Jon Stavney begins work as the new Executive Director for Northwest Colorado Council of Governments (NWCCOG), a membership organization serving five counties and 22 municipalities across the mountain resort region.

With experience as a town manager, county commissioner and “small town” mayor, and recent stints as Board President of the Colorado River District, and raft guide, Jon relates to Western Slope issues from a variety of angles.

Stavney’s journey in public service began as a framing carpenter building second homes in Vail in the 1990s when he attended planning & zoning commission meetings to understand how development decisions were being made in the rural community of Eagle where he and his wife had just moved.

At the time, much growth was on the drawing board in Eagle.

“I knew that decisions were afoot that would radically re-shape the town,” said Stavney.

“I wanted growth, but in an authentic way.”

That concern led to his election on the Town Board in Eagle in 1998 and is still a north star for his public service nearly 20 years later.

Stavney considers that decade when Eagle grew 15 percent annually his on-the-job education in planning, community character and local policy.

“We used community quality of life surveys from NWCCOG to benchmark our decisions,” said Stavney.

“And we made tremendous positive changes to the town while preserving character and quality of life based on that information.”

After 18 years in the public realm, Stavney sees environment and the people who live in Northwest Colorado through the lens of ongoing layers of decisions made by those who chose to show up.

“I was just a carpenter with an English degree who eventually became a project manager. I didn’t have a degree in local government. I have a tremendous respect for those citizens who decide to step forward to lead communities, and for the challenge of managing public engagement.”

One of Stavneys’ goals as Executive Director at NWCCOG is to provide resources and support to those local leaders in a region that spans from Walden to Aspen.

He can be reached at the NWCCOG at jstavney@nwccog.org.