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July 24, 2014 VOLU M E 1 3 | I S SUE 27

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Sky Ridge CEO leaving for new job Tarrant accepts top post at Denver’s Presbyterian/St. Luke’s By Jane Reuter

jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com

Maureen Tarrant speaks at the June 2013 groundbreaking of Sky Ridge Medical Center’s expansion. File photo

Sky Ridge Medical Center’s first and only chief executive officer, Maureen Tarrant, is leaving her position with the Lone Tree hospital to serve as CEO of Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s. Tarrant will start her new job Aug. 4. Susan Hicks, Sky Ridge’s chief operating officer since its opening, has been named interim CEO. The Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical

Center and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children is a two-hospital campus in Denver owned by HealthONE, which also owns Sky Ridge. Tarrant steps in for resigning CEO Mimi Roberson. “I am both humbled and honored to be selected for this new role,” Tarrant said. “Over the past 11 years, I have been fortunate to work with an extraordinary team of health care professionals and an exemplary medical staff at Sky Ridge. Together, we created a destination facility with a depth and breadth of service that has earned the facility quality accolades, patient confidence and community respect. “I look forward to bringing this same passion for growth, clinical excellence, economic development and community involvement to my new position.” Tarrant has overseen operations at Sky Ridge since its 2003 opening, steering it so successfully that it’s undergoing a $107

million expansion. Rated one of the most beautiful hospitals in the country, Sky Ridge was the cornerstone of the RidgeGate development. In a 2013 interview, Tarrant called Sky Ridge “a capstone in my work in healthcare administration.” “To have worked on the planning and building of the hospital, to have worked with the Douglas County community, to be the first employee of the hospital, to having worked on the crafting of the mission, vision and values to recruiting medical staff and then watching it grow — that’s the journey of a lifetime,” she said. The expansion will add 90 beds, a women’s center, medical office building, four operating suites and a parking garage by late 2014. Tarrant lives in Greenwood Village with her husband, John.

GOP gives HD44 nod to Ransom She will replace Jack Hilbert as party’s candidate By Mike DiFerdinando

mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com

Many say economic development in south metro Denver hinges on the extension of light rail — which now stops here at Lincoln Avenue — south to RidgeGate Parkway. File photo

RTD votes to extend light rail Plan for southeast line still requires OK for federal grant By Jane Reuter

jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com A July 15 “yes” vote by the Regional Transportation District’s board of directors is a vital step toward construction of the southeast light rail extension. The RTD board voted to move forward with the $207 million project, which will add 2.3 miles of track and three stations between Lincoln Station and RidgeGate Parkway. The construction still hinges on approval of a $92 million Federal Transit Administration grant. Word on that is expected in spring 2015. The RTD vote “is a big step forward,” Lone Tree Mayor Jim Gunning said. “I feel very confident we’re going to get the federal grant.” If funding falls into place, construction likely would begin in early 2016, with completion in 2018. The project also is getting a significant boost from south metro entities that believe the extension is key to the area’s future. The City of Lone Tree, Douglas County, RidgeGate’s Coventry Development and the Denver South Transportation Management Authority are contributing a total of nearly $40 million toward the line’s construction. That includes a Coventry donation of about 25 acres of land for the tracks and stations. The local match makes up 16.5 per-

cent of the project cost, far exceeding the 2.5 percent match RTD requested from local partners. Of the project’s total $207 million cost, RTD’s investment would be $66 million, or about 32 percent. South metro officials say it’s a worthwhile investment because light rail will accelerate the pace of quality of development. Estimates show the extension will increase assessed property valuation by $700 million, generate an estimated 10 million square feet of commercial real estate and create 20,000 new jobs in the next 25 years. The future extension was a key factor for new Lone Tree businesses like Charles Schwab and Kaiser Permanente. “The business community that is moving into Lone Tree is asking for and expecting this extension,” Lone Tree Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Millet said. “Our residents bought their homes in the RidgeGate west village with the expectation that was going to be an option. “It increases the assessed valuation of the land itself, which feeds back into the school district and the library. It’s an investment in our community we believe will continue to pay dividends to the residents and businesses.” It also will set the tone for future development on RidgeGate’s undeveloped east side. Two of the stations are planned there, including one at the future Lone Tree City Center east of Interstate 25 and south of Lincoln Avenue, and another — the last stop on the line — at RidgeGate Parkway and I-25. The other station is planned south of the current Lincoln Station near Sky Ridge Medical Center. From that station,

the line will cross over I-25 to the east side. Coventry Development executive vice president Keith Simon has been working toward the light-rail extension for 15 years. “We’ve planned the community with that rail from day one,” he said. “Even back in 1999, we felt that having access to rail transit would really help make the community much more unique and appealing to people — not only people that live there but more importantly to employers. We know they all want to locate as close as they can to a light-rail station because particularly the younger employees they’re trying to recruit and retain would much rather not be dependent on a car. They can also recruit people that might live in the central Denver area.” Simon called RTD’s recent vote “another step in a long process.” Plans to bring the light rail south to RidgeGate accompanied plans for construction of the RidgeGate Parkway interchange. “Once we had that interchange approved, it gave us the foundation to go to RTD and propose the southeast light rail extension,” Simon said. “We were able to go and say … `You could bring the light rail down to it and have a great end-ofline station, and we’ll give you all the land necessary to do it.’” Despite that reassurance, the process has moved slowly. “These transportation projects involve lots of players, and are fairly expensive,” Simon said. “That means they take lots of time.”

At a special selection meeting July 19 at the Douglas County Justice Center, Kim Ransom was chosen to replace Jack Hilbert as the Republican nominee for the House District 44 seat. Ransom was elected by a majority on the first ballot. House District 44 encompasses Parker, Lone Tree and parts of unincorporated Douglas County. Ransom, 55, is a mother of four, and is a customer service representative for vacation rentals outlet VRBO.com. She has worked as an aide for two Douglas County state senators, Republicans John Evans and Tom Wiens and as the HD44 committee secretary. Hilbert, who most re- Ransom cently served as Douglas County commissioner and won the Republican primary in June to represent House District 44 in the general election, withdrew his name as the sole candidate July 13 after accepting a position as Child Welfare Hotline System manager with the Colorado Department of Human Services’ Child Welfare Protection Division. Five people —Ransom, Debbie Lewis, Donald Parrot, Debbie Cohen and Kim Monson —interviewed for the position. Each candidate had three minutes to speak on their qualifications for the position and then answered questions from the panel. They were given two minutes to respond to each question. Each interview lasted about an hour. The panel, made up of three members of the HD44 Republican Committee and three voting members of the Douglas County GOP executive team, asked the candidates about their positions on the Second Amendment and extending gun rights to places of business and schools; social issues, such as marriage equality and abortion; school choice and their stance on standard core curriculum in public schools; illegal immigration; and whether they would vote for an increase GOP continues on Page 13


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