Davidson

827
01:03:10,970 --> 01:03:18,030
Scott Davidson you discussed with me the conflict between our citizens desire

828
01:03:18,030 --> 01:03:23,470
for housing affordability, not to do this twice but we will, while lamenting over development.

829
01:03:24,650 --> 01:03:29,730
How do you personally and professionally reconcile that on the surface it appears to be in direct

830
01:03:29,730 --> 01:03:37,070
conflict? Do you believe that we are overdeveloped? Great question Kevin and thank you guys.

831
01:03:37,890 --> 01:03:44,010
So with housing it's always going to be a fluctuating market and the affordable housing

832
01:03:44,010 --> 01:03:46,630
you know, we'll always be a tool in the toolkit.

833
01:03:47,270 --> 01:03:49,810
The most important thing that's ever gonna sustain

834
01:03:49,810 --> 01:03:51,910
our businesses, sustain the housing

835
01:03:51,910 --> 01:03:54,190
and help people all be successful together

836
01:03:54,190 --> 01:03:57,130
is by making good decisions at the base levels

837
01:03:57,130 --> 01:03:59,730
across all boards to ensure that people

838
01:03:59,730 --> 01:04:02,330
not only are successful in their own personal wealth

839
01:04:02,330 --> 01:04:03,990
to where they can eventually buy a home

840
01:04:03,990 --> 01:04:05,910
regardless if it's gonna be de-restricted or not.

841
01:04:06,230 --> 01:04:08,290
I fully support de-restriction

842
01:04:08,290 --> 01:04:09,590
and I love the programs.

843
01:04:09,710 --> 01:04:10,530
I work with a lot of them.

844
01:04:10,650 --> 01:04:12,470
Obviously I'm in a title company, so I do so.

845
01:04:12,470 --> 01:04:23,750
But by having people be successful in their own personal interest in an individual capacity and as a business owner, that's what's truly going to drive great housing.

846
01:04:24,270 --> 01:04:28,990
It's going to fill up local places that have not been filled or, you know, these types of things.

847
01:04:29,290 --> 01:04:39,630
And with local housing, you know, I've been in the, you know, the ballgame of having to have multiple roommates, having to work two, three jobs just to survive.

848
01:04:39,630 --> 01:04:41,150
and I get that it's realistic.

849
01:04:41,870 --> 01:04:43,930
Mountain towns and mountain construction

850
01:04:43,930 --> 01:04:46,150
is historically super expensive.

851
01:04:46,790 --> 01:04:48,030
It's not gonna get any cheaper

852
01:04:48,030 --> 01:04:49,930
and as Todd mentioned it's just only going up

853
01:04:49,930 --> 01:04:51,830
and hopefully some point we'll plateau

854
01:04:51,830 --> 01:04:53,610
and we'll have that ability to grow more

855
01:04:53,610 --> 01:04:55,970
but if we're not supporting our local businesses

856
01:04:55,970 --> 01:04:58,150
that can support our local residents

857
01:04:58,150 --> 01:05:00,010
to where they could be more successful

858
01:05:00,010 --> 01:05:01,590
then we'll never have a chance

859
01:05:01,590 --> 01:05:03,570
regardless of how many deed restrictions

860
01:05:04,030 --> 01:05:05,250
and how many of those we can do

861
01:05:05,250 --> 01:05:06,650
and we'll never have the tax dollars

862
01:05:06,650 --> 01:05:08,590
to fund all those, we'll run out.

863
01:05:08,590 --> 01:05:13,190
So, we need to be mindful and we need to be practical on all of these decisions that

864
01:05:13,190 --> 01:05:16,110
we make from a local level, starting at the municipality.

865
01:05:16,850 --> 01:05:16,970
Thank you.

866
01:05:17,230 --> 01:05:17,370
Yeah.

867
01:05:17,750 --> 01:05:18,570
Thank you so much.

868
01:05:23,930 --> 01:05:25,790
Getting almost through the first question.

869
01:05:26,050 --> 01:05:26,870
You guys are doing amazing.

870
01:05:28,830 --> 01:05:30,890
Casey, I'm going to change gears a little bit here.

871
01:05:31,870 --> 01:05:37,370
Your vision for EGLE is to make EGLE a place for my college-aged kids to move back

872
01:05:37,370 --> 01:05:37,650
to.

873
01:05:38,290 --> 01:05:38,910
Well, I was lucky.

874
01:05:38,910 --> 01:05:42,190
I've got one to move back here and one I'm trying to coerce.

875
01:05:45,570 --> 01:05:49,990
So we've already talked about some of the impediments to moving back here, housing and

876
01:05:49,990 --> 01:05:54,330
sustainable job opportunities, and that kind of describes North Dakota.

877
01:05:55,050 --> 01:06:00,230
But ultimately people live in thriving communities where they themselves feel that there is

878
01:06:00,230 --> 01:06:05,050
a sense of place, provide amenities that they desire and support their values.

879
01:06:05,230 --> 01:06:06,690
So this really gets down to values.

880
01:06:06,690 --> 01:06:13,010
So my question is, does it matter to them if we electrify our communities? Are we good environmental

881
01:06:13,010 --> 01:06:19,910
stewards? If we support and subsidize early child care education? If we have cutting-edge

882
01:06:19,910 --> 01:06:26,910
broadband as a public utility, does our community currently have the amenities and values for that

883
01:06:26,910 --> 01:06:32,630
generation to move back to our community? Well, I appreciate you asking the question,

884
01:06:32,630 --> 01:06:38,310
in case you go lucky. Yeah, I mean, that's near and dear to my heart. I mean, that's

885
01:06:38,310 --> 01:06:45,270
our hope, our dreams that our kids want to move back here. I got one son who just squeezes

886
01:06:45,270 --> 01:06:52,490
this valley as hard as he possibly can. He is on a snowboard. He's on a dirt bike.

887
01:06:52,790 --> 01:06:58,510
He's hiking. He's river surfing. He's learning how to fly fish. There's nothing he won't

888
01:06:58,510 --> 01:07:05,590
do. The other son is a little more one-dimensional and he's like soccer. Soccer, soccer, soccer.

889
01:07:05,730 --> 01:07:11,490
That's all he cares about is soccer. So to answer your question, they don't know that

890
01:07:11,490 --> 01:07:16,570
they're going to be interested in childcare because they just turned 20, three days ago.

891
01:07:17,510 --> 01:07:22,830
They haven't even thought about that. They're in college brain right now. I'm sure they're

892
01:07:22,830 --> 01:07:29,670
chasing girls and that will come next. But I could see one of my sons wanting to open

893
01:07:29,670 --> 01:07:34,610
a business following in his dad's shoes and being an entrepreneur. I could easily see him

894
01:07:34,610 --> 01:07:40,530
doing that. I could see my other son wanting to run a soccer program and teach kids the

895
01:07:40,530 --> 01:07:48,650
next generation how to play soccer. They both have silently whispered to us that we

896
01:07:48,650 --> 01:07:54,170
We were right. This place is awesome. They're both in California. They're feeling the pressure

897
01:07:54,170 --> 01:08:00,610
of thorns honking outside their house. One's in Santa Barbara. That's not so much. He kind

898
01:08:00,610 --> 01:08:11,610
of likes it there. But they, you know, I have a yes mentality to moving forward with

899
01:08:12,110 --> 01:08:18,170
all projects to make Eagle more sustainable for young people to thrive here, whether

900
01:08:18,170 --> 01:08:24,050
whether it's deed restriction, opening a business, anything that comes across my desk is going

901
01:08:24,050 --> 01:08:29,610
to have a yes mentality to moving forward and making for the next generation and we

902
01:08:29,610 --> 01:08:31,030
don't fall backwards.

903
01:08:32,630 --> 01:08:32,910
Marvelous.

904
01:08:33,310 --> 01:08:33,670
Thank you.

905
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:42,840
So since everybody's giving back so much wonderful time, there are three by five cards

906
01:08:42,840 --> 01:08:43,400
back there.

907
01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:46,500
If anybody has some questions, I can't guarantee we'll get to them.

908
01:08:46,500 --> 01:08:54,240
If we don't get to them, they'll be posed, they'll actually be dealt with through the Chamber of Commerce and they'll post those answers.

909
01:08:54,580 --> 01:08:59,980
But it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask a couple of questions. If we can squeeze them in from the audience, I'd love to do that.

910
01:09:00,380 --> 01:09:07,480
And just as a conflict of interest, just to let you know, I do have a beer mug at Casey's establishment.

911
01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:14,580
I know. Okay. Casey, I'm going to just do this right over again. I'm going to go right back this way again.

912
01:09:14,580 --> 01:09:19,720
So, I'm going to ask you this, basically the same kind of question I asked Brian, because

913
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:21,080
it really impacts your business.

914
01:09:21,640 --> 01:09:27,480
You operate several labor intensive businesses in our valley in response, was it affordable

915
01:09:27,480 --> 01:09:30,180
housing is one of the top issues facing our community?

916
01:09:30,500 --> 01:09:34,160
If that's the top issue, I want to hear from you on what you as a town official

917
01:09:34,160 --> 01:09:38,220
will do and what solutions will you have to mitigate this critical gap for attainable

918
01:09:38,220 --> 01:09:38,560
housing?

919
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:46,300
Well, first off, just personally speaking in the restaurant business, I have a couple

920
01:09:46,300 --> 01:09:53,340
servers that pass my businesses here in Eagle because they've gotten in at Drunken Goat.

921
01:09:53,400 --> 01:09:56,940
Everybody knows that all my servers make better money at Drunken Goat.

922
01:09:56,980 --> 01:09:58,240
It's just busier up there.

923
01:09:58,660 --> 01:09:59,440
They're thriving.

924
01:09:59,900 --> 01:10:04,360
My servers down here wish they could work at Drunken Goat, even though they'd rather

925
01:10:04,360 --> 01:10:07,020
live down here and they're already working down here.

926
01:10:07,020 --> 01:10:13,120
So, I need, once they, the restaurants start filling up, and again, this is not personal,

927
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:15,860
this is not why I'm running this, but this, you ask the question.

928
01:10:16,320 --> 01:10:26,120
So, when my servers start making more money, then they will start thinking about that apartment

929
01:10:26,120 --> 01:10:29,100
or that investment.

930
01:10:29,300 --> 01:10:31,220
They'll start putting money in the stock market.

931
01:10:31,400 --> 01:10:36,720
They'll fill up their Roth IRA or whatever they do that's responsible

932
01:10:37,020 --> 01:10:41,820
they'll start making steps forward. And then once they do that, then they can start looking at a

933
01:10:41,820 --> 01:10:48,260
down payment on an apartment. I agree with the small homes. Who was it? Tim? Who was it said?

934
01:10:48,420 --> 01:10:54,740
Small homes. Like that's, I mean, when we moved here from Charleston, we left a huge house on the

935
01:10:54,740 --> 01:11:01,740
beach and we bought a two-bedroom, 600 square foot house above Main Street Grill

936
01:11:01,740 --> 01:11:04,180
for like $400,000.

937
01:11:04,740 --> 01:11:06,460
We upgraded to a townhouse,

938
01:11:07,020 --> 01:11:09,000
a little bit better down the street.

939
01:11:09,380 --> 01:11:11,500
And then we upgraded to our house here.

940
01:11:11,660 --> 01:11:13,040
So we took a huge step backwards.

941
01:11:13,440 --> 01:11:14,320
My kids were like, what?

942
01:11:14,660 --> 01:11:16,360
This is our house, little two bedroom.

943
01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:19,560
So everybody's got to sacrifice a little bit to get ahead.

944
01:11:19,680 --> 01:11:22,860
But if you start, if you get your foot in the door here

945
01:11:22,860 --> 01:11:24,260
in a small apartment,

946
01:11:24,340 --> 01:11:26,220
that's why I try to tell all these young people,

947
01:11:26,580 --> 01:11:28,160
like, you know, if you don't want to,

948
01:11:28,200 --> 01:11:30,580
if you want to live in Wild Ridge, start in Gypsum.

949
01:11:30,580 --> 01:11:35,240
Just buy a house that's less and then work your way up valley, if that's your dream.

950
01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:41,960
If you want to live in Eagle Ranch in the Highlands, start with a small house in a deed

951
01:11:41,960 --> 01:11:44,160
restricted area that we're going to green light.

952
01:11:49,690 --> 01:11:50,350
Thank you.

953
01:11:51,370 --> 01:11:53,370
You did a really good job.

954
01:11:54,350 --> 01:11:55,550
You did a really good job.

955
01:11:57,490 --> 01:11:58,410
Just real quick.

956
01:11:59,330 --> 01:12:03,990
So deed restriction, one of the problems I see periodically is I can't move to that

957
01:12:03,990 --> 01:12:09,150
next level or that next level doesn't exist. Do you see that? That's kind of yes or no.

958
01:12:09,370 --> 01:12:12,150
Do you see that as a challenge for housing stock?

959
01:12:14,470 --> 01:12:17,930
I have two or three servers that live,

960
01:12:18,130 --> 01:12:22,590
that work at Drunken Go and live in Miller Ranch and they're perfectly happy. It's a

961
01:12:22,590 --> 01:12:27,190
great place. I would like to live in Miller Ranch. It's awesome. Get on the waiting

962
01:12:27,190 --> 01:12:31,870
list. Get on the waiting list? I mean, you know, I mean, it's the best place

963
01:12:31,870 --> 01:12:36,690
in the valley to trick-or-treat. It's gorgeous. My neighborhood is the best. Some people don't want,

964
01:12:36,790 --> 01:12:42,930
some people, those communities seem pretty, pretty cool. And like, I can't remember who it was. I think,

965
01:12:43,010 --> 01:12:48,110
I think you said it, that they, they, they don't see it as, as an investment. Some of us, I,

966
01:12:48,210 --> 01:12:52,850
I haven't invested in the brain, but some people just want a home. They're, they're,

967
01:12:52,850 --> 01:12:57,410
they're chipping away at the principal and they get to come home and build a little garden in

968
01:12:57,410 --> 01:13:00,670
backyard. There's nothing wrong with that. Thanks, Casey.

969
01:13:03,450 --> 01:13:05,510
Scott, infrastructure, the

970
01:13:05,510 --> 01:13:10,090
Chamber member asked this question, much of EGLE's core infrastructure from roads to

971
01:13:10,090 --> 01:13:15,590
utilities and public buildings are aging. Scott, what is your plan to address long-term

972
01:13:15,590 --> 01:13:20,150
maintenance and upgrades without burning taxpayers with new debt or higher taxes?

973
01:13:20,770 --> 01:13:26,610
That is an excellent question and infrastructure is honestly one of the most important things

974
01:13:26,610 --> 01:13:31,030
that we'll ever do on the town councils ensuring proper infrastructure and critical infrastructure

975
01:13:31,030 --> 01:13:35,590
for new development and all of the, you know, supporting areas that we have within EGLE.

976
01:13:36,010 --> 01:13:42,290
So my understanding is in Denver, they actually had a, you know, you'd call it like kind of green

977
01:13:42,290 --> 01:13:48,410
or that type of nature, but they ran a new program where they used new ideas to help alleviate

978
01:13:48,930 --> 01:13:53,090
infrastructure demand, especially like storm and sew water. So you'll find that there are

979
01:13:53,090 --> 01:13:57,330
creative ideas that you can research, that you can collaborate with other towns and other

980
01:13:57,330 --> 01:14:00,510
folks of all across the nation and even here locally.

981
01:14:00,750 --> 01:14:04,370
We have so many wonderful entrepreneurs and wonderful folk that are just happy to help

982
01:14:04,370 --> 01:14:05,770
if you're just willing to ask.

983
01:14:06,250 --> 01:14:10,930
So we can utilize these new ideas and I'll have it be known that they reduce the stormwater

984
01:14:10,930 --> 01:14:15,770
drain by 40 to 60 percent in Denver in critical areas where it was unmanageable.

985
01:14:15,830 --> 01:14:19,430
They didn't know what to do and all they did was line some porous roads.

986
01:14:19,430 --> 01:14:24,490
They have some beautiful garden grass that would just help fill the aquifers underneath

987
01:14:24,490 --> 01:14:25,070
the ground.

988
01:14:25,410 --> 01:14:28,690
And these are the types of developments that are not only smart, but they're cost friendly.

989
01:14:29,050 --> 01:14:32,750
So not only are we going to be able to develop our infrastructure and help what we already

990
01:14:32,750 --> 01:14:37,430
have until we can get the financials to back that and to restore it to a proper nature,

991
01:14:37,790 --> 01:14:43,510
but we'll be able to handle it now in the short term for the long term.

992
01:14:44,330 --> 01:14:44,730
Thank you.

993
01:14:45,050 --> 01:14:46,090
Thank you so much.

994
01:14:46,090 --> 01:14:51,990
Holy cow, one minute and five seconds and, um, God almighty.

995
01:14:52,490 --> 01:14:56,810
Hey, Pins, just to let you know, I am definitely nonpartisan.

996
01:14:56,950 --> 01:14:59,770
I've got George McGovern over here, 68 on that side.

