Meet the candidates for Kremmling Town Council
Erik C. Woog
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
Kremmling has a few hurdles to get over right now, and certainly has a significant number of them to face on the horizon. I don’t want to expound on all of the things currently needing attention without first saying that Kremmling has, and is moving forward, and that this community is blessed with some truly awesome people who put a lot of effort to keep that a trend. Some of the noteworthy items that tend to come up in conversations suggest town needs to deal with things such as growing infrastructure needs as these funding pools have been depleted, an appropriate sustainable means to retain our police department, continuing to move forward on aesthetic concerns, expanding recreational opportunities, better housing opportunity, and consideration for better mosquito control. It is important to note that all of these share one commonality, funding. I will drill into this by first saying that I believe defining a clear direction is paramount. We must stay focused on preparing for the future, yet maintain a broad enough perspective to recognize what that future will likely look like. Considering the community’s past decade trend of housing residents who work and shop in surrounding communities, and how this has resulted in an obvious shortage of housing. With very few apartments or homes for rent or sale, it seems time to sit down with some developers to find potential solutions. However, that’s not a magic bullet as some have eluded to. By this time, it should be fairly obvious to most folks that the above mentioned surrounding communities are effectively closing in on us, bringing with them a significant increase in property values. This is both good and bad.
Though the value upside may benefit those who plan to sell, it means higher property taxes for residents who have no plans to. Most people would tend to believe higher property taxes would manifest in respectively higher revenues for the town. This, unfortunately, is not the case as the TABOR act limited municipality’s capacity to appropriate property taxes and instead bestows the primary burden Meet the candidates for Kremmling Town Council Richard Terwilliger What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues? I think there are issues ongoing in every town, but the one that stands out to me in Kremmling is that the Town Council is elected by the people so why can’t the people have better communication with the town without having to complain at a meeting to be heard?? Town Council should be listening to what people want; that’s the job of the town council. As of late, that doesn’t seem to be the case. David Sammons What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues? Like most small towns, infrastructure is an ongoing issue, and this town is always going to face shortfalls for large projects.
The go-to answer is for the Town to apply for more grants, and cost-share programs, on retail sales tax. This means our way forward must also be primarily focused on the generation of retail sales tax or the result will be an unsustainable future for Kremmling. I think for many people it may come as a surprise to learn that the gross majority of a municipal budget comes from sales tax, and not from their property tax (which instead represents only a small portion of the annual budget). That means an increase in houses and residents will actually represent a net burden to the gross municipal budget, which ultimately collapses under its own weight. This is, unfortunately, an inevitability without a respective increase in direct retail experience and subsequent sales taxes.
These are just the cold hard facts. This entire explanation speaks to just how systemic and symbiotic the relationship is between citizen and business, between residential and commercial development. We absolutely have to consider all the different facets of what makes a sustainable community if we are to comprehensively move it forward. Adding to this that Kremmling absolutely must be, and stay actively involved in pursuing development and other grant funds before we find ourselves back in the water infrastructure emergency we just got out of 8 years ago. In summary, all the hurdles we face now and will face in the future cannot be comprehensively dealt with without direct focus on, you guessed it… Funding. In a nutshell, most people who know me, know that I am a fiscal and social conservative and a pragmatist, a nuts, and bolts kind of guy if you will. I prefer to thoroughly break everything down, then determine what things will cost and where the money will come from. I believe my 30-year successful business history in this community and being raised by a banker and judge have given me a unique aptitude to deal with these challenges.
David Sammons
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
Like most small towns, infrastructure is an ongoing issue, and this town is always going to face shortfalls for large projects. The go to answer is for the Town to apply for more grants, and cost share programs, but it turns out that these opportunities are limited and very competitive. As a Board member, I only have one vote, and no magic wand; I can only help manage and prioritize the assets we have on hand. Because I have more than a layman’s experience with excavation and constructions projects, I can direct the resources we have in the most efficient manner.
Holly Martinson
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
The main issue I notice with Kremmling is the overall appearance of the town when I drive in. Although the area and store fronts around the town square have improved, there are other areas along the highways and in neighborhoods that need attention .I believe enforcing the current laws will be a huge step as well as continuing the town clean up day so people have a place to recycle and/or throw out their larger unwanted items.
