January Mayor's Minute

Dear neighbors, I hope you are enjoying this wonderful snow and sunny skies. The town remains quite busy and your government is working hard. December 8 Meeting Highlights 1 > Toqn Council conducted a fair amount of its fiscal management last month including approving the revised 2016 and final 2017 budgets. There was the related approval of mill levies, property taxes and the transferring of funds to implement these budgets. 2 > Town Council briefly updated the public on the benchmarking study. The study's consultant has not been able to gather actionable data from other ski towns. We will agendize a worksession early in 2017 to discuss this issue in more depth and identify options to continue the project with better resources. 3 > Council approved an open burn permit for the Telluride Fire Festival, which I hope you will be able to attend. If you haven't seen this event, it is quite a sight. 4 > The Telluride Tourism Board and Colorado Flights Alliance gave their biannual updates reporting significant growth in regional tourism including more brand recognition for the destination, increased air seats, the return of service to the Telluride Regional Airport, and the addition of a year-round daily flight to Dallas. The Telluride brand continues to grow and impress, earning many recognitions including Conde Nast again ranking it as the number one ski destination in the country. 5 > Town Council received an update on the wastewater treatment plant that requires both an upgrade of the nutrient levels in the outflows (that need to be 10 times better than our drinking water!) as well as a capacity expansion to accommodate the fact that we are nearing its limit. A master plan is being created and we anticipate that report will start to identify the specific plans and funding requirements that we will share with our regional partners. This will be expensive. 6 > In addition to some usual land use matters, Council heard some staff and Council updates regarding the boards and committees they serve on. 7 > Finally, we bid farewell to our Director of Marketing and Business Development Nichole Zangara Riley and thanked her for all of the wonderful work she contributed over the years. January 19 Agenda Highlights This week Town Council will again consider a full agenda. 1 > Local airport manager will provide an update on the Telluride Regional Airport Authority. 2 > EcoAction Partners will present their work plan for the coming year. 3 > The Design Review Board will update Council on their work to expand the design standards for buildings in Mountain Village. 4 > Town Council will consider a request to increase funding for the Town Hall Center Subarea process, and potential funding for a regional behavioral health initiative. 5 > Finally, in addition to our usual staff and Councilmember updates, several significant land use matters will take up some of our time. As always, I hope you can join us for the meeting online or in person, but if not, please share your thoughts through calls or . Warm Regards, Dan Jansen Mountain Village Mayor