997
01:15:01,040 --> 01:15:06,500
Hubert Humphrey on this side and the very first earth pen, which I'm going to give right

998
01:15:06,500 --> 01:15:08,480
here. You can have it.

999
01:15:13,530 --> 01:15:19,410
We're going to talk. All right. You're welcome. Yeah, that is from

1000
01:15:19,410 --> 01:15:27,350
the very first earth day in Washington, D.C. So, Brian, I'm picking on you again. It's

1001
01:15:27,350 --> 01:15:33,530
coming quick. You've been really good about struggling through the process of opening

1002
01:15:33,530 --> 01:15:33,910
of business.

1003
01:15:35,930 --> 01:15:41,870
Fun. Yes. There may have been challenges. Is there a way that we as a community

1004
01:15:41,870 --> 01:15:48,090
are planning a zoning, our staff, our council can make this a better process for new businesses

1005
01:15:48,090 --> 01:15:53,430
coming in? I think there's a few things that we can do to make it easier for new businesses

1006
01:15:53,430 --> 01:16:01,450
is coming in. Along with making the whole process a little bit easier for everybody,

1007
01:16:03,130 --> 01:16:08,810
when I started going through the process myself, I found that there was conflicting information

1008
01:16:09,490 --> 01:16:13,550
between what I found on the website and from what I was hearing from the town staff.

1009
01:16:15,430 --> 01:16:20,590
I'm hearing that there's still those issues going on, that there's these conflictions

1010
01:16:20,590 --> 01:16:25,690
between what is being put out in public and what you're hearing from the staff. That needs

1011
01:16:25,690 --> 01:16:30,670
to be dealt with immediately. It's really hard for any investor to want to come into our community

1012
01:16:30,670 --> 01:16:35,490
and spend money if they don't know how much money they're going to spend, especially if they're

1013
01:16:35,490 --> 01:16:41,110
looking on a website and tells them they're doing this code. And then you go in, you find that

1014
01:16:41,110 --> 01:16:44,930
that is not actually what the deal is at all. And you've now designed an entire project

1015
01:16:44,930 --> 01:16:49,110
off of something that actually has nothing to do with what the town wants you to do.

1016
01:16:49,990 --> 01:16:54,450
So, a lot of it has, I think, to do, communication is a big part to start with.

1017
01:16:55,190 --> 01:16:59,250
Another thing is tap and water fees.

1018
01:17:00,410 --> 01:17:02,610
I ran into this issue as well.

1019
01:17:03,890 --> 01:17:10,750
Tap fees for a lot of small businesses can be upwards of $30, $50, $100,000 when you're

1020
01:17:10,750 --> 01:17:12,190
starting a business upfront.

1021
01:17:12,510 --> 01:17:13,250
That is almost impossible.

1022
01:17:14,070 --> 01:17:17,250
A lot of people are walking away not wanting to start businesses in Eagle right now

1023
01:17:17,250 --> 01:17:18,150
because of those tap fees.

1024
01:17:18,150 --> 01:17:23,150
That's something that we should try and learn to do like as a schedule payment after a business

1025
01:17:23,150 --> 01:17:24,490
is opened over years.

1026
01:17:27,030 --> 01:17:31,550
Another idea that we've – when I was working with the Chamber, another idea we've been

1027
01:17:31,550 --> 01:17:38,790
trying to come up with is having kind of a primer or a check sheet for any business that

1028
01:17:38,790 --> 01:17:43,210
wants to come into town so they can literally see exactly who they need to go to and

1029
01:17:43,210 --> 01:17:47,950
what they need to do to open up a business, almost like a dummy's guide for any business

1030
01:17:47,950 --> 01:17:58,890
owner or even having a business advocate who works with the business owner going through

1031
01:17:58,890 --> 01:18:05,890
with them, going through the town's process and making sure these processes are actually

1032
01:18:05,890 --> 01:18:09,310
working for us and they're not hampering businesses.

1033
01:18:11,430 --> 01:18:16,950
Again, I don't think that the town itself or the town staff in any way doesn't want

1034
01:18:16,950 --> 01:18:21,430
businesses the work they do. It's just there's a lot of work that needs to go

1035
01:18:21,430 --> 01:18:26,950
in to just our communication to fix in these kind of situations. I guess I'll

1036
01:18:26,950 --> 01:18:28,490
leave it at that. Thank you, sir.

1037
01:18:32,070 --> 01:18:35,650
Tony, it's a little bit like what Brian just

1038
01:18:35,650 --> 01:18:39,950
talked about. You've presented it a little differently. Economic vitality

1039
01:18:39,950 --> 01:18:41,990
and really high tax rates.

1040
01:18:44,450 --> 01:18:46,410
And you've heard from many of our citizens that

1041
01:18:46,410 --> 01:18:51,090
they worry about eagles high tax rates and fees like water tap fees, discouraged businesses

1042
01:18:51,090 --> 01:18:56,290
from staying or opening here. Well, I've never found anybody likes to pay taxes. So just to

1043
01:18:56,290 --> 01:19:02,510
tell you that, you know, the town is nothing more than a path through that you represent

1044
01:19:02,510 --> 01:19:08,290
the community. And how do we collect money? How do we spend it? So to help me understand

1045
01:19:08,290 --> 01:19:12,350
And what is economic vitality to you?

1046
01:19:12,570 --> 01:19:14,450
And what taxes do you propose we eliminate?

1047
01:19:15,350 --> 01:19:17,370
And this tax source when it's reduced,

1048
01:19:17,610 --> 01:19:19,330
how do we correspondingly reduce our budget

1049
01:19:19,330 --> 01:19:22,710
or what revenues replace the reduction in taxes?

1050
01:19:23,210 --> 01:19:24,110
Tell me how this works.

1051
01:19:24,970 --> 01:19:25,990
Great question.

1052
01:19:26,450 --> 01:19:31,790
Tonya Dorda, we have the highest tax rate in the valley.

1053
01:19:32,450 --> 01:19:34,650
And I hear it from business owners.

1054
01:19:34,650 --> 01:19:40,750
I hear it from consumers that it's a concern that our high tax rate discourages people

1055
01:19:40,750 --> 01:19:44,950
from shopping in EGLE because they're going to be taxed higher.

1056
01:19:45,490 --> 01:19:49,850
So they're going to go to Edwards, they're going to go to Gypsum, they're going to go

1057
01:19:49,850 --> 01:19:53,550
to Avon versus staying here in EGLE.

1058
01:19:54,090 --> 01:20:01,730
And it makes sense because times are tight, costs are high, everybody has a finite amount

1059
01:20:01,730 --> 01:20:08,230
a money that's coming into their account and taxes keep going up and things keep getting proposed

1060
01:20:08,230 --> 01:20:15,710
about, you know, well, let's develop this and we could just add more taxes. At what point is it too

1061
01:20:15,710 --> 01:20:22,430
much? And we do need to pay for the programs that are in place. We do need to maintain our

1062
01:20:22,430 --> 01:20:28,470
sidewalks. We need to fill those potholes. We need to take care of what we have as a

1063
01:20:28,470 --> 01:20:37,070
community already. And I think it takes a much deeper dive into the economics of the town

1064
01:20:37,070 --> 01:20:43,410
than I have here in two minutes to be able to address, well, exactly how would that look

1065
01:20:43,410 --> 01:20:50,270
when we reduce that down? And will it encourage the businesses to come here when that rate

1066
01:20:50,270 --> 01:20:56,450
goes down? I had a friend that tried to open a hair salon here, and she was so discouraged

1067
01:20:56,450 --> 01:21:02,490
by the water tap fees that the owner of the property had already paid and then

1068
01:21:02,490 --> 01:21:07,850
the town wanted to to make her pay them as well so that's that's like a double

1069
01:21:07,850 --> 01:21:13,470
tax but that doesn't make any sense so she was discouraged she did not open a

1070
01:21:13,470 --> 01:21:18,830
business and she left and got work elsewhere and that that's what we want

1071
01:21:18,830 --> 01:21:22,210
to prevent we don't want businesses leaving us we don't want people

1072
01:21:22,870 --> 01:21:28,350
entrepreneurs that are trying to grow to leave us. We want them to stay here and we

1073
01:21:28,350 --> 01:21:34,250
want them to help build our community. Wonderful. Thank you, Tanya.

1074
01:21:41,420 --> 01:21:42,340
Mark, and we're

1075
01:21:42,340 --> 01:21:46,980
going to keep touching on this because it's important, but our vision for EGLE and you

1076
01:21:46,980 --> 01:21:51,940
talk about smart growth. I'm interested in your vision of expansion of the town footprint.

1077
01:21:52,420 --> 01:21:55,600
What does that look like and how do we achieve that goal?

1078
01:21:59,340 --> 01:22:01,100
Mark Bergman, the only

1079
01:22:01,100 --> 01:22:03,760
mark on the ballot, if you forgot my last name, it's fine.

1080
01:22:07,420 --> 01:22:08,860
Expansion of the town footprint

1081
01:22:08,860 --> 01:22:19,670
doesn't necessarily mean economic stability or economic growth by any means. Tremendous

1082
01:22:19,670 --> 01:22:26,590
expenses go with that expansion. So it's a lot like you asked me a few minutes ago,

1083
01:22:26,690 --> 01:22:34,430
I think, or maybe with somebody else, sorry. I think we need to look at expansion very

1084
01:22:34,430 --> 01:22:41,870
strategically and know who's going to pay for it. You know, I've been going door to door.

1085
01:22:41,990 --> 01:22:48,170
I've met quite a few residents who I didn't know previously. And there's the contingent that doesn't

1086
01:22:48,170 --> 01:22:51,150
want any growth that wants to keep the town the way it has been.

1087
01:22:53,350 --> 01:22:54,990
We've just heard people saying

1088
01:22:54,990 --> 01:23:01,310
the taxes are too high. They don't want to pay any more. Who's going to pay for expansion of

1089
01:23:01,310 --> 01:23:07,530
of the town. Expansion of the town with people, yeah. We get our population up to about 10,000.

1090
01:23:07,830 --> 01:23:15,150
We can afford to be a town a lot better. We're in a challenging position. We've shrunk. This

1091
01:23:15,150 --> 01:23:22,030
town has shrunk about the same percentage, I think. Don't blast me if I got it wrong.

1092
01:23:22,510 --> 01:23:29,370
But Colorado is a state of shrinking. We dropped 2% 2.6 or 2.5% on the last census.

1093
01:23:29,370 --> 01:23:32,030
So what are we expanding to?

1094
01:23:32,870 --> 01:23:34,610
Is there a business that's coming to us?

1095
01:23:34,710 --> 01:23:40,430
Is there another Costco opportunity that's going to subsidize that expansion?

1096
01:23:40,830 --> 01:23:41,270
Then great.

1097
01:23:41,610 --> 01:23:42,410
Let's go annex it.

1098
01:23:42,550 --> 01:23:48,670
Let's go east and let's fill it up if we have a revenue generator that's going to do it.

1099
01:23:48,890 --> 01:23:52,970
But why would we expand as for sake of expansion?

1100
01:23:53,270 --> 01:23:54,450
Do I have a few seconds left?

1101
01:23:57,080 --> 01:23:58,020
Only three?

1102
01:23:58,420 --> 01:23:58,620
Never mind.

1103
01:23:59,260 --> 01:24:06,780
30. Can I go off and touch back on affordable housing with a couple of ideas? You'll hear

1104
01:24:06,780 --> 01:24:11,920
this idea from somebody else a little bit later and know I didn't steal it. I have a similar

1105
01:24:11,920 --> 01:24:17,680
idea. Doing affordable housing, attainable housing in a town or our size, we can't do

1106
01:24:17,680 --> 01:24:22,320
it alone. We need to develop a regional partnership. One of the things that I bring

1107
01:24:22,320 --> 01:24:27,700
is some relationships both with the county and even with gypsum. Yes, people from

1108
01:24:27,700 --> 01:24:33,560
Eagle can have a represent relationship with the Eagle Town Council marvelous

1109
01:24:33,560 --> 01:24:38,460
thank you thank you sorry yeah and oh another conflict of interest

1110
01:24:40,800 --> 01:24:45,340
bonfire that's where Second Street Tavern is right now but I do need to support

1111
01:24:45,340 --> 01:24:49,580
my good friend it's gone at bonfire didn't spill your beer did I know the

1112
01:24:49,580 --> 01:24:54,220
The beer is definitely, the vodka is gone, but okay, sorry.

1113
01:24:55,160 --> 01:24:59,340
Timothy, we have Grand Avenue traffic is an issue.

1114
01:24:59,860 --> 01:25:01,900
I think everybody in the community has experienced that

1115
01:25:01,900 --> 01:25:03,540
as if you're going in the morning or in the evening.

1116
01:25:04,940 --> 01:25:07,520
A lot of folks are looking forward to having

1117
01:25:07,520 --> 01:25:09,840
an I-70 interchange if that ever happens

1118
01:25:10,400 --> 01:25:13,660
in partnership with the regional airport

1119
01:25:13,660 --> 01:25:15,680
and the other communities, the state.

1120
01:25:17,640 --> 01:25:23,600
What are your steps to make sure that EGLE supports this critical infrastructure and could

1121
01:25:23,600 --> 01:25:29,080
ease traffic burdens and enhance safety and strengthen local economic vitality?

1122
01:25:29,400 --> 01:25:30,480
I believe those were your words.

1123
01:25:30,960 --> 01:25:36,180
Also in contrast, there are other people in the community would not like to see that

1124
01:25:36,180 --> 01:25:37,980
because they have businesses along Grand Avenue.

1125
01:25:38,100 --> 01:25:38,640
What are your thoughts?

1126
01:25:39,540 --> 01:25:43,740
Well, Timothy Haley first off, and I think this is a very controversial topic in town

1127
01:25:43,740 --> 01:25:46,440
If you ask five people, you're getting five different answers.

1128
01:25:47,820 --> 01:25:50,860
I traveled on Highway 6 every day to go home.

1129
01:25:50,980 --> 01:25:56,440
I'm over in Bull Pasture, and I have a 16-year-old, well, 17-year-old driver and a 15-year-old

1130
01:25:56,440 --> 01:26:00,580
permanent driver, and I can tell you that that's my biggest fear when they have to

1131
01:26:00,580 --> 01:26:04,720
make a left out of one of the side streets onto Highway 6.

1132
01:26:04,880 --> 01:26:06,260
It's terrifying to think about.

1133
01:26:06,580 --> 01:26:09,680
We have almost had one little fender bender, but it was avoided.

1134
01:26:10,100 --> 01:26:12,960
But I will be the first one to tell you I don't have the answers.

1135
01:26:12,960 --> 01:26:16,200
I don't know that anyone in this room has the answers and it's going to take a collaborative

1136
01:26:16,200 --> 01:26:17,340
effort to figure it out.

1137
01:26:18,800 --> 01:26:20,660
There's an opportunity for enhancement.

1138
01:26:20,900 --> 01:26:23,660
There needs to be a turn lane, a middle lane.

1139
01:26:23,800 --> 01:26:24,760
We got to figure that out.

1140
01:26:24,900 --> 01:26:27,460
I don't know that it makes sense with the imminent domain issues.

1141
01:26:28,420 --> 01:26:33,560
Larry, you might know there's 40-minute domain issues along that corridor.

1142
01:26:34,020 --> 01:26:35,420
I think it's a very complex topic.

1143
01:26:35,680 --> 01:26:39,800
I think it's going to take roundtable discussions to get us there, but something

1144
01:26:39,800 --> 01:26:40,580
has to change.

1145
01:26:40,580 --> 01:26:45,760
I do believe that the Cooley-Mesa interchange will reduce traffic on highway 6.

1146
01:26:45,980 --> 01:26:47,620
Can we wait that long as a question?

1147
01:26:48,120 --> 01:26:52,980
And do we put the tens of millions of dollars into it knowing that 50% of the traffic will

1148
01:26:52,980 --> 01:26:56,820
be alleviated, up to 50% of the traffic will be alleviated once Cooley-Mesa interchange

1149
01:26:56,820 --> 01:26:57,420
goes in.

1150
01:26:57,800 --> 01:26:58,620
Can we wait that long?

1151
01:26:58,740 --> 01:26:59,180
I don't know.

1152
01:26:59,840 --> 01:27:03,380
And I think that's going to be a topic around town for a long time until it either

1153
01:27:03,380 --> 01:27:05,020
moves forward or it doesn't.

1154
01:27:05,180 --> 01:27:08,740
And I'm not an expert on it, and I'm interested to learn from everyone that

1155
01:27:08,740 --> 01:27:12,930
has a stake in that. Thank you so much, Timothy.

