Town Manager’s Newsletter

1. Thank You’s -

A. The Cycle Effect

2. July 31st Occupancy Notes and Report -

July Occ ended at 54.7% vs. 58.2% in July 2019 (-6%).

Room nights on the books were down 3.7% with a 2.5% increase in available nights.

ADR was down $13 or -6.4%, resulting in a $17 or 14% drop in RevPAR.

June – August nights on the books are down 17% Year over Year

On June 30, August 2020 nights on the books were down 31%. On July 30, August nights are down 4.4%.

August 2020 occupancy has great potential to exceed 2019 occupancy.

Labor day weekend in 2019 included August nights which will not happen in 2020. This may be what prevents exceeding August occupancy.

September fill was UGLY.

3. DMMO Download from the BTO -

A. August 12th Issue

B. August 14th Issue

C. August 17th Issue

4. Summit County Government -

A. Work Session Agenda - August 18th

B. Board of Health Meeting - August 18th & 20th

5. Summit County Government Updates -

A. Wildfire Smoke Impacting Summit County Air Quality

B. Summit County Enters Stage 2 Fire Restrictions

C. Air Quality Health Advisory for Wildfire Smoke

D. Air Quality Health Advisory Continues for Wildfire

Smoke

August 18th, 2020

Town Manager’s Newsletter

6. Local Organization Updates -

A. Breckenridge Grand Vacations Press Release - Fall

Grants

B. BreckCreate - Tree-O

C. Make A Difference Day - August 29th

D. Summit Chamber - Economic Impact Survey Results

E. Summit Community Care Clinic - August 2020

F. Summit Community Care Clinic - Service Updates

G. The Eagle - Colorado Mtn College - August 2020

H. The Summit Foundation - Great Rubber Duck Race

7. I-70 Mountain Corridor Improvements -

A. Week of August 16th, 2020

8. Northwest Colorado Council of Governments -

A. Resources Bulletin - August 18th, 2020

9. Colorado Municipal League -

A. Virtual Conference - Deadline to Register is Today

B. Elected Officials Digest - Aug. 18th, 2020

10. Colorado Association of Ski Towns -

A. Big Pivots - August 14th, 2020

August 18th, 2020

July 31, 2020 Occupancy Forecast Notes

Hello Breckenridge Business Leaders,

Bookings made in July for arrival in July added 21 point of occupancy vs. 14 points of occupancy in 2019. The result was 54.7% occupancy vs. 58.2% in July 2019. Room nights on the books were down 3.7% year over year (YOY). The average nightly rate was down 6.4% YOY.

Bookings made in July for August arrivals were up 23% year over year. Unfortunately, September volumes were down 48% YOY. Surprisingly, November and December experienced higher demand than one year ago.

The chart below breaks down occupancy percentage by month, the year over year variance (YOY), and how the variance has changed in the past 90 days.

2020 2019 YOY

Variance

YOY Variance on

Prior Month Report

YOY Variance 60 days

past

YOY Variance 90 Days

Past May 1.0% 18.7% -94.7% -94.7% -100.0% -88.8% June 19.2% 38.7% -50.4% -77.3% -80.7% -61.2% July 54.7% 58.2% -6.0% -24.5% -56.8% -45.3% August 34.5% 37.7% -8.5% -34.4% -29.9% -14.1% September 11.0% 19.3% -43.0% -41.5% -41.2% -23.6% October 6.5% 6.8% --4.4% -1.8% 21.6% 55.6% Season 21.4% 30.0% -28.7% -42.7% -59.9% -49.3%

The last minute booking pace remains impressive. School news and the related athletic season statuses create numerous wildcards in predicting future business. Big Ten College football being the latest ground shaker. Event cancellations have hurt September, now. Expect last minute business to cut the deficits we currently see in Sept AND October. Pent up demand, flexibility in work environments combined with Breckenridge’s COVID 19 response and the overall strength of the brand, position us well for a promising fall season.

The volume of last minute bookings this summer leads me to suggest occupancy on August 14 & 15 will be within 5 points of last year’s 76% occupancy. Notice how Aug 16 & 17 exceed last year’s occupancy on the books and could exceed 45% each day. The deficit we see on Aug 29 is a later Labor Day weekend in 2020.

Speaking of Labor Day weekend, notice Friday and Saturday fill was below last year when the weekend was Oktoberfest in 2019. However, Sunday fill shows the weekend has potential to reach into the 70’s for occupancy. No Oktoberfest or Wine Classic, stalls advanced bookings for Sept 12 & Sept 19 weekends.

The snapshot below of November 2020 through January 2021 has one interesting bubble. The Nov 30 – Dec 5 bubble reflects a shift in Universities who changed their winter break to remain closed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yes, 10% of colleges/Universities made this change in between March and June of 2020.

Thank you to the lodging companies who supply the data and the second homeowners who provide the investments. Stay Safe and have fun every day. Bill Wishowski – Breckenridge Tourism Office

Appendix: Speaking of nights – here is the updated chart on summer season nights. Nights

2020 2019 YOY

Variance

YOY Variance on

Prior Month Report

YOY Variance 60 days

past

YOY Variance 90 Days

Past

May

628

10,708 -94.1% -94.1% -94.1% -99.6%

June

12,062

23,578 -48.8% -48.8% -76.5% -79.7%

July

35,247

36,586 -3.7% -21.3% -54.7% -43.1%

August

22,580

23,607 -4.4% -30.7% -25.9% -10.2%

September

6,652

11,286 -41.1% -39.0% -38.7% -20.6%

October

4,425

4,464 -0.9% 1.0% 23.8% 62.1%

Season

81,594

110,229 -26.0% -39.9% -58.0% -47.3% ** Total Nights Available in the season = 3.8% YOY

APPENDIX The chart below is a simple estimate. Do not take this to a bank and ask for money with this data. I create this to offer perspective and some estimate of what to expect.

Occupancy DMX Nights

STR Nights

Estimated Overnight Visitors

10% 214

498

1,991

15% 321

747

2,986

20% 428

995

3,981

25% 535

1,244

4,977

30% 642

1,493

5,972

35% 749

1,742

6,967

40% 856

1,991

7,963

45% 963

2,240

8,958

50% 1,070

2,488

9,953

55% 1,177

2,737

10,949

60% 1,284

2,986

11,944

65% 1,391

3,235

12,940

70% 1,498

3,484

13,935

75% 1,605

3,733

14,930

80% 1,712

3,981

15,926

APPENDIX School Break Calendar Takeaways

• More Public Schools and Universities are starting classes later in August and September. • 15% more Public Schools are in session until Dec 23, 2020, extending the break season into

January 6, 2021 • Thirty percent more Universities are in session until Dec 18, 2020, extending the break season

into Jan 24. • Thirty-five percent of public schools have extended breaks around the President’s weekend.

o Key markets include Texas, Southern California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida, Ney York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and some Colorado.

• Texas school breaks split between March 6 and March 13 start dates. • More schools moved out of March 1 – 14 dates and added March 14 – 21 and March 28 – April 4

(Easter Sunday) dates. o Public Schools in many of our major markets are off March 28 – April 4

• Due to the later start, more schools and Universities are in session in May AND June 2021. The volume of schools doing online classes will have the ability to disrupt normal family travel patterns. We have our radar on these developments.

Executive SummaryDaily Occupancy Report as of Jul 31, 2020

Content & Overview

Contents Grapha. Rolling 6-month viewb. Static summer viewc. Static winter viewd. 60-day advance view

Participating Properties

Peak Property Mgmt Pine Ridge Condominiums Ski Country Resorts &Sports VRI - Breck - Crystal Peak Lodge

VRI - Breck - Double Tree VRI - Breck - Mountain ThunderLodge

VRI - Breck - One Ski HillPlace

VRI - Breck - Village at Breckenridge PropertyMgmt

VRI - Breck - Gravity Haus WoodWinds Property Management Pinnacle Lodging VRI - Breck - River Mountain Lodge

Grand Lodge on Peak 7 Residence Inn Breckenridge Alpine Edge The Lodge & Spa at Breckenridge

Wyndham Vacation Rentals -Breckenridge Beaver Run Resort Blue Sky Lodge Grand Timber Lodge/Peak Resorts

Great Western Lodging

The Daily Occupancy Report tracks occupancy on a daily level of granularity. The report combines the data sets of participating properties into a destination wide view that features three data sets (providing that sufficient information is available) including: i) current YTD occupancy, ii) last YTD occupancy, iii) last season's ending occupancy.

The Daily Outlook Report is generated on a monthly or twice-monthly basis, usually for a 12 month subscription period, and is created from data provided by a group of properties participating in a cooperative manner,

As is the case in all Inntopia data, all information provided by individual properties is strictly confidential, except when aggregated with other data and indistinguishable as a result.

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems - without the written permissionof the copyright holder. Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners. The publisher and the author make no claim to these Trademarks. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation ofthis document, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and theauthor be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document.

Breckenridge Total Occupancy (Most Recent Data)Daily Occupancy Report as of Jul 31, 2020

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. DBA Inntopia All Rights Reserved. Information provided here is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and is the exclusive property of Inntopia. It is expressly not for reproduction, distribution publication or any other dissemination without the express writtenpermission of Inntopia. Sample reports may be provided to interested persons, specifically for purposes of their evaluation of a potential subscription and are subject to Copyrights of this product. Data and Metrics represented on this report are representative of the Sample Properties only

and may not be representative of the entire Community or Industry. Persons using this data for strategic purposes do so at their own risk and hold Inntopia harmless.

Breckenridge Total Occupancy (Summer-to-date)Daily Occupancy Report as of Jul 31, 2020

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. DBA Inntopia Inntopia's business practices, metrics, reports, systems and procedures and all subscriber data is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, and protected by law. Reproduction or distribution is prohibited. All individual Inntopia subscriber data is kept strictly confidential and displayed only when aggregated with other similar data and indistinguishable as a result.

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Breckenridge Total Occupancy (Winter-to-date)Daily Occupancy Report as of Jul 31, 2020

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. DBA Inntopia Inntopia's business practices, metrics, reports, systems and procedures and all subscriber data is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, and protected by law. Reproduction or distribution is prohibited. All individual Inntopia subscriber data is kept strictly confidential and displayed only when aggregated with other similar data and indistinguishable as a result.

Inntopia, DestiMetrics@Inntopia.com

Breckenridge Total Occupancy (60-Day Advance View)Daily Occupancy Report as of Jul 31, 2020

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. DBA Inntopia Inntopia's business practices, metrics, reports, systems and procedures and all subscriber data is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, and protected by law. Reproduction or distribution is prohibited. All individual Inntopia subscriber data is kept strictly confidential and displayed only when aggregated with other similar data and indistinguishable as a result.

Inntopia, DestiMetrics@Inntopia.com

Calendar EventsDaily Occupancy Report System and Destination Events

© 2020 Sterling Valley Systems, Inc. DBA Inntopia Inntopia's business practices, metrics, reports, systems and procedures and all subscriber data is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, and protected by law. Reproduction or distribution is prohibited. All individual Inntopia subscriber data is kept strictly confidential and displayed only when aggregated with other similar data and indistinguishable as a result.

Inntopia, DestiMetrics@Inntopia.com

Event Name Start Date End Date DescriptionIndependence Day 07/03/2020 07/04/2020

Labor Day Weekend 2020 09/04/2020 09/07/2020Halloween 2020 10/30/2020 10/30/2020

Thanksgiving 2020 11/25/2020 11/25/2020Christmas 2020 12/24/2020 12/24/2020

New Years Day 2021 12/31/2020 12/31/2020Independence Day 2019 07/03/2019 07/04/2019

Street Arts Festival 07/03/2019 07/04/2019BIFA 08/08/2019 08/18/2019

Breck Epic 08/10/2019 08/16/2019Labor Day Weekend 2019 08/31/2019 09/02/2019

25th Annual Breckenridge Oktoberfest 09/05/2019 09/08/2019Breckenridge Film Festival 09/19/2019 09/21/2019

Breckenridge Strings, Ciders & Sours 09/26/2019 09/29/2019Halloween 10/30/2019 10/31/2019

Dia De Los Muertos 10/30/2019 11/02/2019Thanksgiving 11/28/2019 11/28/2019

Lighting of Breckenridge 12/07/2019 12/07/2019Hartford Ski Spectacular 12/09/2019 12/14/2019

Ullr Festival 12/11/2019 12/15/2019Christmas 12/25/2019 12/25/2019

New Year's Eve 12/31/2019 12/31/2019New Year's Day 01/01/2020 01/01/2020

MLK Weekend 2020 01/18/2020 01/20/2020International Snow Sculpting Championships 01/20/2020 01/29/2020

Breckenridge Fall Calendar Update

7.17-8.29 BCA Drive-in Movie Series SCHEDULED 8.16 Breck Epic 2020 CANCELLED 8.27-8.29 Hogfest CANCELLED 8.29 Make a Difference Day SCHEDULED 9.3 Great (Virtual) Rubber Duck Race SCHEDULED VIRTUALLY 9.4-6 Breckenridge Yoga Festival (Beaver Run) CANCELLED 9.5-9.7 Breckenridge Gathering at the Great Divide SCHEDULED 9.9-11 Oktoberfest POSTPONED TO 2021 9.11 Flaming Foliage Race CANCELLED 9.17-9 Breckenridge Wine Classic CANCELLED 9.19-27 Summit Foundation Parade of Homes CANCELLED 9.24-9.26 Strings, Ciders, & Sours CANCELLED 9.25-27/10.2-4 October-FEAST SCHEDULED 10.7 Fire Prevention Week Open House CANCELLED 10.9-11 Craft Spirits Festival/Still on the Hill CANCELLED

Read The Full Updated List Of Updates

Business Reel

Oktober-FEAST Offers An Alternative To Postponed Octoberfest Celebration Oktober-FEAST will consist of Breckenridge’s culinary community choreographing memorable Bavarian-style mountain dining experiences by pairing several-course meals with imaginative libations sure to showcase their unique and playful take on traditional dishes. Read The Official Media Release

July 31, 2020 Occupancy Forecast The July 31st occupancy notes and forecast are published. Read The Notes & View The Occupancy Forecast

In Our Backyard

The Town Of Breckenridge Offers COVID Supplies To Businesses For Purchase The Town of Breckenridge offers masks, sanitizer, clear face shields, and more for purchase to Breckenridge businesses. Purchase Now

GoWorldTravel.com - "Top Things To Do In Breckenridge As a result of hosting Janna Graber in June, GoWorldTravel.com published, “Top Things To Do in Breckenridge,” highlighting new visitor protocol during the coronavirus pandemic. Read More

2020 Census - Stop The Knock The 2020 Census is important to to citizens and our community. Summit County Libraries have set up ‘Census

Stations’ at our 3 locations. The Stop the Knock Campaign has also kicked off. Learn More & Take The Census Now

The Breckenridge Tourism Office (BTO) is closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on

the local economy and strives to be a valuable, timely resource. If there is any assistance or information we can provide to better serve you right now,

please contact Tessa at tbreder@gobreck.com

COVID-19 TOOLBOX

One Breck Blog

Breck Giving Back Stories

Local, State, Federal, & Global Updates

Assistance Resources for Employees & Employers

Breckenridge Restaurants & Retailers Open for Orders

Copyright © 2020 Breckenridge Tourism Office, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you opted in for the weekly BTO newsletter, the DMMO Download.

