CASE Committee Minutes 12-16-21CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 DECEMBER 2021 PAGE 1 | 3
1. ROLL CALL
Present- Committee Members: Committee Chair Lisa Mattis and Committee Members Pedro Campos, Ruth
Stanley, Chris Cofelice and Kathy Ryan, Committee Members Thomas Walsh and Justin Chesney joined remotely.
Town Council: Mayor Pro Tem Amy Phillips and Town Council Member Lindsay Hardy joined remotely
Town Staff: Cultural, Arts and Special Events Manager Danita Dempsey, General Government Manager Ineke de
Jong and General Government Intern Emily Myler
The meeting was called to order at 12:37 p.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Committee Member Kathy Ryan moved to approve the minutes from the October 21, 2021 meeting. Committee Member Ruth
Stanley seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comments were made.
4. STAFF UPDATE
CASE Manager Dempsey started the meeting by setting the dates for Committee meetings in 2022. The Committee agreed
to meet the third Thursday of each month except for January which will be held on January 27th. The Committee requested
a longer meeting in May prior to events season to get a better idea of what’s coming up. The Committee agreed to no
meetings in June, July and August and a longer meeting in September to prepare for Council Work Session in October.
Applications for Committee seats will become available within first two weeks of January with Council appointments in
February or March. Current members are able to reapply.
The Committee commented/inquired:
A. Should Committee members reapply, or should there be a focus on getting new people on the Committee?
B. Is there a lot of interest in applying?
Committee Member Cofelice said he personally will not be reapplying and thinks it will be good to get some new people in
the Committee. Committee Member Campos said he is inclined to reapply and thinks it’s valuable to have a mix of
experienced members and new ideas. Committee Member Ryan said the Committee has gotten smaller and changed from
a decision-making group to a sounding board and community voice, so it could be beneficial to increase the group size to
include more diverse voices. Mayor Pro Tem Phillips said expanding is worthy of discussion in the Committee and at
Council. Committee Member Stanley was concerned a larger group would cause meetings to go longer. Committee Member
Walsh was in favor of increasing diversity and recruiting younger voices. He will take on recruiting some different people for
seats. Committee Member Chesney said he would be interested in discussing more members and has someone in mind to
apply. He did voice concern that a larger group could muddle the conversation. Committee Member Campos said he has
seen larger committees have less engaged and focused members and cautioned to consider the number of new members
carefully. Council Member Hardy said CASE Manager Dempsey should consider how manageable a larger group would be
for her, but diversity is a worthy goal. Committee Chair Mattis wasn’t sure where she stood on the issue.
CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 DECEMBER 2021 PAGE 2 | 3
CASE Manager Dempsey said she expects high interest once advertising starts based on last year’s response. She doesn’t
think a larger Committee would make meetings too unmanageable but could support either direction. The Committee can
discuss the topic in more detail in the future.
2022 Budget
CASE Manager Dempsey presented the 2022 Budget and calendar from the Committee Packet (Available at Avon.org).
The Committee commented/inquired:
A. The State of Colorado has grant funding for events that help stimulate local economies after the COVID-19
Pandemic. Avon should apply for these if they have not already.
B. Is the Budget what CASE needs?
C. Scaling back the AvonLIVE! Budget is poorly timed and could cause loss of focus on the signature event that was
on a growth trajectory. However, she does understand why it was cut back.
D. It’s important that the community knows Avon has monopolized Wednesday nights for AvonLIVE! and skipping
weeks causes confusion.
Danita said the Budget addresses her needs. She was not aware of the grant opportunity but is interested in learning more.
She was also disheartened that AvonLIVE! budget was cut back, but she also understands the complexities of public
budgeting.
Strategic Planning
CASE Manager Dempsey presented the strategic planning document. She offered Town Manager Heil’s comments and
clarified some concepts and action items to guide the Committee through the planning process. The current planning
document is intentionally broad. She wants to add mental health to the topics which the plan could touch on.
The Committee commented/inquired:
A. “Vibrant mountain community” is the core of the purpose statement, with other items are means to reach that goal.
Similarly, “develop an environment for healthy connection” should take the same central position in the vision
statement.
B. The Committee should define what community is, for example whether focus is on the local community or the visitor
community.
C. As time goes on, it’ll be easier to see how much impact arts have on the community and meet the purpose and
goals statements.
D. It might be worth mentioning the Urban Renewal Authority’s role in improving the downtown core in Avon where
events and art are deployed and how their plans support future CASE endeavors by creating a canvas where art is
placed.
E. Community should encompass everyone in town, regardless of if they’re local. Events should cater to everyone
enjoying Avon at any given moment in time.
CASE Manager Dempsey said she wants to collaborate with the Committee to buildout a the 10-year vision fore events and
art. In 2019, Council gave direction to focus on the community first anticipating that and visitors will also enjoy the
CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 DECEMBER 2021 PAGE 3 | 3
programming. She asked if the definition of “community” in the document was appropriate. Do events need to do more work
to connect with new arrivals over long-term residents or vice versa? Historical markers for important locations around town
as well as educational storm drain decals will are nearly complete projects which support the cornerstones of stewardship.
The Committee commented/inquired:
A. Delineating between “long-term residents” and “new arrivals” in the definition of community could be unnecessarily
divisive. Locals are locals, regardless of how long they’ve been here.
B. There are a lot of community members who aren’t involved, and there is room to engage them better?
C. It’s important to embrace what’s been successful in the past, but also to search out new tactics to engage a new
group of people.
D. It seems like the current successful events are having funding cut, and it’s too much to add new events to an
already maxed out portfolio.
E. Council is cutting budgets because it’s concerned about a future economic downturn.
F. Maybe it would be good to focus on one or two of the community goals every year.
G. There should be focus on increasing diversity in engagement.
H. It’s important that the Committee stands firm in their goals to portray to Council how important events budgeting is.
I. The Committee was overall very supportive of the cornerstones as they are written: placemaking, creativity,
heritage preservation and stewardship.
J. The Metcalf Cabin is an important historical site.
K. It might be time to update the Nottingham waterwheel historical marker.
L. The sustainability goals are very impressive.
M. The planning document does a good job of presenting the Committee goals to Council.
N. Where should the conversation about whether to host multiday music festivals go?
O. Most residents prefer passive space in the Harry A. Nottingham Park, so there is a limit to the amount of
infrastructure Avon can build there for large events.
P. I don’t want huge events in the park like the photo of Salute to the USA on the first slide of the planning document.
Q. Nobody wants more people in town. But it’s also important to have enough revenue to keep funding CASE.
R. It doesn’t feel good to have ticketed events, but revenue can come from VIP access.
S. Let’s continue talking about strategies to pay for the experiences Avon wants to provide.
T. The VIP revenue generator is important.
CASE Manager Dempsey said she wants to keep momentum for current events. In the future, the Committee’s 10-year
vision can help advise community planning, infrastructure, etc. to ensure we have the budget needed to allow for more
growth. She said the next steps for the Committee is to build out the 10-year vision as an appendees to the strategic plan..
She perceived consensus in the broad planning document, and it’s time to dig into tactics such as multiday ticketed
festivals, revenue options, etc.
5. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 2:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted by:
Emily Myler
General Government Intern