Eagle Chamber Members Engage Town of Eagle Municipal Election Candidate through a digital Eagle Chamber Q&A

In the spirit of civic engagement and community involvement, Eagle Chamber Members submitted questions to the Town of Eagle's upcoming November 7th Municipal Election Candidates. Read the candidate responses below:


~ Start of Q&A for Candidate Nick Sunday:

Question 1 for Candidate Nick Sunday:

By the time of this election, the Town Council will have approved a first-ever Economic Development Strategic Plan for our town. Do you consider this plan to be important - if so, or if not, why? What role do you see yourself in supporting the implementation of this plan?

"As I am currently the council liaison for the EVC, I would like to think I had a part in shaping the Economic Development Strategic Plan. This is a great step forward in ensuring our economic vitality for years to come. This plan has many tools that we need to unpack. We had many studies and are now able to identify where our economic base comes from, where they are spending money, and how long they are in town. This is a great tool. I think the best thing to come out of the plan is the mobility dashboard. This unique tool shows us how long our consumers are spending in what part of town. It also tells us where they are coming from. Just by clicking on a few filters, you could find out the busiest parts of town. This could help a business decide where they would want to open to ensure the highest traffic. This tool could also be monetized or incentivized, not to make money, but to ensure we can keep up the dashboard and update it with the latest data. We could incentivize business to join the chamber by giving them access to the dashboard once they are a member. The strategic plan needs to continue being a living document. We need to ensure we update it with new data on a regular basis to make sure we are best informed. Eagle is growing and is supposed to capture the highest percentage of growth in the valley in the upcoming years. The data provided shows us where we have a need and how to best capitalize on it. The EVC is comprised of members with an interest in Economic vitality in Eagle. It is in their best interest to take the roadmap and move it forward. There are many things that Eagle can improve upon, and this is just the starting point for us to continue moving forward. There is lots of great data that any future/current business owner could use to help increase sales and profitability. Not to mention help guide the Town of Eagle in our future decision making.

If re-elected, I hope to continue serving on the EVC and help our group be informed and moving forward. I would like to see the mobility dashboard updated regularly and somehow incentivize businesses to use this data and to join the chamber. This group has put a lot of hard work into this plan, and I would want to keep moving forward rather than filing it away somewhere. We need to start checking the recommendations off the list. We can do this by coming up with 3-4 items a year and start working on them. This is a living document and needs to be treated as such. Many things can change. This document needs to reflect that while also guiding how the Town of Eagle can move in a positive direction in future decision making."

Question 2 for Candidate Nick Sunday:

Please state how you would vote on the proposal for the winter closing of HayMaker trail. 

"Stating how I would vote on a question that has not been through the public process and has yet to have any recommendations from our open space committee (OSRAC) is unacceptable to the public process. The Town of Eagle has several committees. These committees are in place to take a closer look into their specific area of interest. This is the very reason we have them. There is a public process to all decisions the town has before it even reaches the Council. Currently, there is no recommendation or anything that has come to council on this issue. I am not able to state my position on anything until it has fully gone through the public process and all the facts and public comments have come out and been heard. We engage everyone that is involved before deciding. There are many different stakeholders in each decision such as the question above. There is the BLM, TOE, Wildlife officials, and the public and private partnerships. Each need to be researched and heard before making any decision. Otherwise, it shows a conflict of interest or bias. In my opinion, any candidate that can state their answer, doesn?t fully understand, or respect the process, and would make decisions that better their situation and not that of the common good."

Question 3 for Candidate Nick Sunday:

Please state how you would vote on the proposal to increase the width for vehicles on the Jeep Road/Second Gulch.

"See Above".

~ End of Q&A for Candidate Nick Sunday


~Start of Q&A for Candidate Jamie Woodworth Foral

Question 1 for Candidate Jamie Woodworth Foral

By the time of this election, the Town Council will have approved a first-ever Economic Development Strategic Plan for our town. Do you consider this plan to be important - if so, or if not, why? What role do you see for yourself in supporting the implementation of this plan?

"Our Economic Development Strategic Plan is a big win for the Town. Not only do we now have a path forward, but the committee has done an excellent job with the dashboard that will be available and the data can be used in a variety of ways to help local businesses, the EVC and others conduct trend analysis so that we can pivot and adjust our planning as we move forward. It was mentioned at our last Council meeting that if we're able to hit even 30% of our lofty goals, that it will be a huge win for our community and I couldn't agree more. We have some lofty goals set that will greatly benefit Eagle and having a roadmap for achieving them is pivotal.

I see myself supporting these initiatives in a variety of ways. As a council member, I'm passionate about helping to create solutions for local business owners that make it easier for them to succeed. I think that the Town's various subcommittees and initiatives ultimately all come together nicely to make sure that the Town is being propelled forward in a positive direction. For example, the Re-Code adoption has made an applicant's process simpler, easier to understand, and allows for a quicker turnaround; the Grand Avenue Corridor expansion will allow for our traffic and visitors to move through more effectively and expand access to our downtown core; our special events that Eagle is know for continue to evolve and improve; adding housing inventory will help with creating better affordability for its citizens. All of these things come together to have a positive impact on the Town.