Mailing Address:

111 Ski Hill Road

PO Box 1909

Breckenridge, CO 80424

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Family Work/Needs Assessment

The Breckenridge Tourism Office is conducting these surveys on the

behalf of the Town of Breckenridge. The Breckenridge Town Council

would like to better understand potential employee and employer

needs relative to changing conditions with in-person schooling and

at home schooling. Please take 3 minutes of your time to complete

the survey which will help guide future plans for the Breckenridge

community. Please pass the survey links and information to

staff. Take The Employee Survey or Take The Employer Survey

Business Reel

Save The Date: Community Update - Breckenridge Resiliency Thursday, August 20th, 9:30am Join Breckenridge Mayor Eric Mamula, Breckenridge Town

Manager Rick Holman, Assistant Town Manager Shannon Haynes, Host Lucy Kay, President/CEO of the Breckenridge Tourism Office and special panelist, Summit County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Marion J. Smith Jr. and a Summit County Health Office Representative for a Breckenridge Community Update.

Breckenridge Featured on Rocky Mountain PBS Rocky Mountain PBS featured Breckenridge’s Walkable Main and Solidarity mural located in Art’s District in most recent visit to Breckenridge. Rocky Mountain PBS is also producing a special on Barney Ford to be released at a later date. Watch Here

In Our Backyard

Summit County Issues Local Stage 2 Fire Restriction Due to the elevated wildfire danger, the Summit County commissioners today enacted Stage 2 fire restrictions, which include a prohibition on all open fires until further notice. This includes even permitted backyard campfires and charcoal grills. Gas grills are permitted. More Information

2020 Census It is not too late to take the 2020 Census. The Census provides important resources for our community. Census stations have been set up at all three Summit County Library locations. Take The Census Now

COVID-19 TOOLBOX

One Breck Blog

Breck Giving Back Stories

Local, State, Federal, & Global Updates

Assistance Resources for Employees & Employers

Breckenridge Restaurants & Retailers Open for Orders

The Breckenridge Tourism Office (BTO) is closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on

the local economy and strives to be a valuable, timely resource. If there is any assistance or information we can provide to better serve you right now,

please contact Tessa at tbreder@gobreck.com

Copyright © 2020 Breckenridge Tourism Office, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you opted in for the weekly BTO newsletter, the DMMO Download.

Mailing Address:

111 Ski Hill Road

PO Box 1909

Breckenridge, CO 80424

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Breckenridge Community Update + Summit County School Plan + Public Health

Thursday, August 20th, 9:30-10:30am

Join Breckenridge Mayor Eric Mamula, Breckenridge Town Manager Rick

Holman, Assistant Town Manager Shannon Haynes, Summit Schools,

Summit County Public Health and Host Lucy Kay, President/CEO of the

Breckenridge Tourism Office for a Breckenridge Community Update. Join The Meeting

Business Reel

Breckenridge Town Council Special Virtual Meeting Wednesday, August 19th, 7:30-9:30am Join the Breckenridge Town Council as they discuss all COVID related information such as assistance, business focus groups, and moving forward into the winter season. Join The Meeting

Request For What's New For Winter Breckenridge Tourism Office is working hard to update our destination winter news and story ideas for the season ahead. If you have a new lodging property, restaurant, attraction or experience opening this winter or upcoming major anniversary or milestone, please send details. If your business is taking an innovative approach to the season or pivoting your business model in the wake of COVID, we want to hear about that too. We understand that winter will look different this year, and while we know there are still many unknowns when it comes to the winter travel season, please send news and ideas to Austyn Dineen, adineen@gobreck.com at your earliest convenience.

Breck Giving Back Country Boy Mine recently donated one day of admissions to Family & Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC). Country Boy raised over $3500 which will be used to help people struggling with housing and food security during these challenging times. www.countryboymine.com

In Our Backyard

Highway 9 Closure August 18-20th Hwy 9 in Frisco will be paved Aug 18-20. County commons entrance at the roundabout will be closed, use the light at Peak one drive instead. the rec area will be closed it to through traffic later this week.

Family Work/Needs Assessments The Breckenridge Tourism Office is conducting these surveys on the behalf of the Town of Breckenridge. The Breckenridge Town Council would like to better understand potential employee and employer needs relative to changing conditions with in-person schooling and at home schooling. Please take 3 minutes of your time to complete a survey which will help guide future plans for the Breckenridge community. Please pass the survey links and information to staff. Take The Employee Survey or Take The Employer Survey

2020 Census It is not too late to take the 2020 Census. The Census provides important resources for our community. Census stations have been set up at all three Summit County Library locations. Take The Census Now

COVID-19 TOOLBOX

One Breck Blog

Breck Giving Back Stories

Local, State, Federal, & Global Updates

Assistance Resources for Employees & Employers

Breckenridge Restaurants & Retailers Open for Orders

The Breckenridge Tourism Office (BTO) is closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on

the local economy and strives to be a valuable, timely resource. If there is any assistance or information we can provide to better serve you right now,

please contact Tessa at tbreder@gobreck.com

Copyright © 2020 Breckenridge Tourism Office, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you opted in for the weekly BTO newsletter, the DMMO Download.

Mailing Address:

111 Ski Hill Road

PO Box 1909

Breckenridge, CO 80424

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

*This agenda and times, depending on length of discussion, are subject to change at any time. Please contact the Manager’s Office or visit our website to obtain updates at: http://www.summitcountyco.gov

Summit County Board of County Commissioners’ Meeting Agenda of August 18, 2020

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 970.453.3402 ph | 970.453.3535 f 208 East Lincoln Ave. | PO Box 68

www.SummitCountyCO.gov Breckenridge, CO 80424

SUMMIT COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

WORK SESSION AGENDA Tuesday, August 18, 2020 9:00 a.m.

County Commissioners’ Meeting Room; Summit County Courthouse 208 Lincoln Avenue, Breckenridge, Colorado

Due to Public Health concerns and social distancing efforts, this meeting will be conducted virtually and the public is encouraged to join by following the instructions below:

To join by phone, dial

(669) 900-9128 or (346) 248-7799 Webinar ID: 830 6865 8032

Password: 0831525490 Press # to bypass the Participant ID

To join from your computer, tablet or smartphone:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83068658032 Password: zCp?w9L+gN

9:00 a.m. Board of Health (BOH) & Board of Social Services (BOSS) Quarterly Update 10:30 a.m. DV Vistas Sales Contract & County’s HOA Declarant Representative (Housing) 11:00 a.m. Managers’ & Commissioners’ Issues 11:30 a.m. Discussion of SB20-217 and the Legal Issues related thereto (Sheriff & Attorney) Noon Lunch

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Summit County Board of Health and Summit County Board of County Commissioners will hold joint recurring public meetings on

Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m.

and Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. until further notice

for the purpose of reviewing information, investigations, and other

issues pertaining to the ongoing COVID-19 Local Disaster Emergency and take action on such matters as may be deemed necessary

Due to Public Health concerns and social distancing efforts, this

meeting will be conducted virtually and the public is encouraged to join the meeting by following the instructions below:

Please click the link below to join the meeting as a public attendee, or enter the Meeting ID and Password through

the Zoom app. https://zoom.us/j/91060163962 Meeting ID: 910 6016 3962

Password: 65GpkjKYI!

You will be able to post questions via Chat or email your questions to CovidQuestions@summitcountyco.gov.

Provided, however, the Boards may not address questions or provide answers during the meeting.

Or Join via Phone (Please note that you will not be able to participate in the

meeting if you only join via phone). (346) 248-7799 (669) 900-9128 (312) 626-6799 (301) 715-8592

Meeting ID: 910 6016 3962

Password: 050060

The Boards may on occasion move into a breakout Executive Session to review public health investigations, health information, or other confidential information

and receive legal advice pertaining thereto.

Wildfire Smoke Impacting Summit County Air Quality

Smoke may pose health concerns for certain individuals, particularly during the pandemic

Contact: Nicole Valentine, Public Affairs Coordinator - Public Health SUMMIT COUNTY – The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) issued an air quality health advisory for wildfire smoke in Summit

County beginning at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 12, lasting until 9 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 13. There are currently no active wildfires burning in Summit County, but air quality has been impacted by wildfire activity in surrounding areas, including Pine Gulch and Glenwood Canyon, and smoke is present locally.

“This is especially concerning in the context of the pandemic, as many of the symptoms of smoke exposure are similar to COVID-19 infection,” Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland said. “Individuals may experience symptoms such as dry cough, sore throat and difficulty breathing, which can be attributed to both wildfire smoke and COVID-19. It is important to take note if you experience fever, chills, muscle aches, body aches or diarrhea, as these are not related to smoke exposure and are symptoms of COVID-19.”

Individuals who experience these symptoms can consult the CDC COVID-19 self-checker to help determine whether further assessment or testing for COVID-19 is needed. Anyone experiencing severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing or chest pain, should immediately call 911.

Those diagnosed with COVID-19 who currently have the virus or are recovering from it are at increased risk from wildfire smoke due to compromised heart and/or lung function related to COVID-19 and should follow the recommendations below to limit their exposure to wildfire smoke.

"This is one instance where it may not be safer in the great outdoors," Wineland said.

Individuals should continue self-quarantine or isolation within their homes or public housing provided by Summit County for those who are unable to quarantine at home.

Public Health Wildfire Smoke Recommendations: If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood, you may want to remain indoors. This is especially true for those with heart disease,

respiratory illnesses, the very young and the elderly. Consider limiting outdoor activity when moderate to heavy smoke is present. Consider relocating temporarily if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill. If visibility is less than 5 miles in your neighborhood, smoke has reached

levels that are unhealthy. References of 5-mile visibility are as follows:

If you are in downtown Dillon or Frisco and unable to see Buffalo Mountain

If you are in Breckenridge and unable to see the mountain tops above the ski area. To mitigate exposure to smoke, public health officials recommend that residents and visitors, especially sensitive individuals, take the following precautions:

Reduce prolonged or heavy exertion. It’s OK to be active outside, but take more breaks and do less intense activities. Watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath.

Consider relocating temporarily if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill. Drink plenty of fluids to keep your respiratory membranes moist. If you develop symptoms suggestive of lung or heart problems, including chest pain or tightness,

shortness of breath or extreme fatigue, consult a medical provider as soon as possible. “While cloth masks help protect against the spread of respiratory droplets that transmit COVID-19, they do not protect you from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke particles, which can travel through a fabric face covering,” said Wineland. “We all need to be vigilant and follow preventative measures to avoid exposure to smoke during the pandemic.”

Consult the CDC COVID-19 Self-Checker if you are experiencing symptoms, to help you determine whether you need further assessment or testing for COVID-19. For more information describing wildfire smoke and protective measures in the context of COVID-19, visit the Summit County Public Health Blog. Local air quality information is available at the Summit County Government wildfire smoke page.

Summit County Enters Stage 2 Fire Restrictions

All fires are prohibited on private property, in forest areas and in campgrounds

Contact: Julie Sutor, Director of Communications SUMMIT COUNTY – The Summit County Board of Commissioners enacted Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, effective Friday, Aug. 14. The commissioners enacted the change during a special meeting Thursday, in recognition of higher fire danger resulting from decreased precipitation and higher temperatures in recent weeks, as well as severe wildfire activity across the Western Slope.

The board’s decision has the support of local fire districts and the Dillon Ranger District of the White River National Forest, which will

also enter Stage 2 Fire Restrictions Friday. Under Stage 2 Restrictions, fires are prohibited in picnic areas, campgrounds, private property and forested areas. The following activities and uses are also prohibited under Stage 2 Restrictions:

Use of charcoal grills Fires in chimeneas or any other outdoor fireplace or manufactured recreational fire device, regardless of

any permit previously issued by the local fire district Use of explosives, tracer ammunition or explosive targets Use or sale of fireworks Pile burns, regardless of previously issued permits Inflation or propulsion of a hot air balloon Use of any engine without a properly functioning spark arresting device.

The following activities and uses are allowed under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions:

Use of gas grills and wood pellet grills Any fire contained within a fireplace, stove, wood burning stove or pellet stove designed for and located

within a fully enclosed permanent structure Use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs); OHVs must remain on designated routes; if parked, OHVs must be

in a barren area free of flammable vegetation, within 10 feet of the route or in a designated parking area. Smoking; smoking must take place a minimum of 3 feet from natural vegetation or other flammable

material; all smoking materials, including cigarettes and matches, must be fully extinguished, cooled and disposed of in a designated receptacle.

Use of an open-flame torch device; the operator must have immediate access to a fire extinguisher and be at least 15 feet from natural vegetation or other flammable material.

Use of a chainsaw; the operator must have immediate access to a minimum 2A:10B:C dry chemical fire extinguisher.

“These restrictions are necessary given the extreme fire conditions and no relief from the weather in sight,” White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said. “We need to do all we can to prevent additional fire starts, and we really need the public to be extremely cognizant of the extreme fire danger.”

Summit County staff has enacted a full closure of the Summit County Shooting Range until further notice. Wildfires can be ignited by hot ammunition fragments. Exploding targets and tracer ammunition are prohibited in Summit County.

According to the National Weather Service, Summit County is projected to have below-normal precipitation and higher-than-normal temperatures over the next several weeks. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that southern Summit County is "abnormally dry" and central and northern Summit County are experiencing "moderate drought" conditions.

Summit County’s towns, law-enforcement agencies and fire departments are united in reminding residents and visitors that campfires, backyard fires and fireworks are strictly prohibited throughout the county. Through an intergovernmental agreement, the towns of Blue River, Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco and Silverthorne will enter Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in concert with the County.

All of Summit County’s law-enforcement agencies will be enforcing the longstanding prohibition on fireworks and the temporary Stage 2 restrictions on open fires prompted by the extreme wildfire danger in the high country.

For more information about current fire restrictions and wildfire prevention, visit www.SummitCountyCO.gov/wildfire. Register for emergency notifications at www.SCAlert.org.

