Colorado Mountain College budget includes new faculty for Summit County

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

The Breckenridge and Dillon campuses of Colorado Mountain College have seen student enrollment grow faster than at any of the college’s other facilities.

CMC will allocate more financial resources to the county in its 2015-16 budget as well as bring on two new, full-time faculty members.

The growth also means infrastructure challenges for the Summit County combined campus. Those instructors don’t have offices yet, as the Breckenridge building has run out of space.

CMC will also commission a housing study this summer to analyze the needs and impacts of constructing housing — likely for employees — near its campuses in Summit and others without residential facilities.

In its draft budget for 2015-16, CMC has proposed to spend roughly 6 percent more than it budgeted for this year. The new budget, which has total operating expenditures of $59.5 million, is again balanced without the use of reserves, with one exception.

CMC’s budget for its bachelor’s degree programs will draw modestly from a designated phase-in reserve, which was set aside for that purpose, as the college adds two bachelor’s degrees to its current three in the fall.

The college’s Board of Trustees will vote on the budget at its June 18 and 19 meeting at the CMC campus in Spring Valley, Colorado, as part of a regular rotation of meetings throughout the college’s 11 learning locations.

Summit County property owners will pay slightly more as values have gone up. They can expect to pay about $32 per $100,000 of residential value and $116 per $100,000 of commercial value.

Property taxes provide about three-quarters of CMC’s revenues every year, and the college’s vice president for fiscal affairs, Linda English, said CMC hasn’t asked voters for a tax rate increase in at least 25 years.

HOW OIL AND GAS AFFECTS HIGHER ED

The college’s general-fund revenues in 2015-16 will be slightly higher than the year before, or about $6.4 million more, due to increases in each of local taxes, state funding and net tuition.

After property taxes, tuition and fees form the second-largest source of revenue for CMC, budgeted for this year at 16 percent, while state funding provides 11 percent of the college’s revenue.

CMC receives property-tax revenue about 18 months behind, so English cautioned that the college’s figures don’t reflect real-time value. In the proposed budget, CMC is expecting to benefit from 10 to 20 percent increases in property values across its six-county taxing district.

Summit County’s property-tax contribution should be about 18 percent higher than last year, as real estate values have risen.

In Garfield County, however, the oil and gas industry contributes about 70 percent of that county’s property taxes, and the college expects revenue to be flat and then decline when CMC starts to feel the impact of recent oil and gas price reductions and production declines.

“We know that’s going to hit us in ’16-’17,” English said.

Lake County is the only county where CMC will see flat revenues from property taxes, and the college expects contributions to also be flat from Freeport-McMoRan, the parent company of Climax Molybdenum which provides 60 percent of Lake County’s taxes to CMC.

State funding should increase by 11 percent this year, and the college’s COO and chief of staff Matt Gianneschi said that is a significant improvement but still much lower than what the college used to receive before the recession.

CMC receives no state funding for 300 and 400 level courses, so the main source of revenue for bachelor programs is tuition; reserve funds will be used as needed while those programs grow to be self-sustaining.

Because of the anticipated overall higher revenues, Gianneschi said the board of trustees already voted to preserve associate level tuition for in-district students and all bachelor level tuition at their current rates.

“We were trying to honor the investments being made by the taxpayers,” he said.

In-state tuition rates will increase 6 percent, while out-of-state tuition rates rise 18 percent. Gianneschi said CMC’s overall enrollment numbers are declining, but students are taking more credits and shifting more toward a younger, full-time demographic. With those factors combined, CMC expects net tuition revenue to rise by $800,000 this year.

The college serves roughly 20,000 students a year, including non-credit courses. In Summit County, roughly 1,245 students took at least one class at the Breckenridge building and 775 people took at least one at the Dillon location in 2014-15. CMC expects those enrollment numbers to go up slightly next year.

PAY RAISES, HOUSING PLANS

On the expenses side, the college plans to give its roughly 400 full-time and hundreds of part-time and seasonal employees a 2.5 percent raise to reflect inflation.