1156
01:27:16,160 --> 01:27:21,040
Sheena, I'm going to ask you a question that was already asked, but not of you. So the same

1157
01:27:21,040 --> 01:27:27,660
one I talked with Jeff Grimmer about is really your area of expertise is climate and the

1158
01:27:27,660 --> 01:27:35,280
impacts on the earth. What are your thoughts about EGLE's net zero plan and the effects

1159
01:27:35,280 --> 01:27:41,180
on the businesses in our community? Yeah, I will say I think the net zero

1160
01:27:41,180 --> 01:27:48,800
goals that the town of Eagle has adopted are ambitious. I would assume some of the most

1161
01:27:48,800 --> 01:27:54,320
ambitious in the state. And I think that puts a great responsibility on the town, town council

1162
01:27:54,320 --> 01:27:59,820
members and staff to try to figure this out. And I don't think that those goals were adopted

1163
01:27:59,820 --> 01:28:03,460
out of thin air or randomly. They were adopted in the honor of great people that

1164
01:28:03,460 --> 01:28:07,160
have done this work before us and rooted in the science that tells us what we need

1165
01:28:07,160 --> 01:28:13,660
to do now. Certainly addressing infrastructure is going to be a challenge. And when we talk

1166
01:28:13,660 --> 01:28:20,880
about climate predominantly, what we're talking about is infrastructure. Most all CO2 emissions

1167
01:28:20,880 --> 01:28:24,360
that occur within the town of Eagle, within the county, within the region, wherever

1168
01:28:24,360 --> 01:28:27,840
you look are going to come from buildings and transportation. So what does that tell

1169
01:28:27,840 --> 01:28:31,860
us? We need to decarbonize the building stock and decarbonize the transportation

1170
01:28:31,860 --> 01:28:38,300
as well as creating more pathways for multimodal walking and biking paths and things like that.

1171
01:28:38,340 --> 01:28:42,100
There are other ways to do it. I think the question of affordability, Jeff,

1172
01:28:42,240 --> 01:28:47,480
answered really well. We know that renewable energy is competing tremendously against oil

1173
01:28:47,480 --> 01:28:53,260
and gas currently as the cheapest form of energy to purchase. So that work is already done

1174
01:28:53,260 --> 01:28:55,840
and the market's already driving in that direction, whether or not the federal

1175
01:28:55,840 --> 01:28:59,660
government will recognize and attend to that reality. Another thing I want to point to

1176
01:28:59,660 --> 01:29:05,920
is work that has actually been done here in our community. Many of the affordable multi-family

1177
01:29:05,920 --> 01:29:10,420
housing infrastructure that has been put into our community is being built net zero and

1178
01:29:10,420 --> 01:29:15,420
all electric today. Adam's way did it. The seven hermit's redevelopment or development

1179
01:29:15,420 --> 01:29:20,020
I should say. Deed restricted affordable housing developments are being built all electric.

1180
01:29:20,260 --> 01:29:24,280
They're highly efficient. So we know that we can build this way and it doesn't have

1181
01:29:24,280 --> 01:29:28,260
to be astronomically priced. I think the next big hurdles are how do we build

1182
01:29:28,260 --> 01:29:32,560
the luxury homes that we know folks in our community really want to that same standard

1183
01:29:32,560 --> 01:29:34,200
of efficiency and electrification.

1184
01:29:34,980 --> 01:29:40,500
So I think we need to stop talking about this problem as a challenge of cost versus environment.

1185
01:29:40,980 --> 01:29:44,820
I think that things go hand in hand and there are some really smart minds that know how

1186
01:29:44,820 --> 01:29:45,620
to make this work.

1187
01:29:46,020 --> 01:29:49,520
We need to rally around those goals as a community and whether or not we achieve

1188
01:29:49,520 --> 01:29:53,640
them by the dates we say we will, we need to continue working towards them because

1189
01:29:53,640 --> 01:29:57,420
the reality is we will not have clean air, clean water.

1190
01:29:57,420 --> 01:29:59,880
we will not have a stable climate to exist.

1191
01:30:03,300 --> 01:30:03,820
And

1192
01:30:10,800 --> 01:30:17,720
you just hit it the wire. I love that. Scott, I'm going to do this one more time. Housing,

1193
01:30:18,660 --> 01:30:24,400
housing. You zeroed in on housing affordability, attainability as a critical foundational issue

1194
01:30:24,400 --> 01:30:30,600
for our community. We know all the issues. What are the solutions? What do you see here

1195
01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:34,840
the critical elements we need to do as a community to help alleviate this problem?

1196
01:30:35,820 --> 01:30:42,500
Thank you for asking that question Scott Triner. So I'm going to touch on a couple things. A couple

1197
01:30:42,500 --> 01:30:46,780
things Brian has already said. What some people don't really stress or realize is that housing

1198
01:30:46,780 --> 01:30:52,000
actually is economic vitality and sustainability. If we can't have affordable housing to house our

1199
01:30:52,000 --> 01:30:58,020
workers then we won't have businesses be successful. Okay so basically right now we're at the

1200
01:30:58,020 --> 01:31:03,040
precipice of where the people that actually run the town, our firefighters, our policemen,

1201
01:31:03,040 --> 01:31:09,060
our retail, our restaurant, our hotel workers, our educators, and even our

1202
01:31:09,060 --> 01:31:12,760
construction workers can actually afford to live in the town that they sustain

1203
01:31:12,760 --> 01:31:17,340
and maintain, okay? Our maintenance people on our streets, our road and bridge, okay?

1204
01:31:17,840 --> 01:31:21,300
Sooner or later those people find another town to go to and they will not

1205
01:31:21,300 --> 01:31:26,380
come back and therefore businesses cannot survive. So how do we fix this?

1206
01:31:26,520 --> 01:31:32,760
Obviously it's a big challenge. Right now our LERP codes require 35% of new

1207
01:31:32,760 --> 01:31:36,860
development builds over 10 or more to be a resident-occupied unit. It's also referred to

1208
01:31:36,860 --> 01:31:42,340
a workforce unit. The problem with that right now is that there's so many jobs and so few houses

1209
01:31:42,340 --> 01:31:46,340
that these units are actually going for market rates. Okay, so a two-bedroom, two-bath,

1210
01:31:46,720 --> 01:31:50,520
resident-occupied or workforce unit with a deed restriction on it at Hey Meadow,

1211
01:31:50,980 --> 01:31:56,340
it's currently $800,000. Two-bedroom, two-bath. Okay, so if we have two teachers living in

1212
01:31:56,340 --> 01:32:01,580
that unit, on average making $65,000 a year, that's $130,000 before pre-tax income,

1213
01:32:01,580 --> 01:32:07,920
pre-tax income. Now we have those two teachers paying a $4,500 mortgage on that $800,000

1214
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:14,840
house and that's if they can afford a 20% down payment. So that's almost $60,000 those

1215
01:32:14,840 --> 01:32:19,920
people are paying towards housing costs that only make $130,000. After taxes, they're

1216
01:32:19,920 --> 01:32:24,520
significantly cost burden for housing at 50% of their after tax income going towards

1217
01:32:24,520 --> 01:32:29,680
housing. Rentals are not much better, a little better. So we have the units over

1218
01:32:29,680 --> 01:32:34,720
of the Pike Apartment Complex, $2,700 for a one-bedroom apartment, okay? So again, we have the

1219
01:32:34,720 --> 01:32:40,040
one teacher living there, $65,000, about $33,000 a year, immediately they are cost burdened 50%

1220
01:32:40,040 --> 01:32:44,980
of their income at that housing unit. We need to relook at what that program for the resident

1221
01:32:44,980 --> 01:32:49,540
occupied units is actually doing and how it's actually supporting our workforce today.

1222
01:32:50,520 --> 01:32:55,200
I would suggest actually moving the affordable housing requirement of 10 or more units and

1223
01:32:55,200 --> 01:32:57,200
developments from 15% to at least 20%.

1224
01:32:57,760 --> 01:32:59,660
I would like to actually decrease that RO

1225
01:33:00,240 --> 01:33:02,520
from 35% significantly downward

1226
01:33:02,520 --> 01:33:05,060
and either have a second tier of affordability

1227
01:33:05,060 --> 01:33:08,240
at perhaps 140 to 160% AMI.

1228
01:33:09,000 --> 01:33:11,020
I'd also like to stress,

1229
01:33:12,120 --> 01:33:13,680
oh, I thought you turned the mic off on me.

1230
01:33:13,840 --> 01:33:14,480
I have a couple seconds.

1231
01:33:15,380 --> 01:33:18,040
I'd also like to use 50% of our Rita funds

1232
01:33:18,040 --> 01:33:19,900
to basically fund an affordable housing fund

1233
01:33:19,900 --> 01:33:21,720
that we can then use to use mortgage buy downs

1234
01:33:21,720 --> 01:33:23,560
so we can actually do something this year

1235
01:33:23,560 --> 01:33:28,200
And every year moving forward we can partner with the county and their partner community home programs

1236
01:33:28,200 --> 01:33:34,720
They'll do 15% will do 15% and then we'll basically have affordable housing two to three units a year. Thank you

1237
01:33:42,500 --> 01:33:45,380
For you Todd I have the easiest one forever

1238
01:33:46,200 --> 01:33:48,880
You stated that council needs to be more transparent

1239
01:33:48,880 --> 01:33:54,680
With constituents and let them know what's really going on behind the curtain the true health of the town

1240
01:33:55,640 --> 01:33:59,840
So work in the cat. What are we doing? Are we failing? What's going on here?

1241
01:33:59,840 --> 01:34:01,800
What are the mechanisms for us to communicate better

1242
01:34:01,800 --> 01:34:03,720
and be more accountable and more transparent?

1243
01:34:04,300 --> 01:34:04,400
Yeah.

1244
01:34:04,820 --> 01:34:06,460
And I was hoping I could be nice.

1245
01:34:07,060 --> 01:34:08,920
I actually can be a fairly happy guy.

1246
01:34:10,220 --> 01:34:11,520
Honey, I'm trying.

1247
01:34:13,280 --> 01:34:14,580
Let me tell you.

1248
01:34:15,340 --> 01:34:16,980
I own the acre and a half over here.

1249
01:34:17,780 --> 01:34:20,400
I wanted to put 171 units on it.

1250
01:34:21,340 --> 01:34:22,860
I know that was high density,

1251
01:34:24,600 --> 01:34:27,760
but we'd be willing to negotiate that density down

1252
01:34:27,760 --> 01:34:35,340
to something reasonable. Just to be clear, AMI's 15% and resident occupied is 35%. So

1253
01:34:35,340 --> 01:34:41,380
if you're a developer, you're literally starting out with 50% of your project being controlled

1254
01:34:41,380 --> 01:34:48,000
by the town. Okay? I want to go over here and spend $70 million. I'm willing to pay

1255
01:34:48,000 --> 01:34:54,540
for $12 million for a parking structure underground so I could park my own. All right?

1256
01:34:54,540 --> 01:35:02,240
My special use tax alone would be $2 million, which is 20% of the existing

1257
01:35:02,240 --> 01:35:09,060
general fund that the town could raise in one transaction. Jake is trying to

1258
01:35:09,060 --> 01:35:14,800
develop in town. He's getting diddled around. Scott is trying to develop in

1259
01:35:14,800 --> 01:35:20,320
town. He gets diddled around. We've knocked the everything store down, okay?

1260
01:35:20,320 --> 01:35:27,460
Okay. They do put put on it. Whatever that is. All right. No revenue. That guy was going

1261
01:35:27,460 --> 01:35:31,460
to put an application in. Forgive me. I don't know exactly where he's at, but here's the

1262
01:35:31,460 --> 01:35:38,620
problem. He's not going back up. Right. So no revenue. None. And I wanted to say it

1263
01:35:38,620 --> 01:35:44,960
all you people, you handsome devils that I've really enjoyed this. Okay. Last night

1264
01:35:44,960 --> 01:35:50,540
Michael and Jess's event was great. All right, I'll get back to housing and the fact that

1265
01:35:50,540 --> 01:35:57,280
the staff, Larry Partee has been the town manager. I want to spend $70 million over there.

1266
01:35:57,720 --> 01:36:05,180
He's never reached out to me. He's never called me. And again, my fees, I just

1267
01:36:05,180 --> 01:36:12,880
did a house in Eagle Ranch. My fees were $95,000. Special use, tap fees, plan review,

1268
01:36:12,880 --> 01:36:18,680
and permit before you move a spoonful of dirt and that doesn't include

1269
01:36:18,680 --> 01:36:24,000
architecture and engineering and you don't hear from these people. Peyton

1270
01:36:24,000 --> 01:36:30,250
Heitzman hasn't called me once. All right? I'm a livid constituent right now and

1271
01:36:30,900 --> 01:36:36,020
again I'm a change agent and if you if you hire me to do this job I'm gonna

1272
01:36:36,020 --> 01:36:40,580
be pounding on these people and we are gonna prove Brian the communication

1273
01:36:40,580 --> 01:36:47,300
between the private sector and the public sector and I have the skills to communicate with the private sector.

1274
01:36:52,910 --> 01:36:53,830
Thank you, Todd.

1275
01:36:55,810 --> 01:37:00,770
Robert, we're going to change this up a little bit and bring the temperature down just a notch.

1276
01:37:02,170 --> 01:37:04,770
You are my only retired candidate.

1277
01:37:05,750 --> 01:37:08,370
Thank you. I love you.

1278
01:37:08,850 --> 01:37:12,210
But you also have an amazing amount of experience too in life.

1279
01:37:12,210 --> 01:37:16,590
So my question, no citizen or organization or candidate has brought this up.

1280
01:37:16,890 --> 01:37:18,270
I'm bringing it up because I'm old.

1281
01:37:19,410 --> 01:37:24,790
So do we as a community need to do anything to improve our ability to serve our citizens

1282
01:37:24,790 --> 01:37:26,010
in their later years of life?

1283
01:37:26,330 --> 01:37:28,150
In other words, so we can age in place.

1284
01:37:29,130 --> 01:37:32,210
Things that come to my mind include accessible housing.

1285
01:37:32,610 --> 01:37:37,670
Once again, recreation, fitness, cultural activities, healthcare, integrative activities

1286
01:37:37,670 --> 01:37:43,330
between the generations. Transportation, behavioral health. I don't want to answer your question,

1287
01:37:43,790 --> 01:37:46,310
but please stand up and let us know what your thoughts are.

1288
01:37:47,170 --> 01:37:55,130
Thank you for that, Robert D'Agostino. Being retired, but before that I worked at United

1289
01:37:56,070 --> 01:38:02,350
down at the airport, so I got a kind of feel of what happens at an airport. I was a volunteer

1290
01:38:02,350 --> 01:38:08,850
here at the Redcoats in Beaver Creek. So talked to a lot of people greeting them and all that.

1291
01:38:09,150 --> 01:38:15,550
And then as far as retirement is concerned, when I first got here in 2017, my mortgage

1292
01:38:15,550 --> 01:38:23,830
has gone up $600 a month. But my pay didn't go up $600 a month. So I had to tap into

1293
01:38:23,830 --> 01:38:31,330
my reserves. So how long is that going to last? Well, got smart with my money and

1294
01:38:31,330 --> 01:38:35,710
When I put it away, electricity, we talked about solar.

1295
01:38:36,370 --> 01:38:39,250
When I had my house built, I put solar on my roof.

1296
01:38:39,550 --> 01:38:43,170
So for the last eight years, my electrical bill has been $14 a month.

1297
01:38:43,910 --> 01:38:46,430
So I think everybody should look into solar.

1298
01:38:46,670 --> 01:38:51,450
I don't know if there's any incentive anymore from Colorado, but it is paid off tremendously.

1299
01:38:51,850 --> 01:38:55,170
I paid off a $35,000 unit in two years.

1300
01:38:55,790 --> 01:38:58,910
Whereas 20 years ago, it would take 20 years to pay off solar.

1301
01:38:58,910 --> 01:39:04,730
So, I think Colorado should somehow, I don't know how the town can help with that, put

1302
01:39:04,730 --> 01:39:09,350
solar on the roof, but as far as being retired here, there's no other place in the world

1303
01:39:09,350 --> 01:39:09,930
to be here.

1304
01:39:10,630 --> 01:39:16,390
I look out my back window and I see New York Mountain Range, I mean, biking trails

1305
01:39:16,390 --> 01:39:19,910
and I got a motorcycle, I ride up there, I mean it is,

1306
01:39:21,970 --> 01:39:23,030
actually I built a victory

1307
01:39:23,030 --> 01:39:25,030
plot to be buried in.

1308
01:39:25,490 --> 01:39:26,870
So I cleared some sage.

1309
01:39:26,870 --> 01:39:31,270
I started growing things. Well, you can't grow up there due to the fact that the wind blows everything over

1310
01:39:31,270 --> 01:39:37,890
But it's a nice plot. So sorry. I'm not going to the plot wherever you are. Anyway, but

1311
01:39:38,490 --> 01:39:43,030
It's a great place to be here. I have wonderful neighbors. I

1312
01:39:43,030 --> 01:39:46,870
Could talk to anybody town. Everybody in town is friendly

1313
01:39:48,030 --> 01:39:54,330
Got a garden plot down at the garden. We we grow things. So I wouldn't want to go anywhere else and

1314
01:39:54,330 --> 01:39:56,370
And I appreciate it. Thank you.

1315
01:39:57,290 --> 01:39:58,910
Robert, thank you so much.

