Town board appoints Lancaster, Igel to interview housing authority candidates

The Estes Park Town Board voted Tuesday to appoint Trustee Frank Lancaster and Trustee Mark Igel to interview candidates for three vacancies on the Estes Park Housing Authority board. The appointments keep the current recruitment process moving as town officials weigh whether broader changes to the housing authority’s structure or oversight should be discussed before final appointments are made.

Town staff said three resignations — from Julie Daley, Ruth Miller and Marty Miranda — had created urgency because the seven-member housing authority board could have trouble maintaining a quorum. The open seats carry terms expiring in April 2027, April 2028 and April 2029, and two applications had already been received.

During the discussion, Trustee Bill Brown said the town board was not legally required to continue with any particular appointment process if it wanted to make changes. Mayor Gary Hall argued against delaying interviews, saying the town still needed to fill three seats and should "move it along as expeditiously as possible." Hall said he generally supported most housing authority decisions over the past two years, including work related to Fall River Village, office space and Fitch Hatchery, but said he remained concerned about process, communication and preparation of meeting materials.

Trustee Mark Igel said the board could handle recruitment and governance questions at the same time rather than pausing applications. He said continuing interviews would avoid pushing appointments back by at least another month, adding that if the board waited to revisit the process first, appointments likely would not happen until the end of August. Igel also noted that no applicant was guaranteed a seat simply by applying.

Hall compared the housing authority’s situation to past shakeups on other town boards, including Visit Estes Park and the Transportation Advisory Board, saying those bodies became more stable after significant changes. By moving ahead with the interview committee now, the town board left open the possibility of a later discussion about housing authority governance before making final appointments.