Roughly 36 full-time employees and 90 to 140 part-time or seasonal employees now work for CMC in Summit County, and two new instructors and a counselor will be added next year.

CMC is moving to a performance-based evaluation system, and employees may be eligible for merit-based bonuses in the middle of the year. The college also will absorb a 6-percent increase in health-benefits costs without raising employee premiums.

Gianneschi said, based on popular demand, CMC will increase its healthy-lifestyles benefit — which provides employees with $125 to use on gym memberships, recreation purchases and other wellness-related expenses — to a yet undetermined amount. Employees rated tuition assistance for graduate school as their second-favorite benefit in recent surveys and discussions.

The system recently finished a building at the Steamboat Springs campus, and no major capital projects are in this year’s budget while CMC works on its next 10-year capital plan.

Housing is often not affordable or available near CMC’s campuses, English said, and the college is considering partnerships with local governments and the effects of new facilities. The college should have recommendations from an independent study in the fall.

At the Breckenridge campus, Gianneschi said plans to build a greenhouse were put on hold after CMC learned costs would be higher than anticipated.

Anyone who wants to become more involved with CMC operations should know several positions on the board of trustees will be up for election this year, including the Summit County seat now held by Robert Taylor.

The college’s draft budget is available at all of the college’s locations and online. To view or download the document, go to www.coloradomtn.edu and then choose the pull-down menu for “About,” click on “Board of Trustees” and then “Budget & Audit.” Or go directly to http://coloradomtn.edu/about-cmc/board_of_trustees/budget_audit/.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Home feature: How to utilize home office space to fit your working needs

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

There are a lot of reasons to create a home office. For new parents, a home office is a way to stay close to the kids while continuing to get work done. Other parents’ children have left the nest, vacating a room, which can be converted for another purpose. Here in the High Country, the draw of the mountains is so strong that many arrange to work remotely and move here for the view and the recreation.

Whatever your reason for working from home, it’s important to take the time to get your office set up right. This space is your home but not your home — it is your sanctum, an extension of your career and ambitions. By utilizing available resources and approaching it with a thoughtful mindset, you can create an organized, functional and even fun home office.

GETTING STARTED

The very first thing interior designer Shelley Sims does when approaching a new project — home office or otherwise — is start asking questions. As the owner of Thrive Design, based out of a home office in Silverthorne, Sims likes to hear what her clients’ thoughts and needs are right at the beginning. She thinks of it as a little bit like the game 20 Questions, except obviously there are many more.

“A normal question I could ask any client is, ‘How do you use this room? What do you do in it?’” she said.

Once the questions have established the scope and style of the project, Sims can really get to work.

“My job as the designer is to narrow down the options,” she said.

With so many types of desks and lamps out there, for example, the choices can be overwhelming. Armed with the knowledge of her clients’ needs, Sims can help make the task less daunting. She might investigate 50 different styles of desks and come back with three options.

“That’s why someone would want to hire a designer,” she said. “They’re busy. Maybe they have a million kids; maybe they travel, and they don’t have the time.”

THE RIGHT SPACE

If you’re in the process of building your house, you have control over where you place your home office. In that case, you have the advantage of proper placement.

If you’re building from scratch, the best place for a home office is away from the busiest parts of the home, i.e. the kitchen and living room, said designers Christina Romano and Johanna Serino, of Pinnacle Mountain Homes in Breckenridge. Starting with a furniture layout allows you to customize your space and pick the best view.

If you’re looking to repurpose another room into your new office, you’ll have to consider your options closely.

“You need some sort of separation, whether it’s a door or a hallway, sometimes even a little studio outside of the home,” said Tracey Egolf, owner of Egolf Interiors Inc. “But it’s critical to have your work activities separate — close to your home because it’s a home office, but separate from your home activities.”

Sometimes, the best place isn’t the one you’d think of first, Sims said. For example, a room on the bottom floor might be physically further from certain distractions, but if it’s below the kitchen, the stomping of footsteps in the morning might disrupt East Coast conference calls.

