Climatology

What's the climate like in Eagle County, Colorado?

That's where City Manager Mike McNees is short listed for the County Administrator position.

We heard that it snowed in the mountain passes yesterday (Vail) although a quick check showed the snow base was zero at the resorts.

What about the political climate? Here's something that was published recently in the Vail Daily:

EAGLE COUNTY — Former County Administrator Jack Ingstad has a new job. It looks a lot like the old one.

Ingstad has been named the new county administrator for Plumas County, a rural, mountainous and budding second-home haven in northeast California.

“We only interviewed him one time and it didn’t take long to realize he was a perfect fit for our county and the office,” said Bill Dennison, chairman of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors, similar to Eagle County’s commissioners.

Ingstad resigned his post as Eagle County’s chief executive in April after six years on the job. In his resignation announcement Ingstad said it was time for him to pursue new career opportunities. Some, including Commissioner Tom Stone, believed Ingstad was pushed out of his job by Democratic Commissioners Peter Runyon and Arn Menconi.

Ingstad worked largely under fiscally conservative and Republican-dominated boards until Runyon was elected to the board last year. Menconi and Runyon denied Stone’s claims, adding they were surprised by Ingstad’s resignation.

Eagle County is still searching for a replacement. Ingstad has remained in the area since resigning. Reached via e-mail, Ingstad said he at one time considered moving to a large city and possibly returning to a public-relations-type of job, similar to what he did earlier in his career. After considering several opportunities, Ingstad opted for a place and a job much like the one he had in Eagle County, he said.

“Quality of life was the key,” Ingstad said. “When I felt the connection with the (Plumas County) supervisors, I knew it was the right decision.”He and his wife, Mary, will move to California soon. Ingstad’s first day in his new post will be Friday, Dennison said.

Plumas County is about an hour north of Lake Tahoe. The county has about 22,000 people. Nestled between the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, Plumas County has forests, lakes, meadows and increasing second-home development, Dennison said.

Ingstad’s experience working in a growing resort community made him an ideal candidate, he said. Ingstad said he will miss Eagle County.“The county and the commissioners have been so good to me,” Ingstad said. “But I’m also excited that I have found another piece of heaven — Plumas County. The day after my final interview, Mary and I were sitting in the pines thinking we had died and gone to heaven. California, here I come.”

The political climate in Eagle County may be cooler than the ski forecast.