Taos Ski Valley village chamber hosts candidate forum
On Tuesday (Feb. 8), the Village of Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce held a virtual mayoral and council candidate forum from 3-6 p.m.
The Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce moderated the forum and took questions from the public. Candidates were given two minutes for opening and closing statements and to respond to questions. The council race has two seats up for election this year, and the candidates are Kathleen Bennett, Henry Caldwell, Katherine Kett, Brent Knox and Chris Stagg. The mayoral race has two contenders: Neal King and incumbent Christof Brownell.
Candidates were asked about water, sewer, emergency services, infrastructure and their priorities if elected. The forum was friendly throughout and some candidates acknowledged how they liked their opponents. Throughout the forum, the candidates often overlapped in their answers to critical questions.
After opening statements, the first question posed to the council candidates was: “What is the single biggest issue facing the village and your action plan to fix this issue?”
Katherine Kett hinted at including residents in discussions with major projects between discussions with the village, the chamber and Taos Ski Valley Inc.
“I would have to say controlling growth [that is] conscious [and] respectable to nature and our high alpine environment, the residents that live here. But we are embarking on a larger paradigm shift. And we’re going through change,” said Kett.
Henry Caldwell said he believes financial planning is the biggest issue facing the village. Caldwell said throughout the forum that finding funds for major projects would be difficult. He said that making budget cuts or selling properties, such as the debated Taos Mountain Lodge property, won’t completely relieve the village of its financial burdens.
“In the past, when the village was small, I remember when I first came here sitting in village council meetings, and there would be a long, in-depth discussion about a $10,000 expenditure. Now, we’re talking about millions and millions of dollars. And so the stakes have risen dramatically,” he said.
Kathleen Bennett stressed the importance of creating a water master plan, stating “we need to fix it ASAP.” Regarding the water leaks, council candidate Caldwell stated in a later question that he saw a report that said the village is losing 80,000 gallons of water every day.
Bennett added there should be more importance placed on wildfire planning. Later on in the forum she proposed installing four wildfire sirens in the village area to notify residents of wildfire danger.
Chris Stagg brought up the importance of improving infrastructure for roads, as well as water and sewage utilities. Stagg said there is “a lot of federal money out there” for infrastructure and believes that by planning with experts and grant writers the Village can use money to fund needed improvements.
Brent Knox also said he wants to restore some of the village’s aging infrastructure, but stressed he wouldn’t approve any projects without securing funding first. Knox said the village should lean more heavily into state and federal funding opportunities. He said he’d also like to see more pressure placed on Kit Carson Electric to finish underground gas and power infrastructure projects.
Mayoral candidate Neal King then echoed Stagg, saying that the village needs an overall master plan. King said that many issues, like improving emergency services, water, etc. can’t be treated as separate issues but must be treated as part of a larger whole.
“We have to look across the whole spectrum of the village here to see what’s best for the village as a whole. And to do that, we may need to bring in some outside help to look at it,” said King.
Mayor Brownell said his biggest concerns for the village surround water and fire safety. Brownell said that the village has collaborated with Taos Ski Valley Inc. on a water study to examine how to keep water clean from effluent from the wastewater treatment plant.
He added that sirens were not enough for fire safety and that village residents also need alerts sent to their phones that explain what to do in the case of a wildfire. He also said that there is currently a recently amended “comprehensive master plan” on the website that addresses fire safety.
The moderators asked the candidates to respond to criticism that the village “is slow to communicate and slow to act.”
The most vocal candidate to respond to this question was Bennett, who said that communication from the village was not slow but rather “nonexistent.”
King said there should be more “outside the box” approaches to communicating with the public.
Brownell responded by apologizing to his constituency that feels his administration has been slow to act. He said that there’s a lot of “red tape” on movement with major projects. He also said that the pandemic slowed and halted many projects. He wants to ask the public for input on how to improve communication. He reminded the public that meetings are recorded and made available on the village website.
Moderators later asked if they had any concerns surrounding the Kachina Master Plan, which addresses private landowner development in the Kachina Basin.
King wants the village to create a village plan around the Kachina Master Plan.
“My biggest concern is the village doesn’t take that master plan with public input — get changes made that are necessary and adopt it. Because if we don’t, we will end up in a position that people can build up there using our existing ordinances,” said King.
Brownell said he wants to see as little development in the Kachina Basin as possible, saying that it’s a “fragile environment” and provides a vital drinking water source.
“We are a small village with big issues,” said Brownell.
The chamber stated that a recording of the town hall will be found on the Village of Taos Ski Valley’s website atvtsv.org.
‘My biggest concern is the village doesn’t take that master plan with public input — get changes made that are necessary and adopt it. Because if we don’t, we will end up in a position that people can build up there using our existing ordinances.’ NEAL KING TSV mayoral race contender