“If you have a certain space in the home that’s not part of the living room, it helps you focus,” Egolf said.

The need for privacy is often overlooked at first, she said, but quickly becomes obviously essential.

“I know that because I did it myself twice,” she said, referring to her own home office. “I think people underestimate that need for — I’m walking through this door, I’m now in my office — and I think that’s the most overlooked.”

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

Once the space is chosen, it’s time to get down to the details. This is where Sims steps in and offers to narrow down the choices for her clients. Sometimes, this means buying new items, but she always checks to see if there are furniture pieces already in the house that can be pulled into the office and incorporated.

“The whole interior design process, building process, construction, all of that, is just a matter of decision-making,” Sims said. “Just buying one light fixture there’s 10 questions.”

All the designers agreed that the person who will be using the office should be aware of what types of equipment will be most needed for work — filing cabinets, cork board or dry erase board, space to spread out, etc.

“Being really aware of what they need in order to operate efficiently … allows me to custom design a perfect set-up so they’re not struggling with ergonomics or with light and glare, things like that,” Egolf said.

Clients should also consider how they like to work. Standing desks, for example, are widely available for those who don’t want to sit all day.

“It’s all about figuring out how you work best,” said Egolf, who employs a standing desk in her home office. “I found that when I sat down too long, my brain just turns off. I need to be able to stand up and sit down and still get my work done.”

Your office should also be a place that you enjoy, advised the Serino/Romano Pinnacle design duo. When it comes down to it, you just need to pick a space that you really like and want to be, they said. It’s important to create a place where you won’t mind spending time.

EMPLOYING EFFICIENCY

A lot of your decisions regarding office furniture and equipment will rely on the size of the space you’re working with. If you have a regular or large-sized room, you can afford to play around with multiple pieces of furniture. But for those working out of a condo or smaller reclaimed space, efficiency is the name of the game.

That’s where the More Space Place in Frisco comes in. The store carries all kinds of items designed to be efficient in smaller spaces, such as murphy beds and multi-purpose desks.

“Most people’s houses, it’s just, ‘I need a home office to pay my monthly bills,’” said Tony Pestello, owner of More Space Place. “Here, we have a lot of telecommuters.”

That means people need a full-blown office more than just a desk in the corner of the room. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be efficient. Pestello sells night stands that double as desks and charging stations for those burning the midnight oil sitting up in bed. He’s also got coffee tables that lift up and act as a desk when needed, or end tables that offer filing space and more charging options. These trends have become more prevalent as people change where and how they work.

“If you can make a room do three things, you’re ahead of the game,” Pestello said.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Free Fishing Weekend comes to rivers and lakes across Colorado June 6-7

#Summit County, Colorado

Consider Dillon Reservoir a sanctuary for Arctic char.

Yes, outside of Summit County, the sleek and slender species is only found in one other state in the lower 48. The cold-water fish was slowly introduced in the early 1990s to see if it could combat mysis shrimp, another non-native species that wildlife experts brought to the reservoir in the ’70s to fatten up trout and salmon.

The shrimp plan backfired somewhat — the crustaceans started feasting on a natural food source, zooplankton — but by 2011, officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife found the char were reproducing. And thriving.

“It is a unique fishery in that aspect,” says Elissa Knox, local district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “The char are starting to reproduce on their own, but now people are starting to target them more.”

As Knox says, the Arctic char’s success in Summit is drawing more and more anglers to the reservoir, which has a notorious reputation for hit-or-miss fishing. But don’t let that dissuade you from chasing the still-elusive char.

This weekend and this weekend only, CPW invites anyone and everyone across Colorado to fish for free. That means no license, no fees, no hoops to pass through — just casting with friends, family and perhaps Arctic char.

“Family and the community play an important role when it comes to outdoor experiences,” CPW director Bob Broscheid says. “Fishing is one of the many ways the whole family can enjoy the outdoors together.”