1316
01:40:00,230 --> 01:40:02,870
Yeah, thanks for putting up with the question.

1317
01:40:03,070 --> 01:40:08,350
But it is important and you just earned back 19 seconds. Mr. Grimmer.

1318
01:40:09,190 --> 01:40:15,930
Here we are. Your vision states that we can solve many of the problems we've discussed today by executing the strategic plan.

1319
01:40:16,370 --> 01:40:21,330
The economic development plan and other long range plans that were developed through the stakeholder process.

1320
01:40:24,010 --> 01:40:29,130
And are the town's current plans enough to deal with the issues we discussed today, or do we need to do more?

1321
01:40:29,490 --> 01:40:31,050
And what changes do you recommend?

1322
01:40:33,130 --> 01:40:38,350
Great questions. I think one thing that happens to people is they're like, well, I'm going to run for council,

1323
01:40:38,630 --> 01:40:42,150
because I got these great things I'm going to bring, and here's what I want to do.

1324
01:40:42,150 --> 01:40:49,050
but a lot of times, you know, the plan that we all need to look at is the one

1325
01:40:49,050 --> 01:40:53,590
that's been driven by stakeholders, right? So looking at those long-term plans,

1326
01:40:53,950 --> 01:40:58,390
something like Grand Avenue Corridor, who I know Kim's on that group, looking at

1327
01:40:58,390 --> 01:41:05,650
plans like the sustainability, our Net Zero 2030 goal, which I know Gina is a

1328
01:41:05,650 --> 01:41:11,670
part of, those long-term plans that have had 40, 50, 60 people all show up

1329
01:41:11,670 --> 01:41:18,370
to give their best input. Our goal should be just to execute those plans. If you come

1330
01:41:18,370 --> 01:41:23,790
in and kind of lone wolf style, I think what happens is in the long run, the town scratches

1331
01:41:23,790 --> 01:41:28,250
their head after 10 or 20 years because we didn't reach any of our goals. So I think

1332
01:41:28,250 --> 01:41:33,070
like the number one thing we can do is really look closely at the strategic plan. There's

1333
01:41:33,070 --> 01:41:37,730
nine things on there, nine big buckets. Let's attack those. Let's make sure that when

1334
01:41:37,730 --> 01:41:43,490
And we're up here sitting here trying to decide what to spend money on, your money, that it's

1335
01:41:43,490 --> 01:41:48,010
well aligned with the strategic plan, the economic development plan, which we adopted

1336
01:41:48,010 --> 01:41:48,910
in 2023.

1337
01:41:51,150 --> 01:41:56,890
There's not really a reason in my mind to reinvent those, or if we see that we don't

1338
01:41:56,890 --> 01:42:00,050
like it, there's something about it we need to adjust, then let's get the stakeholder

1339
01:42:00,050 --> 01:42:02,810
group back together and go forward from there.

1340
01:42:02,810 --> 01:42:08,190
So, I think the second part of your question, Kevin, is, are there other long-term plans

1341
01:42:08,190 --> 01:42:10,290
that we need to initiate?

1342
01:42:12,810 --> 01:42:15,270
You know, I can't think of any.

1343
01:42:15,410 --> 01:42:17,210
We have an East Eagle plan, I think is excellent.

1344
01:42:17,650 --> 01:42:22,190
I think it sets the framework for some of the great ideas that I'm hearing from Timothy.

1345
01:42:23,030 --> 01:42:28,350
I think we've got a Grand Avenue corridor plan that is really sharp, and it's coming

1346
01:42:28,350 --> 01:42:31,130
more to you guys in the public here.

1347
01:42:31,130 --> 01:42:38,050
It starts by saying, hey, let's close second and fourth street so that our children aren't trying to turn on there.

1348
01:42:38,710 --> 01:42:50,190
It also creates a plaza. So it starts to shape kind of a walkability thing and a downtown corridor that allows for a little more safety for pedestrians.

1349
01:42:51,270 --> 01:42:58,450
All of these plans exist. Now, if I were to put everybody on the spot as to whether you've read all those plans,

1350
01:42:58,910 --> 01:43:03,470
I think we'd probably fall a little bit short in terms of what we know about them

1351
01:43:04,410 --> 01:43:08,350
But I would say let's stick to the plan. It's just like good football coach

1352
01:43:08,350 --> 01:43:10,570
You're not going in there and changing it all the time

1353
01:43:10,570 --> 01:43:14,530
You've got a plan run the offense and then we'll get somewhere good.

1354
01:43:17,330 --> 01:43:18,010
Thanks. Yeah

1355
01:43:18,970 --> 01:43:22,790
You actually hold on to that and take a breather because you're going to be talking next and closing comments

1356
01:43:23,590 --> 01:43:28,630
So is it true that there is an after event at the collective?

1357
01:43:29,290 --> 01:43:36,790
Good. Okay. So when we run out of time completely here, there is an opportunity to visit with

1358
01:43:36,790 --> 01:43:41,930
the candidates that choose to show up over at the collective. Now keep in mind Edgar

1359
01:43:41,930 --> 01:43:50,790
Allen Poe died after drinking on election night. So he passed away in October 7th of 1847.

1360
01:43:51,430 --> 01:43:56,810
They actually kind of kidnapped him so he could vote more than once. But that's not

1361
01:43:56,810 --> 01:44:00,790
a problem today. We can afford a beer. Even if they give it to us, it's not a problem.

1362
01:44:01,290 --> 01:44:04,750
So it's not a conflict of interest to go over to this place of business. Is that true, everybody?

1363
01:44:05,270 --> 01:44:10,470
All right, thank you. Now, that gave Jeff a chance to breathe. Everybody gets two minutes

1364
01:44:10,470 --> 01:44:13,570
to have a closing comment, and then we'll get on to the mayors, but we'll have a five

1365
01:44:13,570 --> 01:44:17,130
minute break after their closing comments so we can get everybody moved and changed.

1366
01:44:18,250 --> 01:44:18,610
Yes.

1367
01:44:18,990 --> 01:44:24,930
Thanks. I think we're in good hands. I think the town is our best days are ahead

1368
01:44:24,930 --> 01:44:31,090
of us, seeing everybody that's here, we're getting all kinds of good ideas that are coming

1369
01:44:31,090 --> 01:44:36,170
from you guys and then just sitting here and watching and listening to so many different

1370
01:44:36,170 --> 01:44:43,290
fresh ideas as someone who's been doing this since 2015 is super important and I am super,

1371
01:44:43,530 --> 01:44:47,010
I didn't know coming into this night where we're going to end up but I just got to

1372
01:44:47,010 --> 01:44:51,130
say this is an incredible group so I'm going to just pause and say please give this

1373
01:44:51,130 --> 01:44:53,850
group right here, a big hand. This is

1374
01:44:56,090 --> 01:44:59,970
not easy to do. I started doing this in

1375
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:06,280
In 2015 with Kevin, Luis Benitez got pulled up to the state of Colorado and I filled an appointment

1376
01:45:06,280 --> 01:45:12,600
then. And then in 2021, we lost three town leaders in an avalanche. And so I got back

1377
01:45:12,600 --> 01:45:17,840
involved and sat in the seat and thought, well, I got to do what I can. Someone's got

1378
01:45:17,840 --> 01:45:24,300
to get into this thing. And since then, man, it is just such a heart driven initiative.

1379
01:45:24,300 --> 01:45:26,540
It's a really strong team concept.

1380
01:45:27,140 --> 01:45:28,880
I'm frustrated sometimes too.

1381
01:45:29,460 --> 01:45:31,000
I see things that I don't like.

1382
01:45:31,460 --> 01:45:35,160
I see things that I want to make better and I have a problem.

1383
01:45:35,860 --> 01:45:39,200
My wife tells me all the time that I see stuff all the time that I don't like

1384
01:45:39,200 --> 01:45:42,940
and I sometimes forget to see the stuff that I really do like.

1385
01:45:43,380 --> 01:45:46,560
And I think that's a challenge to all of us as we head out of here.

1386
01:45:47,320 --> 01:45:50,500
You're in the greatest small town in America right now

1387
01:45:50,500 --> 01:45:52,300
and we do have problems,

1388
01:45:52,300 --> 01:45:55,160
but we're going to get through that and we're going to get through it as a team.

1389
01:45:55,340 --> 01:46:00,100
We're going to work as a team. We're going to work together. And I think the role I hope to have

1390
01:46:00,660 --> 01:46:05,680
in the next four years on this board is to work closely with Jamie, is to work closely with

1391
01:46:06,220 --> 01:46:11,860
whoever the mayor is next. So far in the past, it's been Brian. Either way, we'll have Brian, right?

1392
01:46:13,220 --> 01:46:19,660
And then the next four folks, obviously there is a ton of talent, lots of reasons to be optimistic. Appreciate your vote.

1393
01:46:20,020 --> 01:46:20,880
Thank you very much.

1394
01:46:22,720 --> 01:46:27,340
Thanks so much, Jeff. Robert, you are the man.

1395
01:46:28,120 --> 01:46:33,820
Thank you, Jeff. I think what you heard tonight, when everybody

1396
01:46:33,820 --> 01:46:40,140
stood up, they're actually closing. So, their ideas is what they believe in how to

1397
01:46:40,140 --> 01:46:46,840
better the town of Eagle. As far as I'm concerned, the 20 years in the military I had, I came

1398
01:46:46,840 --> 01:46:53,360
a very good listener, but also took instructions very well. If you're going to conquer the hill,

1399
01:46:53,600 --> 01:46:58,860
we're really going to drill through it, go over it, or blow it up. One of the two. And in some cases,

1400
01:46:59,760 --> 01:47:04,440
the blowing up is sometimes good, because when you put the pieces back together,

1401
01:47:04,440 --> 01:47:10,340
you get a different perspective of the town and the people, how resilient they are.

1402
01:47:10,340 --> 01:47:19,980
So, as far as the talent, just like Jeff says, it's your job for the people to pick who can

1403
01:47:19,980 --> 01:47:21,780
work in the sandbox the best.

1404
01:47:22,620 --> 01:47:27,180
We need to pick a mayor that's Tom Owen, and we need to get the rest of them in order,

1405
01:47:27,400 --> 01:47:28,880
and then we can go from there.

1406
01:47:29,160 --> 01:47:33,820
So, I appreciate you coming out, listening to me, and thanks for your vote.

1407
01:47:34,040 --> 01:47:34,360
Thank you.

1408
01:47:35,660 --> 01:47:36,700
Thanks so much, Robert.

1409
01:47:37,960 --> 01:47:38,200
Todd.

1410
01:47:39,360 --> 01:47:39,800
Yeah.

1411
01:47:40,800 --> 01:47:47,620
Thank you for your time. I hope people don't mistake my passion for anything else other

1412
01:47:47,620 --> 01:47:52,620
than what it is. All right? I'm a passionate guy. I've been running this business in this

1413
01:47:52,620 --> 01:47:59,460
town for 30 years. Okay? I feed a lot of families and those families have fed me. The best part

1414
01:47:59,460 --> 01:48:06,360
about Eagle is the community. All right? Shawna, Fritzler, you know, come on. All

1415
01:48:06,360 --> 01:48:07,900
All right, Michael, thank you.

1416
01:48:08,600 --> 01:48:12,020
Scott, Jamie, thanks for the call, right?

1417
01:48:12,720 --> 01:48:15,060
I mean, it's nice to get a call

1418
01:48:15,060 --> 01:48:16,520
from people that are in the town

1419
01:48:16,520 --> 01:48:19,300
to say, how are you doing and how's that going?

1420
01:48:19,940 --> 01:48:21,640
So I appreciate that.

1421
01:48:22,240 --> 01:48:24,780
You, I met you last night in the hat, all right?

1422
01:48:25,200 --> 01:48:26,500
Tom, didn't know you.

1423
01:48:26,880 --> 01:48:28,140
Hey, Brian didn't know you.

1424
01:48:29,180 --> 01:48:30,760
Where'd, what's his bucket go?

1425
01:48:30,880 --> 01:48:31,740
Jason, is he still here?

1426
01:48:32,700 --> 01:48:33,780
Is he stepped out?

1427
01:48:33,780 --> 01:48:38,080
All right, I didn't know any of you well Brian. I knew you case that you know

1428
01:48:38,080 --> 01:48:43,880
I didn't even introduce myself the other day Tim you got some great ideas Mark. I met Robert great Scott

1429
01:48:43,880 --> 01:48:48,220
I didn't meet you today. Jeffery. I've known you from around town, and I had girls go to the school

1430
01:48:50,080 --> 01:48:53,840
It's community that's what keeps me here, but

1431
01:48:54,460 --> 01:48:56,160
We have to have a healthy community

1432
01:48:56,820 --> 01:49:01,200
All right, there has to be a bridge between the public and private sector

1433
01:49:01,200 --> 01:49:03,180
We have to have the communication.

1434
01:49:03,620 --> 01:49:05,020
Kate, I didn't know you.

1435
01:49:05,500 --> 01:49:05,920
I'm a judge.

1436
01:49:06,360 --> 01:49:07,260
Forgive me.

1437
01:49:07,760 --> 01:49:08,420
You're interesting.

1438
01:49:09,320 --> 01:49:09,720
All right.

1439
01:49:10,880 --> 01:49:14,860
So anyway, I know how to apologize.

1440
01:49:15,260 --> 01:49:18,740
I've gotten a lot better at it through life.

1441
01:49:19,280 --> 01:49:21,940
And I'm just happy to be part of this community.

1442
01:49:22,440 --> 01:49:27,400
Plan on sticking around and being part of the growth and the change.

1443
01:49:29,320 --> 01:49:30,120
Thank you, Scott.

1444
01:49:31,400 --> 01:49:33,020
So, Todd, now, Scott.

1445
01:49:34,320 --> 01:49:35,520
Scott Reiner, thank you.

1446
01:49:36,320 --> 01:49:38,140
I just want to make one quick comment.

1447
01:49:38,320 --> 01:49:40,340
I do believe the appropriate density in the downtown

1448
01:49:40,340 --> 01:49:41,200
core is huge.

1449
01:49:41,340 --> 01:49:43,340
It actually has an intersection of commercial growth

1450
01:49:43,340 --> 01:49:46,880
and adding commercial spaces where business owners

1451
01:49:46,880 --> 01:49:49,860
and potential entrepreneurs can get into a brand new building

1452
01:49:49,860 --> 01:49:52,300
with some nice plate glass windows and good sunlight

1453
01:49:52,300 --> 01:49:53,900
and start a business for themselves.

1454
01:49:54,360 --> 01:49:56,720
It also creates growth in the downtown core

1455
01:49:56,720 --> 01:49:57,840
for our downtown businesses.

1456
01:49:57,840 --> 01:50:15,480
Okay, more people equals more customers equals more sales tax revenue equals a thriving quarter and at the same time believe it or not it actually helps affordable housing because through our alert guidelines the denser housing development we can get the more affordable housing that will be built there at that 15 or 20% rate.

1457
01:50:15,960 --> 01:50:25,800
Okay, so it actually is the intersection of many many different things we've been talking about tonight. And of course, it also helps the employees of those restaurants so that we can generate those sales tax revenues.

1458
01:50:25,800 --> 01:50:29,720
And I don't mean to leave Eagle Ranch out, I think Eagle Ranch is an awesome little

1459
01:50:29,720 --> 01:50:34,240
thriving little community too, and they deserve a little street closure and a little fun as

1460
01:50:34,240 --> 01:50:34,440
well.

1461
01:50:35,520 --> 01:50:40,480
So in closing, I am not a naturally born politician nor do I really want to be, but

1462
01:50:40,480 --> 01:50:42,920
I will be a very good town council member.

1463
01:50:43,480 --> 01:50:47,080
I committed early to my candidacy and have been following town council meetings and

1464
01:50:47,080 --> 01:50:48,080
work sessions since July.

1465
01:50:49,480 --> 01:50:54,040
I attended via remote the operations work budget sessions.

1466
01:50:54,040 --> 01:51:00,360
I also attended in person the capital of work budget session for 2026. I did that because it's very important

1467
01:51:00,360 --> 01:51:05,720
I need to know what I might be dealing with what are our challenges moving forward and what are our opportunities

1468
01:51:06,480 --> 01:51:12,020
Okay, I'm glad that Jeff brought up some of those plans because I actually have read the Elevate Eagle comprehensive plan the

1469
01:51:12,020 --> 01:51:18,920
comprehensive as housing assessment plan the net zero action plan the strategic plan the economic growth plan the

1470
01:51:18,920 --> 01:51:24,860
demographers report on EGLE from the state demographers and also the community EGLE report

1471
01:51:24,860 --> 01:51:29,380
on demographics. I've read both the parking studies. One says we have 500 spots downtown.

1472
01:51:29,860 --> 01:51:35,380
One says we can have 800. It's probably somewhere in the middle. I've read the 2021 and the 2023

1473
01:51:35,380 --> 01:51:39,760
community surveys. That's incredibly important because we need to know what you, the community

1474
01:51:39,760 --> 01:51:45,640
members, want and need and what your vision is for the future because ultimately I represent

1475
01:51:45,640 --> 01:51:47,860
you. You are above me in the flow chart.

