{"id":2441863,"date":"2019-03-18T17:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T23:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-mayoral-candidates-see-same-priorities-for-next-term\/"},"modified":"2019-03-19T07:57:08","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T13:57:08","slug":"aspen-mayoral-candidates-see-same-priorities-for-next-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-mayoral-candidates-see-same-priorities-for-next-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen mayoral candidates see same priorities for next term"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
City of Aspen mayoral candidates, left to right, Cale Mitchell, Ann Mullins, Torre, Adam Frisch Thursday night at Squirm Night held at City Hall.<\/strong>
\nAnna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to getting things done for the people of Aspen in the next couple of years, the two mayoral candidates vying for the city\u2019s highest elected office don\u2019t differ too much on what their priorities are.<\/p>\n

When asked what their top three issues they want to address during the mayor\u2019s two-year term, candidates Torre and Ann Mullins both said they have five.<\/p>\n

They said they want to fix internal issues within City Hall and hire a new city manager; build and better manage affordable housing; focus on environmental issues; prioritize child care needs for young families and support small businesses.<\/p>\n

Torre also cited transit solutions as something he thinks council could get done in the next two years.<\/p>\n

How Mullins and Torre can accomplish their goals is where the details come in.<\/p>\n

They are in a contest for the April 2 runoff, having not received in the March 5 election<\/a> 50 percent of the vote, plus one, which is required by the city\u2019s home rule charter.<\/p>\n

Torre,<\/a> 49, has served two terms on council, from 2003 to 2007 and 2009 to 2013. This is his sixth run at mayor, and he lost his last council bid in 2017 in a runoff election to Councilman Ward Hauenstein.<\/p>\n

Mullins,<\/a> 70, is in the middle of serving her second term on council after first being elected in 2013.<\/p>\n

If she is not elected mayor, Mullins still has two years on council. If she is elected mayor, council can appoint someone to fill the vacancy, or it can hold another election.<\/p>\n

Ballots were mailed on Friday and voters should expect to see them in their mailboxes sometime this week.<\/p>\n

Here is a breakdown of where the candidates land on their top priorities after interviews with The Aspen Times last Friday:<\/p>\n

City Hall<\/p>\n

For Mullins, hiring a new city manager<\/a> to replace Steve Barwick, who was asked to resign earlier this year, is a step toward bigger change within municipal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the next council that will be directing that person,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel strongly that we should be managing with an emphasis on public service versus running the city like a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means taking a deep look into the city\u2019s services, staffing levels and the budget, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be able to defend all of our decisions,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to get City Hall working for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also would like to have department heads become a management team in a horizontal structure, versus a top-down one.<\/p>\n

Torre said fixing the city\u2019s broken communication and accountability with the public will be dependent on the next city manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about who we hire,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need someone that can facilitate that and a changed system that\u2019s more effective and efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he is skeptical of the current council\u2019s decision to add 11 new employees into this year\u2019s budget while the economy is showing signs of instability.<\/p>\n

Taking a deep look at all of the city\u2019s departments to determine which ones are flush and which ones need more funding is necessary, Torre said.<\/p>\n

Workforce housing<\/a><\/p>\n

Torre said he\u2019s committed to helping residents in the Centennial housing complex find a solution to their capital reserve deficit and aging infrastructure.<\/p>\n

He said he also wants to create a program so people can downsize into smaller units and are incentivized to do so to \u201cmaximize the occupancy\u201d of current inventory.<\/p>\n

Torre said he supports the city\u2019s plans to build phase three of Burlingame Ranch housing and wants to look at future development on other government-owned parcels.<\/p>\n

Mullins said Burlingame III, which is estimated to cost $30 million, is a priority, as are many other facets within the affordable-housing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is kind of low hanging fruit but also the biggest challenge in the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her approach to affordable housing comes as a six-year plan of her serving three, two-year terms as mayor.<\/p>\n

During that time, Mullins said she wants to set a goal of building a certain amount of units each year based on what\u2019s feasible and what the community needs are.<\/p>\n

That can happen at parcels the city owns, including the BMC West land near the airport.<\/p>\n

She also said she would look at redeveloping existing inventory, like the first phase of Truscott, which is an old motel and consists of studio apartments. Mullins said she wonders if a second story could be added to maximize that property\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

Mullins said the city also should look at buying free-market properties to be converted into workforce housing.<\/p>\n

The environment<\/p>\n

Torre and Mullins both agree that maintaining funding for the Rio Grande Recycling Center is a priority for the city.<\/p>\n

Torre said the commercial core needs more focus on recycling, and he wants to devise a comprehensive policy on citywide composting.<\/p>\n

Torre, who was instrumental in getting the two grocery stores in town to stop selling plastic bags, wants to focus on legislation reducing single-use plastics.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut first get the environmental departments to help with outreach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mullins said as mayor, she would lead the city into developing a resiliency plan that addresses what effects climate change has on Aspen, along with developing greener building codes so that projects coming online are as environmentally friendly as possible, and even 100 percent renewable, or \u201cnet zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she also wants to increase the city\u2019s 26 percent recycling rate and pass a deconstruction ordinance that requires developers to recycle or reuse materials that they tear down.<\/p>\n

Finally, Mullins said she wants to resurrect the storm water management plan, and the rivers and streams management reports.<\/p>\n

Small business support<\/p>\n

Torre said the city needs to support the middle in the business community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to refocus on local business,\u201d he said, adding that council can create policy around incentivizing second-tier space for lower rent spots.<\/p>\n

He also would like to explore live-work space in the city, Torre said.<\/p>\n

Mullins said the city can help locally owned business, based on the city\u2019s successful small lodge incentive program, where owners are incentivized to keep their properties lodges through expedited permits for redevelopment and energy upgrades.<\/p>\n

She said city officials need to meet with businesses, define the common problems and come up with solutions to support them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this has been where council has erred,\u201d Mullins said.<\/p>\n

Child care<\/p>\n

Torre said the city needs to act now on creating a larger child-care program than what\u2019s currently available by the municipal government.<\/p>\n

He suggested mobile classrooms while the city comes up with a capital plan for a new facility.<\/p>\n

Mullins said the childhood assessment that\u2019s planned for 2020 needs to be moved up to this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study can be done in a year; the recommendation may take longer but it\u2019s important to get it started,\u201d Mullins said.<\/p>\n

She noted that working families will continue to leave the valley if they don\u2019t have all of the infrastructure in place that\u2019s required for a thriving, successful community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just housing,\u201d Mullins said.<\/p>\n

Other priorities<\/p>\n

Torre said he\u2019d like to resurrect some of the more measure-able alternative transit options in the city\u2019s failed mobility lab<\/a> that got iced earlier this year due to concerns from local transportation companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to pick up where the council failed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ride hailing and ride sharing \u2026 take the best and create specific initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torre also said he would support focusing more funding to mental health programs and senior citizen assistance, including a senior center expansion in collaboration with Pitkin County.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City of Aspen mayoral candidates, left to right, Cale Mitchell, Ann Mullins, Torre, Adam Frisch Thursday night at Squirm Night held at City Hall. Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times When it comes to getting things done for the people of Aspen in the next couple of years, the two mayoral candidates vying for the city\u2019s highest […]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 12:59:32","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":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}