And with more than 2,500 lakes, 10,000 miles of fishable rivers and nearly 300 miles of Gold Medal-caliber waters, including Summit’s very own Blue River, the state offers plenty of opportunities to get lost with rod and lure.

Of course, free doesn’t make fishing any easier. Take the Blue: Each autumn it hosts The America Cup fly-fishing tournament, drawing anglers from across the world to test their skills against surprisingly smart — and tantalizingly fat — cutthroat trout.

“It’s challenging fishing because those fish get a lot of pressure,” Knox says. “They’re smart — you need really good technique to actually catch them.”

If only weekend anglers were allowed to take their trophies home. The Gold Medal stretch of the Blue between Dillon Dam and Silverthorne town limits is catch and release only. You can chase the big trout — be sure to snap a few Instagram photos if you reel one in — but it will never go on your mantle.

Now back to the char. Like the Blue River, Dillon Reservoir has a slew of regulations. The bag limit is one per day over 20 inches, and Knox admits the vast majority of the reservoir’s population is smaller than the limit. The fish may be reproducing, and reproducing more vigorously than ever expected, but CPW wants to protect the population for next summer’s free fishing weekend — not to mention the novice anglers who fall in love with the sport this year.

“Creating a connection through shared outdoor experiences not only helps you learn about the sport of fishing,” Broscheid says, “But also provides a unique bond for friends and families to remember for years to come.”

Before heading out, visit the CPW website to find the 2015 Colorado fishing brochure and daily fishing reports for lakes and rivers across the state.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

This year's Dillon Farmers Market boasts new vendors, live music and more

#Dillon, Colorado.

Byron Hetzler / Daily file photo | Sky-Hi News

The Dillon Farmers Market returns Friday, June 5, for the summer season, with weekly live music, new activities and a handful of new vendors, including double the fresh produce from Colorado farmers.

“We are thrilled that we have grown our Colorado fruits and vegetable stands from three to six this year as a complement to our existing stands and niche and artisanal vendors,” said Kerstin Anderson, director of marketing and communications for the town of Dillon. “This year, we will also introduce Yoga in the Park, from 9 a.m. to 10:30, with just a $5 suggested donation to Meta Yoga Studios.”

Danijel Dukic, with Forte Fruits, formerly Forte Farms, one of the largest stands at the market, has been bringing produce to Dillon from Palisade for about a decade. He’s built a loyal customer base of tourists and Summit County folk, who come back year after year for the company’s farm-fresh products.

“We grow fruit — the main thing is peaches — but we also have different types of plums, apricots, apples, tomatoes and cherries,” he said.

A former manager at Forte, Dukic is now the farm’s owner, hence the company’s name change; but, the stand still sells the same high-quality produce that customers have sought out the past 10 years. Dukic said the Dillon market is one of the best he attends each summer.

“It’s a really nice location that they have, and it’s a lot of vendors,” he said. “They have certain rules that we like about it, and the people are nice. The market is always crowded — there’s a lot of people over there — and the people who run the market are really good.”

SMOOTH RIDERS

This year’s Dillon Farmers Market boasts nearly 125 vendors, including Smooth Riders, a new company that business partners Carly Davis and Melissa Lyster’s started in Breckenridge.

“We wanted to do something different for the summer and kind of challenge ourselves, and we were sitting down one day, and we thought we should make a vendor cart,” Davis said. “It started out with making grilled cheese, but then we decided on smoothies, and I knew about the smoothie bike blenders and how those were an up-and-coming trending thing right now.”

As the customer pedals, a rod connected to the tire cranks a mechanical blender, which can blend a smoothie in 15 to 30 seconds, depending on the cycling speed. The duo purchased their contraption and started the business about a month ago, and they’re stoked to put the bike blender into action at the market.

“It’s a perfect place for it, at a farmers market,” Davis said. “It’s family-friendly, it’s healthy, it’s organic, it’s eco-friendly — it’s got everything you need for a farmers market.”