1476
01:51:52,520 --> 01:51:56,020
Thank you so much Scott. Gina. Awesome. Thanks everybody. Gina

1477
01:51:56,020 --> 01:52:00,260
McCracken. I just want to say thank you all for coming out tonight. I think it's incredibly important

1478
01:52:00,260 --> 01:52:05,920
that we have an engaged voting body. Even though I've only been in this community for about four

1479
01:52:05,920 --> 01:52:12,160
years, I have invested an incredible amount of time and energy into participating productively

1480
01:52:12,160 --> 01:52:19,400
within this community. And I think that's what really matters most. If I'm elected to be a

1481
01:52:19,400 --> 01:52:24,960
that thinks thoughtfully and strategically and refers back to those plans that we're talking about.

1482
01:52:25,320 --> 01:52:33,020
It takes a lot of work to prop plans up off the ground and I think the real action can happen when we start to look forward into how we take steps towards those plans.

1483
01:52:33,900 --> 01:52:44,980
I will cooperate with staff. I already have been and I will continue to do so. I think it's incredibly important to have strong relationships with staff and empower them to do the good work that they are hired to do.

1484
01:52:46,180 --> 01:52:50,380
This town is quite frankly unaffordable for people like myself. I of course

1485
01:52:50,380 --> 01:52:53,540
aspire for homeownership and I would love to see myself living in this

1486
01:52:53,540 --> 01:52:58,680
community 30, 40, 50 years from now. It is damn near impossible for me to do that

1487
01:52:58,680 --> 01:53:03,140
as has been harped on a ton tonight and so it will be a big goal of mine to

1488
01:53:03,140 --> 01:53:06,340
focused on affordability of this community especially for our young

1489
01:53:06,340 --> 01:53:09,800
workforce that often live here year-round while serving the other

1490
01:53:09,800 --> 01:53:14,180
areas of our Valley's economy. And I want to say a few words for the folks

1491
01:53:14,180 --> 01:53:19,200
that maybe don't always see themselves represented on council. If you are a young

1492
01:53:19,200 --> 01:53:24,580
person in this community, if you are a renter in this community, if you are a

1493
01:53:24,580 --> 01:53:29,220
working-class person in this community, if you are an immigrant or a Latino in

1494
01:53:29,220 --> 01:53:33,520
this community, if you are queer in this community, if you are a small business

1495
01:53:33,520 --> 01:53:38,680
owner in this community, I promise to defend you and listen to you and vote

1496
01:53:38,680 --> 01:53:40,400
with you in mind. Thanks.

1497
01:53:44,550 --> 01:53:50,950
Thank you so much, Gina. Timothy. Timothy Haley. I believe one thing to be

1498
01:53:50,950 --> 01:53:58,730
true in that closing remarks should be brief. So the reality is if the issues that are facing

1499
01:53:58,730 --> 01:54:04,450
Eagle in particular were easy to solve, they would already be solved. So while we have to work

1500
01:54:04,450 --> 01:54:08,470
together in collaboration, and I think you'll hear a lot of this in the mayoral conversation,

1501
01:54:09,030 --> 01:54:13,410
What can the town council do to bring collaboration into the town?

1502
01:54:13,690 --> 01:54:18,710
I know when I bought a condemned home in 2020 and the process to rehab,

1503
01:54:18,830 --> 01:54:22,730
that was very, very, very tedious through a lot of the stuff that you've heard tonight.

1504
01:54:23,130 --> 01:54:28,710
I believe in a clear system to move through the town's process to get your goals achieved

1505
01:54:28,710 --> 01:54:32,530
when our private sector can thrive, our town thrives, and we all thrive.

1506
01:54:32,950 --> 01:54:34,990
So that's it for me. I appreciate it.

1507
01:54:34,990 --> 01:54:39,450
I'm really looking forward to the next chapter of what EGLE has.

1508
01:54:39,570 --> 01:54:41,830
We know what the past has been and now we get to offer the future.

1509
01:54:45,410 --> 01:54:46,450
Thank you so much, Timothy.

1510
01:54:47,110 --> 01:54:47,670
Mark, please.

1511
01:54:48,610 --> 01:54:49,650
Hi, Mark Bergman again.

1512
01:54:50,350 --> 01:54:54,110
First, I want to thank you folks for just having the dedication and enthusiasm to come

1513
01:54:54,110 --> 01:54:57,450
out and listen to the diverse opinions up here.

1514
01:55:00,770 --> 01:55:02,790
I love the sense of community here.

1515
01:55:03,330 --> 01:55:07,210
I think earlier I probably just sounded like a policy wonk because I've been

1516
01:55:07,210 --> 01:55:12,950
a local government nerd for a long time and I understand the workings and the ins and outs.

1517
01:55:13,210 --> 01:55:18,430
I've made some really good friends here. One of my favorite things are the Thursday night concerts.

1518
01:55:19,050 --> 01:55:25,830
I get down there early with my dog and camp out and just have a blast. I wasn't born here,

1519
01:55:27,690 --> 01:55:33,530
but I've integrated into the community. And now I'm losing my train of thought because I

1520
01:55:33,530 --> 01:55:37,890
hate selling myself. I'll go for the hard close in a minute.

1521
01:55:40,350 --> 01:55:41,770
If I can retain my

1522
01:55:41,770 --> 01:55:44,770
thing in front of thought, if

1523
01:55:47,200 --> 01:55:50,160
you elect me to Town Council, I promise to play well

1524
01:55:50,160 --> 01:55:57,260
with others. We've heard people talking about big changes, big sweeping changes,

1525
01:55:58,880 --> 01:56:04,360
changing the way staff works. One of the most critical relationships we have is

1526
01:56:04,360 --> 01:56:08,400
between your elected officials and the town staff.

1527
01:56:08,980 --> 01:56:10,800
I don't think either side is perfect,

1528
01:56:10,960 --> 01:56:12,540
but they have to work together

1529
01:56:12,540 --> 01:56:15,200
and there was a system for communication

1530
01:56:15,700 --> 01:56:16,820
and working together.

1531
01:56:18,620 --> 01:56:20,360
I mentioned I wasn't born here,

1532
01:56:21,840 --> 01:56:25,720
but I've built connections throughout the county

1533
01:56:26,020 --> 01:56:28,260
that I consider to be resources,

1534
01:56:28,780 --> 01:56:31,860
which can be drawn in as we try to solve problems.

1535
01:56:31,860 --> 01:56:41,210
I'm really grateful to have the endorsement of one of your most respected citizens in Kathy Chandler Henry.

1536
01:56:41,710 --> 01:56:50,190
So if you don't know me well and you know Kathy, you should know she's not going to endorse someone lightly. Thank you.

1537
01:56:51,390 --> 01:56:54,250
Thank you so much, Mark. Tanya.

1538
01:56:58,650 --> 01:57:04,270
Tanya, Jordanette. First of all, I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce for putting

1539
01:57:04,270 --> 01:57:10,450
this on this evening and giving us all a voice. Thank you very much. Additionally, I'd like

1540
01:57:10,450 --> 01:57:15,250
to thank all of you for taking time away from your families to come out here and listen to us.

1541
01:57:15,470 --> 01:57:18,590
I think it's super important. And I think it says a lot about a community

1542
01:57:19,230 --> 01:57:25,410
that so many people are this much engaged. I'd like to quote the late, great General

1543
01:57:25,410 --> 01:57:32,930
Colonel Colin Powell. Leadership is solving problems. And it's not knowing where to go.

1544
01:57:34,110 --> 01:57:40,050
I'm sorry. It is also knowing where to go to find those solutions, who to talk to, who to meet,

1545
01:57:40,190 --> 01:57:48,610
what to look up. It's being adaptable, empathetic, accountable. And most importantly,

1546
01:57:48,610 --> 01:57:56,550
family, having integrity. This word is near and dear to my heart. During my time in the

1547
01:57:56,550 --> 01:58:02,790
Air Force, integrity was ingrained in us. We heard it all the time, doing what's right

1548
01:58:02,790 --> 01:58:09,330
when no one's looking. Just because you know in your heart, it's the right thing to do.

1549
01:58:09,670 --> 01:58:15,730
It's having that moral compass. This is who I am, and this is how I would represent

1550
01:58:15,730 --> 01:58:16,050
at you.

1551
01:58:18,090 --> 01:58:26,430
I'll close with an iconic quote from Abraham Lincoln, that government of the people

1552
01:58:26,730 --> 01:58:34,330
by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth. Our founders intended for citizens

1553
01:58:34,330 --> 01:58:44,490
of this nation to lead this nation, not career politicians, that it's you and it's me and

1554
01:58:44,490 --> 01:58:50,250
And it's her and it's him that should be leading this town, that should be leading this country.

1555
01:58:50,490 --> 01:58:51,910
And it's what's most important.

1556
01:58:52,570 --> 01:58:57,990
And it's great when everybody on the council can get along and work together.

1557
01:58:58,590 --> 01:59:03,250
But I think it's equally important that different ideas come to that table.

1558
01:59:03,470 --> 01:59:11,470
And that they discuss those ideas because not everybody necessarily has the same perspective.

1559
01:59:12,730 --> 01:59:20,070
And in closing, I'm sorry, on November 4th, I'm asking that you vote for me for Eagle

1560
01:59:20,070 --> 01:59:20,690
Town Council.

1561
01:59:21,030 --> 01:59:21,370
Thank you.

1562
01:59:22,430 --> 01:59:23,510
Thank you so much, Tanya.

1563
01:59:24,870 --> 01:59:25,310
Brian.

1564
01:59:26,670 --> 01:59:27,270
Thank you.

1565
01:59:30,520 --> 01:59:34,940
Well, I just have to say that I feel very blessed to live in Eagle.

1566
01:59:35,240 --> 01:59:37,220
I think we should all feel very blessed to live in Eagle.

1567
01:59:37,380 --> 01:59:40,940
For one, we have a very amazing place to be.

1568
01:59:41,180 --> 01:59:42,000
It's beautiful here.

1569
01:59:42,000 --> 01:59:48,720
But we have some of the best citizens I've ever met and anywhere in the world. I've been blessed to be able to travel a lot

1570
01:59:49,300 --> 01:59:53,460
I spent a lot of time in different cities and to be honest

1571
01:59:53,460 --> 01:59:59,980
I've there's something about here where we really do care about each other's locals take care of locals and that's

1572
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:03,740
That's something that I hope no matter what happens in this election, that's what we need

1573
02:00:03,740 --> 02:00:08,140
to keep focusing on, is that the better we, the tire we are as a community, the better

1574
02:00:08,140 --> 02:00:14,540
we are. As you were saying, it doesn't matter who gets elected up, it matters that we all

1575
02:00:14,540 --> 02:00:19,000
listen to each other and whoever gets elected, we're being elected for everyone. It's not

1576
02:00:19,000 --> 02:00:23,440
just one voice or one group, it's for everybody. And so as long as we start listening to

1577
02:00:23,440 --> 02:00:27,980
each other and work together, I think it will be great. And if I get elected or don't

1578
02:00:27,980 --> 02:00:32,100
elected. I promise I'm still going to work on trying to make Eagle a better place and I hope we

1579
02:00:32,100 --> 02:00:36,880
all feel that way because it's a place we all love and we all want to make it better. So elect me

1580
02:00:36,880 --> 02:00:41,260
or not elect me, I'm going to make Eagle a better place because that is the place I love and I

1581
02:00:41,260 --> 02:00:52,020
hope we all love it. Brian, my God, stop making me cry, man. Come on up, Scott. Good evening,

1582
02:00:52,140 --> 02:00:56,160
everybody. It's been a long journey throughout this entire evening. It may have felt like

1583
02:00:56,160 --> 02:01:00,940
a full year, but thank you so much. Thank you to Kevin. Thank you to Michelle, the Eagle

1584
02:01:01,480 --> 02:01:07,680
Chamber of Commerce. We got the lovely staff. We got everybody that is tuned in here live

1585
02:01:07,680 --> 02:01:13,580
and on the camera there as well. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you do,

1586
02:01:13,940 --> 02:01:21,080
whatever sounds good, we need to hear about it. We need ideas. We need creative solutions.

1587
02:01:21,800 --> 02:01:26,980
We need to work together just says pretty much everybody understands here, so I don't need a lecture on that part.

1588
02:01:27,240 --> 02:01:33,400
But we need to cut the red tape. We need to streamline services to our businesses to our entrepreneurs.

1589
02:01:33,820 --> 02:01:40,520
That is the core structure of any giving community and any capacity is our core businesses.

1590
02:01:40,720 --> 02:01:46,640
And that's leading by the people for the people and always will be by the people and that's what we plan to do here.

1591
02:01:46,640 --> 02:01:53,740
So when we work together as a community and we set up time outside or at the pulpit or wherever

1592
02:01:53,740 --> 02:01:55,200
Find us out in the grocery store

1593
02:01:55,720 --> 02:02:00,900
Just know that you can count on me to be your advocate. I will hear you out

1594
02:02:00,900 --> 02:02:05,460
I am open to creative ideas. Nobody has all the answers

1595
02:02:05,460 --> 02:02:09,940
But together we will have all the right answers that work best for us in our local community

1596
02:02:09,940 --> 02:02:14,780
And that's what I guarantee for you when you submit your vote via mail

1597
02:02:15,720 --> 02:02:21,460
It's a very important decision, but I guarantee you for the next four years, you will be assured

1598
02:02:21,460 --> 02:02:22,740
that your voice will be heard.

1599
02:02:23,140 --> 02:02:24,620
So thank you so much to everybody.

1600
02:02:24,820 --> 02:02:25,500
I appreciate your time.

1601
02:02:25,920 --> 02:02:26,200
Thank you.

1602
02:02:26,320 --> 02:02:29,640
That was Scott Davidson without a D.

1603
02:02:30,180 --> 02:02:30,540
Yes, sir.

1604
02:02:30,640 --> 02:02:31,060
You got it right.

1605
02:02:31,520 --> 02:02:32,460
Thank you.

1606
02:02:32,660 --> 02:02:35,120
There's concern sitting next, right?

1607
02:02:36,680 --> 02:02:37,460
Very interesting.

1608
02:02:38,360 --> 02:02:38,760
Casey.

1609
02:02:39,380 --> 02:02:39,580
Okay.

1610
02:02:39,760 --> 02:02:40,420
Bring it home.

1611
02:02:40,720 --> 02:02:41,360
Bring it home.

1612
02:02:43,280 --> 02:02:45,320
Thanks again, everybody, for coming out.

1613
02:02:46,800 --> 02:02:52,160
I want to personally thank Kim Fritzler and her team over at K2 for throwing me into this

1614
02:02:52,160 --> 02:02:59,020
race and being a champion for the community, not just selling real estate.

1615
02:02:59,440 --> 02:03:02,560
Thank you to Mayor Turnip Seed for endorsing me.

1616
02:03:03,040 --> 02:03:04,240
I've got to know him.

1617
02:03:04,740 --> 02:03:07,180
I'm so excited for this opportunity.

1618
02:03:07,620 --> 02:03:10,340
I had no idea that the excitement would build so much.

1619
02:03:10,880 --> 02:03:17,160
As I'm hearing these closing statements, I'm thinking of the moment I walked into a

1620
02:03:17,160 --> 02:03:21,300
boneyard, a tired old restaurant that was mismanaged for years.

1621
02:03:22,780 --> 02:03:29,460
I'm not going to go into the kitchen and how it looked, but I rolled up my sleeves.

1622
02:03:29,800 --> 02:03:30,400
I got a team.

1623
02:03:30,840 --> 02:03:32,320
I think we built a beautiful restaurant.

1624
02:03:33,060 --> 02:03:34,260
I've heard some compliments.

1625
02:03:34,760 --> 02:03:35,400
Thank you for that.

1626
02:03:36,040 --> 02:03:36,940
So that's my MO.

1627
02:03:36,940 --> 02:03:41,460
Oh, and I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and get a team.

1628
02:03:42,620 --> 02:03:44,240
I love to hear what Gina's saying.

1629
02:03:44,940 --> 02:03:46,380
Timothy's a brilliant mind.

1630
02:03:46,900 --> 02:03:49,260
I've gotten to know Jason Cole who's running for mayor.

1631
02:03:49,360 --> 02:03:50,360
You're gonna hear from him later.

1632
02:03:50,720 --> 02:03:52,320
And there's just some amazing people.

1633
02:03:52,460 --> 02:03:53,380
I know it keeps saying it,

1634
02:03:53,420 --> 02:03:55,500
but I think we all have warm and fuzzies

1635
02:03:55,500 --> 02:03:57,320
for a lot of great ideas.

1636
02:03:57,980 --> 02:04:01,160
And last thing I'll say is if you've,

1637
02:04:01,260 --> 02:04:02,620
anybody that's ever worked in a restaurant

1638
02:04:02,620 --> 02:04:10,120
knows the contentious relationships between chefs and front-of-the-house managers and

1639
02:04:10,120 --> 02:04:16,720
servers and how many times have I been a therapist in the office because so-and-so doesn't do this

1640
02:04:16,720 --> 02:04:22,860
and I know how to work relationships through. That's kind of like what I do.

