{"id":806168,"date":"2020-04-07T23:31:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=381509"},"modified":"2020-04-07T23:31:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:31:42","slug":"frisco-gets-a-new-mayor-and-fills-4-town-council-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/frisco-gets-a-new-mayor-and-fills-4-town-council-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"Frisco gets a new mayor and fills 4 town council seats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FRISCO \u2014 The new Frisco Town Council has been selected.<\/p>\n<p>A total of five candidates entered the council race for four open seats, including one two-year term because council member Hunter Mortensen is taking on his new role as mayor.<\/p>\n<p>Frisco voters ultimately selected incumbents Jessica Burley and Rick Ihnken along with Andrew Aerenson to help lead the town and enact the community\u2019s vision for the next four years. Andy Held will serve the two-year term.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 1,787 votes had been tabulated by 11 p.m. Tuesday, with Burley leading the way with 442 votes, or almost 25% percent of the vote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/sdn-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Burley, a graduate of Emory University and the University of Denver, works as the sustainability coordinator for the town of Breckenridge and has served on Frisco\u2019s Town Council for the past four years. She\u2019s also participated in a number of other local groups, including with the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments\u2019 Water Quantity and Quality Committee, and the Summit Climate Action Collaborative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, Burley ran primarily on a platform of improved sustainability and environmental programs in town, including transitioning to net zero emissions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can no longer wait and see about the impacts of development on our small town, but rather we need to guide that development with smart decisions for Frisco\u2019s future,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/opinion-jessica-burley-environmental-goals-top-priorities\/\">Burley told the Summit Daily<\/a> last month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Burley also outlined expanding the town\u2019s Housing Helps program and implementing a pay-as-you-throw trash program as priorities of her reelection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Ihnken (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/opinion-rick-ihnken-infrastructure-and-town-identity-a-focus\/\">Ihnken<\/a> received the second highest number of votes with 397. He has been serving as a council member for the past four years and currently works as a station captain at West Metro Fire Rescue, along with former roles with Summit County Ambulance Service and Flight for Life and with the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort ski patrols.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ihnken outlined maintaining and improving Frisco\u2019s infrastructure as his No. 1 priority for reelection, hoping to serve as a driving force in keeping the town\u2019s water wells and treatment plants up to meeting residents\u2019 needs, implementing a storm water and spring runoff plan, and helping to facilitate the rollout of broadband in the area through the town\u2019s \u201cdig once\u201d ordinance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ihnken also noted that he could be a valuable presence on the council in ensuring Frisco\u2019s small-town identity is maintained as the town continues to grow, along with bringing a strong voice in the town\u2019s collaborations with partners like the Colorado Department of Transporation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Aerenson (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/opinion-andrew-aerenson-quality-of-life-at-root-of-all-council-efforts\/\">Aerenson <\/a>received the third highest number of votes with 368. He moved to Frisco in 2015, and works in real estate as a business entrepreneur and attorney. He\u2019s also worked as a ski instructor at Breckenridge Ski Resort and has served in various roles with groups around the county, including on The Summit Foundation\u2019s board, The Rotary Club of Summit County, the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance and more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Aerenson ran on a platform of partnering with neighboring governments, pushing cooperative efforts to help deal with countywide issues like housing, child care and sustainability. He also said he hopes to implement new decision-making criteria for the town \u2014 a process that would take a closer look at identifying new opportunities, managing the impact of major events, better integrating environmental considerations and helping residents to share in town successes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Andy Held (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/opinion-andy-held\/\">Held<\/a> received the fourth highest number of votes with 325.<\/p>\n<p>Held came to Frisco in 1987. He owns Held Joinery \u2014 he\u2019s helped in the construction of a number of Frisco projects over the years \u2014 along with serving as a member of the town\u2019s planning commission and working as a representative on the Summit County Wildfire Council, among other local groups.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Held ran primarily on a platform of responsible development as the town looks toward the future, outlining the implementation of the town\u2019s community plan, improved sustainability efforts and better connectivity as priorities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He also voiced a desire to create a more comprehensive wildfire mitigation and preparedness plan and to create better affordable housing initiatives for locals in town.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the new council members, Hunter Mortensen will serve as the town\u2019s new mayor. Mortensen, a former council member and mayor pro tem, left his position early to run unopposed for the position on a platform emphasizing environmental protection.<\/p>\n<p>Mortensen called on the new council to support the area\u2019s amenities and economy by protecting the environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to continue making Frisco the envy of other communities around the Mountain West,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/opinion-hunter-mortensen-protecting-workforce-environment-are-keys-to-friscos-success\/\">Mortensen told the Summit Daily<\/a> last month. \u201cTo do this as mayor, I will always take into account that our economy and environment are one and the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mortensen also outlined improving workforce housing options as another of his priorities, along with helping to enhance the town\u2019s technology infrastructure, identifying opportunities to upgrade the area\u2019s cell and internet services.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/frisco-gets-a-new-mayor-and-fills-4-town-council-seats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FRISCO \u2014 The new Frisco Town Council has been selected. A total of five candidates entered the council race for four open seats, including one two-year term because council member Hunter Mortensen is taking on his new role as mayor. Frisco voters ultimately selected incumbents Jessica Burley and Rick Ihnken along with Andrew Aerenson to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-16 22:20:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}