Air Quality Health Advisory for Wildfire Smoke

Affected area includes Summit County and neighboring counties

Contact: Nicole Valentine, Public Affairs Coordinator - Public Health SUMMIT COUNTY – The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has issued an air quality health advisory for wildfire smoke for Routt, Eagle, Jackson, Grand, Summit, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Pitkin, Lake, Park, northern Mesa, central and eastern Garfield and eastern Rio Blanco counties.

Affected Area: Routt, Eagle, Jackson, Grand, Summit, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Pitkin, Lake, Park, northern Mesa, central and eastern Garfield, and eastern Rio Blanco counties. Locations include, but are not limited to Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek, Hayden, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Eagle, Avon, Vail, Walden, Kremmling, Granby, Georgetown, Central City, Aspen, Leadville, Fairplay, Grand Junction, Palisade, De Beque, Parachute, Rifle, Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, and Meeker.

Advisory in Effect: 9:00 AM MDT, Friday, August 14, 2020 to 9:00 AM MDT, Saturday, August 15, 2020.

Public Health Recommendations: If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood you may want to remain indoors. This is especially true for those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young, and the elderly. Consider limiting outdoor activity when moderate to heavy smoke is present. Consider relocating temporarily if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill. If visibility is less than 5 miles in smoke in your neighborhood, smoke has reached levels that are unhealthy.

Outlook: Widespread heavy smoke has been observed across large sections of northern, central, and western Colorado due to the Pine Gulch and Grizzly Creek wildfires. Smoke will gradually diminish Friday morning as atmospheric mixing increases, with the slowest improvement occurring in valley locations. By Friday afternoon the wind at the fires will be out of a west to northwest direction. This will bring periods of moderate to heavy smoke for areas to the east and southeast of both wildfires, possibly including locations as far away as the Continental Divide. By late Friday evening smoke will begin to drain into lower lying areas surrounding both fires. This will bring longer duration, heavy smoke through early Saturday morning to several drainages near the Pine Gulch wildfire including into the De Beque and Grand Junction areas. Meanwhile, heavy overnight smoke from the Grizzly Creek wildfire will impact locations along Interstate 70 in central and eastern Garfield County.

For more information describing wildfire smoke and protective measures in the context of COVID-19, visit the Summit County Public Health Blog. Local air quality information is available at the Summit County Government wildfire smoke page. Consult the CDC COVID-19 Self-Checker if you are experiencing symptoms, to help you determine whether you need further assessment or testing for COVID-19.

Air Quality Health Advisory Continues for Wildfire Smoke

Additional wildfires reported impacting local air conditions; fire ban continues in Summit County

Contact: Nicole Valentine, Public Affairs Coordinator - Public Health SUMMIT COUNTY – The Colorado Department of Public

Health and Environment (CDPHE) has issued an air quality health advisory for wildfire smoke for Jackson, Grand, Summit, Clear Creek, Gilpin and Park Counties. Locations include, but are not limited to Rand, Kremmling, Granby, Winter Park, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Georgetown, Central City, and Fairplay. The air quality advisory is in response to moderate to heavy smoke observed due to the Cameron Peak and Williams Fork wildfires. The advisory is in effect from 9 a.m., Monday, Aug. 17, lasting until 9 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Public Health Recommendations: If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood you may want to remain indoors. This is especially true for those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young, and the elderly. Consider limiting outdoor activity when moderate to heavy smoke is present. Consider relocating temporarily if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill. If visibility is less than 5 miles in smoke in your neighborhood, smoke has reached levels that are unhealthy.

Outlook: Smoke will gradually diminish late Monday morning as atmospheric mixing increases, with the slowest improvement occurring in valley locations. By Monday afternoon the wind at the fires will initially be variable in direction, but will eventually shift to the north. This could bring periods of moderate to heavy smoke for areas to the south of both wildfires through Monday evening. By late Monday evening smoke will begin to drain into lower lying areas surrounding both fires. This will bring longer duration, heavy smoke through early Tuesday morning to drainages near the Cameron Peak wildfire including Poudre Canyon Road and Joe Wright Creek. Meanwhile, heavy overnight smoke from the Williams Fork wildfire will impact locations along Grand County Road 3 and Poudre Canyon Road. Note: Larimer County and other Front Range locations could also be impacted by smoke from these wildfires. However those areas are currently covered by an advisory under the regulatory Action Day program.

Given the hot and dry weather conditions and severity of wildfire risk, Stage 2 Fire Restrictions continue to be in effect for all of Summit County. Under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, the following activities and uses are prohibited:

Fires on private property Fires in designated developed camping or picnic areas Fires within dispersed camping areas or other forested areas Use of a charcoal grill Use of any explosives, including explosive targets and tracer ammunition Inflation or propulsion of a hot air balloon Any type of fireworks display

Pile burns, regardless of any previously issued permit from the local fire district or Summit County Environmental Health

Operating any internal combustion engine without a properly installed and functioning spark arresting device For more information about these restrictions, visit the Summit County Government website. For more information describing wildfire smoke and protective measures in the context of COVID-19, visit the Summit County Public Health Blog. Local air quality information is available at the Summit County Government wildfire smoke page. Consult the CDC COVID-19 Self-Checker if you are experiencing symptoms, to help you determine whether you need further assessment or testing for COVID-19.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BGV Gives Contact: Deb Edwards Phone: 970.453.8748 Corporate Contact: Juli Rathke Phone: 970.485.1629

Breckenridge Grand Vacations Opens Applications for Fall Grants Through October 1

BRECKENRIDGE, COLORADO (August 17, 2020) – Local nonprofits have until Thursday, October 1 before midnight to submit their applications to Breckenridge Grand Vacations’ (BGV) Fall Grants Program. The program was created to support organizations in Summit and Park Counties through fundraising, sponsorships, grants, volunteering and in-kind donations, with a focus on areas including health, human services, education, art and culture, environment, sports and recreation.

Grants are awarded during two annual cycles: one in the spring and another in the fall. Managed by BGV Gives, the company’s philanthropic arm, the program gave a total of $159,100 during the most recent spring cycle and $347,220 last fall, to over 28 organizations each cycle, funding capital projects, special event sponsorships, programs, equipment, scholarships, educational materials, and general operating support, among other needs.

Applications follow two categories: one for requests of $1,000 or less and in-kind donations, and another for requests over $1,000 also including in-kind donations. BGV Gives recommends applicants review the program’s funding priorities prior to applying. Among many requirements of the grant, nonprofits must demonstrate the grant request will offer a measurable benefit to the community. This is especially important and significant now during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applications must be submitted in PDF format by October 1, 2020 via email to BGV Gives Program Manager Deb Edwards at dedwards@breckgv.com. For inquiries regarding grant eligibility and for the current application, please visit BGVGives.org or contact Edwards at (970) 547-8748 or (970) 406-0391.

Breckenridge Grand Vacations has a history of playing an active role in the community, encouraging its employees to volunteer at local events and for philanthropic causes through its paid volunteer hours program. Annually, BGV employees donate thousand of hours of volunteer service to community organizations. BGV also supports our community as one of the largest local employers with nearly 600 staff members, fostering a culture of excellence in customer service that develops and supports its employees.

To learn more about the BGV Gives Program, contact Deb Edwards at dedwards@breckgv.com or 970-547-8748.

###

ABOUT BGV GIVES

Founded in 2016, the BGV Gives Program was established to facilitate and further extend Breckenridge Grand Vacations’ philanthropic reach and impact in Summit County and the surrounding area. Inspired by the late BGV Owner/Developer, Rob Millisor, this charitable program honors his example of service to others by supporting the local nonprofit community. BGV is excited and humbled to continue Rob’s legacy of giving through fundraising, sponsorships, grants, volunteering and in-kind donations on behalf of those in need, with a primary focus on health, human services, education, art and culture, environment, and sports and recreation. With guidance from the BGV Gives Program Manager Deb Edwards, BGV Gives is committed to growing BGV’s local contributions and inspiring fellow community members to give more by providing resources and opportunities to help others in need.

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release: August 6, 2020. Contact info: Melany Beck, Marketing Manager, BreckCreate Organization: BreckCreate Email: melany@breckcreate.org TREE-o Takes To The Water Breckenridge Creative Arts is thrilled to announce that Tree-o will return to Breckenridge once again.

Elevating music to new heights, Tree-o features three musicians — cellist Russick Smith, violinist Karen Lauffer and mandolinist Kevin Larkin – in a series of free pop-up concerts traditionally held in the forest, high among the pine boughs and branches. A performance art installation, each musical session features instrumental melodies performed with the trio perched aloft upon the trees and platforms. “We are excited to invite Tree-o back to Breckenridge. With the challenges gathering large groups on the trails, it felt like the right time to get creative. This year Tree-o will be climbing down from the trees to play in and be accompanied by the Blue River in the Creative Corridor in downtown Breckenridge.” Said BreckCreate President + CEO Matt Neufeld.

Tree-o, a past BIFA: Trail Mix favorite, will perform a series of pop-up performances August 21 through August 23, 2020 in a collaboration between BCA and High County Conservation Center. Each pop-up music performance will take place in the Blue River adjacent to the Riverwalk Center. The Tree-o trio will also add a fourth member to their group this year as they are accompanied by the Blue River itself. Tree-o performances will be accompanied by educational sessions led by High County Conservation Center. “We're thrilled for this collaboration and the attention it will draw to one of our most valuable resources: water. With 99 percent of our state – including Summit County – experiencing drought or abnormally dry conditions, it’s essential for residents and visitors to appreciate our water and understand the risks our rivers face. We are hopeful that the beauty of these performances will inspire us all to think twice about our water use and protect the water we rely on for both drinking and recreation,” said Rachel Zerowin, Community Programs Director for High County Conservation Center.

ABOUT HIGH COUNTRY CONSERVATION CENTER High Country Conservation Center promotes practical solutions to waste reduction and resource conservation in Summit County. HC3 programs reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase recycling, conserve water, educate K-12 students and increase local food production. For more information, visit www.highcountryconservation.org.

ABOUT BRECKENRIDGE CREATIVE ARTS Established in 2014, Breckenridge Creative Arts —or BreckCreate for short—was developed by the Town of Breckenridge to support and promote arts, culture, and creative experiences throughout Breckenridge. This multidisciplinary nonprofit organization is responsible for the successful management of a series of programs, properties, and partnerships that collectively animate and populate the creative corridor in the heart of downtown Breckenridge. For more information, visit breckcreate.org.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY RIVER CLEANUP

Join us for a morning taking care of our watershed!

Join us on Saturday, August 29, 2020 from

9 am to noon for a county-wide river

cleanup.

We have partnered with Summit County's

Make a Difference Day to create an event

that will have a profound positive impact

on the health of the Blue River Watershed.

Sign up to volunteer today!

August 2020

29

A huge thank you to The Summit Foundation for making our first annual river cleanup possible! Thank you for

supporting our community!

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Silverthorne, CO 80498

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Summit County Business Impact Survey- July 2020 158 Responses Presented by the Summit Chamber and Summit Prosperity Initiative Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Powered by y

Summary of Results

Estimated loss of revenue to Summit County businesses for June- August= $143 million Business responses are getting more scattered- a wider variety of sentiment Staffing is a big concern- an area for recovery focus Ability to hire more staff is revenue-dependent Need business levels to recover

Powered by y

Q1: Where is your business located? Answered: 158 Skipped: 0

158 business responses across Summit County

Q2: What is your category of business? Answered: 157 Skipped: 1

Business breakdown closely aligns with NWCCOG’s Summit County Profile

Other= variety of services from transportation to hair salons to marketing to financial, prop management, internet, etc.

Q3: How did revenue for June 2020 compare to June 2019? Answered: 157 Skipped: 1

Overall, June revenue decline is estimated at 40%.

Q4: How do you expect revenue for July 2020 to compare to July 2019? Answered: 157 Skipped: 1

Overall, July revenue decline is estimated at 30%.

Q5: How do you expect revenue for August 2020 to compare to August 2019? Answered: 155 Skipped: 3

Overall, August revenue decline is estimated at 35%.

Q6: How confident are you that you will be able to continue your business and survive for the next year? Answered: 158 Skipped: 0 About ½ are

extremely or very confident and about 1/3 are somewhat confident. Compared to spring results, responses have moved away from the middle in both directions.

Q7: How many employees or subcontractors do you have? Answered: 158 Skipped: 0

Good mix of business sizes responded. Shows the truly small nature of our business community.

Q8: What percentage of your staff do you estimate has left the area and won't be available for rehire? Answered: 158 Skipped: 0

About 20-25% of our workforce has left the County. Using 26K as our labor force, this means about 5K people have left. This is important as we look at rehiring and workforce utilization. This is becoming a more important issue.

Q9: How would you describe your overall staffing level? Answered: 158 Skipped: 0

Mixed- 1/3 are staffed to revenue levels, 1/3 are understaffed and 1/6 are fully-staffed.

Q10: If you are understaffed, do you find (choose all that apply): Answered: 125 Skipped: 33

$49,101,514

$15,224,864

$22,297,382

$31,299,125

$25,180,325

COVID19 Economic Impact by Location Total SC Impact June- Aug= $143 million

spread among 3900 mostly small businesses

Breckenridge

Dillon

Frisco

Silverthorne

Summit County

Breckenridge Dillon Frisco Silverthorne Summit County

$16,392,873

$5,426,720 $7,715,233 $11,912,090 $8,737,640

$16,085,863

$4,727,232 $6,955,376

$8,943,893 $7,914,165

$16,622,778

$5,070,912

$7,626,774

$10,443,143

$8,528,520

COVI

D Ec

on Im

pact

- Los

t Rev

enue

August

July

June

Lost Taxable Sales by Entity

Lost Taxable Sales by Month

June July August

$8,737,640 $7,914,165 $8,528,520

$11,912,090 $8,943,893 $10,443,143

$7,715,233 $6,955,376

$7,626,774

$5,426,720

$4,727,232 $5,070,912

$16,392,873

$16,085,863 $16,622,778

COVI

D Ec

on Im

pact

- Los

t Rev

enue

Breckenridge

Dillon

Frisco

Silverthorne

Summit County

Thank You! Questions and Comments:

Corry Mihm Project Manager

Summit Prosperity Initiative cmihm@q.com, 970-389-3466

August 2020

News for our kindhearted supporters

None of our neighbors or their children

should ever have to go without healthcare

Serving Summit County and neighboring counties since 1993

Donate

COVID - Positive Patient Story

We had a patient with COVID-like symptoms call the clinic concerned because he had a possible exposure. He is in his 40's and was very concerned about the cost of going to the emergency department. He had just lost his job and pays his rent month-to-month. We scheduled him a telehealth appointment and then a visit with a medical provider in the respiratory tent the same day. His oxygen levels were low and he needed a chest X-ray - which was made affordable through the clinic. He was diagnosed with viral pneumonia due to COVID, but avoided going to the hospital as his care at the clinic was affordable and accessible. Through a donation, we provided him with supplemental oxygen to help with his symptoms. Afterwards, he had a follow-up visit with our provider in the respiratory tent to re-check his oxygen levels. Our health navigator called him and referred him to our partner, FIRC, who connected him with additional community resources. He made a full recovery.

