Estes Valley Voice Podcast

by Mayor Gary Hall

Thanks to all of you who will vote in the three upcoming special district board elections on May 6.

And thanks to those of you who choose to run for the different boards in town. Without abundant civic participation, Estes Park would not benefit from the breadth of opinion and depth of wisdom that is needed for good progress.

We need you now for several other board and commission positions: the Planning Commission, the Housing Authority, the Board of Adjustment, and the Transportation Advisory Board. You can click here to contact the Town Clerk’s office for information about applying. Estes Park needs you.

There’s a lot of board action in town right now. Fortunately, we have many strong candidates stepping up. Diversity of membership and change of membership over time is good for Estes. “Diversity” doesn’t just mean cultural and ethnic variety. It can include differences in occupational background, age, gender, perspective, personality, and more.

There are several Larimer County special tax districts that are holding elections on May 6. These special tax districts are of high importance to residents and visitors alike but are not overseen by the Town of Estes Park. Operations of these service organizations run best when overseen by strong, transparent boards.

The Park Hospital District Board (Estes Park Health) has five candidates of varying backgrounds, three of whom I worked with during my long tenure at the hospital (2005-2023).

During my years at EPH, I worked with ten different administrations and, through them all, one of my mantras was that “communication is everything.” We have some very skilled folks to choose from for that board: adept in medicine, quality, finances, operations – and all of them seem to value good, open communication.

I strongly support wrapping up the deal with UCHealth. Even if some concessions must be made to UCHealth, there’s nothing more important for EPH’s long-term stability and effective operations than getting that deal done.

There will be hard times again, and the financial health and enlightened management of UCHealth will be critical when those times come. Think of capital projects of the future, maintenance of equipment, and upkeep on EPH’s various properties: medicine is the core service, but first, you have to keep the doors open and the equipment working.

The Estes Valley Fire Protection District also has a great slate of candidates, nine for five seats, including a past fire chief and an incumbent board member, but also some others with varied backgrounds who will hopefully mesh together to re-strengthen the group.

That board has had some ups and downs in recent months and years. It’s time to put a strong, open team together, with eyes wide open to the issues of the past. Several candidates have firefighting experience, there are a couple of legal eagles, and there are some who bring great business backgrounds.

Then there’s the Estes Valley Recreation and Parks District, with three fine candidates for two seats, including one who currently serves on that board. I enjoyed the comment in the Estes Valley Voice: “The three candidates expressed respect for one another…and all three said they were not running ‘against’ the other candidates but were running to serve the community.” Good to hear!

The Visit Estes Park Board is challenged right now, with one of my fellow trustees raising strong concerns about governance. At some not-too-distant future date, there will be a combined meeting of the Larimer Board of County Commissioners and our Town Board (a total of ten officials) considering the issues. The VEP board responded, and you can read all about those exchanges in the local media.

I will work to ensure that this process will be run respectfully for all involved. I have spent a lot of time learning about the

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March 10, 1940 – March 20, 2025

On March 20, 2025, Richard “Dick” Aaron Life, Captain, United States Navy, died peacefully while resting at age 85. He was with family during his final moments. He died naturally from a cardiac arrest. 

Born on March 10, 1940, in Parkersburg, W.Va. to Richard Edward Life and Frances Marie Roush. He grew up in both Athens, Ohio and Parkersburg with his younger brother, Ed, and his sister, Sue.

He was an Eagle Scout who achieved the highest Order of the Arrow. He played football and soccer in high school. He attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in the class of 1962.

He married Sandra, the love of his life, in the academy chapel the day after graduation. 

Richard served three tours in Vietnam aboard the last of the US Navy’s WWII diesel submarines, on amphibious ships, and finally in Saigon as the Navy’s liaison to the South Vietnamese Navy.

He earned his master’s degree in Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University.

During the Cold War, he was the Assistant Naval Attache in the US Embassy, Moscow, USSR, 1974-1976. This was his dream assignment. He spent his career as an Intelligence Officer specializing in human intelligence.

Although Richard wasn’t James Bond, he proudly gave 007 his assignments. He attended the Army War College and taught at each of the military academies in the US and in many other countries. His final assignment was overseeing human intelligence in Europe and the Middle East. 

