City Administrator Laurie Simonson announced her retirement at the close of the May 5 Leadville City Council meeting, ending a nearly five-year tenure she said modernized a paper-based city into one with a planning department, streamlined finances, and a right-sized staff. Council approved her employment agreement unanimously, 7-0, on a roll call vote after returning from executive session at 10:27 p.m. The meeting, which ran to 10:43 p.m., also set the stage for a $150,000 transfer to the regional housing authority, tabled updated rules of order, and approved first reading of the largest ordinance in recent memory.
Simonson told council she was tired and that five years was a good point to reevaluate. She said the city was paper-based when she arrived and that every year had been “a leveling up.” She said she was retiring at the end of the month. Council Member Joey Edwards, who was on council when she was hired, said she had systematically checked off priorities her predecessor identified as urgent — among them hiring a planner and building a functional financial system — and that the city was now positioned to do more.
Mayor Dana Greene thanked Simonson for her service and wished her “a tremendously decreased stress.” After Simonson spoke, Greene asked for a motion. Council Member Mitchell Dulleck, followed by all members present, voted yes. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed publicly.
The meeting’s most substantive policy discussion centered on the city’s Measure 2A accommodations tax fund. Mayor Greene explained that while the Leadville Lake County Regional Housing Authority was being organized after the tax began collecting, the authority drew little from the fund, leaving a significant accumulated balance she called a “nest egg.” After reviewing the fund with city finance staff, she said the city could conservatively release $150,000 to the housing authority’s impact fund, with the full residual possibly reaching nearly double that figure once remaining accounting questions are resolved later this summer.
Jackie Whelihan, executive director of the Leadville Lake County Regional Housing Authority, told council the impact fund would allow the authority to act on housing needs — property purchases, down payment assistance, or grant matches — without mounting a full capital campaign. She said even a small house in the area costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that having money on hand allows quick action when opportunities arise. Mayor Greene said she would bring a resolution to release the $150,000 to a future meeting.
The second question was whether to shift the housing authority’s quarterly funding to an automatic transfer, the same mechanism the city already uses for the tourism panel. Council members expressed broad support, noting that requiring the authority to repeatedly request disbursements had become unnecessarily cumbersome. Whelihan said the draft intergovernmental agreement calls for the authority to report to the city at least annually and that her practice has been to report twice yearly — in the spring after the audit and in the fall before budget season. Council agreed quarterly reporting would place too much burden on the authority. Mayor Greene said a resolution formalizing both the transfer and a reporting structure would come to a future meeting.
Council voted unanimously to appoint David Rasch as a regular member of the Historic Preservation Commission and Mary Seawell as an alternate member, following the HPC’s own recommendation. The appointments fill a vacancy created by the resignation of HPC Chair Scott Spillman, PhD, who is leaving Leadville for employment out of state after six years on the commission. Rasch, currently Vice President of Curatorial Programs at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, moves up from his existing alternate member seat. Seawell, a nonprofit founder and former Gates Family Foundation executive, will serve a three-year term beginning May 26.
Council voted unanimously to table Resolution No. 17, which would adopt new City Council Rules of Order, to the May 19 regular meeting. Council Member Gita Carey said she needed time to provide a written comparison identifying specific provisions where she said the city attorney’s legal review had shifted authority away from the council toward the city administrator, contrary to the task force’s original intent. Mayor Greene said she would distribute the attorney’s redlined markup and the original 2014 bylaws to all council members before the next meeting.
Council approved Resolution No. 18, establishing a City Asset Management Task Force to inventory city-owned buildings, land, and infrastructure; compile operating costs; conduct condition assessments; and develop a GIS web map of city assets. Council Members Rebecca Thomas, Joey Edwards, and Shannon Grant will serve on the task force alongside advisory members Craig Gooch, a career municipal asset manager, and Will Smith, a GIS specialist added to the resolution at the meeting. The group meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 9 a.m., with the first session set for May 18.
Council gave unanimous first reading approval to Ordinance No. 3, updating the city’s building codes from 2018 to 2024 International Code Council standards. The update is a joint adoption with Lake County, which administers building permits for Leadville under an intergovernmental agreement. State law requires adoption of updated energy codes by July 1.
Craig Bull, a Leadville resident and fire alarm company owner, raised concerns during the first reading that the 2024 International Fire Code requires expensive fire alarm systems in spaces where e-bikes or micro-mobility devices are charged — costing between $10,000 and $25,000 — a requirement already drawing pushback from bike shops in Vail. He said shops in that town were caught off guard after that code was adopted there. Planning Director Chapin LaChance confirmed the new requirements apply only to new construction, major remodels, and occupancy changes, not to existing buildings. The city attorney advised council to view its role as setting policy on technical recommendations from qualified professionals, noting that departing from the county’s joint adoption could jeopardize the cooperative building department. Second reading and a public hearing are scheduled for May 19.
At the opening of the meeting, Mayor Greene called the regular session to order at 6 p.m. with all council members present. Council approved the agenda and the consent calendar unanimously, which included the April 21 meeting minutes and a Temporary Use Permit for the Lake County School District to hold the 2026 LCHS Senior Motorcade on June 11 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The motorcade, involving approximately 75 vehicles, will travel through city streets including Harrison Avenue with police and fire escort.
During opening public comments, Greg Labbe, a board member of the Leadville Main Street Program, reported that the program’s recent “elevated shop small” weekend event generated 927 tracked receipts totaling more than $122,000, with actual spending estimated to be higher since many participants never turned in receipts. Preliminary tourism data showed approximately 8,000 visitors on Friday and Saturday of the event weekend, a 42 percent increase over the same period in 2025. The program’s director said a full tourism report was expected within 72 hours. Resident Steve Prestash also addressed council on a recent personal dispute with the city and requested a private meeting with the mayor and the city attorney.
At the close of the meeting, Prestash used his second three-minute public comment period to criticize council for not including him on the asset management task force, characterizing the decision as political. He also continued his account of long-running personal disputes in Leadville. No other public comment was offered.
In the mayor’s report, Greene advised residents that significant snowfall was expected the following afternoon and asked people to plan ahead and drive safely. She also reminded council of a May 12 work session to review community center design options presented by the project’s design team.
During council reports, a council member noted that a Lake County commissioner had sent an invitation to schedule a joint work session on law enforcement collaboration, but that the email apparently did not reach council members through the city website’s contact link. The council member said she forwarded the email and would test the link from home. Another council member said she attended a recent recreational facilities meeting where the design team presented community center options, and described the presentation as thorough and ready for the broader council to see.
The May 19 regular meeting will carry the second reading and public hearing on the building codes ordinance and a resolution amending the city’s agreement with Community Builders. At least one council member noted an inability to attend that meeting. Council Member Shannon Grant moved to adjourn; the motion carried at 10:43 p.m.
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