Donor spotlight

Paul Finkel - Summit County resident since 1998, part-time since 1988 Originally from: The Bronx First job: Selling peanuts at Yankee Stadium (yes, he's a die-hard Yankee's fan!) Paul's background: Actuary - an insurance company mathematician. Paul says, "it's an accountant with no personality," but this is far from the truth once you've talked to him! Adventures: 30 day trek in Nepal; the "Snowman" trek in Bhutan; discovered a plane wreck in Olympic National Park with his son (while out of food); and many, many others! His son is a best-selling author and his daughter is an ultra-marathoner and one of the best in the country. Why do you give to the Care Clinic? "If we're talking about giving in general, there is a Yiddish term called, "nachas," which is the joy of giving to others. I want to be able to have that joy while I'm alive rather than leaving the money in my will. I give for selfish reasons - to make my life better by supporting the organizations that help the workers who live here and keep Summit County vibrant. My passion is in health care, education and poverty reduction. I support Summit County Community Care Clinic because it is the only organization I know of in the County that meets all three of my giving goals through health care for all, reduced and free services for those in need and school based health services. We also need "junior's" discounts rather than "senior's" discounts in Summit County! The seniors moved here after a career. The juniors moved here as youngsters (when we all wish we would have moved here) but they will never have the chance to buy the big houses like our retired seniors can. I think that's also part of my giving, because the world up here is a little backwards. We need the Care Clinic and other organizations to keep our fairy tale-land going for our seniors!" What is something good that has come out of COVID-19? "It's a tarnished silver-lining, but Zoom has allowed people to stay connected no matter where they are - people can stay more involved when they can't physically be somewhere. People are also being more creative and finding different ways to conduct work. Some of these innovations will stay with us beyond the pandemic. There will be more opportunities for people to work anywhere in the world after this.This could mean better paying jobs for those living in the County.”

Summit Community Care Clinic in the News

In July, Senator Bob Rankin visited the Care Clinic and met with CEO, Helen Royal, and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cowie, to hear how the clinic has faced challenges during COVID-19. They also discussed the future of the clinic. Senator Rankin is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and serves as a member of the Joint Budget Committee. You can view the article at: State Sen. Bob Rankin visits Summit Community Care Clinic to hear concerns We are also continuing to work with our partners at Public Health and Summit County Government to address community needs: Summit County plans to extend public health order, strategizes ahead of flu season

Employee spotlight

We hired Sarah Ambrose as a health educator two years ago. At that time, she had a keen interest in health but had always had an aversion to direct patient care due to fear of blood and needles. She started working on Dr. Cowie's team and expressed a real interest in prenatal, infant and maternal care. During her time at the Care Clinic, Sarah demonstrated her interest in more direct patient care and was able to overcome her fear of needles. She recognized her intense love for direct patient care, and applied and was accepted for a position as a clinic assistant. Sarah took leadership and managed our prenatal registry and personally started doing daily patient visits on labor and delivery to welcome our new babies and connect with our new moms. She completed her courses at CMC and applied and was accepted into nursing school in Denver. We look forward to seeing Sarah as a labor and delivery nurse in a couple years!

How you can help!

$150 - Supplemental oxygen for one month for one patient suffering from COVID-19 symptoms $20 - Full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for one employee for one shift

Share this e-newsletter with your friends so they can learn about our work.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram –

share updates to help inform the community.

Contact your legislators to express your support for community health centers.

It's easy to make a gift from your IRA! Many supporters choose to donate to us directly from

their IRA. If you are 70 1/2 or older, you can make a tax-free distribution from your traditional or Roth IRA to the Care Clinic which helps us provide healthcare services to the community. Simply contact your IRA custodian to discuss your specific situation and indicate that you'd like to make a charitable contribution directly from your required distribution to: Summit Community Care Clinic (EIN 20-1139635), PO Box 4337, Frisco, CO 80443.

We also need host families/homes for our family medicine residents in November and

December. We get great feedback about the experience from our hosts! If interested, please contact Dr. Cowie via kcowie@summitclinic.org. Thank you!

November 2 - 30: Blake Volmer, MD - host needed December 1 - 31: Keely Burke, MD - host needed

Donate

National Health Center Week - August 9-15, 2020

Federally qualified health centers, also known as community health centers, provide more than 29 million underserved patients with access to comprehensive primary and preventive care. To be recognized as a federally qualified health center, organizations must meet federal requirements under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act.

Community health centers are using telehealth to expand access to needed services. 48% of rural health centers use telehealth. 39% of urban health centers use telehealth.

Community health centers save $1,263 per patient per year.

To learn more, click on this link.

Patient Satisfaction Survey

Easy Ways to Give Back!

Do you shop at City Market? Do you want to give back to the Care Clinic? If you said "yes," it's easy to sign up, just follow this link, and use Care

Clinic code QE113. Then, every time you shop and use your City Market card, they donate money back to the Care Clinic! And...if you shop on Amazon, please use Amazon Smile and pick the Summit Community Care Clinic as your charity. They will donate a portion of your purchases to us!

Helpful COVID-19 resources: Summit County Government - local information and includes a link to the county symptom tracker Colorado Department of Health and Environment - state-wide information 211 Colorado - confidential and multilingual service connecting people to vital resources across the state

Summit Community Care Clinic (970) 668-4040

STAY CONNECTED

August 2020

Service updates

None of our neighbors or their children should ever

have to go without healthcare

Serving Summit County and neighboring counties since 1993

Donate Now!

As we continue to support your Medical, Dental and Behavioral Health needs, we appreciate your understanding of the social distancing restrictions in our waiting room. We encourage you to bring no more than 1 person with you during your appointment, if possible, so that we can provide a safe environment for all patients. Thank you.

Medical:

Even during the pandemic, stay current with vaccines. Because of COVID-19, many children have missed getting important vaccines. Delaying vaccines puts you child at risk for severe illness. Staying current with your child's vaccines is not only safe, but also vital to their health. While there is not yet a vaccine against COVID-19, there are vaccines that can protect your child against 16 serious diseases. Vaccinating on time is one of the best ways to keep your child healthy and protected. Please call 970-668-4040 with questions or to schedule an appointment.

Dental:

We are offering dental services at several of our School Based Health Centers! Lake County High School is open for dental appointments on Wednesdays. Dental appointments will be available soon at our Park County School Based Health Center. We are also open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in Leadville at our Lake County Dental Clinic. Don't delay! Your oral health is key to your overall well-being. For dental appointments please call: 970-668-4055

Behavioral Health:

Take actions that help release fear and stress energy. Recognize when you are experiencing fear and stress. Identify what you are afraid of. Figure out if you can address that fear right now.

Practice actions that protect yourself and others.

Find out when and where you can find accurate information.

Share information with people in your family and networks, especially those who might have difficulty understanding or being reached.

Find a balance. Find a balance between getting timely information and limiting your media intake to do things that

put you in a positive mood or that you can control. Make plans that help you and people around you feel safer, more calm and more prepared. Talk to others who you trust. Find someone who will learn with you and who will help you watch your fear. You can do the

same for them and spread calm to others. Stick with healthy, normal routines. Strengthen your body’s immune system and flush fear from your body-- physical activity, calming

activities, healthy diet, and good sleep. Give us a call at 970-668-4040 to see how we can help! We offer in-person and telehealth visits.

School Based Health Centers (SBHC):

If you are one of our SBHC patients, we can see you at our Main Clinic location in Frisco for medical*, behavioral health and dental services.

Lake County SBHC is open on Tuesdays for medical and Wednesdays for dental visits.

Park County SBHC is open on Mondays and Thursdays for medical visits.

Well-child checks ($25) and sports physicals ($30) are also offered on Saturdays at our main Frisco clinic.

Behavioral health services are available in-person and via telehealth.

*Well medical visits available in person (well-child checks, immunizations, sports physicals, reproductive health appointments). Sick visits, including potential COVID-19, available via telehealth.* Dental SBHC: To keep your student up to date with their dental care, we will honor your student’s SBHC enrollment and pricing at our main clinic in Frisco through August 31, 2020. Preventive appointments will include x- rays if needed, an exam with a Dentist and a non-aerosol producing dental cleaning. As always, SCCC will bill your insurance. Uninsured students may receive these services for $20.00. Summit Community Care Clinic will honor your student’s SBHC enrollment and pricing for medical and behavioral health appointments at our main clinic as well. Telehealth visits will be offered for sick visits, including potential COVID-19. Please note that due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, hours and locations may vary. For the most up-to-date information please call: For SBHC medical or behavioral health questions or appointments, call 970-668-4040. For SBHC dental questions or appointments, call 970-668-4055.

Patient Portal

We are excited to invite you to participate in the Summit Community Care Clinic’s Patient Portal! The Patient Portal is a secure web-based healthcare application that enables you to communicate with your health care providers and connects you directly to your Electronic Health Record. Through the Portal, you will be able to:

Review scheduled appointments Request an appointment Review lab results View clinical summaries, medications,

allergies and medical history Update personal information (new address,

phone number etc.)

Send a secure message to a provider, health coach, front desk staff or other staff

View bills and statements Pay your bill on-line

You must be 18 years of age or older to participate in the Patient Portal. Ready to get started? Once you have your temporary password from SCCC staff, visit www.summitclinic.org and click on the Patient Portal button. Once you open the portal link, enter your user name and temporary password at the log-in site and you will be prompted to change your password. Once you have completed this process, you will be able to access your personal health record online! We hope you find this tool helpful in managing your health and well-being. Questions or comments about our portal may be directed to portalsupport@summitclinic.org or by calling 970-668-4040.

Opportunity to serve on our Board of Directors

As a nonprofit, we are governed by a Board of Directors who guide the clinic, shape policies, and oversee our organization's activities. We have an opening for a new Board member and we encourage our patients to apply! If you'd like more information about becoming a board member, contact: Kate Cowdery, Executive Assistant, at kcowdery@summitclinic.org

An Easy Way to Give Back!

Do you shop at City Market? Do you want to give back to the Care Clinic? If you said "yes," it's easy to sign up, just follow this link, and use Care Clinic code QE113. Then, every time you shop and use your City Market card, they donate money back to the Care Clinic! And...if you shop on Amazon, please use Amazon Smile and pick the Summit Community Care Clinic as your charity. They will donate a portion of your purchases to us!

For more information on COVID-19 visit: Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment Summit County Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Summit Community Care Clinic (970) 668-4040 website: summitclinic.org

STAY CONNECTED

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ALUMNI INFO

CMC navigates the challenges of starting fall semester under current (and evolving) public health conditions In light of COVID-19, Colorado Mountain College has designed flexible, in-person and virtual course options, all while keeping our students, employees and communities as safe as possible. Fall 2020 Trail Map has a full explanation of the college’s plan. Learn more »

Honey Stinger and CMC expand partnership Honey Stinger, the honey-powered sports nutrition brand, gifted CMC yearly use of a portion of the company’s new headquarters, located in Steamboat Springs, to house Colorado Mountain College's Yampa Valley Entrepreneurship Center (YVEC). YVEC supports economic development through business counseling, mentorship and community service. It offers a broad range of workshops and seminars, provides valuable tools, resources, networking opportunities and more for businesses. Learn more »

Trustees endorse repeal of Gallagher Amendment The CMC Board of Trustees are supportive of repealing the Gallagher Amendment, a unique provision in the Colorado constitution that periodically and uniformly resets local revenues based on statewide economic trends. The trustees unanimously voted to endorse a measure that will appear on Colorado's November 3 ballot. If approved by voters, the Gallagher Amendment Repeal and Property Tax Assessment Rates Measure would repeal the most restrictive aspects of the Gallagher Amendment. Learn more »

CMC Foundation awards more than $1.25M to students The CMC Foundation recently awarded 712 scholarships totaling $1,289,506 to 595 students throughout the CMC service area. Since it's inception in 1985, the foundation has been the trusted partner of close to $60 million in gifts to support scholarships for CMC students, academic programs and capital projects. Make a student's dream of pursuing a higher education a reality by contributing to an existing scholarship or creating your own! Learn more »

Your gift matters! Make a big impact with a future gift in celebration of the CMC Foundation's 35th anniversary When you include the CMC Foundation in your estate plan, your generosity provides an affordable and accessible education for our students, helping them meet their individual goals and graduate with less debt. Learn more »

UPCOMING EVENTS For a full list of events at CMC please visit coloradomtn.edu/events

August 15 Online (CMC Aspen) HIGHER CARE FOR SUPERWOMEN / Embrace authenticity and discover a higher self while expanding and deepening the peace and potential that's within you. In this fun, interactive presentation students will uncover unconscious but controlling negative thoughts, identify and process old emotions, and take steps to achieve life balance. Learn More » August 24 Collegewide CLASSES BEGIN / Learn More » August 24 Online CONTENT MARKETING IN THE TIME OF COVID / Considerations and strategies that will help you reach your audience virtually. This class is online and available to you anytime you have time, there is no set schedule. You will be sent a link upon registration. Learn More » August 24 Online (CMC Vail Valley at Edwards) MAT PILATES / Pilates is a full-body workout - combining upper and lower bodywork, with a strong emphasis on the core. You'll strengthen the muscles of your arms, hips, back, abdominals, and glutes. Learn More »

August 24 Online (CMC Steamboat Springs) MONDAY DANCE TO THE CORE WITH DENISE / This high-energy online class combines a wide range of music with choreography that can be dialed up or down depending on your fitness level. More than anything, it's FUN, and isn't that what exercise should be? Learn More » August 25 Online (CMC Vail Valley at Edwards) THE BEGINNING OF A HOME APOTHECARY / Learn how to begin your own home apothecary with an in-depth materia medica style course on our top 10-15 clinically used herbs. Learn More »

Helpful Links: Make a gift to Colorado Mountain College CMC Foundation Contact the CMC Foundation Staff

CMC Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Our tax exempt ID # is: 74-2393418. Gifts to the CMC Foundation can be made in honor of, in memory of, or to thank a loved one. For more information call 970.947.8378.