Richard gave the gift of worldly experiences to his family. While living with them in Washington, DC, the Philippines, San Diego, CA, Moscow, USSR, Norfolk, VA, Carlisle, PA, Colorado Springs (NORAD), and Munich, Germany, he and Sandra taught their children how to travel the world and to appreciate people, their cultures, food, and history.

In retirement, Richard and Sandra lived in Ft Collins and Estes Park, CO. He continued to teach and was the guest speaker at many events. He volunteered at the American Legion and travelled East European countries as an international election monitor. He went on church missions, including assisting surgeons in Haiti.

He enjoyed hiking and biking in Colorado, including hiking 14ers, biking the Courage Classic for Children’s Hospital, and the WEDU in Aspen for children with cancer at Camp Wapiyapi.

Richard and Sandra raised an amazing family. First, they had two biological children and later completed their family by proudly adopting four children from South Korea. In total they had six wonderful children: Rick, Gretchen, Diane, Kevin, Caren, and Angelica.

Their children gave them 10 grandchildren, and since 1992 he’s been known as the world’s best Papa.

Richard is preceded in death by his daughter Gretchen, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital, New Orleans, who tragically died in a sail boating accident in 2005. His family takes comfort in knowing they have been reunited. 

His legacy with family and friends will be one of contagious love and joy for all who encountered him. He was quick to laugh, eager to meet new people, passionate about sharing experiences, and the last to leave a social event. His effusive zest for life and his sharing of a smile and a genuine hug will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Family and friends will hold a Celebration of Life, pun intended, on Saturday, April 26, with the service at 11 a.m. and reception following until 1:30 pm, at the American Legion, 850 N. St. Vrain Ave, Estes Park.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in his name to Veterans Counseling Services at American Legion, Post 119, EstesLegion.

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Story by Suzy Blackhurst

A brewing rift between Board members of Visit Estes Park, most of whom have worked together for several years, and Kirby Hazelton, who was appointed to the Board just a year ago this week, came to a head this past week.

The most recent skirmish began on April 1 when Hazelton, an Estes Park Town Trustee and the Town Board’s liaison to the special marketing district, wrote to the Larimer County Commissioners and asked them to meet with Town Trustees to discuss the possibility of removing and replacing all VEP Board members and the appointment of an interim chief executive officer.

In response to Hazelton’s letter, the VEP Board drafted and approved a four-page missive outlining their position on issues raised by Hazelton during a special meeting Tuesday afternoon, which was sent to both the County Commissioners and the Town Board in advance of the Town Board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday night.

“Trustee Hazelton has shown a persistent pattern of undermining the organization’s Board leadership,” the VEP Board wrote. The Board members’ letter cited the continual deterioration of a working relationship with Hazelton, which dates back to the time when she was appointed to the VEP Board a year ago.

“Our financials, strategy documents, and Board actions are publicly available and proactively shared. The Board is operationally sound,” the VEP letter stated.

During the Town Board meeting, the Trustees agreed to meet with the members of the County to discuss the issues Hazelton raised.

“There are a number of things in Trustee Hazleton’s letter and the response that raise a number of different types of questions. Some of them are process-oriented. Some of them are not. And I think process is always something that we should be aware of and dealing with,” said Bill Brown, trustee, as he suggested the Board agree to a joint meeting.

Saying changes may need to be made, trustee Frank Lancaster wasn’t convinced the situation with VEP is dire.

“I have seen dysfunctional Boards before. I don’t think this situation rises anywhere close to a dissolution of the need,” Hall said before agreeing to a meeting with the commissioners. 

All six Town Trustees were amenable to meeting with the Larimer County Commissioners. Mayor Gary Hall was resistant.

“I do not support moving it forward, but I hear that we have a strong consensus,” Hall said. “I don’t think we need to take an official vote.”

Town administrator Travis Machalek will work with the staff at Larimer County to make arrangements for the joint meeting.

In her letter to the commissioners, which she shared with the Town Board, Hazelton alleged that “The Visit Estes Park Board is currently dysfunctional, ineffective, and jeopardizing future operations.” She also said the Board fails to act with “good governance policy.”