Smooth Riders will start the season with two flavors of smoothies — Orange Cream Cycle and Strawberry-Banana — to gauge the bike blender’s popularity, collect feedback on customers’ favorite flavors and determine the quantity of ingredients that will be needed in the future.

“We’re official — we’re selling things,” Davis said. “It’s exciting to see it all come together. We’ve put a lot of work into it so far and our entire savings, so we’re hoping to see something come of it.”

ANNAVAIL CHEESE

Anne Kurronen, owner the new AnnaVail Cheese company in Eagle, is another new face at the Dillon Farmers Market. Kurronen will be selling her fresh, organic cheeses, all made within a few days of coming to market.

“I’ll be selling ricotta, mozzarella, some flavored cream cheeses and then my specialty is actually a soft sheep’s cheese that is kind of tart and has a lot of flavor,” she said, adding that she’ll eventually have a few aged cheeses, as well, once they mature.

Kurronen procures all of her sheep’s milk from a dairy called Irish Cream in northeast Colorado, near the Nebraska and Wyoming border. Using sheep’s milk is a bit unusual in the cheese-making business, she said, because it’s a lot more challenging to milk a sheep than it is to milk a cow, and the yield is much lower.

“Cows can produce several gallons per day of milk, and a sheep produces about a half a gallon,” she said. “Another part of the the sheepherding process — cows, when they give birth, have just one calf, where as sheep can have multiple births, so the livestock owner has more to contend with in that regard.”

Put all of that together, and there aren’t many people who raise sheep for milk.

“The milk that is produced, from a cheese maker’s perspective, is highly coveted because it has nearly twice the fat content as cows’ milk,” Kurronen said. “One gallon of sheep’s milk will make quiet a bit more cheese than a gallon of cows’ milk, and because of the fat content, the flavor, in my opinion, is richer and deeper.”

URBAN GARDEN FOODS

Denver-based Urban Garden Foods is another vendor that will be making the weekly trek to Dillon for the first time this summer. The company makes completely non-GMO, vegan, miso-based vinaigrettes under the label Miso Horny, said co-founder John Nadasdy.

“They’re great as salad dressings, marinades, dipping sauces,” he said. “We started the company about three years ago, and we’ve been doing the farmers market on South Pearl in Denver for the past few seasons, and this year we wanted to branch out and get more exposure in the mountains. We hear good things about the Dillon Farmers Markets, so we thought we’d give it a shot.”

Miso Horny comes in three flavors, the original Soy, made with gluten-free, organic soy sauce, plus two new varieties that were introduced last year: Wasabi Crushed Red Pepper, a great marinade for beef or seafood, and Ginger Mango, which Nadasdy likes with chicken or seafood.

“Miso is a fermented soybean paste, so if you’ve ever had miso soup at a Japanese restaurant, it’s the main ingredient in that,” he said. “It’s really high in protein, a very healthy food and it’s a really good emulsifier with the vinaigrettes. Kids love it, too. If kids have a problem eating vegetables, put a little of that on it, and they’ll destroy it.”

Nadasdy said he’s not really sure what to expect at his first Dillon Farmers Market, but has heard that it can be really, really busy.

“There’s a ton of vendors, most of whom I’m not familiar with, so I think that will be exciting to see,” he said. “And it’s great to get up to the mountains every once in a while.”

WAG’S WORLD ORCHARD

Wag’s World Orchard has been a family-owned, family run operation for close to two decades, serving wholesale and retail customers with a mission to grow the biggest, best-tasting and best-quality products at a reasonable market price.

“We’re primarily peaches, apples, cherries,” said Nick Orros, market manager for Wag’s. “We do grow a few acres of a variety of different vegetables — snow peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash — in addition to the cherries, peaches an apples. They’ll all kind of come on at different parts of the season.”

Orros said he’s looking forward to building relationships with customers and getting to know them as the season progresses. In the beginning, it’s a sort of feeling-out process, learning clients’ interests and their reasons for eating healthy.