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Buy A Duck, Make a Difference! The Summit Foundation's 33rd Annual Duck Race is Wednesday, September 3rd at 6:00 PM on SCTV Ch. 10 and The Summit Foundation's Facebook Page Enter to win a private catered snowcat ski/snowboard day for your staff, clients and colleagues! Help The Summit Foundation provide over $4 million in grants and scholarships by purchasing a Business Battle Duck for $100. The Business Battle Duck Race is one of three races that raises funds for nonprofits and students throughout Summit, Grand, Lake and Park Counties. As approximately 400 business ducks are sold, your business has a really good chance of winning a prize which could serve as a great opportunity to gather and thank your staff, colleagues, clients, or friends! The Grand Prize for the winning Business Battle Duck is a private, catered snow-cat ski/ snowboard trip for 12 at Keystone Resort. This amazing experience, valued at $5,000, is sponsored by Vail Resorts EpicPromise. Additional business-related prizes will be awarded to the less than swiftest ducks too…

Already bought your ducks? Then ask a fellow business owner to join the flock and challenge them to match your gift – and ultimately help us raise more money for the community!

Ready to buy your ducks? Purchase your ducks online! Thank you for your support of our community!

Prefer to donate a prize? Complete this form and return it to The Summit Foundation. THANKS!

The Summit Foundation is a community public foundation dedicated to inspiring people and mobilizing resources to improve and enrich the lives of individuals in Summit County and neighboring communities.

The Summit Foundation | P.O. Box 4000 | 103 S Harris | Breckenridge | CO | 80424 970.453.5970 | summitfoundation.org

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I-70 Mountain Corridor Improvements

One-week closure of Exit 240 on-ramp

starts Sunday night

The Exit 240 (State Highway 103/Mt. Evans Road) on-ramp to eastbound I-70 closes

Sunday night and will remain closed for one week while utility work is done in this area. A

sanitary sewer line is being installed beneath I-70 with work progressing from the south

side of the highway to the north side. While this on-ramp is closed, drivers will need to use the Exit 241 interchange to enter eastbound I-70.

Other construction activities and closures scheduled for the week of Aug. 16 include:

The right lane of westbound I-70 will be closed from Mile Points 239 to 238 (west

Idaho Springs to Fall River Road) overnight Sunday starting at 5 p.m. while work is done to pour concrete barriers near the Exit 239 on-ramp to westbound I-70.

The right lane of westbound I-70 will be closed from Mile Point 236 (east of Dumont) to Mile Point 232 (US 40/Empire interchange) Sunday through Thursday

nights. These lane closures will go into effect at 5 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday

through Thursday nights.

The right lane of westbound I-70 will be closed through Idaho Springs from Mile

Point 241 to 240 Monday through Thursday nights beginning at 7 p.m. each night.

There will be intermittent closures of the Exit 239 off-ramp from westbound I-70

Monday and Tuesday nights.

There will be various overnight closures of the westbound ramps at Exit 235

(County Road 308) and Exit 234 (Downieville) Sunday through Thursday nights.

The Exit 234 on- and off-ramps will be closed Sunday through Thursday nights

while crews install guardrail and relocate temporary barriers. The Exit 235 off-ramp from westbound I-70 will be closed overnight Monday through Thursday. Closures

of the Exit 235 and 234 ramps will not occur at the same time.

The Exit 234 off-ramp from westbound I-70 will also be closed during the daytime

Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day so crews can pour

concrete barriers.

Each weekday next week, the left lane of eastbound I-70 will be closed between Mile Point 236.5 (east of Dumont) and Mile Point 239 in Idaho Springs from 5 to 10

a.m. for wall construction and to pour the concrete anchor slabs for the retaining

walls in the median.

Work to install a sanitary sewer line beneath I-70 requires closing the Idaho Springs Exit 240 on-ramp to eastbound I-70 next week.

Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel closures start

Monday night for paving

Overnight closures of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel at the Continental Divide

start Monday, Aug. 17, for asphalt paving work. Overnight milling and paving of both tunnel bores along I-70 is expected to continue through late September.

Drivers can expect full-bore closures while this work is done. The eastbound I-70 bore will

be repaved first followed by the westbound side.

The eastbound tunnel will be closed overnight Monday through Thursdays from 10 p.m. to

6 a.m. each night beginning Monday, Aug. 17, through Thursday, Sept. 3. Eastbound traffic

will be detoured through the westbound tunnel these nights.

Following the Labor Day holiday, paving work begins in the westbound tunnel. Overnight

closures in the westbound tunnel are scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 8, through Thursday,

Sept. 24. Westbound traffic will be detoured through the eastbound tunnel these nights.

Work to be done includes asphalt removal, asphalt paving, concrete improvements, utility

repairs, and roadway re-striping. This project is designed to improve driving conditions and

safety along this 2.26 mile stretch of I-70.

Construction schedules could change depending on weather conditions. For more

information, visit the project website at codot.gov/projects/i70-ejmtresurfacing.

COVID-19

Safe transportation infrastructure is essential for all of us, particularly for

emergency first responders and freight drivers as Colorado navigates the

COVID-19 pandemic. With that in mind, CDOT maintenance and construction

crews follow social distancing and other health safety measures to reduce

COVID-19 exposure on the worksite. The Colorado Department of Public

Health and Environment announced guidelines for construction activities. The

public is urged to join the campaign for #DoingMyPartCO by practicing social

distancing and wearing face masks. As traffic returns to normal levels,

motorists must drive cautiously and heed the speed limit so all of us can

return home safely.

With construction activities on the rise along the I-70

mountain corridor and crews working in various locations

adjacent to moving traffic, we ask that drivers pay

attention to posted speed limits and drive distraction free.

All construction activities are weather dependent and

schedules are subject to change.

Stay Connected

There are a variety of ways you can

get more information about

construction activities and

associated traffic impacts along the

I-70 mountain corridor.

Resources Bulletin August 18, 2020 archived bulletins can be found here.

Funding & Technical Assistance RESTORE Colorado The Restoration and Stewardship of Outdoor Resources and Environment (RESTORE) Colorado Program focuses on the restoration, enhancement, and expansion of wildlife habitat throughout the state of Colorado. Energize Colorado Gap Fund The Energize Colorado Gap Fund will provide more than $25 million in small business loans and grants to boost small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Sole proprietors, businesses and nonprofits with less than 25 full-time employees can apply for up to a $15,000 grant and a $20,000 loan for a possible combined total of $35,000 in financial assistance. Sign up to Energize Colorado's email list to be alerted when the application opens. Life Comes From It - Support for Grassroots Movement-Building Work Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle that supports grassroots movement-building work for restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking. Caplan Foundation - Early Childhood Funding The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood supports nonprofit organizations throughout the United States that offer programs that will significantly enhance the development, health, safety, education, or quality of life of children from infancy through seven years of age. Fund for Wild Nature - Wilderness Conservation Grants

The Fund for Wild Nature provides grants to grassroots nonprofit organizations in the United States and Canada for campaigns to save native species and wild ecosystems, with particular emphasis on actions to defend threatened wilderness and biological diversity. Sparkplug Foundation: Music, Education, and Community Organizing Support The Sparkplug Foundation primarily provides grants to start-up nonprofit organizations or new projects of established nonprofits that are addressing the fields of music, education, and community organizing. EPA - Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants Program Support to Improve Indoor Air Quality The Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants program supports efforts that advance national policy or systems-level change to reduce indoor air risks and yield measurable environmental and public health outcomes. Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program Seeks to improve the health of children in rural communities. The Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program supports initiatives to improve the health status of infants, children, adolescents, and families in rural and other underserved communities by increasing their access to preventive care and services. GOCO Resilient Communities Program Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) has launched a $15 million Resilient Communities Program to help fund one-time, immediate needs or opportunities that have emerged in direct response to the pandemic, which include: capacity and operations support, stewardship, community vitality, and urgent and emergent land acquisitions. For more information, including eligibility criteria and application forms, please visit GOCO website. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Success Stories

Summit County businesses participate in Rebuild Program offered by the Summit Prosperity Initiative published in the Summit Daily News on 8/8/2020. Read full story, as well as other success stories from our region, on the EDD's Success Stories page here. Amid widespread business shutdowns, several local businesses turned to the Summit Biz Rebuild program for help in keeping their business afloat and successful. The program was run through the Summit Prosperity Initiative, a project of the Summit Chamber of Commerce. The program utilized the Co.starters curriculum, which uses a community-based approach to economic development. It combined business learning material with weekly meetings

among the cohort of 17, where local entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders could check in and share ideas. The first cohort celebrated their graduation on Aug. 5 after a 10-session program. The cohort was comprised of professionals in businesses across several industries, including dining, media, wellness and retail. Amy Kemp with the Summit Prosperity Initiative said that while the program was planned to launch in March before the COVID-19 shutdown, it was adapted to fit the current needs of businesses and instead launched in May as the Rebuild program. The first cohort was a great success, and the Summit Prosperity Initiative is planning for the second cohort to start sometime in mid-September. More information on this upcoming second session will be posted on the SPI website here....keep checking back!

Resources

County Profiles We have updated County Profiles on the NWCCOG EDD website. These profiles provide a snapshot of the most up to date economic and demographic data for our member counties. Check them out on the EDD website's Data Center here. The Main Thing The Main Thing is a collection of resources addressing reopening the economy compiled by Colorado Main Street, a program of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, to highlight innovations, give a thumbs-up to local practitioners, and encourage the spread of positive news. Accompanying how-to guides are meant to provide a deeper dive into launching a few of these innovations in your community. These ideas highlight a positive and fun spin on the rules and boost a sense of community while maintaining a safety first perspective.

Virtual Educational Opportunities Colorado Department of Local Affairs - 2020 Small Communities Workshop Series More information and Join these workshops HERE.

8/20 | 3:00-4:30 | Economic Development/Community Financial First Aid 8/27 | 11:00-12:30 | Resiliency and Recovery Road Map; Presenter: Marguerite

Harden, Anne Miller, Rob Pressly & Kate Guibert - Department of Local Affairs 9/3 | 3:00-4:30 |Addressing Affordable Housing Needs in Rural Communities;

Presenter: Chris Furlong - Department of Local Affairs; CHFA 9/10 | 3:00-4:30 |Demography/Rural Workforce Development; Presenter:

Elizabeth Garner, State Demographer 9/17 | 3:00-4:30 |Land Use Strategies to Help Ensure a Secure Water Future;

Presenters: Kevin Reidy, Colorado Water Conservation Board; Christy Wiseman, Department of Local Affairs

TBD |Lessons Learned In Small Communities during the COVID Crisis; Panel Discussion: Clear Creek County and Town of Breckenridge; Recreation Districts/Firefighting Agencies/Eagle County EMS

Special Downtown Financing Districts - Downtown Trends + District Impacts Aug. 19, 2020 | 10 a.m. | Register here Offered by the Economic Development Council of Colorado. How can Special Districts support our commercial districts? These districts have incorporated placemaking, innovation and inclusion into their priorities. Now that businesses are having to navigate the uncharted territory of COVID-19, and taxing districts are seeing major declines, the threat to these districts are real and will greatly impact how they continue their mission. Big Talks About the Future Topic: Destination August 25 |4-5 pm | Register here Offered by Downtown Colorado, Inc. Roger Brooks will inspire and empower with engaging stories, laugh-out-loud humor, and step-by-step instructions leading to incredible success. A leading urbanist, futurist, and downtown innovator, Roger is leading the charge in the creation of great places you'd want to invest in, live in, and visit. Colorado Municipal League Virtual Annual Conference August 25 - 27 CML has gone VIRTUAL! CML is hosting its first ever Virtual Conference August 25-27. This conference is instrumental in offering training opportunities for local governments across Colorado. Visit CML Website for more information on the conference. Downtown Colorado, Inc. Speaker Series More info and register here: http://downtowncoloradoinc.org/event-3895302 Aug 25 4pm Destination Development, Roger Brooks Sept 29 4pm, Taxation and Business, Joe Minicozzi Oct 27, 4pm, The Future of Streets, Jeff Speck Statewide Rural Forum | SAVE THE DATE - September 30, 2020 Community Resource Center will bring together nonprofits, funders, and government agencies in a virtual town-hall style forum to address the most pressing needs communities are facing this fall and beyond. More info here.

Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, P.O. Box 2308, 249 Warren Ave., Silverthorne, CO 80498

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Don't miss out - CML's Virtual Conference registration deadline is

Aug. 18 (that's Tuesday)!

Click the photo above to see a message from CML Executive Director Kevin Bommer!

You know that calendar reminder you keep clicking snooze on? The one reminding you to register for the CML Virtual Conference, taking place Aug. 25-27? It's time to register now because the registration deadline is Aug. 18 and, because of the virtual platform, we are not able to take any registrations after that date.

We don't want you to miss out on three days of great sessions, opportunities to interact with your fellow municipal officials, and information on the latest resources available to municipalities from our sponsors. Plus - we're planning to have some fun too! Some of the sessions we're covering during the conference include:

Protecting Your Organization from Cyber-Crime How to survive conducting a recall election NLC's Race, Equity And Leadership (REAL) Efforts Implementing the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and Paid Sick Leave Emerging issues: Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Preview of 2020 State Ballot Questions and Reflections on Petitioning During a Pandemic

We will be offering 8 hours of CLE credits for attorneys. Check out all of our great sessions here. If you have already registered, thank you! You will receive login information from our virtual platform on Thursday, Aug. 20. You will have access to recordings of all sessions (except the cyber-security sessions) from the time they air through the end of the conference! Registration fees are:

Municipal members: $99 Associate members: $129 Non-members: $199

Remember, we are not able to take any registrations after Aug. 18, so register today!

Register here

This newsletter contains information for Colorado municipal officials related to COVID-19. You will

receive this email digest every Tuesday. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email

swerner@cml.org.

In this issue...

- No Digest next week

- Deadline to register for CML's Virtual Conference is TODAY

- CML Fall District meetings going virtual

- CML executive director to host second open town hall discussion

- Congressional leaders, White House fail to find stimulus compromise

- Funding for community-based organizations available for contact tracing

- Spotlight on recent state and federal executive orders

- Colorado Legislature receives COVID-19 update from state agencies

- Upcoming events

No Digest next week There will be no Elected Officials Digest next week, due to CML's Virtual Conference. The Elected

Officials Digest will return on Sept. 2.

Deadline to register for CML's

Virtual Conference is TODAY

The registration for CML's Virtual Conference, taking place Aug. 25-27, is 11:59 p.m. TODAY, Aug. 18.

We are not able to accept any late registrations due to the virtual format, so please make sure

you register by the deadline.

We don't want you to miss out on three days of great sessions, opportunities to interact with your

fellow municipal officials, and information on the latest resources available to municipalities from our

sponsors. Plus - we're planning to have some fun too!

We will be offering 8 hours of CLE credits for attorneys. Check out all of our great sessions here.

Registration fees are:

Municipal members: $99

Associate members: $129

Non-members: $199

Remember, we are not able to take any registrations after Aug. 18, so register today!