“I’ve been sharing my concerns” for quite some time, Hazelton said on Monday. “My goal has always been to avoid this. Unfortunately, there is a resistance to change, she said.

The Estes Park Town Board appoints five members of the VEP Board, and the County Commissioners appoint two. The joint arrangement was developed by an intergovernmental agreement between the two elected bodies when the local marketing district was approved by voters in 2008.

VEP’s 2025 budget is nearly $10 million, $5.5 million of which are pass-through funds collected from an additional bed tax approved by voters in 2022 to fund workforce housing and childcare.

The purpose of the special marketing district is to promote tourism to the Estes Valley. Area voters approved of the establishment of the organization in a ballot measure in 2008.

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Story by Estes Valley Voice

In a letter dated April 1, 2025 to Larimer County Commissioners, Estes Park Town Trustee Kirby Hazelton asked for a joint meeting between the commissioners and the town board to discuss operations of the Visit Estes Park Board of Directors.

In her letter, made public in the meeting packet for the April 8 Estes Park Town Board meeting, Hazelton said the VEP Board had not been “acting with good policy governance.”

Criticizing the VEP Board, Hazelton stated, “I believe that the Visit Estes Park Board has demonstrated a pattern of being unable or uncommitted to responsibly govern the organization. By not properly managing and obtaining a Chief Executive Officer, by choosing to avoid community transparency, and by abandoning the obligation to be beholden to its owners, or the Estes Valley, it serves, the Visit Estes Park Board is currently dysfunctional, ineffective, and jeopardizing future operations.”

Hazelton, herself a voting member of the VEP Board and a liaison between the Town Board and VEP, said the commissioners and trustees should discuss whether VEP Board members should be removed and replaced. She also said the county and town elected officials should discuss the appointment of an interim CEO of the marketing district.

The VEP Board of Directors has scheduled a virtual meeting for Tuesday, April 8, from noon to 2 p.m., to address Hazelton’s letter and to discuss the CEO search process. To review the meeting’s agenda, click here.

Both the Town Board and County Commissioners are tasked with appointing VEP board members.

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By Mayor Gary Hall

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was the movie that made Robert Redford a superstar. He got his acting start at the Historic Elitch’s Garden Theatre in Denver. He’s given back so much to the industry that made him famous with the Sundance Film Festival.

The festival’s move to Boulder is a great boon for Colorado – and for Estes Park – artistically and culturally, as well as financially.

Motion pictures were an early widespread type of virtual reality. Movies are communication, whether fiction or non-fiction.

With films, we are not in the physical presence of the actors on the screen. Yet we feel that we know them, their ups and downs, their emotions, their joys, and their sorrows.

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By Elisabeth Sherwin

Estes Park is home to several species of unusual animals, from gigantic moose to snowshoe hares. Now add another rarity to the mix – a best-selling author.

You will be able to meet best-selling author and Estes Park resident Aimie Runyan at two events this week: Tuesday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Macdonald Book Shop and Friday, April 4 at 6 p.m. at the Estes Valley Library.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Runyan has just released her latest novel, “The Wandering Season.” The bookstore event will be a book signing, while the library event will be a lecture, which will also be accessible online.

Runyan, 45, moved to Estes Park in 2021. She lives with her husband, history professor Jeremy Vetter, and two children, Ciaran, 14, and Aria, 12.

“I started writing in 2003,” she said in a recent interview. “I read a terrible book, and I decided that I could do better. But life happened and I never finished it.”

During that time, Runyan was a French teacher, sometimes an English teacher, and she was busy raising children. But sometime around 2013, she decided to get serious about the business of writing.

“I went to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2013,” she said. “I decided to approach writing like it was a business. I don’t see a lot of use in writing a book no one wants to read.

“I decided to invest an hour a day in myself and write despite having young kids.”

The result? After more than 10 years, on and off, “Promised to the Crown” was published in 2015. This was a piece of historical fiction set in the 1600s about mail-order brides sent from France to Quebec.

Now, with 12 books to her credit, Runyan is truly a rarity – a successful author.

“I am very fortunate,” she agreed. Since 2018, through skill and luck, Runyan has been able to make a living writing, and she has plans for several future publications.

She would advise any new writer to do the hard work: sit down and write. But then, when you have a good solid draft, find a trusted group of writers and learn to take criticism.

“(Writing) is such a solitary endeavor … but then early authors need a critique group. Is the plotline working? Is the character developed?”

And you have to stick to it.

“My first two books were very slow out of the gate,” she said. “You have to be able to re-invent yourself.”

Publishers keep a close eye on the market to see what is selling and what is just sitting on the shelves.

So when the strangely specific suggestion was made that she write about Russian female fighter pilots, she went for it. The result, “Daughters of the Night Sky,” was a good topic at the right time, she said, and its success carried her first two books.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. There’s a ton of competition.

“Everyone has books on Kindle that they’ve never read. I have several hundred books that I haven’t read yet.  

“I also consume audio books because I spend so much time with my eyes on a screen. When I drive down to the plains, I listen to the books and use the time profitably.”

In terms of her latest, “The Wandering Season,” Runyan said it touches on many themes, including the importance of place (it opens in Estes Park) and the bond between a mother and daughter. It’s also a story about traveling in Europe and finding your roots. There’s a romance, too.  And lots of delicious food.

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Story by Suzy Blackhurst

Finding the right person to lead Visit Estes Park, the local marketing district charged with promoting tourism to the area, appears to be a harder task than the organization’s board of directors anticipated.

Two candidates, Candace Carr Strauss and Cindy Mackin, made presentations before a search committee in late January. Since then, Carr Strauss withdrew, and Mackin, who currently is the organization’s community engagement director, has not yet been interviewed by the VEP board.

Following an executive session during its regular monthly meeting on Thursday afternoon, the VEP board voted not to move forward with the search at this time.

Prior to the vote, VEP Vice Chair Kirby Hazelton told the group she would be voting against an upcoming motion delaying any action in pursuing the CEO search, saying she believed the board should complete the process already begun by interviewing Mackin.

The vote came after Mackin asked the board about her candidacy.

“I ask you if I am qualified, and I have support of the majority of the staff, the stakeholders, the community, the state destination marketing organizations, what exactly is it that is preventing you from even interviewing me, and let alone not hiring me at this point?” Mackin asked. No one on the board responded.

Before the vote could be held, Cato Kraft, executive director of the Estes Nonprofit Network, asked to speak during the meeting, which was held via Zoom. Making clear she was speaking on behalf of herself and not the organization for which she works, Kraft asked the board to address a memo posted on the Visit Estes Park email portal that outlined the potential hiring of a three-month interim executive director.

“Can you talk a little bit about what that is and what it means for taxpayers in this community?” she asked.

“This is not really part of this boat right now, so no, but it was just a proposal, and there’s nothing going on right now with any of that,” responded Sean Jergens, VEP chair, prior to calling for a vote on the motion to delay action on the selection process.

Mike Zumbaugh, who is the finance director and has been serving as the interim CEO since the resignation of Kara Franker in September, issued a press statement on Tuesday from the board about the CEO search process.

The statement was read into the record Tuesday night at the Town Board meeting by Trustee Kirby Hazelton, who serves as the Town Board liaison to VEP:

“Near the end of the process, allegations were raised related to one of the finalist candidates. This created the need for the Search Committee to pause the search and recommend an investigation be completed to determine the veracity of the allegations. The District Board agreed with the Search Committee’s recommendation and a third-party investigator was brought in to complete the investigation. The investigation is complete, and the District Board has been briefed on the outcome with assistance of its legal counsel. Based on the investigation’s conclusions, while accounts of the evening in question differed and ultimately did not indicate that the candidate engaged in inappropriate behavior, the allegations appeared to be raised in good faith. In addition, there was no finding that District staff were related to or a source of the allegations.”

Search committee members included Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally, Estes Park Mayor Gary Hall, VEP Chair Sean Jurgens, VEP Board Secretary Deb Gibson, and local business owner Reed Woodford.

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Story by Suzy Blackhurst

Twenty months after John Cullen, owner of The Stanley Hotel, and Donald Zuckerman, head of Colorado’s Film Commission, first suggested to the head of the Sundance Film Festival and Jeff Kraft, deputy director of the state’s Office of Economic Development that the Stanley Hotel would be the perfect location for institutes associated with the festival that could expand to Boulder, the concept has come to fruition.

They were among a small group of individuals who had gathered on the porch of the iconic Estes Park hotel to discuss the possibility of the festival moving to a location outside of Park City, Utah.

Thursday, the Sundance Film Festival group announced that the 2027 Sundance Film Festival’s inaugural Colorado event will be headquartered just an hour from Estes Park in Boulder.

“Over the next ten years, there will be $2.4 billion coming to the state of Colorado,” hotel owner John Cullen said Thursday morning in an interview with the Estes Valley Voice. Except for the institute operations, “I’ll get a pat on the back,” he said.

According to Cullen, Estes Park’s economy will flourish during the months when business is slow, a time of year with offshoot concerts, films, and art exhibitions. “This is a monster annual draw,” for the town and the state he predicted.

It’s not the first time the hotel has hosted the Institutes. Each year, a patch commemorating the experiences of the institutes is designed. Last year, the patch featured an image of The Stanley Hotel.

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Story by Barb Boyer Buck

“I want everybody to ban the words affordable housing. It’s not affordable housing,” said Eric Blackhurst, president of the Estes Park Housing Authority board, at their monthly meeting on March 19.

“We deal with low-income housing, we deal with workforce housing, and we deal with attainable housing.” Blackhurst said that since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has specific requirements about what the term affordable housing means, that term needs to be “banned from the conversation.”

Blackhurst was expressing frustration about recent public meetings where the term has been used by the Town of Estes Park Board of Trustees, causing confusion because it implies HUD rules would apply, he said.

Also, the Prospector Apartments, since they are a private development, is “not our concern,” Blackhurst added.

The development on Colorado State Highway 7 was built as attainable workforce rental housing under rules set by the Estes Park Development Code to receive a density and height bonus.

This development is not managed by EPHA and despite local misconceptions, was never intended to be a low-income housing option.

The only involvement that EPHA has with Prospector Apartments is vetting the workforce housing requirement for tenants, meaning that occupants must work within the Estes Park School District R3 boundaries on a full-time basis, and for the attainable units, whether the income limit of no more than 150% area median income is met.

New board member nominated

EPHA Executive Director Scott Moulton and Town of Estes Park Trustees Frank Lancaster and Bill Brown interviewed two candidates for a position on the EPHA’s board of directors. The recommendation to appoint Stacy Ciolli, who has lived in a rental unit managed by the authority for eight years, will be heard at the next Town of Estes Park board meeting on March 25.

EPHA manages 335 units, reported Moulton, and according to state statute, once the authority manages more than 300 units, it must have someone who has benefited from their services to sit on its board. If confirmed, Ciolli will serve a term that concludes at the end of April 2027.

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Commentary by Dan Denning

“Most Americans would agree that spending money and preserving our Parks is something the government should spend money on. But not indiscriminately, and not without more supervision and accountability.”

Here’s a thought that is both obvious and controversial: A good deal of the public reaction to the staffing changes in our National Park System is really political anger at Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Supporting federal workers has become a popular way to object to the direction the new administration has taken.

It has less to do with the effect of the actual changes to the operation of our National Parks, which aren’t clear yet, and more with giving voice to your opposition to Trump and Musk, and being seen doing it. In other words, it’s political, not practical, or even reasonable.

In the spirit of beinghttps://estesvalleyvoice.com/2025/03/12/a-way-forward-toward-preservation-and-keeping-public-lands-in-public-hands/ reasonable and using the current focus on the management and staffing of our Parks to ends we all can agree on — preservation of natural resources and fair public access — let me try to set out a few broad points and then some specific operational issues to focus on.

First, we all love Rocky Mountain National Park. Suggestions that people want to see it overrun and destroyed are hysterical and should be treated with disdain. It’s an emotional outburst disguised as a silly argument. The National Park Service is consistently one of the most liked and trusted government agencies. Our parks and forests and all public lands are national treasures we all want to preserve as well as enjoy, without reservation.

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