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took aim at county commissioners, appointed public offi cials and private citizens.
Carter-King in her Jan. 4 statement asked that the full, unredacted copy of the messages be released. They can be viewed on the Gillette city website at tinyurl.com/wyotexts.
Davidson took over as town administrator for Elizabeth on Dec. 13, 2021, following what the Gillette News Record referred to as an “abrupt departure” from his city administrator position in Gillette in February 2021.
Before starting the Elizabeth job, Davidson shared his goals with Colorado Community Media, saying he wanted to spend his fi rst 60 days getting to know the Elizabeth community and town administration, as
well as getting up to speed on ongoing projects. He explained how his experience with growth would be a boon for Elizabeth in its efforts to maintain its historic feel as the Front Range ers, appointed public offi cials and changes at a rapid clip. private citizens. Davidson did not respond to a request for comment for this story, copy of the messages be released. but, according to the They can be viewed on the Gillette News Record, included a city website at tinyurl.com/wyo- note in his Dec. 31 email texts. with the texts stating that he had recently updated his phone, 13, 2021, following what the Gil- found the fi les and lette News Record referred to as an thought they might be “abrupt departure” from his city of interest to his former colleagues administrator position in Gillette in in Gillette. February 2021. Prior to Davidson’s arrival in Elizabeth, the town administrator post had been vacant for nearly a Colorado Community Media, saying year, following the January 2021 dehe wanted to spend his fi rst 60 days parture of its former occupant, Billy getting to know the Elizabeth com- Joe “BJ” Potts, who stepped down munity and town administration, as after just three months on the job.
Davidson
respond to a request for comment for this story, but, according to the News Record, included a note in his Dec. 31 email with the texts stating that he had recently updated his phone,
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It is your duty (dooty)!
Picking up after your dog goes further than making your neighbors happy. When you are out walking your dog, it is your duty to collect their waste. Often, the trails and parks we enjoy with our dogs are adjacent to creeks and reservoirs. Dog waste that is not collected gets carried away during rainstorms to nearby waterways and can be a significant source of pollution. Unlike one might think, dog waste is not a fertilizer. Rather, it carries harmful bacteria like E. coli, which poses serious health risks if allowed to come in contact with water.
Local stormwater agencies are teaming together to bring you this message. We take this so seriously that we posted this ad rather than send you more garbage in the mail. One thing is clear: our creeks, rivers and lakes depend on you.
THIS STORMWATER MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Visit onethingisclear.org to: • Report accidental and illegal dumping to your local agency • Search local volunteer events • Find more helpful tips
Recovery, high prices expected in the coming year
BY MOLLY ARMBRISTER SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
The Colorado economy is expected to continue improving in 2022 following the tumult of 2020 and the persistent fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic through 2021.
That recovery will further drive an already hot housing market, according to a panel of economists speaking at a local summit presented by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors earlier this month.
The metro Denver area, including Douglas, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties, are poised to capitalize on the overall economic improvements, thanks to healthy growth trajectories and growing populations with disposable income.
Colorado’s unemployment rate sat at 5.1% in November 2021, a drastic improvement over the early-pandemic rate of 11.6% in May 2020. Douglas and Arapahoe counties look even better than the state at large, with 3.4% and 4.7% unemployment rates respectively, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
And while we’re not totally out of the woods when it comes to either COVID infections or economic snags, 2022 is set to provide a road to recovery, although it might come with a few twists and turns, said Patty Silverstein, president and chief economist of Development Research Partners, speaking during the summit.
Colorado has recovered 85% of the jobs lost in 2020, according to Silverstein, placing the state in a better position than the country at large, which has recovered 83% of the jobs lost. Colorado is expected to fully recover 2020 levels of employment by September of this year.
The area’s standing as a population magnet is a big contributor to the strength of the economy here, according to Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of Realtors. In the last decade, metro Denver’s population has grown by 420,000 on a net basis, representing a population increase of 17%, compared to just 7% in the U.S. as a whole.
More specifi cally, the Denver area remains popular with members of the millennial generation who are increasingly taking the plunge into homeownership, even as inventory remains constricted, leading to bidding wars and skyrocketing home prices. In fact, 31% of the Denver-area population are millennials, many of whom are on the cusp of buying a home, Evangelou said.
She anticipates another year of high home-buying activity in 2022, although a bit less than in 2021.
“2021 was the best year for the real estate market since 2006 in terms of existing home sales,” she said, speaking of the national housing market.
Six million homes were sold in 2021 across the U.S., according to NAR data, the largest number since 2006, when 6.5 million homes were sold in the run-up to the housing collapse of 2007 that triggered the Great Recession.
NAR’s projections show existing home sales reaching as high as 5.9 million nationwide in 2022, indicating another year of frenzied buying.
The challenge for many buyers in metro Denver right now, though, are the high price tags that most homes come with these days, the result of low inventories and lots of competition.
DMAR’s latest Market Trends Report shows that the median home price in metro Denver hit $545,000 in December, an increase of nearly 20% over the previous year. And it’s hardly the fi rst time in the last decade that the market has posted double-digit price appreciation.
Some inventory relief may be on the way in the form of new homes built. Silverstein’s data show a 31% increase in the number of residential building permits pulled in 2021 to just over 50,000, including both single- and multifamily units.
But new builds almost always come with a higher price tag than comparably sized existing homes, so the impact of these new builds on pricing will be indirect in the form of boosting the overall level of supply, hopefully reducing competition in the marketplace.
The pace of buying could also be slowed by anticipated increases in interest rates, and the rate at which people are moving to Colorado is slower than it was in the middle of the last decade.
These market dynamics together should result in slower price appreciation in 2022, Evangelou said, but prices will stay high and competition will be fi erce for those trying to buy a home.
As the population grows, housing inventory has decreased and
home prices are selling well above asking prices. SHUTTERSTOCK