Register

CML Fall District meetings going

virtual

After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to move all of our 2020 Fall District

Meetings to a virtual format. We will miss visiting you in your municipality, but we look forward to a

robust virtual conversation on what's happening in your communities and what to look forward to in the

upcoming legislative session. Please see upcoming events below for your district's meeting date. All

meetings will begin at 5 p.m. A district map is available here.

CML executive director to host

second open town hall discussion Kevin Bommer, executive director

CML members are invited to the next town hall discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 3 p.m. The

discussion, hosted by CML Executive Director Kevin Bommer, will discuss issues and questions on the

minds of CML members, coronavirus-related or otherwise. This is the second in what is anticipated to be

an ongoing series of open discussions meant to keep municipal elected officials and staff from around

the state connected with each other and the League.

Register in advance for this meeting here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

If you have any questions or issues you want brought up during the discussion, email them to Kevin

Bommer at kbommer@cml.org.

Congressional leaders, White House

fail to find stimulus compromise Kevin Bommer, executive director

The adjournment of the U.S. Senate until after Labor Day was the last domino to fall in the wake of the

breakdown of negotiations aimed at finding a compromise on a fifth coronavirus relief package. While

only the House and Senate Democratic leadership were pushing for state and local fiscal relief, there

exist Republicans that are willing to support it. However, when taken all together, there was little

willingness by negotiators to budge on anything. There is certainly plenty of blame to go around for

failing to find the sweet spot that would allow a majority of the House and Senate, as well as the White

House, to support a compromise.

Related to the failure to compromise – and state and local relief, specifically – the “big seven” state and

local groups issued this statement last week:

“The failure of Congress to reach a compromise on a new coronavirus relief package imperils the ability

of state and local government to maintain sound operations and critical services for residents, and puts

jobs further at risk for the 15 million public servants carrying out services on the ground ranging from

health care to education to public safety."

The statement is intended to keep pressure on Congress to do something immediately upon returning

after Labor Day. It is also possible, although unlikely, that there will be compromise before Labor Day

that would require calling all members back to vote.

Funding for community-based

organizations available for contact

tracing Kevin Bommer, executive director

The Governor's COVID Relief Fund opened for a 6th round of funding earlier this month.

Community-based organizations applying for relief dollars in the Impact category are eligible to apply.

New to this cycle is the opportunity to submit collaborative proposals--two or more organizations may

apply for increased funding for proposals looking at innovative and creative solutions to those impacted

most by COVID. Additionally, this cycle $300,000 is dedicated specifically to organizations doing contact

tracing, with a focus on cultural competency within their communities. Municipal officials with knowledge

of community-based organizations in need of funding are encouraged to have them apply! Applications

are due Thursday at 7 p.m. and more information can be found at www.helpcoloradonow.org.

A recap of the previous five rounds of funding and additional information on this round can be found

here. To date, the fund has raised over $22 million and distributed $16.4 million to over 700

organizations, businesses, school districts, municipalities and more.

Spotlight on recent state and

federal executive orders David Broadwell, general counsel

By law, every emergency executive order issued by Gov. Polis sunsets 30 days later unless renewed. In

recent weeks, the state has settled into a kind of new status quo that will apparently continue into the

fall and probably beyond. Lately, instead of any new or dramatic changes, we are mainly seeing

repeated renewals of existing policies.

Masks. On August 14, the governor extended for another 30 days his July order requiring masks in all

“public indoor spaces.” The same order also extends other executive orders that have governed

municipal buildings for months. In April, all employees providing “essential government services” were

required to wear masks when coming in close proximity with the public or fellow employees. Then in

June, “all members of the public” were required to wear a mask in order to enter or move within a public

building.

Evictions and landlord tenant relations. On August 8, the governor extended his earlier order

requiring 30-day notice before an eviction. A previous outright moratorium on residential evictions and

prohibition on late rental fees expired on June 13. (Of note, the Broomfield City Council recently adopted

an emergency ordinance limiting late rental fees for COVID-impacted tenants.) Meanwhile, at the federal

level, a moratorium on evictions in federally-assisted housing expired on July 24. On Aug. 8, President

Trump issued an executive order asking HHS to “consider” whether reinstatement of eviction relief

would “prevent the spread of COVID” but neither the President nor Congress has taken any real action.

Public utilities. On Aug. 9, Gov. Polis extended the longstanding executive order requiring the PUC to

“work with” public utilities across Colorado, including municipal utilities, to provide relief to residential

and small business customers. These orders encourage suspension of late payment fees, waiver of re-

connection fees, and payment assistance programs. Many, but not all, municipalities have adopted these

kinds of policies locally. Under the Colorado Constitution, the PUC has no legal authority to force

municipal utilities to alter their billing policies.

Unemployment Compensation. On Aug. 8, President Trump issued an executive order offering a

$400/week enhanced unemployment benefit to be paid from FEMA funds in any state willing to cover

one-fourth of the cost. Colorado is “studying” the offer. The original federal $600/week benefit expired

on July 31, with Congress unable to reach a deal to extend it. Meanwhile, Gov. Polis on Aug. 8 extended

an executive order that has been in place since June requiring expedited processing of unemployment

claims.

Colorado Legislature receives

COVID-19 update from state

agencies Morgan Cullen, legislative and policy advocate

Colorado lawmakers listened to a presentation Tuesday, Aug. 11 about the state’s response to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

The Legislative Executive Committee and the Joint Budget Committee, which are both comprised of

members of both the House and the Senate from both political parties, received presentations from the

Department of Public Safety, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Office

of State Planning and Budget. While last week’s meeting provided a comprehensive overview of the

state’s actions and effectiveness in combating the virus to date, it also provided a number of resources

that may be helpful to municipalities.

A taped audio version of the the Aug. 11 committee hearing is available here.

All of the related documents and presentations are also available online. Just scroll down to the

Aug. 11 meeting date to access the materials.

Also, Legislative Council has prepared a memo that details all of the governor’s 155 COVID-19

related Executive Orders to date which could be a good reference for municipal attorneys

available here.

Finally, because the governor continues to issue Executive Orders, some of the information on

the slides may already be out of date or will be soon. You can find a complete list of the

governor's executive orders here.

Per the statutory obligations outlined in HB 20-1426, lawmakers will continue to receive updates on the

state’s COVID-19 response. CML will continue to keep our membership updated on any new information

and resources acquired from these committee updates.

Upcoming events

CML Fall District Meetings

Join the CML staff for the annual Fall District Meetings. These meetings are a great chance to learn more

about CML's legislative agenda and connect with other municipalities within your district. All meetings

begin at 5 p.m. and will be held virtually. Click on a district below for more information and to register! A

district map is available here.

Sept. 9 - District 4

Sept. 15 - District 5

Sept. 16 - District 6

Sept. 17 - District 7 & 14

Sept. 17 - District 13

Sept. 22 - District 8

Sept. 23 - District 1

Sept. 23 - District 10

Sept. 24 - District 9

Sept. 29 - District 2

Sept. 29 - District 12

Sept. 30 - District 11

Sept. 30 - District 3

DOLA Small Communities Workshop Online Presentation Series

Aug. 20 - 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Economic Development/Community Financial First Aid

Aug. 27 - 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. - Resiliency and Recovery Road Map

Sept. 3 - 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Addressing Affordable Housing Needs in Rural Communities

Sept. 10 - 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Demography/Rural Workforce Development

Sept. 17 - 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Land Use Strategies to Help Ensure a Secure Water Future

Sept. 24 - 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. - Lessons Learned In Small Communities during the COVID Crisis

For more information on the sessions above, visit the DOLA website.

View CML's COVID-19 resource page

‘It’s crazy to build 40,000 houses a year’ with natural gas infrastructure by Allen Best

ARVADA, Colo. – In 2010, after success as a wind developer, Eric Blank had the idea that the time for solar had come. The Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant near Pueblo had just begun operations. Blank and his company, Community Energy, thought a parcel of sagebrush-covered land across the road from the power plant’s fenced perimeter presented opportunities.

At the time, Blank recalled on Wednesday, the largest solar project outside California was less than 5 megawatts. He and his team were looking to develop 120 megawatts.

It didn’t happen overnight. They optioned the land, and several times during the next 3 or 4 years were ready give up. The prices of solar weren’t quite there and, perhaps, the public policies, either. They didn’t give up, though. In 2014 they swung

the deal. The site made so much sense because the solar resources at Pueblo are very rich, and the electrical transmission as easy.

Comanche Solar began operations in 2016. It was, at the time, the largest solar project east of the Rocky Mountains and it remains so in Colorado. That distinction will be eclipsed within the next several years by a far bigger solar project at the nearby steel mill.

Now, Blank has moved on to other things. He wants to be engaged in the new cutting edge, the replacement of natural gas in buildings with new heating and cooling technology that uses electricity as the medium.

“There’s too much benefit here for it not to happen,” he said in an interview.

California has led the way, as it so often has in the realm of energy, with a torrent of bans on natural gas infrastructure by cities and counties. Fearing the same thing would happen in Colorado, an arm of the state’s oil-and-gas industry gathered signatures with the intention of asking voter in November to prevent such local initiatives. An intervention by Gov. Jared Polis resulted

August 14, 2020 Issue No. 17 https://mountaintownnews.net

Eric Blank

2

in competing parties stepping back from their November initiatives.

In Colorado, Blank sees another route. He sees state utility regulators and legislators creating a mix of incentives and at the same time nudging along the conversation about the benefits.

“It will happen because the regulators and the Legislature will make it happen,” he says. Instead of natural gas bans, he sees rebates and other incentives, but also educational outreach. “Maybe someday you need a code change, but to me public policies are in this nuanced dance. The code change is way more acceptable and less traumatic if it is preceded by a bunch of incentives that allow people to get familiar with and understand (alternatives) than just come in from the outside like a hammer.”

Blank says he began understanding the value of replacing natural gas about a year ago, when conducting studies with Chris Clack of Vibrant Clean Energy about how to decarbonize the economy. “This is just another piece of that. I think building electrification is the next frontier.”

And it’s time to get the transition rolling, he says. It just doesn’t make sense to build houses designed for burning natural gas for heating, for producing hot water and for

cooking. Retrofitting those houses becomes very expensive.

“It’s crazy to be building 40,000 new homes a year with natural gas,” he says. Once built for natural gas, it’s difficult and expensive to retrofit them to take advantage of new technology. But the economics of avoiding natural gas already exists.

o that end, Blank’s company commissioned a study by Group14

Engineering, a Denver-based firm. The firm set out to document the costs using two case studies. The study examined a newer 3,100-square-foot single-family house located in Arvada, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Denver. Like most houses, it’s heated by natural gas and has a water heater also powered by natural gas.

The study, “Electrification of Commercial and Residential Buildings,” found that employing air-source heat-pumps—the critical technology used at Basalt Vista and a number of other no-gas housing developments—can save money, reducing greenhouse gas emissions—but would best be nudged along by incentives.

“For new construction, the heat pump scenarios have a lower net-present cost for all rates tested,” the report says. “This is due

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Jim Meyers

Colorado gained 200,000 new homes from 2015 through 2019, and this year the construction continues at Candelas, a housing development in Arvada. Photo/Allen Best

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to the substantial savings from the elimination of the natural gas hookup and piping. Although net-present costs are lower, additional incentives will help encourage adoption and lower costs across the market.” The current rebates produce a 14% savings in net-present costs.

The same thing is found in the case study of a 28,000-square-foot office building in Lakewood, another Denver suburb.

The study digs into time-of-use rates, winter peak demand and winter-off peak use, and other elements relevant to the bottom lines.

The bolder bottom line is that there’s good reason to shift incentives now, to start changing what business-as-usual looks like. Blank points out that natural gas in every home was not ordinary at one time, either. It has largely come about in the last 50 to 60 years. With nudges, in the form of incentives, builders and others will see a new way of doing things, and electrification of buildings will become the norm.

Blank says he began to understand how electrification of building and transportation could benefit the electrical system that is heavily reliant on solar and wind and perhaps a little bit of natural gas when conducting studies with Clack at Vibrant Energy last year.

“I was just blown away by the benefits of electrification (of buildings and transportation) to the electric system,” he says.

reater flexibility will be introduced by the addition of more electric-

vehicle charging and water heating by electricity, both of which can be done to take advantage of plentiful wind and solar

during times when those resources would otherwise be curtailed, he explains.

Already, California is curtailing solar generation in late spring, during mid-afternoon hours, or paying Arizona to take the excess, because California simply does not have sufficient demand during those hours. Matching flexible demand with that surplus renewable energy allows for materially greater economic penetration of highly cost-effective new solar.

“In our Vibrant Clean Energy study, with building and transport electrification, we found that Colorado could get from roughly 80% to 90% renewables penetration before the lack of demand leading to widespread renewable curtailment makes additional investments in wind and solar uneconomic,” says Blank.

Electrification of new sectors also expands the sales base for distribution, transmission and other costs. Since the marginal cost of meeting this additional demand is low (because wind, solar, and storage are so cheap), this tends to significantly lower all electric rates.”

Colorado, he says, is unusually well positioned to benefit from this transition. It is rich with both wind and solar resources. Coal plants are closing, electricity costs flat or declining. Consumers should benefit. The time, he says, has come.

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A 3,100-square-foot house in Arvada was used as a case study.

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A menu of options for those pushing electrification

BOULDER, Colo. – Electrification of buildings has emerged in the last year as a major topic of discussion in the broader conversation about how to decarbonize the economies of Colorado and other states.

In California, Berkeley fired the gun over the natural gas bow, so to speak, in July 2019 prohibiting natural gas in all new construction, for reasons of public health and safety. It did so after finding itself lagging its 2020 climate action goals by 18%. Other California communities soon followed, as did Brookline, Mass.

None have done so in Colorado or other Rocky Mountain states, but Jim Meyers offers a menu of options for local communities that want to move the needle on electrification. He’s the buildings program director for the Southwestern Energy Efficiency Project, an organization based in Boulder that has operations in all the Colorado River Basin states except for Wyoming.

“Electrifying buildings is one of the most important tools for reaching zero carbon in the built environment,” says Meyers, author of a new report, “Building Electrification: How Cities and Counties are Implementing Electrification Policies —with Adoptable Language.”

See also a one-page infographic. The report seeks to walk community

leaders and activists through the full spectrum of electrification policies they could adopt, along with examples of communities that have already gone down this path. This report goes a step further, providing code language for local governments to adopt directly into their building codes.

Meyers knows that world very well, as he has participated in 3 International Code Council committees and is now on the ICC Sustainability Membership Council’s “Zero Energy” and “Decarbonization” subcommittees. He lives in suburbia, Centennial, south of Denver, and has been with SWEEP for 11 years.

The report lays out a menu of options, from those who want a full-immersion Baptist experience of electric only to those who want to sprinkle a little baptismal water across their building sector.

