The new lineup on the Snowmass Village Town Council won’t look much different from its most recent iteration, as longtime Councilwoman Alyssa Shenk is poised to become mayor and incumbent Councilman Tom Fridstein has been reelected to a second term.
Here’s where things will shake up: Incumbent Mayor Bill Madsen is out, after receiving 46.65% of the vote to Shenk’s 53.35% in preliminary results. And a newcomer, Cecily DeAngelo, will fill the council seat Shenk has held for the past decade.
DeAngelo is the top vote-getter so far in the four-way race for two council seats — earning 862 votes. Fridstein has garnered nearly the same support, with 839 votes to retain his seat. Two other candidates, Art Burrows and Debbie Alcorta, trailed behind: Burrows got 720 votes and Alcorta got 354. Pitkin County has completed its initial vote-count, but some overseas ballots are still pending and some people may need to “cure” discrepancies before their vote is counted.
Shenk said she knocked on hundreds of doors to connect with the community — listening to their feedback and making her case for the mayoral seat.
“People really rallied behind me,” Shenk said on election night. “And that has meant a lot. … That is something that I will take with me forever and always think about.”
But this campaign wasn’t all about warm and fuzzy feelings. Madsen said this mayoral race felt more divisive than past elections in a community where villagers are usually “all in this together.” And Shenk felt that her opponent’s tactics got personal, despite her efforts to focus on the bigger picture.
"I really tried from the beginning, when I first met with him, just to be clear, this isn't about him, … it's about Snowmass,” Shenk said. “It's about the community. It's about what I feel like I bring to the table.”
After an entire decade working side by side on town council, with similar voting records, the candidates sparred over their differences in leadership style, as well as differences of opinion.
The mayoral race was still a tight one, given the size of the voter pool in Snowmass. Just 110 votes separated Shenk from Madsen, out of 1,640 counted.
When reached on Tuesday night, Madsen said he was proud of his accomplishments over 10 years on the council — and regardless of the results from this mayoral campaign, he’s glad to see the success of some ballot questions he advocated for.
Madsen has vocalized his support for the village’s Ballot Question 2D, approving a spending limit for a major workforce housing project on the “Draw Site” behind Town Hall; he was also a proponent of Pitkin County Ballot Question 1C, which reaffirms the county commissioner’s authority over airport layout plans. Voters largely voted “yes” on both issues.
“Everything that I worked hard for, all the issues that I campaigned for, are winning, and that's what I'm about,” Madsen said. “I'm about advancing the village, improving the county, and those issues are passing, and so I'm really proud of that.”
Councilor-elect Cecily DeAngelo seemed to have an encouraging experience in her first campaign. The executive director of Roaring Fork Safe Passages wants to share her perspective on the council as a mom with two young children.
“More than anything, I just hope that more people run for office, like women, people with young kids, really diverse groups of people, because for me, it was really positive,” DeAngelo said. “And I think that it's important that our voices are heard on a local level.”
Throughout her campaign and door-knocking efforts, DeAngelo said voters clearly care about “maintaining the character and embracing the character of Snowmass,” especially when it comes to affordable housing development.
Both DeAngelo and Fridstein have said they support more workforce units in Snowmass Village — recognizing the role that local employees play in the community — but they’ve also expressed concerns about the size and price of the Draw Site project that was at stake in this election.
Even so, they both believe it’s a good thing that Ballot Question 2D passed. The language — “up to $86 million” in spending for “up to 79 units” — creates flexibility for the town to refine the project. And the 60% voter support means the town council can now move forward with the process; DeAngelo and Fridstein hope that the project will be scaled down.
‘It’s great that the measure passed because that means we don't have to go to another vote for a different scheme,” Fridstein said Wednesday. His vision? “Less than half the amount of money, and about 40 units,” without a large underground garage.
Both Fridstein and DeAngelo also want the town to pursue other housing opportunities, such as low or no-growth options that convert existing buildings to workforce units. Fridstein hopes the Snowmass Center will be a viable site for new development.
As Fridstein enters his second term on the council, his priorities also include wildfire resiliency initiatives, efforts to address climate change and renewed progress on a new transit center at the Snowmass Mall. He emphasized “smart and thoughtful decisions” in his campaign, and he believes that resonated with voters.
“I really acted on my experience and my knowledge, my judgment, and I think the community was aware of my positions on many things, and I was hoping that people would respect that and appreciate that and vote me in,” Fridstein said.
DeAngelo, Fridstein and Shenk will be joined by two other sitting council members, Britta Gustafson and Susan Marolt, who are in the middle of their four-year terms.
