Who We Are
The Member Services “program” is primarily work done by the Executive Director drawing upon administrative staff, including our communications and GIS consultants and sometimes those in other programs to address specific requests by the Council. We get asked a lot about what a Council of Governments does. The short answer is we exist to do what our Membership, which is made up of Municipalities and Counties, wants us to do. Some of those requests become programs that last for years. Others may be stood-up to meet a specific need.
Since collaborating on the Mountain Migration Report in 2021, NWCCOG and CAST have discussed several possibilities for another joint research project. We’ve observed that remote work, STRs and the global pandemic appear to have deeply impacted the economies and communities of our members. We have also observed something of a “reset” in thinking about tourism and economic development in mountain towns and counties, including “down-valley” support towns, challenging leaders to consider if changes in the regional economy call for different ways of measuring trends and sharing data about destination marketing and community development. Already, some municipalities have made an overt shift from marketing tourism to managing tourism. In 2022, some communities put questions to their voters about diverting tourism funding to other acute needs such as workforce housing. Many places are in the process of wrestling with how to re-assess and rebalance their resources between a focus on residents and a focus on visitors. In this collaboration, we will be asking if different communities track unique “key performance indicators” (KPI) that should be included in the project. There is a rich discussion occurring about whether economic metrics or quality-of-life metrics should instruct these decisions.
As a first step, with this initial survey, we seek information from leaders like you who are members of these regional organizations.
After gathering input from you and your local government peers, the survey tool will be refined and then we will be requesting your assistance to distribute it widely among residents, second homeowners and visitors alike. That data will be compiled into quantifiable and qualitative information that can be compared across the region and (eventually) across time. Though some individual resort towns have undergone similar efforts, the idea for this project is that a simple, uniform tool will become a standard for measuring change year-over-year and from one community to another.
At that point, CAST and NWCCOG leadership will discuss next steps which may include seeking grant funding to assist interested communities in acting upon the data.
To access the survey please visit: CommunityMetrics.org
Click Here For more information about the NWCCOG Research Effort
NWCCOG Foundation
The Mission of the NWCCOG Foundation is to provide a mechanism for the member jurisdictions of Northwest Colorado Council of Governments to work collaboratively with not for profit organizations, citizen based groups and individuals on projects of mutual interest and benefit for the region.
Facilitations
NWCCOG Executive Director, Jon Stavney, has extensive experience in local government, working with staff, boards and councils. He places a high value on any opportunity to advise, guide or assist councils/boards and staff at critical decision points or when they want to improve their governance skills. Elections provide this opportunity on a regular, scheduled basis, often brining enthusiastic new faces with little experience working together on a board to make decisions. It is often noted that one new board member can change the dynamics of the group, so even minor board changeover is a key time for groups to check-in and iron out how they want to operate together, and confirm priorities. Executive staff turnover is another pivot point when an outside perspective can be useful. Upon request from a Member Jurisdiction, and pending schedule availability and capacity, NWCCOG can facilitate a variety of activities that can be tailored to meet local needs, or help locate another facilitator to meet those needs.