1641
02:04:24,140 --> 02:04:27,720
So I appreciate the opportunity and put me to work.

1642
02:04:28,800 --> 02:04:30,060
Casey, thank you so much.

1643
02:04:32,510 --> 02:04:33,270
You're all amazing.

1644
02:04:33,930 --> 02:04:34,590
Now I've got two mics.

1645
02:04:34,690 --> 02:04:35,670
I'm really in trouble.

1646
02:04:36,710 --> 02:04:37,410
That one turned off good.

1647
02:04:37,910 --> 02:04:38,050
Okay.

1648
02:04:38,170 --> 02:04:39,010
This is how this is going to work.

1649
02:04:39,150 --> 02:04:44,530
We're going to have a short of break as possible because we're a little over budget, not because

1650
02:04:44,530 --> 02:04:45,330
of these good people.

1651
02:04:45,430 --> 02:04:46,030
It's because of me.

1652
02:04:46,310 --> 02:04:47,190
I keep talking.

1653
02:04:48,210 --> 02:04:49,370
So we're going to have a little break.

1654
02:04:49,450 --> 02:04:54,030
But first thing I want you to do is thank the veterans in our community right now.

1655
02:05:01,220 --> 02:05:01,740
Thank you.

1656
02:05:02,860 --> 02:05:06,740
And the other thing is to just thank these wonderful people for being here today.

1657
02:05:06,920 --> 02:05:07,780
We've done it a couple of times.

1658
02:05:07,940 --> 02:05:09,380
We deserve one more round of applause.

1659
02:05:09,620 --> 02:05:10,080
Thank you.

1660
02:10:39,260 --> 02:10:42,360
In seats, those who want to go, I do not blame you.

1661
02:10:56,300 --> 02:11:00,160
So the main show starts here in about four and a half seconds.

1662
02:11:01,260 --> 02:11:04,680
If I could get Tom up here, that would be magnificent.

1663
02:11:36,160 --> 02:11:36,760
Okay, folks.

1664
02:11:37,780 --> 02:11:39,980
It's a great opportunity to be quiet.

1665
02:11:41,280 --> 02:11:45,540
And those folks at home, I really appreciate you being here. It's hard to

1666
02:11:45,540 --> 02:11:51,840
hang in there but at least you have a beer near you and I don't. But I really

1667
02:11:51,840 --> 02:11:56,120
want to thank these people that are running for the mayoral seat. For those

1668
02:11:56,120 --> 02:12:00,020
that aren't aware in our home rule community, oh apparently I'm talking

1669
02:12:00,020 --> 02:12:00,460
too long,

1670
02:12:02,520 --> 02:12:07,940
the mayor has exactly the same vote count as everybody else. So

1671
02:12:07,940 --> 02:12:10,960
they are virtually no more important than anybody else.

1672
02:12:11,540 --> 02:12:12,280
That's not true.

1673
02:12:12,740 --> 02:12:13,740
They set the agenda.

1674
02:12:14,360 --> 02:12:18,120
And you guys set the agenda with them and the staff.

1675
02:12:18,340 --> 02:12:20,360
So keep in mind, this still is a community

1676
02:12:20,360 --> 02:12:22,340
that's run by the people for the people.

1677
02:12:22,960 --> 02:12:25,060
And they are the ones that get called

1678
02:12:25,060 --> 02:12:26,560
if the driveway gets plowed under.

1679
02:12:26,940 --> 02:12:29,740
The Mayor Pro Tem, nobody even knows what that is.

1680
02:12:31,220 --> 02:12:32,680
It's such a great job.

1681
02:12:35,400 --> 02:12:39,420
And I apologize if nobody likes the way I run the meeting, but it's my meeting.

1682
02:12:40,740 --> 02:12:43,320
Brian, I would like you to start with opening comments.

1683
02:12:43,460 --> 02:12:46,460
You've got three minutes to describe how wonderful you are.

1684
02:12:49,560 --> 02:12:50,260
No, you can have a microphone.

1685
02:12:51,680 --> 02:12:51,800
Okay.

1686
02:12:52,280 --> 02:12:54,900
All right, for those that don't know me, I'm Brian Woods.

1687
02:12:55,080 --> 02:12:57,480
I've been on Town Council for a couple of years now.

1688
02:12:57,740 --> 02:12:59,420
I've gotten to see many of you around the community.

1689
02:13:00,060 --> 02:13:01,660
You guys call me every time you're happy.

1690
02:13:01,660 --> 02:13:02,980
me. It's really great to hear from you.

1691
02:13:05,060 --> 02:13:07,700
In addition to council, I serve on the board

1692
02:13:07,700 --> 02:13:11,920
of the downtown development authority and the eagle valley transportation authority which

1693
02:13:11,920 --> 02:13:16,240
you would know is core transit. Before I served on council, I was on the board of the downtown

1694
02:13:16,240 --> 02:13:20,440
business alliance. If you ever saw the guy in the bright orange jacket at Christmas on

1695
02:13:20,440 --> 02:13:25,140
Broadway running around trying to figure what was on fire, that was me. So, you

1696
02:13:25,140 --> 02:13:28,720
know, when I think about why am I running for council, like the big question everyone

1697
02:13:28,720 --> 02:13:31,320
when asked, they go, well, you're already on console,

1698
02:13:31,400 --> 02:13:31,980
why are you running for mayor?

1699
02:13:32,420 --> 02:13:34,540
I'm like, well, really it's about maintaining

1700
02:13:35,100 --> 02:13:36,920
some level of continuity of leadership

1701
02:13:36,920 --> 02:13:39,060
and keeping this capacity moving forward.

1702
02:13:39,260 --> 02:13:41,860
Because what the mayor does that the council doesn't have

1703
02:13:41,860 --> 02:13:44,540
to do, they are your single point of contact.

1704
02:13:44,860 --> 02:13:46,700
Every time you guys are happy and you call me,

1705
02:13:46,900 --> 02:13:48,900
I have to know who to talk to to give them praise.

1706
02:13:49,460 --> 02:13:49,760
All right?

1707
02:13:50,060 --> 02:13:52,020
And so that's a really important point.

1708
02:13:52,140 --> 02:13:55,320
If you want effective leadership and effective service,

1709
02:13:55,440 --> 02:13:57,840
you need to know somebody who knows the people

1710
02:13:57,840 --> 02:14:04,020
in the government to help you. It's very easy for a mayoral candidate or a council candidate to

1711
02:14:04,020 --> 02:14:10,000
say what they're going to do, but the reality of the matter is they don't do it. They set the vision,

1712
02:14:10,180 --> 02:14:15,780
they set the policy. It is town staff whose job it is to go out and execute. The first thing

1713
02:14:15,780 --> 02:14:19,800
we're going to have to do with this new council is sit down and it's been five years since our

1714
02:14:19,800 --> 02:14:23,740
strategic plan. We're going to rewrite it. We're going to start from the ground up

1715
02:14:23,740 --> 02:14:25,600
and figure out what are the town's priorities.

1716
02:14:26,160 --> 02:14:28,160
They have changed in the past half a decade

1717
02:14:28,160 --> 02:14:30,460
and those priorities are really gonna be set

1718
02:14:30,460 --> 02:14:32,900
by those people that you elect the council today.

1719
02:14:33,340 --> 02:14:35,180
And the mayor is gonna have a very important job

1720
02:14:35,180 --> 02:14:37,940
with potentially five new faces on that council

1721
02:14:37,940 --> 02:14:39,320
that haven't done this before.

1722
02:14:39,880 --> 02:14:41,440
Most of them haven't served on planning and zoning

1723
02:14:41,900 --> 02:14:42,960
or any other government entities.

1724
02:14:43,100 --> 02:14:43,880
They're gonna have to be taught.

1725
02:14:44,260 --> 02:14:45,240
How does government work?

1726
02:14:45,380 --> 02:14:46,960
What is an enterprise fund?

1727
02:14:47,320 --> 02:14:48,880
Who is that guy in public work?

1728
02:14:48,880 --> 02:14:50,080
So I call the L about the planning.

1729
02:14:50,880 --> 02:14:52,700
So as you guys start to think about that,

1730
02:14:52,700 --> 02:14:58,660
Think about who you want as an effective leader who can teach this new body and help us move

1731
02:14:58,660 --> 02:14:59,960
evil any direction.

1732
02:15:02,620 --> 02:15:11,160
Thank you so much. You are the next one, Jason. Thank you so much, Jason Cole.

1733
02:15:14,850 --> 02:15:14,990
Hello.

1734
02:15:17,910 --> 02:15:17,990
I'm

1735
02:15:17,990 --> 02:15:24,030
Jason, running for mayor. Moved to the valley in 2005, like many of us. It was supposed to

1736
02:15:24,030 --> 02:15:24,690
be for one year.

1737
02:15:26,770 --> 02:15:30,210
And decided to stay. Fell in love. Came for the winter. Stayed for

1738
02:15:30,210 --> 02:15:36,810
the summers. I grew up in a small town in Kansas, moved here with my now wife Kelsey and we

1739
02:15:36,810 --> 02:15:44,330
have two kids, moved to Eagle in 2011. Proud parents of two Brush Creek Elementary graduates

1740
02:15:44,330 --> 02:15:51,690
and now Eagle Valley middle school pirates. Why I'm running for mayor, you know, I was

1741
02:15:51,690 --> 02:15:58,230
approached. I was interested, I've always been interested in local government and what

1742
02:15:58,230 --> 02:16:04,450
means to a community like ours but ultimately it comes down to creating that collaboration with

1743
02:16:04,450 --> 02:16:10,890
council. Why I think mayors in an interesting position is because they really do work for council

1744
02:16:10,890 --> 02:16:17,390
and work for the staff. So it is it's driving collaboration and continuity with that council

1745
02:16:17,390 --> 02:16:22,030
but then it's really being a champion for the town staff. We've got great people.

1746
02:16:25,950 --> 02:16:26,510
We've

1747
02:16:26,510 --> 02:16:36,230
transparency to our citizens listen and ultimately the goal is community sustainability and that goes to

1748
02:16:37,110 --> 02:16:41,650
economics environment and social and that's what I'm all about and that's what I'm here to do.

1749
02:16:43,190 --> 02:16:46,650
Barbra's thank you Jason. Tom Olden thank you.

1750
02:16:49,170 --> 02:16:53,410
Good evening. Tom Olden and it's a pleasure to

1751
02:16:53,410 --> 02:16:57,290
be here tonight and before we get going too far I'm going to make my daughter stand up in the

1752
02:16:57,290 --> 02:17:03,150
back because she's an endangered species in this town. It's a 22 year old daughter that lives here

1753
02:17:03,150 --> 02:17:05,330
and works here in the valley so it can be done.

1754
02:17:07,690 --> 02:17:10,690
Why do I want to be mayor? I think the real reason

1755
02:17:10,690 --> 02:17:16,630
is is my wife. We moved here in 2001. We live right up the street. This building was a town park.

1756
02:17:17,310 --> 02:17:21,970
Next door was a liquor store. So I'm pretty familiar with downtown look like and what it

1757
02:17:21,970 --> 02:17:28,770
is today. On top of it, my wife was a huge proponent of trying to get this

1758
02:17:28,770 --> 02:17:34,050
town to be business-friendly. I understand what it takes to run a business. I

1759
02:17:34,050 --> 02:17:38,050
also don't understand what type of community I want to live in. Unique is a

1760
02:17:38,050 --> 02:17:43,850
very... Eagle is a very unique community. It's not duplicatable in very many

1761
02:17:43,850 --> 02:17:47,910
places in this country, little in the world. So what we have here, we need

1762
02:17:47,910 --> 02:17:53,630
to protect and it isn't just a growth for the sake of growth. That's the thought process

1763
02:17:53,630 --> 02:17:59,710
of a cancer cell. But if we're going to do smart growth, we need to maintain our businesses

1764
02:17:59,710 --> 02:18:04,930
first and foremost. And that's what Selena fought for. Every single day she would come

1765
02:18:04,930 --> 02:18:09,430
down to City Hall and bang on the door about why is it so difficult to do business

1766
02:18:09,430 --> 02:18:16,330
in Eagle? I own two properties on Grand Avenue. I own a lot in the Highlands. I lived

1767
02:18:16,330 --> 02:18:21,930
on Capitol Street. I've lived in village homes. I'm very familiar with everything in town because

1768
02:18:21,930 --> 02:18:28,670
that's where I've lived for the last 24 years. I've known Roxy Dean, John Stamney, Yuri Kostik,

1769
02:18:28,970 --> 02:18:35,250
you know, Scott Turnip Seed. I've seen a tremendous amount. Kevin Brubeck on the council,

1770
02:18:35,450 --> 02:18:41,510
we've spent years trying to develop things. I have drawings that we started in 2014 to

1771
02:18:41,510 --> 02:18:43,390
redevelop a property on Grand Avenue.

1772
02:18:43,930 --> 02:18:46,970
It's impossible to get direction

1773
02:18:46,970 --> 02:18:49,550
because every two years the town changes.

1774
02:18:50,470 --> 02:18:53,950
As a mayor, the first and foremost important thing I can do

1775
02:18:53,950 --> 02:18:55,170
is listen to my residents.

1776
02:18:55,870 --> 02:18:58,850
I represent you, not the town staff, but you.

1777
02:18:59,510 --> 02:19:03,410
I'm here to bring businesses in, to bring residents in

1778
02:19:03,410 --> 02:19:05,150
so that I can stand up for you

1779
02:19:05,150 --> 02:19:07,750
and get the staff to perform what needs to be done

1780
02:19:07,750 --> 02:19:14,090
so our town can be first on the list. You pay a tremendous amount of money to live here and I

1781
02:19:14,090 --> 02:19:19,650
do believe that we need something for money or money in return because it's hard and I understand

1782
02:19:19,650 --> 02:19:25,490
what it's like. I do forestry, we get up and go to work and I've seen the sound what it looks

1783
02:19:25,490 --> 02:19:29,570
like at four o'clock in the morning and I see it when I used to return at home at nine o'clock

1784
02:19:29,570 --> 02:19:34,930
at night. It's dark. How are we going to develop pull through to get people to come in

1785
02:19:34,930 --> 02:19:39,550
pass the railroad bridge? That's the huge question. Most people that come to Eagle turn

1786
02:19:39,550 --> 02:19:45,370
around at loaf and jug and leave. So as a community, I would reach out to you each and every one

1787
02:19:45,370 --> 02:19:49,070
of the business owners and say, bring us ideas because we need it. You're smarter than

1788
02:19:49,070 --> 02:19:55,510
I am, but I'm here to listen and I'm a facilitator of getting things done. And logging we're

1789
02:19:55,510 --> 02:19:59,250
producers and if we don't produce, we don't need. So that's what I would do for

1790
02:19:59,250 --> 02:20:03,850
the town is I would produce. And if I didn't, I would ask you to fire me. Thank

1791
02:20:03,850 --> 02:20:04,010
Thank you.

1792
02:20:04,670 --> 02:20:05,310
Thanks, Tom.

1793
02:20:09,950 --> 02:20:12,850
Over the years, I want you to breathe a minute because you're going to talk next.

1794
02:20:14,490 --> 02:20:20,370
Over the years, I'd stop by and visit with Tom and his wife and kind of go over what

1795
02:20:20,370 --> 02:20:23,490
we talked about the night before and always insightful.

1796
02:20:24,290 --> 02:20:25,130
So thank you.

1797
02:20:26,590 --> 02:20:29,930
Tom, I want to talk a little bit about economic vitality.

1798
02:20:30,850 --> 02:20:35,010
You touched it on already, but according to your comments, you're clearly in support

1799
02:20:35,010 --> 02:20:39,690
to the small business community. You stated that you will promote business development that

1800
02:20:39,690 --> 02:20:45,210
will not require residents to drive up valley every day. You would encourage taxes to be lowered.

1801
02:20:46,150 --> 02:20:50,770
You would convert town hall into a boutique hotel. So I'm hoping you're not talking about

1802
02:20:50,770 --> 02:20:56,090
this particular town hall right here. You're talking about the one down the street? Okay.

1803
02:20:57,110 --> 02:21:02,070
Please flesh out your economic vision for the town and please explain what taxes you hope

1804
02:21:02,070 --> 02:21:07,670
lower for our citizens in the business community. It's pretty simple. I would turn this building

1805
02:21:07,670 --> 02:21:13,850
into a hotel. It would make a nice one. Yeah, it would be really nice. And the reason being is

1806
02:21:13,850 --> 02:21:20,310
since it's been built, businesses have left. To have businesses like bars, thrive, restaurants,

1807
02:21:20,690 --> 02:21:24,050
you have to have visitors that come to town that have money that they want to spend.

