Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock is a finalist for the town manager position in Winter Park, the town announced Monday.
He is one of four finalists for the role that was vacated in July when Winter Park’s former town manager Keith Riesberg announced his resignation. Former Aspen city manager Sara Ott was appointed as the town’s interim manager on Aug. 5.
Peacock made the decision to apply partially as a family decision, he said on Monday evening. He has been splitting time between Pitkin County and Grand County, where his wife lives.
“This is an opportunity to work in a ski community that has a lot of exciting projects going on and I think a really great vision for the future, and a place where I hope to be able to contribute to helping make some of those good things happen,” he told the Aspen Daily News. “So it was really an opportunity for me to bring my personal and my professional lives into better alignment.”
He was not looking to leave Pitkin County when the job opened up, and said he was not planning on looking for other positions if he was not chosen for the Winter Park gig.
Peacock joined Pitkin County as the county manager in January 2011. Before that, he spent three years as the assistant county administrator and five years as county administrator for Mesa County.
The three other finalists — Janet Hawkinson, John Fussa and Todd Leopold — all currently serve in Colorado communities. Hawkinson is the town manager of Palisade, Fussa is the community development director in Parker and Leopold is the central regional manager for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.
Peacock was selected among the other finalists after a national search for a new town manager that was facilitated by a third-party executive recruitment firm. The salary range for the position is $210,000 to $260,000. Peacock’s salary in 2024 was $278,924, according to the county.
Winter Park is hosting a community reception and open house with the finalists late next week at Winter Park Town Hall. The Winter Park Town Council will conduct formal interviews with the finalists after the open house.
Peacock told county staff and the commissioners that he applied for the job once he found out he would be a finalist for the position. Last week, the Winter Park Town Council held an executive session to discuss the selection of finalists.
“This was a unique circumstance and has nothing to do with me wanting to leave Pitkin County,” Peacock said. “I do believe that the organization and our elected officials and the community have done some really amazing things … I think our airport planning and community planning processes are things I’m really proud of, [they’re] projects I would love to see through, but also I’m really proud of the organization that we’ve been able to build.”