For example, with electric-only, all heating, water heating, cooking and clothes drying must be done with electricity – as no natural gas lines will run into the house or building. “The road to adoption will depend upon the current status of the energy code, the city’s ambition to reach climate goals, as well as the relationships between the building department, sustainability department, local building industry, and public,” the report says.

Another approach is called electric-preferred. It falls short of an outright ban on fossil fuels but does bump up the energy efficiency requirements when fossil fuels are used. Some communities have required new homes or buildings with natural gas to be 10% more efficient than their all-electric counterparts or, in some cases, offset the natural gas consumption with solar.

Are the Rocky Mountain states ready for building electrification? The basic premise of this new wave of electrification are heat pumps, milking the heat (or coolness, as the season requires) from the experience source, either the air or, with more expense, the ground or water. That technology is evolving—but is still viewed with some wariness in cold-weather places.

Jim Meyers

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Xcel Energy, for example, has warned that it’s not quite ready for prime-time along Colorado’s Front Range. In mountain communities, it gets far colder. Meyers’s report points out that technology can now reach -20 degrees F, and dual-fuel can be an option. It will take a while for full market acceptance, he says.

But his conclusion is more bold. “Increased electrification is a must for the southwest,” he writes. ‘All-electric buildings present significant opportunities for municipalities to support economic savings for new construction, long-term operating costs savings for owners/tenants, and reductions in carbon emissions for the community.”

Xcel Energy becoming a transportation company

DENVER, Colo. – Xcel Energy announced Wednesday a vision to drive toward 1.5 million electric vehicles in its service areas—including a large chunk of Colorado—by 2030. The company also operates in seven other states.

In a sense, this announcement merely confirms the legislative marching orders given the utility by Colorado and several other among the eight states in which it operates. In the case of Colorado, SB 19-077 required Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy, the two investor-owned utilities to apply to the state’s Public Utilities Commission to build facilities to support electric vehicles and recover the costs. Xcel in May submitted its plan, which is expected to be approved later this year by PUC commissioners.

The announcement should be seen in an even broader context, says Travis Madsen, transportation program manager for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, a major player in driving public policy in the energy sector in Colorado.

“Xcel, he said, “is evolving beyond just being an electricity company. It’s also

becoming a transportation company. I am excited that the company is embracing the idea that part of what it’s doing is to enable electric vehicles.”

Colorado legislators in 2019 adopted a raft of energy legislation, the most over-arching economy wise decarbonization goals: 26% by 2025 and, more challenging by far, 50% by 2030. Gov. Jared Polis reasserted and expanded somewhat the goal adopted by his predecessor, Gov. John Hickenlooper, to have 940,000 EVs on Colorado roads by 2030. Polis expanded the plan by including medium and heavy-duty vehicles, although Colorado does not have tax incentives for them, unlike cars.

Xcel’s ambitions and those of Colorado align very well, says Madsen. He points to an Xcel filing with the PUC of its goal of having roughly 500,000 electric vehicles in its service territory in Colorado. Xcel delivers more than 60% of the state’s electricity.

Madsen says he expects Colorado will meet and then exceed the EV goals because of the simple fact that the economics of vehicle electrification are starting to align. Vehicle costs are changing, and electricity has always been cheaper than petroleum. This was noted by Xcel in the press release posted on its website. “By 2030, an EV would cost $700 less per year to fuel than a gas-powered car, saving customers $1 billion annually.

cel’s goals also align with the state’s efforts to decarbonize its electricity.

“This activity by Xcel is one of the key ingredients in making that happen,” he says. This vehicle electrification by 2030 will reduce emissions from transportation 40%.

There’s another component: air quality. Air pollution poses a serious health threat to people, and new studies reinforce and expand that understanding. The northern Front Range has had air pollution issues for many decades, less now than 50 years ago, but still dangerous and with a stubborn persistence. There are multiple causes,

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including oil-and-gas drilling, but transportation exhausts are the single largest cause.

“The more we learn about air pollution and how bad it is, the greater the push to switch,” says Madsen. “The switch to EVs is one of the major tools.”

In its May filings with the PUC, Xcel laid out a multi-pronged approach to aiding the charging of EVs in its Transportation Electrification Plan. It proposes to invest $100 million during three years in electric vehicle infrastructure and programs. See the 48-page plan filed with the PUC here.

These include programs to help people rewire their garages for charging, as most charging is expected to be done at home. The program also calls for efforts to allow those in multi-family housing, such as condominiums and apartments, to have access to charging. Another component addresses fleet-charging. And, if a relatively small part of the program, Xcel proposes how it will figure out where to put expensive fast-chargers in locations that private companies, like EVgo and ChargePoint, do not, because of infrequent use.

Madsen expects PUC approval for Xcel’s plans by early 2021 and the laying out of the programs, which will then accelerate the adoption of EVs in Colorado. The deadline for adoption of the plan was specified by legislators as March 1, 2021.

Holy Cross Energy gets national recognition as coop of the year

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. – Holy Cross Energy has been named Electric Cooperative of the Year for 2020 by Smart Electric Power Alliance. The alliance has been handing out awards for 12 years to utilities, individuals, and others working on the front lines of the U.S. energy transition.

In recognizing Holy Cross, the organization cited the effort by the Glenwood Springs, Colo.-based electrical cooperative to increase renewable energy to 70%, the innovations evident in the Basalt Vista microgrid project, and the industry-leading support for installation of on-site renewable and storage by Holy Cross members.

At Basalt Vista, Holy Cross is studying how adjusting the energy levels of homes may be more cost-effective for members than modifying production at a power plant, leading to cost savings for members.

“We are both proud and honored that HCE has now also been recognized as a national example of how groundbreaking progress in clean energy and grid modernization can be achieved without any increase in power supply costs. This aspect of the clean energy transition has become even more significant as our members and communities face the social and economic stresses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

A charging station in Eagle in partnership with Holy Cross Energy.

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Gravel & cobbles and the Colorado River’s slow bake by Allen Best

Gravel yards annoy me. I’ve driven around Las Vegas and Albuquerque, both places of considerable aridity that depend greatly upon the Colorado River. Gravel has come to dominate the front yards in both places. In Vegas, they pay people to remove their grass. I’ve seen a lot of gravel. Yuck.

Driving around metropolitan Denver, I see more and more gravel, too. Candelas, the giant subdivision that sits on a table just short of where the prairie sweeps up into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, has hulking houses big enough to be gymnasiums, crowded together like rugby players in a scrum. The yards are not quite opposite, but close, the space devoted to

turf pinched by gravel and cobbles and water-stingy shrubs.

Is this good or bad? As in most things, there are two sides to

this story. Both sides emerged during a session sponsored by Patty Limerick’s Center of the American West on Tuesday. The webinar was the first of four sessions focused on the twin topics of water and energy. Whether those two topics actually pair very well, I’m not too sure since I started Big Pivots in January, choosing to use the tag line of “Energy and Water Transitions in Colorado and Beyond.” Limerick also wonders about the pairing, as became evident in that first session.

Eric Kuhn began his career at the intersection of energy and water, serving as an electrical engineer aboard nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy and working as

Landscaping in Candelas, a major new subdivision in metro Denver, where turf is more sparse—but still luxuriant compared to Las Vegas or Albuquerque. Photo/Allen Best

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a nuclear start-up engineering for the Bechtel Power Corp. Then, on whim, he applied for a job with Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District.

In the nearly 40 years since, he has become among the foremost experts about the Colorado River, a topic that annually inspires yet another book or three. Kuhn has written a book, too, along with water journalist John Fleck, “Science be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River.” It deserves to be on the top shelf of Colorado River books.

See my review here. In that book, Kuhn and Fleck document

how the Colorado River was divvied up based not on what the river could be expected to yield, given the scientific evidence, but rather what the power brokers from across the basin (and from Washington D.C.) preferred to believe it would. They make a case that the Colorado River development reflected rotten public policy.

Kuhn managed to be both grim and hopeful. “What we know is that in the future there will be less water than there is today, and we’re using every drop today,” he said of the Colorado River. “And in the future

there will be less. That means people in the future will use less.”

Who exactly will use less? Two-thirds of the Colorado River is used for irrigation, and another one-sixth or so is for municipalities and for tribal reservations, and the rest goes to evaporation from these big reservoirs.”

And, as he said, it could get worse. Instead of the 17.5 million acre-feet (or more) presumed by the Colorado River compact, the river in a time of warming climate will produce 10.5 or 11 million acre-feet—even as environmental problems, such as struggling fish populations, and other environmental repercussions of dewatering are becoming more apparent.

rim indeed, right? Well, maybe not. The future is bright because of

conservation, conversation and collaboration,” he said. “As human beings we learn how to use less water than we have.”

Las Vegas is the shining star. In 2000 it was using 320,000 acre-feet of water. Since then, the metropolitan area has nearly approached a population of 2 million—and the water use has declined. It has banked water in Arizona. Really.

“The future of the Colorado River is all about grass: water for parks, grass or lawns. If we can manage grass, we can live with the water supply we have,” he said.

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Eric Kuhn

The Colorado River at Palisade, Colo. Photo/Allen Best

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Cities along the Front Range of Colorado, he said, have yet to hit the same stride as their hotter, more arid siblings.

“If you look at the progress made elsewhere in the world, the Front Range hasn’t even dared to restrict lawn sizes or pay people to take out their turf,” he said.

Where does this subdivision called Candelas fit into this narrative? I’m not sure. Arvada gets 78% of its water from Colorado River tributaries via Denver’s Moffat diversion network in the Fraser and William Fork Valleys.

But what gives somebody in Montrose the right to have a half-acre front yard while somebody in Arvada can have one about the size of a trampoline. This discussion can go on for a while – and, in fact, has been going on for decades.

Organizers of conferences or their pandemic-equivalent Zoom sessions can safely return to this topic again and again, because it will never be answered to everyone’s great satisfaction.

Kuhn, when he ran the River District, argued the Western Slope perspective that Colorado’s growth cannot be borne on the backs of the Western Slope’s cultural history of agriculture. That is still the position of the River District.

Water can be shared, though —through agreements that allow cities to lease water from farms, to help in pinch times. This device been employed effectively by California’s Metropolitan Water District, the provider for southern California cities, in conjunction with the giant farming districts in California, Palo Verde and the Imperial Valley. In Colorado, cities have been more tepid.

But Los Angeles and its sunny southlands empire have also learned to live with less water, Kuhn noted.

key-dokey—but just keep in mind the heat-island effect of the

warming climate and the cooling effect provided by irrigated landscapes, responded

Laurna Kaatz. She has a Ph.D. (physics), too. She is Denver Water’s climate science, policy, and adaptation program director.

“Water goes a long way to making it comfortable and livable in a semi-arid environment,” she said.

Every Water 101 course in Colorado must point to this fundamental imbalance: 80% of the water falls on the Western Slope, and 90% of the population lives on the Eastern Slope, mostly in a relatively narrow corridor between Castle Rock and Fort Collins.

Another way of saying the same thing: The Colorado River produces 10 times the water of the South Platte River, where most Coloradans live, and Denver Water serves 25% of the state’s population, and those areas produce 30% of the state’s GDP—all on 2% of the state’s water (Agriculture uses 88% of Colorado water, and municipalities 8% altogether and large industry 4%).

And 80% of water that falls as precipitation In Colorado goes back into the atmosphere as a result of evaporation and transpiration.

Half of Denver Water’s supplies come from the Western Slope. But Colorado, said Kaatz, is warming more rapidly than much of the globe, because it lies in the middle of a great land mass. For Denver Water, planning for the future means trying to prepare for the next 50 years using a process called scenario planning. The goal of scenario planning might be characterized as trying to keep your options open.

At the outset, I said that this was a water-energy forum. In fact, it tilted heavily toward water. But energy and water do overlap, as Xcel’s representative, Jeff Lyng, pointed out. He’s the company’s director of energy & environmental policy. And, not

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Laurna Kaatz

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unlike the scenario planning of major water utilities,

On the environmental front, Xcel became a national front-runner with its December 2018 announcement it saw a path to 80% emissions-free electrical production by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels. Then, at mid-century, zero-emissions.

The first goal can be achieved using existing technology, Xcel said. As for that goal 30 years hence? TBD.

First things first, said Lyng. “We can’t get to zero emissions without first getting to 60% and then 80%.” By the end of last year, he said, Xcel had reduced emissions by 44% -- significant, he suggested, when considering what was required by the Paris climate agreement but also by what the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan would have required, 32%.

Major challenges lie ahead before the goal of a 100% renewable grid can be achieved. It’s not realistic to hit that goal by building just more and more renewables, because of land-use constraints, unmanageable costs, and other problems.

Instead, he said other types of technologies —advanced, dispatchable renewables, zero-carbon fuels, advanced nuclear, carbon capture and utilization, long-duration storage and demand-response, among other possibilities—will deliver the answer. In other words, the answer is probably already on the table, but it just hasn’t been developed sufficiently.

As for the intersection with water, Lyng delivered this interesting factoid: energy saved is water saved, because each kilowatt-hour capacity of energy use saves roughly one-quarter gallon of water (given power plant cooling). Continued integration of

renewables, of course, will reduce that figure considerably.

Lyng’s comments about water use were nearly the only time that energy and water were joined in the same conversation—as Limerick, who has a Ph.D. in history, pointed out. “It’s interesting how the topics separate, even though we intended to bring them together.”

And Limerick also suggested why people tend to get excited about water, whereas with energy eyes soon glaze over. Water is something that people intrinsically believe they know, that they have an affinity with. Energy, well, it’s a little less tactile.

But, to the point of this publication, Big Pivots, how we produce and consume energy matters entirely to the climate. And, as Kaatz noted, climate change is water change.

Two sessions remain next week in the “Water and Energy in Colorado: Emulsifying Two Great Challenges in Four Parts.”

Jeff Lyng

At the headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo/Allen Best

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Taxes on wind farms huge

for Colorado farm counties DENVER, Colo. – The 15 counties that

comprise the mostly rural, eastern plains in Colorado have quietly been rapidly transformed in the 21st century. A new study commissioned by The Western Way finds that the counties altogether constitute 95% of the renewable energy capacity in Colorado—and more is coming.

By 2024, construction and investment of $9.4 billion will have occurred since 2000 – with 75% of that investment occurring in 33% of that time span, 2016-2024.

You can find the study here. Wind is critical to the employment base

of the eastern plains, the study found, but since 2015 solar positions grew from 42 jobs to 151 jobs in 2019.

Greg Brophy, Colorado director of The Western Way, said the report quantifies the benefits that the region receives for its part in generating the vast majority of Colorado’s renewable energy. But the report, he said, should also be a call for counties in the eastern plains without any projects to roll out the welcome mat and gain the benefits.

