HomeMy WebLinkAbout11. Town_Manager_Report_3.1.18
TOWN MANAGER REPORT -
March 6th TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
Newsletter Date
TOPICS
• Fire Department Updates
• Housing Director
Recruitment
• IT Updates
• Doubletree Opening
• Safe Bar Program
• Annual Legislative
Meeting - CAST
• Thanks to Finance
Department
Fire Department Updates
On Friday, April 16th, I joined the meeting with the A Shift of the Fire Department
at Fire Station 2. Topics included emergency response protocol related to smoke
and CO alarms (residential and commercial), possible location of data center
infrastructure in Fire Station 3, and other various topics. Efforts will continue to
have occasional presence at these meetings to establish a healthy working
relationship between our hardworking firefighters and the Town Manager’s office.
A similar meeting occurred with the B Shift on Monday, February 19th. The B
Shift is under the leadership of Captain Jake Savona. I will look forward to
meeting with the C Shift in the near future.
On Thursday, March 8th, the Fire Department will be hosting its annual dinner for
the Wounded Warriors Foundation. We are honored to have men and women
from all branches of the military here to cap off a week of adaptive skiing and
snowboard lessons provided by our partners at the Vail Veterans Program and
Vail Resorts.
Housing Director Recruitment
The Director of Housing position was posted for five weeks beginning on January
15th and advertised locally, nationally and on industry specific websites.
Applicants were encouraged to apply by February 7th at which time we began
reviewing all submissions.
The Town received 50 applications for consideration with a very good number of
qualified candidates, many of which are working in the Colorado mountain
region. We have assembled an internal review panel, and have laid out a
review/interview process that will follow, which closely resembles the protocol
that we used for the Economic Director recruitment late last year.
Specifically, the review panel will be comprised of four staff persons (Aryn
Schlichting, Patty McKenny, Kathleen Halloran, and Lynne Campbell), and two
Housing Authority members (Steve Lindstrom and Molly Morales). This panel will
help narrow the field to the top several candidates who will then be invited to
interview in person (or Skype). The interviews should occur within the next two to
three weeks. The actual interview process will be bifurcated, with the panel
conducting one set of interviews and the Town Manager’s Office (accompanied
by Krista Miller) conducting simultaneous interviews in a different room. We will
all convene at the end of the day and share notes. Stay tuned for the results of
this important process.
Information Technology Updates
Council was previously apprised of efforts by the IT Department, and others, to
identify and secure both short-term and long-term options for the data center that
is currently housed in Town Hall. For many years, the Town of Vail has been
struggling with power and heating/cooling issues at the municipal complex, with
somewhat outdated building infrastructure. Additionally, it would be strategically
beneficial to have redundancy within the data center system to better enable the
Town to operate during periods of power outages and related events.
The IT Department is currently exploring these options which include the
evaluation of multiple sites, both public and private, beyond that of Town. One
possible site, as noted above, includes the Fire Station 3 facility.
DoubleTree Hotel Opening
The Building Department was able to issue a Temporary Certificate of
Occupancy (TCO) to the Doubletree by Hilton Vail on February 16th! This
certificate was effective immediately and is contingent upon some outstanding
items that still require completion, some of which cannot happen until the spring
season.
Town Manager’s Report Page 2
That stated, all fire and life safety items have been verified and the hotel can now
be partially occupied.
There are two outstanding items of note:
• The fourth floor of the hotel is not yet approved for occupancy and is
effectively locked away from public access. This condition of the TCO
should be complete prior to the end of March, 2018;
• The kitchen and food service for the hotel is a separate permit and will not
be complete until sometime this spring.
A big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen, including Chief
Building Official CJ Jarecki, and Fire Marshal Mike Vaughan. A note of
appreciation is also extended to Mark Hallenbeck with the Rocky Mountain
Construction Group for providing special assistance to the developer and
construction team throughout this process. Some town staff will be attending a
“Sneak Peak” late on Thursday, March 1st.
Safe Bar Program
Vail Police Department hosted a “Safe Bar” meeting for the local restaurant and
bar owners this past week. The meeting was very productive and was well
attended by local drinking establishments. There were also representatives from
the Vail Liquor Authority, the Vail Fire Department, the Deputy Town Clerk, and
the Colorado Department of Revenue Liquor Enforcement Division. These
stakeholder groups have shown a great deal of support for the Safe Bar program,
and the theme of the meeting was “partnerships and education”.
The bar owners and managers were very engaged and had some great feedback
for the group. At the end of the two-hour meeting, the drinking establishments
have been made aware that they remain accountable for some of the issues that
appear to be occurring, and that resolution of these issues will require the
collaborative efforts of all.
This type of interactive training and program offering through the VPD creates a
higher acknowledgment of individual accountability while instituting better
conduits of communication and information sharing. Thanks to all who
participated as this will help achieve a more active means of addressing the
increase in incidents that have been occurring of late.
Town Manager’s Report Page 3
CAST Annual Legislative Meeting
The annual meeting is quickly approaching, occurring in Denver on March 15th. I
will be attending and will take good notes to report back to Council. The agenda
is pasted below, evidencing a busy day with presentations by the CDOT
Executive Director, an economic update from the Leeds School of Business (CU),
a discussion with the State Land Board Executive Director, and some time with
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
The business will be followed, as always, with a dinner involving many of our
representative legislators. At this time attendance looks pretty good and we are
all looking forward to a productive meeting.
Town Manager’s Report Page 4
Thanks to the Finance Team
Finally, but certainly not least, at the time of this writing we are in the first day of
the new Short Term Rental Policy. Preceding this inaugural date has been
several months of thorough research, collaborative discussions, and hard work of
many people. It has been a wonderful demonstration of the policy process in
action at the local level, where there exists an immediate connection between
citizens and their government.
Special thanks go to those who did the ‘heavy lifting’. While much work lies
ahead, we are grateful to the hard work of the Finance Department, under the
leadership of Finance Director Kathleen Halloran. Well done!
Town Manager’s Report Page 5