“It’s a beautiful community, great people and we are Colorado-based,” he said. “We’re really proud of this whole farm-to-table movement, if you will, and also the sheer economics of it all. It’s a good market; there’s a huge turnout. It’s a very vibrant market from what we hear and understand. We’re grateful that we’ve been embraced and welcomed to enjoy the festivities.”

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Summit County wildfire risk slightly higher than last summer

#Summit County, Colorado

Like dandelions now blooming along roads, paths and trails, Summit County’s wildfires tend to ignite where people and human activity are most concentrated.

Unlike the harmless flowers though, wildfires threaten people and property; local authorities base many of their decisions on fire risk.

This summer, the county’s wildfire risk is slightly higher than last summer, which followed one of the snowiest winters on record, said Doug Cupp, Summit County’s wildfire mitigation specialist. He cautioned that even in the wet May of 2014, thecounty responded to a small fire north of Silverthorne.

Low precipitation in February and March this year had local officials worried this spring about the 2015 wildfire season. Then it rained for about a month straight.

“May really helped us recover,” Cupp said.

2015 has been unusual statewide in that no major Colorado wildfires have been reported to state or federal officials so far, he said.

Summit should experience below-average wildfire activity through the month of June, thanks to the recent wet weather, followed by normal wildfire activity for the rest of the summer.

KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS

Summit’s chance of experiencing any wildfires this summer, like any summer, is extremely high, Cupp said. The county has seen roughly 11 a year for the last 10 years.

But the size and location of the fire is what really matters, and that’s harder to predict.

For all their satellite imaging, ground data collection and mathematical models, Cupp said those who study and track wildfires can’t produce a probability for whether a fire of significant size will start in a given area.

The chance of a fire occurring, like the weather, is easier to predict one to five days out, while forecasts for a month or more into the future grow less reliable.

Fires are also much simpler to describe and anticipate after they’ve ignited, Cupp said, and wildfire experts consider three factors — weather, topography and fuel — to understand how they might spread.

For example, Cupp considers regional drought indices, and he looks at local data from a federal station in Dillon that includes fuel moisture. The station automatically measures the weight of dead wood of varying sizes and sends out a daily snapshot that shows how recent weather has affected the wood’s water content.

On Wednesday, June 3, Cupp said Summit’s fuel moisture is about normal, and the county is experiencing low drought concerns. If this summer remains a normal wildfire season for the county as predicted, he expects to see ground fires, which are easier to contain and suppress.

PRECIPITATION BUFFERS

Unlike most other parts of Colorado, Summit is protected from wildfire somewhat by its elevation and corresponding climate. Snowpack that persists into early summer and monsoon rains in July and August provide a buffer and create a shorter wildfire season.

The wildfire season in Colorado, and much of the West, has lengthened in recent years with a long-term trend of warmer, drier weather.

Summit has also experienced that pattern; but, while the county sees most of its fires in July, the Front Range has experienced a major wildfire in the first week of June nearly every year for the last 10 to 15 years, Cupp said, including the Hayman, High Park and Waldo Canyon fires.

The Front Range also must factor in occasional periods of extremely high winds, while Summit’s mountains usually block strong, persistent gusts.

Summit also doesn’t see the dry lightning strikes that occur without rain and spark fires elsewhere in the state. Lightning typically hits Summit’s high peaks, and their rocks aren’t flammable. Summit’s fires are usually caused by human-related objects, like campfires, cigarette butts and power lines.

PUBLIC, PRIVATE PREVENTION

The county is most geographically similar in elevation and weather to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, Cupp said — an area that has experienced serious fires in recent years.

“We definitely have the potential for a significant fire to occur,” he said, so residents and local property owners shouldn’t become complacent.

One of the risk factors unique to Summit is the national forest land that surrounds the county’s homes, businesses, roads, power lines, water supplies and other valuable structures. Much of the forest is continuous without firebreaks, or gaps in vegetation that would slow or stop a fire.

