Cliff never felt so far from civilization as when cell phones and broadband be-came standard tools for living and working. Town doggedly pursued broadband to bring the modern era to it’s citizens for close to a decade, and didn’t get far until NWCCOGs program came along. After nearly 4 years of assistance from NWCCOG and…

Patti Clapper was first elected to the Pitkin County board of county commissioners in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002 and 2006, then after being off the board, she was elected again in 2014. Patti has been a dedicated representative to NWCCOG, and has served as Council chair and on the Economic Development District board. Patti has also participated in the national organization for COGs, known as the National Association of Regional Councils where she represented 5 western states on the NARC board and served as chair of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Committee. Patti moved to Pitkin 38 years ago. Her children are 4th generation in Aspen and her grandchildren are 5th generation in the Roaring Fork Valley. Patti notes that “the cumulative value of being a NWCCOG member provides invaluable opportunities to establish relationships with elected officials and a variety of regional and statewide organizations.”

Carolyn Skowyra was elected as the Town of Dillon Mayor in 2018 after having served as a town trustee for a term. She moved to Summit County to ski in 2009 after graduating from Wellesley College and met her future husband while working at Arapahoe Basin, and decided to stay beyond one season. Today she is the head coach of the local swim team and an active participant in Mountain Mentors and Summit County 4H. She has been Dillon's representative at NWCCOG since 2016. As a member of NWCCOG, representing the Town of Dillon, Carolyn says, “I contribute to and benefit from robust conversations around local/regional issues. I enjoy sharing ideas and tools with our neighboring communities and embrace the opportunity to keep Dillon informed and ahead of the challenging yet common issues facing our mountain communities.”

Karn Stiegelmeier, Summit County Commissioner is a fifth generation Colorado native born in Colorado Springs. She has worked for the National Forest Service and National Park Service in roles that include wildland firefighter, wilderness ranger, fire dispatcher, naturalist, and park ranger. Karn taught science to a range of ages in public, private and charter schools. Karn is NWCCOG Council Chair. She also serves on other boards and committees including the NWCCOG Water Quality and Quantity Committee, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, Colorado Basin Roundtable, Summit Water Quality Council, Friends of the Lower Blue River, Colorado Counties Acting Together, Colorado Communities for Climate Action, and Summit County Conflict Resolution Coalition. Karn believes that one of the key strengths of NWCCOG is that there is no substitute for sharing resources and leveraging grant potential to serve our entire region. NWCCOG’s many programs, such as the AAA, Weatherization, Economic Development District, Northwest Loan Fund, Emergency Management and Broadband efforts serve our communities in many ways. Karn says, “the NWCCOG Council provides a regional forum for sharing perspectives and actions in our diverse geographic area. Discussing issues in a cross jurisdictional contexts helps prevent re-inventing the wheel. We are able to learn from each others experiences, especially with current hot topics like e-bikes, short term rentals and wildfire response and planning” Karn will be termed out as a Summit County Commissioner in 2020.