Q1
How long have you lived in the town you're campaigning in?
Q2
What is your occupation?
Owner at Red Buffalo Coffee and Tea
Q3
What experience qualifies you for a town council position?
In addition to a long history living in Silverthorne and owning a business in town for over 13 years, I have served on a multitude of various community boards. These include the Board of Education from 2007-2015, Silverthorne Art Committee 2016, Early Childhood Options 2017-present, Silverthorne Planning Commission 2021-present.
Q4
What changes would you like to see in Summit County? Your town?
Summit County has balanced local communities with tourism for decades. Continuing to find a win-win balance between the two will continue to bring ebbing change. I would like us to think more sustainably in regards to sustainable tourism, business, building, and land conservation.
Q5
What is your experience with vacation rentals?
NA
Q6
What impact do you feel the vacation rental industry has in Summit County? Your town?
The STR industry contributes to the local economy through strong tourism dollars spent in local businesses. The more resent impact to the workforce rental inventory and infrastructure use within the County has stressed the balance of residential and visitor relationships.
Q7
How do you feel about the current taxes in place for vacation rentals? Do you think more should be added? Do you think any should be reduced?
With additional use to town infrastructure, like roads/congestion, waterlines, parks and trails, a tax from increased visitation will help offset those specific wears and tears that occurs when moving from a year round population of 40,000 up to over 150,000 in daily visitors.
Q8
Do you believe we have a workforce housing problem in Summit County? And, if so: what are your suggestions to increase workforce housing?
Long term rentals have decreased and home ownership prices have increased at a time when inventory has not kept pace. Because of the shapes of our valleys and to conserve some amount of open space, we cannot continue to build our way into more availability. There can be a combination of carrot/stick incentives (there is never a silver bullet) that can create a more livable and diverse community. We need a workforce to serve our visitors and those workers need to 1) have a secure place to stay, 2) available childcare, and 3) a beautiful, fun, creative community to want to stay in.
Q9
Are there any other key issues on your campaign platform that you would like to share with us?
Silverthorne deserves council members who are dedicate to the long term vision of the town. When we make policy decisions and guide issues, we should be thinking about how our actions will impact our community 5, 20, and 60 years from now. To have a diverse, livable community we will need to balance the needs of today with the needs of tomorrow. We cannot guess every crisis that will come to our door, but we can elect people who are confident that their decisions will be made with our futures in mind.