Personally, I implement and contribute to the economic development of Eagle by choosing to spend most of my discretionary income locally. I love visiting and spending time at the variety of unique and special businesses that Eagle has to offer, and am proud to champion them by recommending them to others as well. Cheering for the success of our business community and economic vitality is something that is very important to me, and being able to see our local businesses grow, evolve and thrive is extremely fulfilling to me."

Question 2 and 3 for Candidate Jamie Woodworth Foral:

Please state how you would vote on the proposal for the winter closing of HayMaker Trail.
Please state how you would vote on the proposal to increase width for vehicles on the Jeep Road/Second Gulch.

"These two issues are currently going through the public process, and to weigh in on them before our OSRAC subcommittee has created a presentation and recommendation to Council would be irresponsible. I respect the members of our subcommittee, as well as the various stakeholders that have spent much time and energy in crafting the open space management plan and look forward to reviewing their proposed action plan once they are prepared to do so. In the meantime, I'm committed to learning a much as I can about these issues and would encourage the citizens of Eagle to do the same. The next OSRAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 7 at 9am, at which time the committee will discuss 2nd Gulch and Haymaker. Anyone who wishes to weigh in on these issues but cannot attend the meeting online or in person should certainly consider submitting public comment via email prior to the meeting so that their voice can be heard."

~ End of Q&A for Jamie Woodworth Foral
 

~ Start of Q&A for Candidate Bryan Woods: 

Question 1 for Candidate Bryan Woods:

By the time of this election, the Town Council will have approved a first-ever Economic Development Strategic Plan for our town. Do you consider this plan to be important - if so, or if not, why? What role do you see for yourself in supporting the implementation of this plan? 

"The power of the town?s Economic Development Plan is that it aligns the conversation. It is easy to get caught up in never-ending discussion and debate without ever acting. The adoption of the plan should end that circular discussion and give us direction to move forward. A plan without will and resources is ultimately just talk. Fortunately, the town recently added a full-time Economic Development and Housing Specialist to the staff, and she?s fantastic. Our newly adopted plan gives her a multi-threaded playbook of priorities and action items. There is some real long hanging fruit in the plan. I am excited to see where this new plan and dedicated staff takes us. The stoke is real. On a personal level, I have dedicated countless hours of my life to local economic development by serving on the board of the Downtown Business Alliance. I felt fortunate to be able to participate in stakeholder meetings while the new Economic Development Plan was being formulated. I was pleased to see much of the stakeholder feedback from those meetings being reflected by concrete action items in the plan. As a member of Town Council, my role with shift from advocacy to resourcing. We now have a consensus plan and dedicated staff to execute it. Some of the most fundamental changes are rebranding, which means cultural changes. The responsibility for such changes ultimately will come down to consistent messaging and support from leadership, and that all starts with your elected officials. We must consistently support town staff with our words, actions, and resources. That is the role of a leader. Providing resources means providing resources to directly support town staff and giving them the ability to execute the plan. We?re at the point now where it?s time to do exactly that. The Chamber will be directly involved in this process. One of the top priorities in the plan is clarifying the roles of economic development organizations, culminating the creation of a new consolidated economic development non-profit to replace the advisory Economic Vitality Committee. This non-profit will be tasked with recruiting new business and empowered with the authority and resources to do so. Likewise, the plan recommends consolidating the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and Downtown Business Alliance (DBA). It is not clear to me that the consultants fully grasp the implications of such a move. I have given my support to furthering this discussion. We just must be mindful of the role of the DDA as a quasi-governmental organization as defined under the state?s urban renewal law vs the abilities of the DBA as a 501c3. I look forward to helping define how this relationship will work."

Question 2 and 3 for Candidate Bryan Woods:

Please state how you would vote on the proposal for the winter closing of HayMaker trail.

"There has been much disinformation spread on these topics. The premise of these questions is disrespectful to the public engagement process. Any changes to existing policy would have to be proposed by a vote of the town?s Open Space & Recreation Advisory Committee (OSRAC). Currently nothing is before council for consideration. Some town residents have asked for changes to existing public lands access policies. To date OSRAC has not made any recommendations on any changes, nor have they considered any such proposals. Some of these issues require careful coordination with neighboring federal land managers. As your elected official, I will be bound to follow the established processes of our democratic government. The town has established advisory committees to handle these issues. I am personally thankful for the committee members who have volunteered their service to the town. It is their job to carefully deliberate and send recommendations to the Town Council for official adoption. Any candidate who would give a yes or no answer to these questions either does not understand our democratic process, or is trying to subvert it for their own interests."

~ End of Q&A for Candidate Bryan Woods
 

~ Q&A for Candidate Tom Olden

Question 1 for Candidate Tom Olden:

By the time of this election, the Town Council will have approved a first-ever Economic Development Strategic Plan for our town. Do you consider this plan to be important - if so, or if not, why? What role do you see for yourself in supporting the implementation of this plan?