1808
02:21:24,590 --> 02:21:29,030
And I heard last night from Jake Roach, they bring in clients. And the very first thing they

1809
02:21:29,030 --> 02:21:32,590
do similar to my brother when they came to Eagle is turn around and go back to

1810
02:21:32,590 --> 02:21:36,630
Vale to eat dinner. And then he's staying a hotel there. We have nothing to

1811
02:21:36,630 --> 02:21:42,350
offer people that actually perform business and business travelers obviously

1812
02:21:42,350 --> 02:21:46,730
fly in and out of our airport and over two million come up our street every

1813
02:21:46,730 --> 02:21:50,710
day. How do we get them to stop and spend money in Eagle? It would be great

1814
02:21:50,710 --> 02:21:55,250
if the airport's closed obviously the hotel would be full but I would turn

1815
02:21:55,250 --> 02:22:01,950
this building into a hotel. This was, as my wife pointed out in 2012, this is critical

1816
02:22:01,950 --> 02:22:09,310
tax-generating real estate. Why would you put a non-tax-producing building right in the

1817
02:22:09,310 --> 02:22:13,990
commercial district? And that's what's happened in Eagle. I've lived here when they built

1818
02:22:13,990 --> 02:22:18,330
the county building. These streets used to be full of businesses. They've all left.

1819
02:22:19,470 --> 02:22:24,510
And it's because a lack of people that actually stay here and pay to be here and then

1820
02:22:24,510 --> 02:22:29,630
pay these exorbitant taxes that we have on hotel beds that pay for outdoor, you know,

1821
02:22:29,750 --> 02:22:36,830
open space, all these things. The hotel's American Inn. They're gone. We just don't have

1822
02:22:36,830 --> 02:22:42,610
any beds. And so there's very little reason to retain customers in our town. But yet millions

1823
02:22:42,610 --> 02:22:49,170
come to this valley every year. It seems clear as day to me that, yeah, we need a hotel

1824
02:22:49,170 --> 02:22:53,090
downtown and if Jake can build it, that'd be great. But if not, we got an existing

1825
02:22:53,090 --> 02:23:00,390
building that is a huge liability to the town coffers. You're maintaining it, but it's not

1826
02:23:00,390 --> 02:23:05,090
generating anything. Thank you for clarifying that. I appreciate it, Tom.

1827
02:23:08,920 --> 02:23:10,800
And I'll proceed this way,

1828
02:23:10,900 --> 02:23:17,460
so that way the mic doesn't go too far. Jason, in addressing our town's challenges with housing,

1829
02:23:17,640 --> 02:23:23,120
population growth, economic vitality, traffic in the cost of child care, you stated that

1830
02:23:23,120 --> 02:23:26,400
But East Eagle would do a lot to address these concerns.

1831
02:23:27,160 --> 02:23:32,900
What do you envision for that parcel of land and describe how our citizens will benefit

1832
02:23:32,900 --> 02:23:33,400
by that?

1833
02:23:34,320 --> 02:23:40,220
I think East Eagle is the single, I mean the only parcel in Eagle County that could

1834
02:23:40,940 --> 02:23:44,780
really go, or addressing all those things.

1835
02:23:44,780 --> 02:23:53,760
I mean, the plan that they have proposed now, you know, sports tourism, daycare, another

1836
02:23:53,760 --> 02:23:54,260
Miller Ranch.

1837
02:23:54,380 --> 02:23:59,740
I mean, think about what they have in Edwards with Freedom Park, Miller Ranch, CMC.

1838
02:24:00,280 --> 02:24:04,160
That is the only place in the valley left that you could do that on.

1839
02:24:05,140 --> 02:24:10,420
And what's amazing about that parcel is there was also an article that the, or

1840
02:24:10,420 --> 02:24:16,240
a question that the bill daily sent out is how do you do the things we need to do to

1841
02:24:17,320 --> 02:24:21,720
really push EGLE forward without losing that small-town term? It's only used to be EGLE.

1842
02:24:22,060 --> 02:24:26,100
We want them to get off, we want them to spend money, and if they want to go, they

1843
02:24:26,100 --> 02:24:30,920
go. If they come into town, go to Brian's, Casey's, Establishments, that's awesome.

1844
02:24:31,320 --> 02:24:36,620
But it doesn't affect the core of our town. It's a perfectly positioned piece of land

1845
02:24:36,620 --> 02:24:42,740
that could go so far in bringing in the sales tax that we need because our sales tax is high

1846
02:24:42,740 --> 02:24:49,260
and that's been I feel like the approach for far too long. It's like we don't have enough sales tax

1847
02:24:49,260 --> 02:24:53,560
so let's raise sales tax. No, it's all about generating more opportunity for sales tax.

1848
02:24:55,740 --> 02:25:00,400
Wonderful. Thank you so much. God, you just gave me a minute back. That's going to cost me.

1849
02:25:02,740 --> 02:25:09,160
Grand Avenue Corridor Plan. What do you think about that? Hey, first I want to mention the

1850
02:25:09,160 --> 02:25:12,880
Vail Daily did a great job a few weeks ago of talking about that. It stirred up some

1851
02:25:12,880 --> 02:25:20,340
interest. Thank you very much, Nate. And this discussion has been going on for years

1852
02:25:20,340 --> 02:25:25,080
and you've been deeply involved in it. Tell me what your thoughts are about the

1853
02:25:25,080 --> 02:25:28,340
current plan, possible revisions. Where are we going with that?

1854
02:25:29,280 --> 02:25:34,860
The current plan was written many years ago, right, that this has been going on for six

1855
02:25:34,860 --> 02:25:40,100
years at least, that we would have this widening of highway six that would happen all the way

1856
02:25:40,100 --> 02:25:42,140
from the Eberkeek roundabout to the Gypsum line.

1857
02:25:42,320 --> 02:25:46,440
And over time, you have seen a decrease of this plan as costs increase and we get a

1858
02:25:46,440 --> 02:25:47,240
better handle on it.

1859
02:25:47,540 --> 02:25:52,520
You should think of it now as more of an aspirational plan and a guideline over

1860
02:25:52,520 --> 02:25:56,080
time because it was developed with the idea that we would get federal funding

1861
02:25:56,080 --> 02:25:57,480
that simply isn't going to appear.

1862
02:25:57,480 --> 02:26:02,860
Let's start with that right it's a 70 million dollar price tag and people say how are we going to pay for 70 million dollar roundabout?

1863
02:26:03,000 --> 02:26:04,700
It's like our $70 project. It is

1864
02:26:04,700 --> 02:26:11,880
$10,000 per man woman and child. Well, the short answer is we were never going to the plan was always we were going to put down this much

1865
02:26:11,880 --> 02:26:17,480
And then we would get federal infrastructure funding for that much right and because it was us highway because it's multimodal

1866
02:26:17,480 --> 02:26:20,520
It has a bus route because it services in airport

1867
02:26:20,520 --> 02:26:26,820
And the CDOT gave us $10 million to start when we took that over which was most of what we would have needed originally now

1868
02:26:26,820 --> 02:26:30,220
we're not even keeping pace with inflation, right? So let's just start there. We're going to have a

1869
02:26:30,220 --> 02:26:35,700
right size version and chip it off as we can go. We're going to probably have to start at this end

1870
02:26:35,700 --> 02:26:39,100
or that end. You're not going to start in the middle, right? And Broadway becomes the obvious

1871
02:26:39,100 --> 02:26:43,680
place. And we're going to need to make that Broadway roundabout happen first to get the

1872
02:26:43,680 --> 02:26:48,140
bus traffic in to get everyone making those left turns to get across Grand Ave. And then we're

1873
02:26:48,140 --> 02:26:52,660
going to have to go from there. Like the bottom line is we have money to do some things.

1874
02:26:52,660 --> 02:26:57,000
we don't have money to do the 70 million dollars. And that's what this new council is going to

1875
02:26:57,000 --> 02:27:01,140
need guidance on. They're going to have to be taught the history of how we got to where we are

1876
02:27:01,140 --> 02:27:06,480
and really, really make some difficult choices to prioritize how we spend the money. Because the

1877
02:27:06,480 --> 02:27:11,100
problem with taking it in the piecemeal approach is if there is a change in federal

1878
02:27:11,100 --> 02:27:16,620
funding structure, let's say we have the next great recession and the infrastructure bill

1879
02:27:16,620 --> 02:27:21,420
comes out and suddenly there's money for shovel ready products, projects. Well, now we've

1880
02:27:21,780 --> 02:27:26,060
spent our matching funds because these federal grants require them. So this is

1881
02:27:26,060 --> 02:27:29,280
going to be an issue for the Council saw, but it's not a policy decision that I

1882
02:27:29,280 --> 02:27:32,120
will be making alone, but it's going to be one of the biggest challenges the new

1883
02:27:32,120 --> 02:27:37,380
Council faces. Wonderful, thank you. And then off to Jason.

1884
02:27:40,040 --> 02:27:40,800
Jason, I love your

1885
02:27:40,800 --> 02:27:46,300
slogan, make eagle happen. It's a little bit of like a friend of mine, they

1886
02:27:46,300 --> 02:27:48,980
used to sit next to me up on the Council and he said make eagle

1887
02:27:48,980 --> 02:27:54,840
strange. No, I'm just kidding. It's not the similar at all. But that was a great

1888
02:27:54,840 --> 02:27:59,640
slogan he had. But you've had many successful years of business within our

1889
02:27:59,640 --> 02:28:04,280
community. Please describe your collaborative process that you'll use

1890
02:28:04,280 --> 02:28:06,400
or you envision as the mayor.

1891
02:28:08,560 --> 02:28:12,040
I have. When we decided to stay, I was

1892
02:28:12,040 --> 02:28:15,760
lucky enough to find a job as an administrative assistant with Slypher

1893
02:28:15,760 --> 02:28:21,780
Smith and Frampton have spent almost 19 years with them, phasing out right now to hopefully

1894
02:28:21,780 --> 02:28:23,640
take a new job with all of you.

1895
02:28:25,300 --> 02:28:33,320
But what's amazing about my experience there is seeing what that company and the sister

1896
02:28:33,320 --> 02:28:38,860
companies with East-West and East-West partners and hospitality have done for all of our

1897
02:28:38,860 --> 02:28:39,200
communities.

1898
02:28:39,440 --> 02:28:41,720
It's a community-first company.

1899
02:28:41,720 --> 02:28:46,860
We know that our success is completely tied to the success of our communities.

1900
02:28:47,420 --> 02:28:50,340
And that can't be done by evil alone.

1901
02:28:50,660 --> 02:28:58,340
I mean, I heard candidates for a town council talking about the collaboration with County, but not just County.

1902
02:28:58,500 --> 02:28:59,020
It's gypsum.

1903
02:28:59,180 --> 02:28:59,660
It's Avon.

1904
02:28:59,820 --> 02:29:00,240
It's Vail.

1905
02:29:01,700 --> 02:29:03,440
It's the Vail Valley Partnership.

1906
02:29:03,800 --> 02:29:04,900
It's the VVF.

1907
02:29:05,020 --> 02:29:05,860
It's Vail Health.

1908
02:29:06,060 --> 02:29:06,680
It's Vail Resorts.

1909
02:29:07,020 --> 02:29:07,380
It's the airport.

1910
02:29:08,420 --> 02:29:16,100
The only way we're going to accomplish big things like East Eagle or West Eagle or any

1911
02:29:16,100 --> 02:29:19,500
of the things that we need to get done is going to be through collaboration.

1912
02:29:20,740 --> 02:29:23,640
Unfortunately, we know we can't pay for everything.

1913
02:29:24,120 --> 02:29:30,120
So it's like Casey said, it's finding a way to yes, start, if it makes sense again,

1914
02:29:30,240 --> 02:29:35,480
it goes back to community sustainability, economic, environmental, social.

1915
02:29:35,480 --> 02:29:39,480
If those all make sense, start with yes, bring in the partners to make it happen.

1916
02:29:43,730 --> 02:29:44,330
I'm sorry.

1917
02:29:45,050 --> 02:29:46,470
I'm costing you a lot of money.

1918
02:29:47,070 --> 02:29:48,690
No, I know it, but it's for good cause.

1919
02:29:50,690 --> 02:29:51,770
Oh, goodness, Tom.

1920
02:29:52,670 --> 02:29:55,850
I couldn't avoid this one just simply because you are so, oh, wait a minute.

1921
02:29:56,190 --> 02:29:56,550
Which one?

1922
02:29:56,690 --> 02:29:57,090
I just went.

1923
02:29:57,450 --> 02:29:57,970
You just went.

1924
02:29:58,170 --> 02:29:58,390
Yeah.

1925
02:29:58,650 --> 02:29:58,930
Tom.

1926
02:29:59,610 --> 02:29:59,730
Thank you.

1927
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:05,440
Yeah, we could let Brian talk again, but I want Tom to talk. You are so deeply involved

1928
02:30:05,440 --> 02:30:12,300
in the Grand Avenue. I want your input on this as well. You stated that the public format is

1929
02:30:12,300 --> 02:30:17,800
not engaging the people that live on the street there on Grand Avenue. What are your thoughts?

1930
02:30:19,000 --> 02:30:25,220
It's pretty simple. I own two properties, the little yellow house next to Moe's and

1931
02:30:25,220 --> 02:30:30,920
and then also where pickups pizza is, and there was a reason why I bought those properties

1932
02:30:30,920 --> 02:30:31,640
with my wife.

1933
02:30:31,800 --> 02:30:35,420
It was to invest in the town and look forward to hopefully doing some commercial development.

1934
02:30:36,340 --> 02:30:41,600
But the way it's been for me right now is that 25 individual property owners are going

1935
02:30:41,600 --> 02:30:47,000
to be either eminent domain or have a significant amount of their property taken.

1936
02:30:48,520 --> 02:30:53,920
Virtually all the properties that I own are key intersections and they will be destroyed.

1937
02:30:53,920 --> 02:30:58,160
My son will lose the house he lives in because they want to put a road right through the living room.

1938
02:30:58,880 --> 02:31:03,760
At Pickup's Pizza, the door is going to be about 10 feet from where the new road is going to be

1939
02:31:03,760 --> 02:31:07,620
so that they can have additional parking lots for businesses that are going to be gone.

1940
02:31:09,140 --> 02:31:13,920
Today I stopped to talk to my tenants because unlike each of these people,

1941
02:31:14,100 --> 02:31:18,840
I actually, I have tenants. I had a business that was there at a good sport that my wife owned

1942
02:31:18,840 --> 02:31:21,240
and I've never worked for anyone but myself.

1943
02:31:22,040 --> 02:31:23,720
So I understand what it takes

1944
02:31:23,720 --> 02:31:25,100
and they each have told me

1945
02:31:25,100 --> 02:31:26,320
that if that road gets built,

1946
02:31:26,440 --> 02:31:27,720
those businesses will be gone.

1947
02:31:29,140 --> 02:31:30,580
I don't take that lightly,

1948
02:31:30,880 --> 02:31:32,880
but their leases are gonna soon be up

1949
02:31:33,200 --> 02:31:34,800
and they're looking at moving to Gypsum

1950
02:31:34,800 --> 02:31:36,840
or to Eaglevale or somewhere else.

1951
02:31:37,200 --> 02:31:40,100
And so the redevelopment of the Grand Avenue project,

1952
02:31:40,360 --> 02:31:41,540
there's five roundabouts,

1953
02:31:41,720 --> 02:31:43,360
it's gonna be 80 feet wide.

1954
02:31:44,000 --> 02:31:45,820
These roads are significant.

1955
02:31:46,700 --> 02:31:48,240
The people that have designed them

1956
02:31:48,240 --> 02:31:52,500
don't even live in Eagle County and they expect you to ride an electric scooter in

1957
02:31:52,500 --> 02:31:58,120
January on a bike path that won't even be plowed and so I just look at things

1958
02:31:58,120 --> 02:32:01,860
from a different perspective but I do kind of look at it I think from Larry's

1959
02:32:01,860 --> 02:32:04,980
perspective is what's it going to be like to run a snow plow up and down

1960
02:32:04,980 --> 02:32:08,180
Grand Avenue when it snows two feet and there's a center median that's three

1961
02:32:08,180 --> 02:32:12,260
feet high you're not going to get rid of the snow and the roads are they

1962
02:32:12,260 --> 02:32:15,460
going to be any better no because as soon as you leave Eagle going to

1963
02:32:15,460 --> 02:32:19,400
gypsum, it's still two lanes, same with the roundabout at the east end of town.

1964
02:32:20,960 --> 02:32:25,660
I think that the town got ahead of itself a little bit, and the letter I received in

1965
02:32:25,660 --> 02:32:29,340
the town on both of my properties is, hey, we'd like to buy a couple of inches off of

1966
02:32:29,340 --> 02:32:32,740
your land, and it's going to give you maybe a 5% return in 20 years.

1967
02:32:34,340 --> 02:32:39,840
My neighbor just was sold to the town for $787,000 said in the paper at the Grand

1968
02:32:39,840 --> 02:32:40,420
Avenue Grill.

1969
02:32:41,260 --> 02:32:45,640
To me, that's just the beginning of setting the real estate value for imminent domain.