Richard Terwilliger
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
I think there are issues ongoing in every town, but the one that stands out to me in Kremmling is that the Town Council is elected by the people so why can’t the people have better communication with the town without having to complain at a meeting to be heard?? Town Council should be listening to what people want; that’s the job of the town council. As of late, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Wes Howell
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
I would say PRIDE would be close to the top of the list. If you take a drive around town notice how many properties have trees that need trimmed, fences that need mending, weeds that would be protruding through the snow(if we had any). We need to take PRIDE in our community and I believe that it starts at the top. We as a town need to set the example by keeping our rights of way maintained, keeping our open spaces green, and keeping the snowpack off the road. We can take the little steps that will change the mindset of “We are not Vail” to “We are Kremmling/West Grand.”
Grace Bohall
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
The top issues facing Kremmling are a housing shortage and a stretched thin police force. To address the housing shortage, we need to temporarily allow people to build without the curb, sidewalk, and gutter regulations. This would allow houses to be built cheaper, as well as save the town money on maintenance in the future by not having to maintain the curb, sidewalk, and gutter. To address the stretched police force we need to allow the police force an increased budget to hire a fifth officer. This will help decrease overtime worked by the officers as well as help officers take their vacation time and help reduce burn out. The extra officer will also help take on the increased work load caused by the current crime increase.
Scott Crandall
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
Overall growth of the town. With good and fair support for all businesses to help them grow. Try and keep the housing market available and fairly priced. Support the police and increase the staff size. Keep planning for the future Town needs and save up for upcoming needs and improvements.
Leo Pesch III
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
OOne of the biggest issues currently facing our town is attraction. Our town is awesome, but does it look like it? How do we make Kremmling the cleanest looking town in Colorado and attract new business and families? We need to make sure that the current ordinances are being followed and make new ones where needed. Along with that, housing is becoming an issue. We need to attract new housing developments and more affordable housing for the people of Kremmling, including our hard working teaching staff. Another big issue facing Kremmling, is the need for further development of a recreation service. Our kids and families need something to spend their time with, when not enjoying the beautiful area we live in. Currently, the only options for this are outside of our town. These are just a few items in our amazing community that need to be addressed. We are an amazing community, and I would love for the outside world to see that as we do.
Peter L. Moschonas
Some current board members seemed to not be prepared at the meetings. If elected, I would read the meeting material and would be prepared. We need new housing. We should review current town codes to see if there are some changes needed or not to help support builders constructing new housing. We need to have a dump.
We need to try to work with Grand County or some private landowners to build a recycling facility.
We need new industry that would have full time jobs with benefits. We need to work with the Chamber of Commerce to invite potential new business to open facilities.
Meet the Mayor Candidates
Grover Pryor
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
I think we need to focus on smart growth as a small town. I feel like the appearance of our community could also improve.
Thomas Clark
What are the top issues currently facing Kremmling? How would you address these issues?
The biggest issue facing Kremmling is the police department. The lawsuit cost the town $1,000,000.
This is not acceptable and the town can not afford any more mistakes made by our officers.
It is up to the staff and myself to bring alternatives and options to the town board for their decision on how the Town should move forward so this does not happen again.
A smaller issue is housing, there needs to be some more housing built. We need to see builders and property owners come before the town board with their ideas and plans.
Another thing that I would like to see is some more small industries, like the pellet mill, come to town which could offer our workers full-time employment with benefits. If I am reelected I will work with the various entities (Local, Regional, State, National) to try to attract these industries to Kremmling. Personally, I would also like to see the pellet mill running again, but I’m not quite sure how to do that yet Kremmling has come a long ways in the 16 years that I have been the Mayor and I want to see this momentum continue. There is always room for improvement.
The Grand Gazette will be introducing candidates for mayor and town council over the next few weeks. Ballots will be mailed before March 19 and this should give early voters a chance to get to know the candidates before then. Ballots need to be returned to the Town Hall in person or by mail by April 3. If you would like to see a question for all the candidates answered here, please email to grandgazette@gmail.com.
