Noticias

• Gomez, Mogenson, and Arguelles Elected to Mountain Village Town Council
• Mountain Village Postpones Election on Ski Lift Ticket Tax
• Rediscovering the Soul of Advocating for Change

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Gomez, Mogenson, and Arguelles Elected to Mountain Village Town Council

Mountain Village has a new Town Council.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mountain Village officials announced the unofficial results of the 2025 council election.

Rick Gomez, Harvey Mogenson and Alline Arguelles took the top spots, earning seats on the seven-member Town Council.

Gomez and Mogenson were re-elected with the highest votes — 234 and 189, respectively. Arguelles was elected with 152 votes, just one vote higher than the fourth spot.

Any candidate is eligible to request a recount at their own expense. Candidates have 15 days to ask for a recount.

As the only new member joining council, Arguelles said she’s excited and honored to receive support from the community and grateful for the conversations the campaign sparked.

“It was a really great election cycle with really caring and passionate candidates who were running. I really appreciated getting to know all the candidates and go through the process and I’m very excited to work with the existing council. It’s a very collaborative team and I’m excited to bring what contribution I can to the group,” Arguelles said.

The electeds highlight issues including housing, the wastewater treatment plant and the gondola as priorities. Gomez said it’s infrastructure.

“That will cover the gondola. That will cover the wastewater treatment plan. That will cover housing developments,” he said.

He also wants to put additional focus on mental health for the local workforce.

“I’ve always said it. We the workforce are the true VIPs of the destination, so it’s important that we’re taken care of and by taken care of, for me it all starts with mental health,” Gomez said.

Arguelles added she wants to hone in on how all the issues come together.

“In Mountain Village we live together, we play together, and we work together, and we have to look at all those components, and the ways that all the constitutions work together to make those things a valuable experience for everyone involved,” she said.

For Mogenson, he said it’s about sticking to what’s best for Mountain Village.

“I’m not an issues-oriented person. I don’t come with issues 1, 2 and 3. I think it’s all about finding the right balance and doing a good job of running the town government. Sorry if that’s not a sexy answer,” he said.

Gomez, Mogenson and Arguelles said Mountain Village’s financial and economic future might be a challenge moving into the next four years.

“I don’t want to be a downer, but I think we’re coming into a slower economy, and so I think we’ll have challenges meeting those coming capital needs: wastewater, gondola, some other infrastructure things in the towns. Meanwhile our revenues are probably decreasing going forward. Both Mountain Village and Telluride are coming off the post-COVID boom, so I think it’s balancing how to keep all our services where we want them to be, while finding the money for the capital projects that are looming,” Mogenson said.

As work continues, Mogenson and Gomez said they’re excited to keep community engagement going.

“I may challenge Mother Nature to add a 25th hour of the day so I have an extra hour to really chat with the community and understand what their positions are and how they align with mine so I can make better decisions as a councilmember,” Gomez said.

In addition to the Town Council election, voters also decided on five ballot measures. All but one failed at the ballot box.

Question 1, which would have changed the Town Charter to establish voting rights for non-resident homeowners who hold their property as an LLC or trust, failed by just over 60%.

Question 2 would have changed the date ordinances become effective in Mountain Village. That measure failed by roughly 52%.

Question 3 would have allowed ordinances and public notices to be published on the town’s website rather than in the newspaper. The measure failed by approximately 53%.

Question 4 would have eliminated an election requirement for the town to issue a revenue bond. The measure failed by nearly 70%.

Question 5 was the only question to pass in this year’s election. The measure passed by just over 60% and will clarify terms for Design Review Board members.

Mountain Village issued 998 ballots. A total of 411 ballots were returned, for a voter turnout of nearly 47%.

The new Town Council will be sworn in at the Mountain Village Town Council meeting on July 17. The first order of business will be selecting a mayor and mayor pro tem to serve for the next two years.

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Mountain Village Postpones Election on Ski Lift Ticket Tax

Voters in Mountain Village will wait until November to vote on ski lift ticket tax.

At a Mountain Village Town Council meeting last Wednesday, June 18, the council unanimously voted to postpone the election of a ski lift ticket tax from the June 24 election to November.