Clear-cutting on national forest land has created some firebreaks around towns, Cupp said. Public and private entities limb trees as another mitigation method that clears vertical space, so fires can’t spread from the ground to the tree crowns.

This year, county officials will again target private property and, especially, the two-thirds of the county’s housing structures that sit unoccupied for much of the year, in an effort to create more defensible space for firefighters to work and to slow the spread of fires from forest to structure or vice versa.

The free Summit County Chipping Program was more successful than organizers expected, and, this summer, crews will do two rounds through the county, collecting wood from June 29 through October 2.

The program began last year, funded with a state grant and a voter-approved tax for wildfire mitigation. For more information about the program, visit www.co.summit.co.us/chippingprogram.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Frisco plans traffic calming measures for mid-June

#Frisco, Colorado.

Elise Reuter / ereuter@summitdaily.com

Detoured cars speeding along residential streets have stirred up a response from Frisco residents. With school out for the summer and more dogs, skateboarders and children in the streets than before, Frisco town officials are looking for ways to slow down traffic throughout Main and adjoining streets.

“It’s something that we take very seriously. We want to address those concerns and slow people down a little,” said town manager Bill Efting. “People are in a hurry, and the worst thing that could happen is someone getting hit.”

In April, residents along Creekside Drive shared complaints of traffic in the neighborhood, reporting that one of several “slow down” signs placed by the town to mitigate speeding had been completely crushed.

Now, Frisco has broadened its response across the town in a series of measures that will be completed by mid-June. Major changes include the addition of stop signs along Creekside, as well as a speed limit decrease from 25 to 20 mph on West Main Street near Interstate 70.

“This is something we’ve been looking at doing for a year. It’s more big picture,” said Frisco spokeswoman Brodie Boilard. “Citizens have voiced these concerns, too.”

Efting added that the town would look at increased police enforcement during this time. Frisco Police Chief Tom Wickman said they would move their speed trailer, which displays driving speeds, around the town as needed, in addition to getting out as many officers as possible.

“Traffic is always a problem — always will be and always has been,” Wickman said. “It’s not just one place. There are a number of different areas around town.”

He added that speeding on the town’s side streets was exacerbated by construction on Main Street, which has detoured traffic out to neighborhoods. Boilard said part of the reasoning in adding additional traffic controls this month was to address the strain added by construction.

“With more traffic on the side streets, the problems were more obvious,” she said. “We’ve been trying to make people more aware.”

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Pets available for adoption at the Summit County Animal Shelter

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Peter Rabbit/Michael Yearout Photography

Pets available for adoption at the Summit County Animal Shelter.  Contact the Shelter at (970) 668-3230.

CATS

POOKIE, 10 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, tortie, spayed female

LUKA, 5 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, spayed female

TAMALE, 6 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, neutered male

CHLOE, 7 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, spayed female

REILLEY, 16 years, Tonkinese, seal point, neutered male

BAILEY, 16 years, Tonkinese, seal point, neutered male

PINO, 2 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black and white, spayed female

TIGGER ROO, 2 years, Domestic Longhair mix, orange, neutered male

DOGS

HANK, 2 years, German Shepherd Dog and Chinese Sharpei mix, black and tan, neutered male

CHARLIE, 5 months, German Shepherd Dog and Rottweiler mix, black, spayed female

CHAMP, 5 months, German Shepherd Dog and Rottweiler mix, black, neutered male

ROCCO, 3 years, French Bulldog mix, white and brindle, neutered male

ARIES, 2 years, Labrador Retriever mix, black and white, neutered male

DAKOTA, 9 months, Labrador Retriever mix, black and white, neutered male

PETER RABBIT, 1 year 7 months, Doberman Pinscher mix, brown, neutered male

PENNY, 5 years, Chihuahua - Smooth Coated mix, red, spayed female

JAVA, 1 year 1 month, Brittany mix, black and tricolor, spayed female

ROXIE, 1 year, Australian Shepherd mix, white, spayed female

APRIL, 1 year 1 month, Pit Bull Terrier mix, black and white, unaltered female

TIZOC, 3 years, Labrador Retriever mix, blonde, neutered male

BEAR, 4 years, Rottweiler and German Shepherd Dog mix, black and tan, neutered male