The report cited the testimony of Colorado Rep. Rod Pelton, who represents a big swath of the eastern plains, including

Morgan, Logan and other counties in the South Platte Valley as well as areas to the south, including Burlington and Cheyenne Wells.

“In several of the counties in my legislative district, taxes paid by wind farms make up nearly half the amount of the annual operating revenue for

county government,” Pelton said. This is a long term and stable funding source that does not fluctuate with the market, and it is enabling local governments to fund needed services without raising taxes. Take Kit Carson County (Burlington) as an example. The total local tax revenue brought in annually is just over $525 per county resident. That is a meaningful amount.”

Cory Wall, a commissioner in Kit Carson County, said his county receives nearly $2 million a year from the wind projects.

“Eastern Colorado has been hit hard by the covid economic shutdown and swings in commodity prices. We are thankful to have these renewable energy projects paying a steady stream of tax revenue and lease payments,” he said.

In Sterling, Logan County’s economic development director, Trae Miller, points to what he called the nation’s premier wind technician training program, which is a component of Northeastern Junior College.

Not all places that have strong resources have wanted them, although Brophy was reluctant to identify them. He agreed that Southeastern Colorado is the poster child of wind resources but absence of transmission.

For a deep dive on the status of southeastern Colorado, see Windy enough in Dust Bowl land.

A wind farm in Colorado’s Logan County, near the Nebraska border, in 2015.

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Report finds big loss in clean energy jobs in ‘20

DENVER, Colo. – A report commissioned by the Sierra Club finds that clean energy jobs have fallen significantly since February, even as other economic sectors are still holding up reasonably well. Colorado has lost 5.962 jobs since the time that New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called Before Covid. That represents an 8.9% decline. Job growth in clean energy grew 0.2% during July.

“This fits in with what I'm hearing on solar,” reports Mike Kruger, chief executive of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association. “Installers are booking future business with the crew they have now rather than staff up to meet current demand only to have demand fall off a cliff again.”

In New Mexico, it’s bad, too. That state lost 2,105 jobs, or a 16.85 decline in clean energy jobs, and since July has gained back 0.2% of them.

By far the largest state in the West for clean energy is California, with 88,158 jobs lost since February, and only 723 gained in July.

See the report by BW Research Partnership here.

The Sierra Club faulted President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for failing to extend unemployment benefits, instead “prioritizing corporate pollutes and executives.”

Despite revolt, Tri-State declares many successes

WESTMINSTER, Colo. – Despite the revolt from two of its three largest members, Tri-State Generation & Transmission put on a happy face at its annual meeting.

“Tri-State is utilizing its financial strengths and positioning itself for success in an industry that is rapidly changing.,” said

Stuart Morgan, treasurer and director at Wheat Belt Public Power District of Sidney, Neb. He noted that rates will continue to remain steady into 2021, for the fifth straight year.

Member revenue has increased 9% over the last five years, which Tri-State says is strong compared to many other generation and transmission companies. It ranks as the third largest by asset size in the United States, with $5.3 billion in assets, ranking behind Oglethorpe Power and Basin Electric.

With arrival of a new chief executive Duane Highley in April 2019, Tri-State quickly began pivoting, announcing in January the retirement of coal plants in Colorado and New Mexico and the addition of more than 1 gigawatt of additional renewable resources by 2024. “We must be cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable than any other option,” Highley said, according to a press release.

Black Hills gets closer to moving forward on a 200-megawatt solar farm

PUEBLO, Colo. – Black Hills Energy has reached the local approvals it needs to move ahead with a 200-megawatt solar project in the Pueblo area if approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

If approved by regulators, Black Hills will enter into a power-purchase agreement with the developer for all of the energy generated from the project. Construction would begin in 2021 with the project going online in 2023, according to Julia Rodriguez, Black Hills spokeswoman.

The project would result in 51% of Black Hills Energy’s total generating mix coming from renewable energy resources by 2024, the Pueblo Chieftain reported.

Subscribe to Big Pivots @ BigPivots.com

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Story and photos by Allen Best

n 2017, when residents of the Hayden School District debated the merits of

building a new pre-K through 12th grade school, little was said about the near certainty that a nearby coal-powered power plant would likely be retired long before the building’s debt was. The Hayden Generating Station pays 57% of property taxes in the district.

“Nobody wanted to talk about it. Now we’re talking about it pretty hard,” says Doug Monger, a life-long resident of Hayden and a Routt County commissioner. “When the power plant goes away, get your checkbooks out.”

Smaller districts in and around Hayden will similarly see substantial revenue shortfalls. The West Routt Fire Protection District, for example, gets 62% of its property tax revenues from the power plant.

The hospital, library and cemetery districts get 57%.

Such revenue shortfalls are among the many impacts to communities and workers addressed by a draft report issued Aug.

1 by the state’s Just Transition Advisory Committee. A final report is due state legislators on Dec. 31.

Created by a 2019 law, the committee was charged with devising strategies to assist workers and communities impacted by that transition.

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After the coal plants close

Just Transition committee issues draft report. In Craig, many ideas, but most could use some

assistance.

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The draft recommendations identify precise proposals to help the 2,000 coal miners, railroaders, and power plant workers who have or will likely lose jobs as Colorado shifts from coal-generated electricity to renewables during the next several decades. They’re spread across Colorado from Brush to Pueblo to Paonia.

One recommendation calls for assisting workers with wage and health differential benefits for three to five years. Depending upon how long they were in the coal-dependent jobs, the workers would get part or all of the difference in reimbursement between the old jobs and new work.

Another provision calls for up to $30,000 in funding for new training or education for dislocated workers. Still another recommendation calls for assistance to workers who choose to relocate more than 50 miles for new work.

COVID-19 complicates potential aid from the revenue-strapped state government but

also prospective help from foundations and other sources. As one committee memo notes, new sources of revenue must be developed. Then again, the bulk of coal plants — and all of them in the Hayden-Craig area — will not begin closing until 2025, possibly after the economy has recovered.

The law also specifies that these plans must be local in origin. The state won’t tell a coal-mining community that it must become a place that manufactures, for example, tennis balls. The draft report recommends creation of new tools that could assist new business formation. One recommendation would create a state-wide investment fund focused on investments in coal transition communities.

‘The conversation changed’

In Hayden, Xcel Energy is the operator and primary owner of the power plant. A 2016 filing with state regulators projected one unit closing in 2030 and the second unit

Work continued on the gridiron at the new school at Hayden in early August. The bond for the school was approved in 2017, when voters thought the plant’s units would stay open through 2030 and 2036.

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in 2036. That was the understanding voters were operating under when they approved the $23 million bond proposal in 2017, by a whisker-thin two-vote margin.

But that was before prices of renewable electricity had dived, causing Xcel to rethink its options. In December 2018 it announced that it intended to reduce emissions from its power generation in Colorado and other states where it operates 80% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels.

There had been uncertainty at the time of the 2017 vote, says the town manager, Matthew Mendisco. Xcel’s decarbonization pledge was sobering. “When they made their announcement, that’s when I think the conversation changed,” he says.

State legislators in 2019 made that pledge a legal mandate. Xcel early next year is expected to outline exactly how it will meet that requirement. Closure of the plant will also hit Peabody Energy’s Twentymile Mine, whose primary market is the Hayden plant. Production was already skidding from the mine. The mine is one of the primary employers in Hayden.

In Craig, one unit was already scheduled to close by 2025, but in January Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the operator and primary owner, announced closing of the two remaining units by 2030. Also almost certainly to close will be the two coal mines, Trappers and ColoWyo, that supply them.

In early March, when the Just Transition Advisory Committee held listening sessions

in Craig and Hayden, they heard anger, grief and uncertainty.

“They don’t feel heard by the state Legislature. They know they can’t replace coal jobs, and they don’t see a future for Hayden without coal,” reported Beth Melton, a Routt County commissioner, relaying the comments expressed at her table. Fears of lifestyle loss were mentioned often in a session held in the airport cafeteria near Hayden. The coal-based paychecks allow a reasonable quality of life in smallish, uncongested towns — not poor places, but not places of wealth either. Always there are the mountains and high desert, and sheer canyon walls of ochre, too,

Productions at the Twentymile Mine has fallen dramatically in the last 12 years. It continues to supply the Hayden power plant.

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the hay meadows and other manifestations of a pastoral landscape just three or four minutes away.

If there was always an understanding that someday the plants would close, the coal would play out, it always seemed too far into the future to seriously contemplate. Even those with their eyes wide open thought they had 10 to 15 years to figure out a future.

Dinosaurs to the rescue?

In theory, the lost tax base from the coal plant can be offset by increased growth. Hayden has excellent water rights — a valuable commodity in the arid West — capable of serving a population of 4,000 to 5,000. It has real estate costs that should make it an attractive option for those unable to afford housing in the prosperous resort community of Steamboat Springs 25 miles to the east. In reality, Hayden has changed very little in the last 40 years, despite its relative proximity to Steamboat. The population of Hayden was at 1,600 in the late 1970s, only lately growing to 2,200.

In Craig, a town of 9,000 people, some residents can remember life before coal became king. They suggest it wasn’t a bad place then, either.

But even before the announcements of plant closures, the Yampa Valley towns needed to think about diversification, says Jennifer Holloway, director of the Craig Chamber of Commerce.

“It has been our community’s mission to provide electricity, and now it has to shift,” says Holloway. “Every community needs a purpose. We need to have something we work toward.”

Some hope for new manufacturing to replace the manufacture of electrons. But with the closest interstate highway 90 miles

away by twisting roads, that appears unlikely.

Tourism offers more hope. Moffat County is only slightly smaller than Connecticut and with a population of 13,000. It’s uncluttered but relatively rich with high-desert attractions. For decades there has been talk about pushing for national park designation for Dinosaur, the national monument about 90 miles west of Craig. Local elected officials refused to endorse the idea for fear that it might adversely impact oil and gas extraction along its perimeter. Now, a coalition of regional governments and river groups is being stitched together for a September summit to address the idea as well as the idea of a field museum in Craig.

The Yampa River, one of the last undammed rivers of the West, flows past

Downtown Craig has been getting spiffed up but suffers from the Walmart-on-the-edge-of-town effect.

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Craig and through Dinosaur. Already, it adds a bit of business to Craig, if mostly boaters stop to gas up and grab groceries at the City Market. Perhaps to highlight potential opportunities, Gov. Jared Polis, when traveling through Craig in March to a listening session, stopped by a small manufacturer of rafting gear called Good Vibes. Other ideas involve what has worked for other tourism-based communities; a water park in the Yampa River between the town and the power plant, to challenge the skills of kayakers? And, in time, mountain bike trails on the slopes now being created by draglines at the Trapper Mine?

Improved mass transit, possibly including trains, could better link Craig with the wealth of Steamboat, 42 miles away, and its visitors. Colorado has three other tourist-driven trains. There’s little interest, however, in becoming a bedroom community for Steamboat’s poorly paid service workers. Craig will have enough of its own once the $100,000-a-year-plus-benefits coal jobs are gone.

Others wonder if curriculum at the local Colorado Northwestern Community College can be developed to take advantage of the assets of the region, such as programs in wildlife management or archaeology.

Then there’s hope for an art gallery on Craig’s main street. Like many small-town downtowns, it lost vibrancy when Walmart arrived at the edge of Craig along with fast-food franchises.

How can the state help?

Altogether, the efforts suggest strategies of creating more attractive communities, creating the sort of place that will draw location-neutral people.

But to achieve this will require infrastructure — just at a time when budgets are being strangled by the pandemic. The Just Transition committee’s draft report emphasizes this challenge unforeseen by legislative authors of the law.

“A significant amount of work remains to reach a final Just Transition Plan for Colorado,” says the report. “Most notably, we need to better develop funding options that will be viable given Colorado’s constitutional fiscal limits as well as new budget constraints in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.”

Since March, when the committee was in Craig to take testimony, for-sale signs have popped up in front of houses. Craig has been drawing people interested in fleeing the Denver metropolitan area. Unlike Colorado’s mountain towns, you can buy a house in the Yampa Valley for $200,000 to $300,000.

Taxing districts face huge gaps as the coal properties recede. In Routt County, the Twentymile Mine and the Hayden plant together deliver 2.3% of the county budget at the courthouse in Steamboat Springs. Farther west in Craig, taxes on the two coal mines and the power plant deliver 11.3% of revenues for Moffat County’s budget.

School districts will have layered effects. Colorado seeks to equalize funding for students across the state, so that in theory a student in the poorest school districts gets an equal opportunity with that in the richest. Coal assets today deliver 46% of the budget for the Hayden School District and 20.5% of the budget to Moffat County schools.

But there are other impacts, explains John Wall, the finance director for Moffat County schools. A diminished tax base reduces the district’s ability to borrow money to repair the aging schools, the newest of which is 40 years old, about the same age as the coal plants.

Colorado communities must look at their assets when seeking economic development, says Paul Majors, chief executive of the Telluride Foundation, and a member of the Just Transition committee. Northwestern Colorado’s rugged beauty, he suggests, lies at the top of the list.

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The Just Transition committee proposes aid to the coal-impacted communities for co-work spaces, business accelerators and other initiatives. The lengthy draft report also identifies the need for new state-sanctioned tools that provide a funnel for capital investments. Legislation will help, says Majors. It will signal to investors that the state is all in, they want this to happen, they’re supportive.”

‘More work to be done’

The intent of the Just Transition effort is not to replace lost revenue, although that could be part of the assistance. Rather, it is to help communities craft new ways to generate revenue. But the committee also recommends study of how to overhaul Colorado’s tax structure, to see if constitutional requirements actually impair the ability of local jurisdictions to plan for ways to strengthen and diversify their economies.

Colorado is not known as a coal state in the same way as Wyoming or West Virginia are. But coal had been central to the economy of the Yampa Valley for the last 50 years. Because of that dependence and its

relative isolation, it stands out as among the nation’s most interesting places to see how it transitions to life beyond carbon.

Kelli Roemer, a human geographer working on a dissertation at Montana State University, focusing on Colorado, Montana and Washington state, observes that Colorado stands out because of its attempt to provide planning tools. Montana and Wyoming, two states even more dependent on coal, have made no similar effort at planning.

Colorado has potential to become a model for other coal-dependent states, says Mark Haggerty, an economic geographer associated with the Headwaters Economics, a Montana-based think tank and an advisor on Colorado’s effort. “Discussions and draft recommendations are headed in the right direction, but there is more work to be done, and ultimately the model taking shape will need support from the Legislature and the governor.”

This story was commissioned by Energy News Network and was originally published there.

Beth Melton, a Routt County commissioner, speaks in March as Just Transmission Advisory Committee vice chair Ray Beck, left, and Dennis Dougherty, chair, look on. Beck is a Moffat County commissioner and Dougherty is executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO.