Since the last State of the Town address in January, there have been positive changes that have taken place. Sales Tax revenue is up 4.7 percent from last year. Real Estate Transfer Tax through June is about $80,000 over last year’s total. We are approximately $90,000 below our total 2010 budgeted amount for RETT. The summer season appears to be moving along nicely and the ski area had a record year in skier days. These economic indicators are no guarantee that the recession is over, but we are seeing a positive trend. Our former Town Manager Frank Bell has moved to Sea Ranches and is establishing his life as Community Manager there. We went through a hiring process that received very favorable public support and came out with a sterling replacement in Greg Clifton, the former Ridgway Town Manager. Greg has been here since June 2 and is dealing well with Telluride and the ongoing issues facing us.

The regional community has seen more foreclosures and potential foreclosures in deed restricted housing than ever before. Because of the Telluride Affordable Housing Guidelines that were rewritten and restated several years ago, we have been able to avoid many of the foreclosure issues facing the County and Mountain Village. We are glad to see those governments applying some of our guidelines to their deed restrictions, so that we can begin to bring long term stability to the regional affordable housing market.

On a financial note, there is need to provide some clarity on how Telluride manages its different funds. As a very simplistic answer to some of the funding questions, virtually every fund except the General Operating Fund and the Capital Improvement Fund cannot legally transfer funds to other funds. This means the Affordable Housing fund is only for land purchase, building and designing of Affordable Housing. It cannot provide money for fixing the Spur. There is not $12 million in the General or Capital fund to fix the Spur. We can only do what some might call, cosmetic surgery. We can fill in the holes and cracks, which are only temporary fixes. It is also possible that the Town could capitalize an overlay of the road surface as a short term fix in the years to follow, but again, this is not the long term fix which will require substantial excavation and a re-build of the road’s base and culvert system. We are researching new less expensive ways to deal with the Spur and the downtown streets, the bottom line is, we don’t have money available to completely fix the problems. We are indeed, exploring potential grants that could assist us.

By category, here are some details on upcoming and ongoing projects Telluride is dealing with the remainder of 2010.

Infrastructure

Pandora Water Treatment Plant – We will begin construction on this new plant this summer. It will hopefully be finished by the fall of 2011. We are still resolving important issues with Idarado.

Society Turn Wastewater Treatment Plant Solar Array-As part of our commitment to lower Green House Gas emissions and to offset our energy usage through new renewable energy options, we will be installing a 108Kw solar array at the plant. This will help us support the Telluride Renewed Mayoral Challenge and will be completed by this fall.

Society Turn – At a recent Intergovernmental worksession, CDOT pointed out the third most important traffic corner in this region, needs a resolution. CDOT has $1,250,000 to apply towards this project and they believe a traffic light may be the answer. We have felt for many years a signal is not the long term answer for traffic control there. A roundabout is what we believe deals with the safety issues as well as the regional communities concerns. We are in the process of seeing if there is a method to bring the costs more in line with the funds available from CDOT. A roundabout will cost, as initially designed by CDOT, approximately $1,000,000 more than what they have available. This would be a 2011 or 2012 project.

Roads - We will be hot-patching the Spur and Colorado Avenue on an ongoing basis. We will attempt to keep up with the Bike Path as well. As mentioned earlier there are very limited funds to deal with these challenges.

Housing

Entrada - We have been in negotiations with the original contractor on Entrada about the foundation they installed for Building One and several other disputed items. Entrada will be completed this year. This only affects Building One. The other 14 units are owned and being occupied by employees within the R1 School District.

Gold Run - We are on schedule for completion of this project by November 15th of this year. There is considerable interest in these 12 single-family, owner-occupied homes and 3 duplex buildings. A total of 18 new homes for local workers, along with a child care facility that will welcome 18-20 children of working parents. If you haven’t been to the East End to see these homes, you should travel out there. A lottery will be set for later this summer once pricing has been decided.

Spruce and Pacific - Town Council will be deciding, in the very near future, when the design process will begin on this smaller housing project.

Land Banking - We are looking at potential land banking opportunities.

The Regional Housing Authority recently hosted a Southwestern Region Housing Meeting in Mountain Village. This provided the opportunity to work with legislators, their aides and other housing organizations on challenges facing our region. This was a first and was handled entirely by the San Miguel County Regional Housing Authority.

Annexation

We have successfully completed annexation of the Valley Floor into the town and have begun a trail and river restoration planning project. In addition, we are moving ahead with the annexation process for the Bear Creek Preserve.

Economy

The Regional Economic Futures Task Force, which is part of The New Community Coalition, is working on a “Buy Local” program and coordinated marketing between MTI, Telski and other large advertising entities in the region. In addition, REFTF will be making a public presentation shortly on a visitor-based economy and how we can be better at it. Members of our town council are also involved in the Air Organization revamp, as well as working with the Telluride Regional Airport Association in making sure the airport will be made safe and ready for planes that carry 60+ passengers. This should occur in 2011.

Environment

Telluride Renewed, with its goal of offsetting our regional energy usage with 100% new renewable energy, is beginning to make headway. In Telluride, we have developed a reporting system that provides baseline numbers on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by the government from 2005-2010. The solar array at the wastewater treatment plant was mentioned earlier and feasibility studies for micro-hydro at the Pandora Water Treatment Plant (when completed), Stillwell Tunnel and Mill Creek are also in the works. In addition, we are considering a bag ordinance dealing with grocery stores and disposable bag usage. Our continued support of The New Community Coalition is paying off. The positives are they have been able to tackle many issues that never would have been attempted by the governments, because of budget and staff issues. The negative is there are far too many projects being tackled. TNCC is making a concerted effort to focus its energy on fewer, but more attainable and important projects. The Mayor’s Forum on Renewable Energy is growing stronger and represents Ouray and San Miguel County and municipalities found within the SMPA territory. The Community Energy Board is made up of public and government officials from basically the same regional boundaries as the Mayor’s Forum. A $65,000 grant to TNCC, from the Governor’s Energy Office, allowed for staffing to be funded. Their focus is on Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Telluride signed on to a structured educational program on how we can attain Zero Waste levels. The Green Building Standards for SMC, MV and Telluride have being updated by staff and TNCC and are going through the final stages of enactment. TNCC also assisted Ridgway to develop their green building codes.

At the recent Colorado Municipal League annual meeting, we were fortunate to be able to secure an executive board seat on that organization. CML is recognized as the leading municipal voice before the General Assembly, Congress and the courts. This position will guarantee that Telluride will have a seat at the table on challenges facing all of us now and into the future. In addition, we also have the Vice Presidential seat on the Colorado Association of Ski Towns. I felt that by securing these spots, it would allow us to be part of the bigger picture within our State.

It has been an exciting and positive six months. But we are still facing major challenges; the road back is an unknown. The Spur repair, the continued housing needs, the economy and several other critical issues are still in front of us and will require hard decisions to be made. Our council is working well together and we are achieving many of the goals and objectives put in place for 2010. Serving Telluride takes a substantial amount of time, but from my perspective; every minute, every meeting and joint collaboration makes our region a better place to live. The two-and-a-half years I have been your Mayor have allowed us to develop alliances with other organizations, municipalities and governments that will provide a positive impact not only for us, but for all those we are involved with. I sincerely thank you for the opportunity of being your Mayor.