1970
02:32:47,800 --> 02:32:50,180
So as a landowner, yeah, I'm frustrated.

1971
02:32:50,480 --> 02:32:52,620
The town's never once come to speak to us.

1972
02:32:52,800 --> 02:32:56,760
We've only had to come then, and then you get 15 minutes with somebody that's from

1973
02:32:56,760 --> 02:32:57,540
Denver or Florida.

1974
02:32:59,470 --> 02:33:01,610
It's not being solved by people that live in Eagle.

1975
02:33:02,730 --> 02:33:03,770
Tom, thank you.

1976
02:33:04,510 --> 02:33:06,070
I'm going to move over to Brian.

1977
02:33:08,780 --> 02:33:10,360
I think you're the last question.

1978
02:33:10,360 --> 02:33:12,800
And I apologize, folks, I appreciate your patience,

1979
02:33:12,960 --> 02:33:15,060
but the only reason we're over time

1980
02:33:15,060 --> 02:33:16,900
is not their fault, it's mine.

1981
02:33:18,200 --> 02:33:21,020
So Brian, I wanna talk about the budget.

1982
02:33:21,540 --> 02:33:24,080
So the top issue facing our town

1983
02:33:24,080 --> 02:33:25,680
is structural budget problems.

1984
02:33:26,480 --> 02:33:28,200
How do you, in the short time we have left,

1985
02:33:28,640 --> 02:33:31,000
distill the problems and the solutions

1986
02:33:31,380 --> 02:33:33,160
to make this go away?

1987
02:33:34,360 --> 02:33:36,400
All right, so let's talk about a structural budget problem.

1988
02:33:36,460 --> 02:33:37,420
When people may not realize

1989
02:33:37,420 --> 02:33:39,740
is the town underwent a lot of budget and growth.

1990
02:33:39,740 --> 02:33:43,520
several years ago, there was a Supreme Court case called the Wayfair Decision, so now we

1991
02:33:43,520 --> 02:33:48,960
get sales tax from internet sales, right? Lots of money, hired some people, we grew our payroll

1992
02:33:48,960 --> 02:33:53,620
dramatically in the past five years, right? Now, fast forward to where we are now, we

1993
02:33:53,620 --> 02:33:58,260
get sales tax. That supports almost everything in town, right? And we know that. But our

1994
02:33:58,260 --> 02:34:02,420
costs are being driven by cost of living, by payroll, and inflation is eating us

1995
02:34:02,420 --> 02:34:07,640
alive. 17% costs year-over-year on healthcare, costs like health insurance for employees.

1996
02:34:08,200 --> 02:34:13,800
In you project this forward five years it gets really bad. Why? Because our revenue will

1997
02:34:13,800 --> 02:34:18,380
continue to go up inflationary based on the cost of things you buy on Amazon, things you

1998
02:34:18,380 --> 02:34:24,520
buy from city market. So we're going to see cost of goods inflation in our revenue. Meanwhile,

1999
02:34:24,780 --> 02:34:29,240
we have cost of living that is real estate that is payroll in the money going out

2000
02:34:29,240 --> 02:34:34,160
the door. There is not an easy way to solve it without shifting things off of that

2001
02:34:34,160 --> 02:34:41,200
That fails packs based general fund revenue into enterprise funds into other places or

2002
02:34:41,200 --> 02:34:44,580
completely rescaling the cost of services that we have, right?

2003
02:34:45,160 --> 02:34:49,060
If you guys want to get some idea of how this happens to local governments, go read on the

2004
02:34:49,060 --> 02:34:50,040
growth Ponzi scheme.

2005
02:34:50,200 --> 02:34:51,980
It's a term that's used in planning.

2006
02:34:52,240 --> 02:34:54,300
There's a strong towns book all about it.

2007
02:34:54,400 --> 02:34:55,100
It's very common.

2008
02:34:55,280 --> 02:35:01,120
It happens to most communities 25 years after a big burst of growth because when

2009
02:35:01,120 --> 02:35:03,440
When you build a new development, you get all this tax revenue.

2010
02:35:03,580 --> 02:35:04,240
People are paying in.

2011
02:35:04,620 --> 02:35:05,500
They're paying sales tax.

2012
02:35:05,620 --> 02:35:06,300
They're paying property tax.

2013
02:35:06,800 --> 02:35:07,620
All the things, right?

2014
02:35:08,020 --> 02:35:09,720
But there's no cost because everything's brand new.

2015
02:35:09,800 --> 02:35:10,400
Everything's perfect.

2016
02:35:10,660 --> 02:35:12,060
And the balance sheets look great.

2017
02:35:12,560 --> 02:35:16,840
But then you get 25 years out and suddenly, oh, the road has to get repaved.

2018
02:35:17,140 --> 02:35:18,900
We have to replace the sidewalks.

2019
02:35:19,000 --> 02:35:20,560
Those costs come due.

2020
02:35:21,200 --> 02:35:24,900
And between me and you, in this town, we simply don't pay enough to maintain

2021
02:35:24,900 --> 02:35:26,680
the road simply in front of your house.

2022
02:35:26,860 --> 02:35:29,640
The entire town's property tax revenue for a year.

2023
02:35:29,640 --> 02:35:35,960
and I mean like the whole town is $600,000. That is the only revenue that we have that's

2024
02:35:35,960 --> 02:35:40,620
going to scale at the cost of living. Otherwise it's going to scale at the cost of your eggs

2025
02:35:40,620 --> 02:35:45,680
and your milk, right? It just won't work and your new council is going to have to solve this

2026
02:35:45,680 --> 02:35:49,440
and we're going to have to have some hard discussions and make hard choices because

2027
02:35:49,440 --> 02:35:51,520
the five-year time horizon is scary.

2028
02:35:53,800 --> 02:35:54,940
Wonderful. Thank you, Brian.

2029
02:35:58,200 --> 02:35:59,240
We'll come back over here

2030
02:35:59,240 --> 02:36:05,120
for closing comments we'll have two minutes and we push a button there there we go thanks Tom.

2031
02:36:09,890 --> 02:36:15,870
Two minutes here we go I've heard a lot tonight and I'm really fortunate to be able to stand up

2032
02:36:15,870 --> 02:36:20,410
here in front of you all and I appreciate the opportunity and the one thing I can promise you

2033
02:36:20,410 --> 02:36:26,550
is if you do elect me I will bust my ass every day like I have for the last 40 years of my life

2034
02:36:27,150 --> 02:36:30,150
I'll go to work and I'm going to solve problems.

2035
02:36:32,150 --> 02:36:35,490
But this town, what I just heard, is something that we've all known about.

2036
02:36:36,750 --> 02:36:40,350
And when I lived here in 2010, there was nobody here.

2037
02:36:40,470 --> 02:36:41,650
The town could barely make payroll.

2038
02:36:42,590 --> 02:36:46,730
So you don't have to live here very long to see the poor decisions that have been made

2039
02:36:46,730 --> 02:36:48,590
by the councils before us and current.

2040
02:36:49,290 --> 02:36:52,790
You have to plan for a rainy day and you can't just spend what you make that day.

2041
02:36:52,790 --> 02:36:58,090
And my business, you produce or you go out of business real quick, just like the restaurant

2042
02:36:58,090 --> 02:37:02,470
business, just like the construction business, it's put up or shut up.

2043
02:37:03,450 --> 02:37:09,790
Our town has, I would say far exceeded its financial capability.

2044
02:37:10,270 --> 02:37:14,430
They've been basically operating on a champagne taste with a perhaps blue ribbon budget.

2045
02:37:15,190 --> 02:37:17,430
It does take tightening the belt.

2046
02:37:17,730 --> 02:37:23,810
And if we don't start making smart decisions, the cost of infrastructure is going to eat

2047
02:37:23,810 --> 02:37:29,670
our lunch. To maintain the quality of life, we have to set aside money and start reinvesting

2048
02:37:29,670 --> 02:37:34,710
in our core areas here in town. And first and foremost, look at developing those to

2049
02:37:34,710 --> 02:37:39,430
the highest and best potential to support the existing businesses that are here. We

2050
02:37:39,430 --> 02:37:43,730
have to be aware that there's five, in a sense, competing areas in town. It's not

2051
02:37:43,730 --> 02:37:49,210
just the DDA, but my tenants specifically as well. We have to consider all because

2052
02:37:49,210 --> 02:37:51,530
Because they're all a part of the pie that this town needs.

2053
02:37:52,170 --> 02:37:57,710
And that's what I'd ask is if you vote for me, I promise I will work my hardest and

2054
02:37:57,710 --> 02:38:00,730
my door will be open to listen to everything you have to say.

2055
02:38:01,010 --> 02:38:05,250
And I would encourage everyone that I've seen in this room to start showing up the

2056
02:38:05,250 --> 02:38:05,910
town council.

2057
02:38:06,230 --> 02:38:11,310
I've been doing it for 24 years and it's a pretty empty building most of the time.

2058
02:38:13,350 --> 02:38:13,730
Wonderful.

2059
02:38:14,010 --> 02:38:14,950
Thank you so much, Tom.

2060
02:38:15,410 --> 02:38:16,210
I appreciate you being here.

2061
02:38:16,330 --> 02:38:16,830
Thanks for your honor.

2062
02:38:16,990 --> 02:38:17,170
Thank you.

2063
02:38:17,650 --> 02:38:18,050
Jason.

2064
02:38:21,230 --> 02:38:29,710
I'm not an eye guy, but I guess I promised to, part of the reason I had lunch with Jamie

2065
02:38:29,710 --> 02:38:35,830
and Brian and I guess what I look forward to would be working with them and Larry and

2066
02:38:35,830 --> 02:38:36,530
the staff here.

2067
02:38:37,930 --> 02:38:43,630
I think what EGLE needs is again more collaboration, more conversations and more transparency.

2068
02:38:43,630 --> 02:38:52,570
I don't think we can keep Eagle Eagle, I just don't think we can. I think we need to make Eagle happen.

2069
02:38:53,150 --> 02:39:00,490
And that's what I look forward to working on with hopefully Brian, Jamie, and four great council members.

2070
02:39:02,990 --> 02:39:08,730
I guess in closing, you know, I think we're in a good spot.

2071
02:39:08,730 --> 02:39:14,470
like it's not all doomsday like we've got great people we've got I mean the

2072
02:39:14,470 --> 02:39:18,390
the reason we have people coming here is because of our open spaces it's because

2073
02:39:18,390 --> 02:39:21,950
of our trails it's because of our Nordic skiing and our mountain biking and

2074
02:39:21,950 --> 02:39:26,150
all these things we've had great investment in those things we know

2075
02:39:26,150 --> 02:39:30,530
we've heard that the River Park while it's it's there it needs it needs

2076
02:39:30,530 --> 02:39:34,550
improvements and needs enhancements you know we've we've taken it as far

2077
02:39:34,550 --> 02:39:37,030
as we can that's kind of up to them like that's where I believe the

2078
02:39:37,030 --> 02:39:42,950
private sector has to get involved through partnerships and other things, but I just think we have

2079
02:39:42,950 --> 02:39:49,630
great things going for us. We just kind of have to get out of the way or work with groups that

2080
02:39:49,630 --> 02:39:53,970
can get things done, but to me it's all about making things happen. It's not about keeping things

2081
02:39:53,970 --> 02:40:00,310
the way they are. Thank you so much, Jason. We'll cut off the step. Appreciate it.

2082
02:40:01,010 --> 02:40:05,670
Brian, thank you. Bring us home. All right. Thanks for sticking around, everyone. I really

2083
02:40:05,670 --> 02:40:09,590
appreciate your time. I know putting at the end is like you're ready to go to sleep and go have a

2084
02:40:09,590 --> 02:40:14,270
drink, but let's do it. So I want to talk to you for a minute about things that I have done on

2085
02:40:14,270 --> 02:40:17,550
Council because if you want to know what I'm going to do, let's look at what I've done and

2086
02:40:17,550 --> 02:40:21,550
let's look at how we solve problems. I said on the board of the Downtown Development Authority,

2087
02:40:21,710 --> 02:40:26,830
we have given out $100,000 in grant funding to local businesses in downtown over the past

2088
02:40:26,830 --> 02:40:31,030
two years. In the first six months of this year, we've seen sales tax revenue in downtown

2089
02:40:31,030 --> 02:40:35,590
down, grow 21% year over year, while the rest of the town is flattered down.

2090
02:40:36,070 --> 02:40:39,130
It's those sort of small bets that are going to get us to where we need to be.

2091
02:40:39,530 --> 02:40:42,590
So next year, we're doubling that investment more than doubling.

2092
02:40:42,710 --> 02:40:46,710
We're going to $120,000 in funding for next year alone, and we're going to open that

2093
02:40:46,710 --> 02:40:48,050
up to the whole town.

2094
02:40:48,610 --> 02:40:52,230
If we see that same kind of return, now we're on to something because we really

2095
02:40:52,230 --> 02:40:55,990
have seen some new businesses move into downtown that are doing very well and starting

2096
02:40:55,990 --> 02:40:58,530
to drive that needle on that sales tax revenue.

2097
02:40:58,530 --> 02:41:01,790
I've sat on the board. I sit on the board of court transit in that time

2098
02:41:01,790 --> 02:41:06,070
I was my proudest moment on council was casting the vote that brought fair free transit to Eagle

2099
02:41:06,070 --> 02:41:11,170
We now have express service a week we extended youth fair free on the transit authority

2100
02:41:11,170 --> 02:41:16,350
So your kids can continue to take the bus to and from Eagle Valley High School and starting and next year

2101
02:41:16,350 --> 02:41:21,930
We're going to rebuild Capitol Street to enable transit service up into Eagle Ranch coming probably in 2028

2102
02:41:21,930 --> 02:41:24,750
We got that in the 10-year plan for the transit authority

2103
02:41:24,750 --> 02:41:30,230
So you can drop your kids off in Eagle Ranch and they can take the bus to go ski and you don't have to drive them

2104
02:41:31,050 --> 02:41:35,990
Things are looking forward. We have plans to change things the roundabout of Broadway

2105
02:41:35,990 --> 02:41:39,370
We'll bring that traffic downtown to reshape and get people into town

2106
02:41:39,370 --> 02:41:42,670
We can move the ball forward on development in this town

2107
02:41:42,670 --> 02:41:46,450
We just have to do it in incremental small steps that we can afford

2108
02:41:49,350 --> 02:41:49,850
Amazing

2109
02:41:51,930 --> 02:41:52,650
thanks fire

2110
02:41:53,510 --> 02:41:56,030
You guys are superstars all of you

2111
02:41:56,830 --> 02:42:02,790
All of the candidates, all the folks online that are still there, I still see you.

2112
02:42:03,190 --> 02:42:04,890
I think that's a lot like Romper Room.

2113
02:42:05,010 --> 02:42:06,890
You could see right into the...

2114
02:42:06,890 --> 02:42:10,530
Anyway, and you the audience, it's amazing.

2115
02:42:11,370 --> 02:42:13,290
Our democracy, as I said earlier, is fragile.

2116
02:42:13,570 --> 02:42:14,630
It takes participation.

2117
02:42:15,090 --> 02:42:15,970
It takes activism.

2118
02:42:16,710 --> 02:42:17,950
It takes voting.

2119
02:42:18,510 --> 02:42:20,350
It takes encouragement, being educated.

2120
02:42:21,230 --> 02:42:25,970
Our veiled daily is an amazing job of keeping us up to speed on a lot of things through

2121
02:42:25,970 --> 02:42:32,310
many years that we've dealt in this community looking for news. They published something today

2122
02:42:32,310 --> 02:42:38,890
about the candidates. They will have many letters to the editor. Please participate. Please be a

2123
02:42:38,890 --> 02:42:44,930
part of that. Thank you gentlemen. The chamber, thank you for all your hard work,

2124
02:42:45,170 --> 02:42:51,810
and thank you for my able-bodied assistant. And I really want to thank the collective for

2125
02:42:51,810 --> 02:42:55,850
having us over. Wait, wait, there we go. We're having us over there this evening.

2126
02:42:56,570 --> 02:43:01,110
All right. We want to thank Kevin Brubeck for moderating. That was awesome.

2127
02:43:01,830 --> 02:43:06,490
Thank you so much. Beautiful job. I thought it went really well. So

2128
02:43:06,970 --> 02:43:13,090
thank you so much for joining us. And next time, Kevin Brubeck, you'll be up for moderation.

2129
02:43:15,630 --> 02:43:19,870
All right. We're going to make sure we're out of here in about 10 minutes so everybody

2130
02:43:19,870 --> 02:43:21,830
Everybody that's working from the town can go home.

2131
02:43:22,470 --> 02:43:23,690
Technical staff, unbelievable.

2132
02:43:24,150 --> 02:43:24,490
Thank you.

2133
02:43:41,350 --> 02:43:43,890
They themselves so well, including the audience by God.

2134
02:43:44,490 --> 02:43:48,270
This Shaw number that I'm donating, I'm going to double it, so we're going to send $2,000

2135
02:43:48,270 --> 02:43:49,490
to the Shaw at home team.