The measure, Ballot Question No. 6, will decide if a 5% tax should be imposed on ski lift tickets at the Telluride Ski Resort to help fund gondola operations, with the exception of season passes.

“For a variety of reasons, including what’s stated in the resolution to give us more opportunity to consult with stakeholders, we think it would be good to postpone this to the November TABOR election,” said Mountain Village Town Attorney David McConaughy, presenting the resolution to Town Council.

“We don’t think there’s going to be a lot of lift tickets sold over the summer, when the ski area is closed anyway, so it’s my recommendation we do this and kick this one to November,” he added.

While the ballots for the June 24 election were mailed out with Ballot Question No. 6, Mountain Village Mayor Marti Prohaska explained that no votes on the measure will be counted. McConaughy further clarified that if you voted on Ballot Measure No. 6, your ballot will not be affected.

The ballot measure was introduced this spring after Telski withdrew from an agreement with the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation to impose a lift ticket tax to raise money for gondola operations.

In March, Mountain Village Town Manager Paul Wisor spoke about the need for the lift ticket tax after Telski backed out of the agreement.

“During that time, those representatives continually reminded the ski company if a fee could not be agreed to and signed by the ski company by this time this year, the town of Mountain Village would be forced to begin the procedures of adopting an ordinance to place a question on this November’s ballot to impose a lift tax on our own,” Wisor said in March.

Despite postponing the ballot measure to November, Mountain Village Town Council remains committed to seeing it through.

“I think that we’re very much committed to seeing this through, and so much so that we want for it to be done in the best, in the best way possible,” said Mayor Prohaska.

The question of the ski lift ticket tax will be on the ballot in Mountain Village for the Nov. 4 election.

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Rediscovering the Soul of Advocating for Change

Auden Schendler is considered an optimist. He’s spent most of his life tackling climate change, working in sustainability for Aspen Ski Co., serving as an elected official in Basalt, and earning recognition as a “climate innovator” by TIME magazine.

Despite the alarming pace of climate change in mountain communities, Schendler hasn’t backed down. In fact, he’s written a book about it — Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul.

“It’s basically trying to get people to connect to climate action through their own humanity,” Schendler said. “It’s a book that, you know, if someone said to me, ‘Hey Auden, I know you’re in the climate field, I got a new book for you on climate,’ I’d be like, ‘Uhh, no thank you.’ And this isn’t that. This is stories of life and family and real projects being implemented on the ground. It’s fun and weird and entertaining.”

Schendler is this month’s Authors Uncovered presenter at the Wilkinson Public Library. He will speak on Monday, June 30, at 5:30 p.m.

He’ll be sharing his ideas about advocating for change — something he believes mountain towns are uniquely positioned to lead.

“I mean, the simple way to think about mountain towns is these are world-famous locations that are massively influential because of the media they get and because of who comes there,” he said. “And so they can serve as these laboratories for solutions, whether it’s housing or mass transit or clean energy and so forth.”

Schendler also sees a missed opportunity in the outdoor industry, which he says has yet to become a serious political force for climate action.

“If you think about the outdoor industry as a political advocacy group, it basically isn’t present,” he said. “It’s present on a lot of issues that seem obvious like land use or Bears Ears or wilderness and so forth. But it hasn’t intervened on the most obvious threat, which is climate change.

“So a lot of my work has been to ask the question — and then try to answer it — how do you mobilize this 40 million or 100 million strong outdoor group as a political voice? And that would start in mountain towns.”

The thesis of Terrible Beauty, Schendler said, is not about individual guilt for living in a fossil fuel economy — it’s about rejecting the kind of environmentalism that ignores policy and legislation.

“So the test for that is, if you were the fossil fuel industry, what would you want really powerful entities like ski resorts or tech companies to do?” he said. “You’d want them to take blame for the problem, to reduce their own emissions, but never intervene in politics. Never say, ‘Hey, we need regulation, we need a carbon tax.’ And that’s where we are, and that’s what I mean by complicity.”

As for how to begin engaging in this kind of work, Schendler said it starts with embracing democracy — even when it’s hard.