MARLIN, 1 year 6 months, Labrador Retriever mix, yellow, neutered male

BUCK, 2 years, Labrador Retriever mix, chocolate, neutered male

MAX, unknown age, Pit Bull Terrier mix, black, neutered male

REX, unknown age, German Shepherd Dog mix, black and tan, neutered male

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Summit Design & Style: Table trends for your dining room furniture

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

I grew up eating meals, working on homework and generally loitering in a seat along one specific side of my family’s butcher block-style dining table. It was thick and sturdy and all too enticing to deface with shapes using the ends of my forks and knives.

Of course, my mom was none too happy when she discovered the row of childhood hieroglyphics I had enjoyed carving into her beautiful table. If she reads this she’ll see with a smile that I have a more mature understanding of how to put an artistic touch on the pieces we love, rather than puncture their perfection.

The dining room table is often the only place in the house where the entire family and welcome guests come together all at once. Bedrooms, kitchens and even living room spaces offer either autonomy or transience among busy parents and flocks of children, preoccupied roommates and visiting friends.

This versatile surface in the home is a focal-point piece that will last through time, but sometimes the embellishments around it will change.

“Tables are an heirloom piece that you will have forever,” said Heidi Jarski, co-owner of Mountain Comfort furnishings and design store in Frisco with her husband, Andy. “But sometimes with chairs, style or fabric goes out of style.”

TIMELESS TABLES

You can’t go wrong with a prominent wooden table as a lasting piece, made from maple, teak, cherry, walnut or pine, but there are some trends emerging around material and style.

“Rustic tables have always been a part of a mountain look, but it used to be log tables, and now we are seeing more reclaimed pieces,” Jarski said.

Reclaimed pine, from beetle-kill trees, for instance, is currently very popular in all style of home design. A specific furniture style known as “live edge” is adding an even more rustic element to the reclaimed pieces.

“Each live edge table is going to have a different kind of shape,” Jarski said. “The tree is cut and the edges are left as their natural shapes. Sometimes the bark is left on, and sometimes it’s taken off.”

Like most furniture pieces, clients are generally able to have input on what they want the completed piece to look like. Some want a finished look, and some want a more rustic feel; sometimes the wood tables are stained, and sometimes they are left their natural color.

One artisan, who often works with Mountain Comfort, fills the cracks in the wood with unique elements such as turquoise and molten copper. The wood needs to be filled in anyway, Jarski said, so that it won’t crack more, and the interesting additions make the surface of a table smooth and truly eye-catching.

VERSATILE CHAIRS

Chairs are where you can bring in the flair. There’s a current design trend to pair “timeless” wood tables with more modern, mixed-material chairs, and in Summit County, that translates to “mountain modern.”

Large, rolled upholstery armchairs are no longer being pushed up against rustic tables. Instead, more streamlined chairs are what to sit in, with higher backs, thinner arms and cleaner lines — almost “industrial looking,” as Jarski explained.

Reclaimed wood is also being used in the chairs themselves, but the natural material is mixed with copper or zinc pipe-style legs or accents. Grey and brown color combinations are being used now, rather than brown on brown. Fabrics are often incorporated into the modern, mixed-material designs.

“There are still a lot of really cool fabrics that are trendy right now and in-line with the mountain look,” she said. “We are seeing a lot of greys and grey leathers; everything was so brown for so long, and now we’re seeing a combo of those colors.”

Balance seems to be the baseline for integrating natural, rustic elements with modern, streamlined accents for a comfortable, yet cutting edge, dining room.

“Throw a little mountain in with modern, by adding wood, ethnic prints and fabrics, and it makes the space a lot warmer and it adds some personality to it,” Jarski said. “People want to feel cozy when they are in their mountain home, and this will help make it that way.”

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.