ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
Two veteran Snowmass Town Council members will vie for the town’s two-year mayoral seat on Election Day. Incumbent Mayor Bill Madsen is seeking reelection to a third and final term against Councilwoman Alyssa Shenk, who is term-limited in her council seat.
Madsen and Shenk both joined council in 2014 and have served alongside each other ever since. The two have often aligned on issues facing the council. Now, less than two weeks until the Nov. 5 election, Madsen and Shenk are making their pitch to residents to vote for them to lead the village for the next two years.
Madsen was born and raised in Aspen before moving to Snowmass Village. He was first elected to town council in 2014 and elected to his first term as mayor in 2020.
He has frequently told people he loves Snowmass because it reminds him of the Aspen he knew as a kid.
“It’s a much smaller community, and I really like that we’re interconnected and we look out for each other,” Madsen said.
In 2020, Madsen ran on a platform of increasing the town’s stock of workforce housing, creating a thorough connectivity plan for the town, maintaining and expanding the trail system and improving the Town Park.
Those are still important projects to him, but this time around, with a major spending question about a new affordable housing project on the Snowmass ballot, he’s focusing heavily on housing.
“I’m just really passionate about trying to make sure that people get the same opportunity that I’ve had, you know, living in employee housing is amazing and I think the Draw site will provide an opportunity for, potentially, 79 families to live in the village,” he said. “I talk to people who drive up and down the highway everyday and I really care about those people, and I want them to live in our community, live in the community where they work, get them out of their cars and allow them to be here.”
The Draw site is a proposed 79-unit affordable housing development with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Madsen and the rest of town council have been reviewing the planned unit development application for the $86 million project for the last year.
Madsen has been steadfast in his support of the Draw site. He’s pushed back on some council members and community members who think the project is too costly or too large for the proposed site, and he has argued it’s one of the best options the town has to expand its workforce housing portfolio.
“We have to address the housing crisis,” he said. “We’re not unique; it’s going on everywhere, not just resort communities, and I think it’s just really important to create a lifestyle where people can immerse themselves in the community and not get in their car all the time.”
Outside of housing, Madsen has worked on expanding bike trails in the town, and progressing on the Little Red Schoolhouse redevelopment project that is currently underway.
“Housing, early childhood learning … those are the fundamental things that make this community tick,” he said.
Madsen has frequently expressed frustration over Shenk’s decision to run for mayor this election. He said he would have supported her in two years if she chose to run in 2026 (if he wins this year, it would be his last term as mayor).
He feels as though he is more decisive as mayor, citing the Draw site as an issue that he has been a staunch supporter of since its first iterations, while some council members have wavered on certain decisions about the development.
Though Shenk and Madsen have voted similarly for years, Shenk said where they differ is how they go about the process. Where Madsen sees indecisiveness, she sees it as a longer process of listening and seeking input from multiple parties before making a final decision.
Shenk, who has been on council for several major projects in the town alongside Madsen — including moving forward with Base Village and developing a Snowmass Mall transit center that was ultimately shot down by the planning commission — did not want to wait two years to run because she wants to keep her momentum going.
The town is in the middle of several projects in which Shenk has had a hand, including the Draw site, the Little Red Schoolhouse redevelopment, a major land acquisition at the Snowmass Center and potential revival of a mall transit center project.
“Bill and I have had a really good working relationship the last 10 years; we voted similarly on some things, but we definitely have differences of opinions, even when we vote together,” she said. “But this was when I felt like I still had the momentum. I’m still so in the thick of all the important things we have going on.”
Shenk was first appointed to town council in 2014 to fill Markey Butler’s seat that she vacated to run for mayor. Shenk was elected for a full four-year term in 2016 and reelected to council in 2020.
She also sees housing as a priority but wants to be mindful of development projects in town as Snowmass reaches build-out, and as more community members are coming to council with concerns about construction fatigue.
“There isn’t a single housing project that has come in front of us in the 10 years that I’ve been on council that I haven’t been supportive of,” she said. “I agree, we need housing … it’s not going to change anytime soon, but we only have so much land, and I think we really need to be thoughtful about how we’re going to go about developing it, even if it means taking a step back and hearing the community.”
Shenk joined Madsen and Councilmember Susan Marolt in approving a resolution of support for ballot question 2D, the Draw site spending question.
As mayor, she said she would spend more time engaging with community members and her fellow council members to make more thoughtful decisions about projects facing the town.
“I think, as a community, we’re really going to have to figure out what’s best for the community,” Shenk said. “We have to do a better job of getting input and figuring out where we need to put the resources right now, and what that looks like, because growth is scary to a lot of people, and the only way to really understand is to have those communication opportunities.”
Shenk and Madsen both represent Snowmass on boards and commissions throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. Shenk is a Snowmass Mountain ambassador, a director on the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority board, and chair of the Northwest Council of Governments. Madsen sits on the Ruedi Water and Power Authority board and the Aspen/Snowmass Nordic Council, and he is the Snowmass alternate representative for the RFTA board.
Ballots were mailed on Oct. 15 to registered voters. Ballots can be returned by mail or dropped off at the ballot box located in front of Town Hall by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. Early in-person voting is available at the Pitkin County administration building in Aspen. Visit pitkinvotes.com/2024-general-info for information on hours and days of operation.