“You know, my thesis is it tweaks environmentalism as understood since the ’70s — which is, ‘I’m going to take care of my world,’ kind of a Thoreauvian view of my carbon footprint, my house, my bean patch — and it says, no, your obligation is to be a citizen in the world,” he said. “And that’s what we’ve missed in America.

“You know, we have really failed to remember how hard it is to be and live in democracy. There’s a lot of work you have to do, and it’s kind of difficult, and we’re sort of like, ‘I’m gonna go on a mountain bike ride.’”

Still, he said, that work isn’t without joy. The unique lifestyle of mountain towns, he believes, should serve as testing grounds for bold ideas — and sources of inspiration.

“I know the profound beauty of Telluride. And as a citizen and parent, I know the profound beauty of children and the community and the rivers,” Schendler said. “And what I’m trying to do in the book is say, man, this stuff’s amazing. And it’s all threatened by climate change. And therefore, you should care.

“And by the way, there’s a way to take on this battle that is joyous, because these difficult fights are the kinds of fights that humans have always undertaken — and we undertake them with joy and discipline.”

The event is presented by the Wilkinson Public Library and Between the Covers Bookstore. Copies of Terrible Beauty will be available for purchase.

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Black Bear Road to Close Thursday for Storm Debris Cleanup

Black Bear Road will be closed Thursday, June 26, for maintenance and storm debris removal, according to San Miguel County officials.

The closure is necessary to facilitate maintenance work and to remove storm debris along the switchbacks up to Ingram Falls. During the operation, there will be a risk of falling rock and debris on the roadway.

The closure will include Black Bear Road, Bridal Veil hiking trails, Bridal Veil Falls, Via Ferrata and the Lewis Mill Trail through Bridal Veil Basin.

Work will take place from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.

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CPW Kicks Off Smallmouth Bass Classic at Ridgway Reservoir

The Ridgway Reservoir Smallmouth Bass Classic kicks off next weekend at Ridgway State Park.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife welcomes anglers of all ages to catch smallmouth bass and help reduce the population in the reservoir — an effort to protect native fish and water users downstream.

According to CPW, smallmouth bass were introduced illegally into Ridgway Reservoir. The fish are predatory, and there is a risk they could escape the reservoir and enter the river, where they might consume native species.

CPW will award $20,000 in prize money this year. The angler who harvests the most bass will earn $10,000. Second place will receive $5,000, and third place will receive $1,000. Anyone who returns a bass will also be entered into a raffle to win additional prizes.

There are no bag or possession limits on smallmouth bass during the competition.

Anglers must drop the bass at the Fish Drop Box next to the boat ramp to have their catch counted in the tournament. CPW will accept either the full bass carcass or just the head if anglers wish to keep the meat. The carcasses will be used for research.

In 2022, anglers set a record with more than 5,500 smallmouth bass turned in during the tournament.

The Smallmouth Bass Classic runs from noon Saturday, July 5, through 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. All participants need is a valid Colorado fishing license and a pass to enter Ridgway State Park.

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Colorado to Invest $3 Million in Naloxone

Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Tuesday the state is investing $3 million in a new batch of the overdose reversal medication naloxone. The money comes from Colorado’s share of opioid settlement funds.

Weiser said the investment is necessary now because it’s unlikely the federal government will continue helping Colorado pay for the medicine.

“We’re going to have to find ways to keep that going, because this is such a crucial life-saving strategy,” Weiser said.

More than 100,000 doses of naloxone will be distributed for free over the next year. They’ll be provided to organizations in all 64 counties.

Colorado won a lawsuit against the Trump administration in May over the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal public health grants.

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Colorado Democrats Plan to Refocus Party Platform

With their party struggling nationally, Colorado Democrats are launching a new initiative to streamline their state party platform and better communicate it to voters.

For the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, Bente Birkeland has more.

Story begins at 16:36.

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New Podcast Tells the Stories of King Soopers Shooting Victims

Four years ago, a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.

Ten people were murdered, including shoppers, store employees and a police officer.

For Erika Mahoney, the tragedy was deeply personal. Her father, Kevin Mahoney, was among the victims. Erika is telling her story, and the stories of many others impacted by the shooting, in a new podcast called Senseless.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Maeve Conran reports.

Story begins at 17:32.