The Eagle County Board of Commissioners and government staff presented the 2026 Eagle County State of the County on Tuesday morning.
The 2026 State of the County looked a little different than previous years. Rather than reviewing the previous year and sharing plans for the upcoming year, the 2026 session centered around introducing the county’s 2026-28 strategic plan.
The strategic plan is centered around three main goals: “pursuing organizational excellence,” “promoting thriving communities” and “protecting our mountain ecosystem.”
“It does encapsulate not just the vision that the three of us have, but really the vision that we have built together as a community and as a county,” said Tom Boyd, board of commissioners chair. “This plan represents our aspirations, it represents our ideals and it also represents … concrete and measurable goals.”
The three goals, which were crafted by county staff and community partners based on community feedback, branch into 11 priorities designed to keep Eagle County residents healthy, happy and local.
“The easier path, in many ways, to avoid commitment is to take a wait and see approach,” said County Manager Jeff Shroll. “That’s just not how we operate here in Eagle County. We always strive to be proactive, organized and deliberate about listening to our community and delivering on services and programs that solve real problems for real people in Eagle County.”
The first broad goal is for the county government to provide high quality customer service to Eagle County’s population.
“Our first goal is about you; the person on the other side of the counter, on the other end of the phone,” said Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney. “You want a government that works as hard as you as you work for your family and your community.”
Under this goal, the county plans to unite public support systems, including schools, nonprofits, local governments and more to tackle the challenges facing locals: housing, child care, workforce and beyond.
Challenges “just don’t care about jurisdictional boundaries or departmental silos,” McQueeney said. “A housing problem becomes a workforce problem becomes a child care problem becomes an economic development problem.”
To provide better customer services, the county is creating a shared customer service map to promote a shared language across locations and departments that allows interactions with the public to be “clear, respectful and straightforward,” McQueeney said.
In the first phase of the goal, county staff are working toward projecting empathy as an organization. This includes building easy to follow online processes, and developing strong listening skills in-person.
“We want you to walk away from every interaction feeling like your time was valued, you got what you needed and your voice was heard,” McQueeney said.
The goal also includes taking care of county staff and recognizing them for their hard work.
“They are your neighbors, they live on your streets and they are our greatest strength,” McQueeney said.
The goal of building a thriving community includes making Eagle County “an actual place to live,” said Commissioner Matt Scherr.
“We all have stories of friends and coworkers, acquaintances, people that we know who have had to leave the valley because they couldn’t find a place to rent, much less a place to buy,” Scherr said. “We’re looking to change that story.”
Promoting a thriving community means creating housing solutions for locals by partnering with other organizations and updating procedures to reduce friction for development of housing and homeownership.
The county is currently short 2,600 units of workforce housing, which will grow to an estimated 6,300 units in the next 10 years, according to the 2025 Eagle County Regional Housing Needs Assessment.
To tackle this gap, the county has three strategies it plans to utilize over the next three years, according to Tori Franks, the county’s resiliency director.
First, the county’s housing staff is engaged in the Eagle County land use regulations update currently underway, working to simplify housing requirements and incentivize more affordable housing in the code. Second, the county is working toward a regional solution to the regional problem of housing by leading community conversations alongside the town of Avon about a possible future regional housing authority. Third, the county’s housing staff is working to secure 280 new or preserved units that will be permanently price capped, the “most impactful units,” according to Franks.
“Imagine a teacher living in a cozy, probably a Habitat (for Humanity Vail Valley) home, close to the school where he teaches, or imagine a grandparent who lives near her family … also can get to doctor’s appointments easily and safely, or think about that young toddler who can learn and socialize with other kids and learn to be a part of this community in a safe place while her parents work,” Scherr said. “Or even a young adult who grew up here, who you might even know personally, who has a well-paying job, lives independently in their own apartment right here in Eagle County.”
The goal also targets three types of Eagle County residents that face specific challenges in thriving locally: older adults, young children and members of the workforce.
“Those older adults built this community, today’s adults and our workforce are the stewards of this community, and their children are our future,” Scherr said.
Eagle County is completing its healthy aging roadmap to support older adults, a community wide plan that sets goals to build a caregiver workforce, broaden housing programs for seniors and expand social opportunities for seniors.
The county is supporting early child care development by increasing availability, making programs high quality and affordable.
The county is leaning into the workforce by building a workforce ecosystem map, which will provide a better picture of the jobs Eagle County will need over the next 20 years, according to Erin McCuskey, the county’s economic resiliency manager. These arenas include “skilled trades, first responders, climate tech, child care, health care and more,” she said.
The county is currently experiencing an outflow of mid-career professionals. “This is due in part to the cost of living, but also because workers don’t see the next rung on the ladder here,” McCuskey said.
The county will be using data to identify the sectors where the government can make a difference, align local training programs with what local business owners need and connect job seekers with opportunities.
“We want to create a system where a high school student or an adult looking for a career change can see a clear, high paying future right here,” McCuskey said.
The goal is for all locals to feel supported by their community, and to contribute to it.
“This will take all of us. We need landlords prioritizing renting to locals. We need employers who are willing to mentor interns and young workers. We need our neighbors looking in on our seniors,” Scherr said.
The county has four strategies to keep the local mountain ecosystem healthy and functional going forwarded.
“Protecting our mountain ecosystems is the same as protecting our economy, it’s the same as protecting our safety, it’s the same as protecting our heritage and it is definitely protecting our quality of life,” Boyd said.
“Eagle County has always valued conservation. This work continues that tradition by turning our values into clear action plans,” said Marcia Gilles, the county’s open space and natural resources director. “Embracing environmental stewardship means doing the planning now so future leaders and our children inherit landscapes that are healthy, resilient and thoughtfully cared for.”
First, the county plans to advance the clean energy economy, in part by working toward the already established Climate Action Plan goal of reaching a reduction in countywide greenhouse gas emissions of 80% or more from 2014 levels by 2050.
Second, the county will embrace environmental stewardship, including adapting to new pressures on wildlife and landscape.
Third, the county will champion responsible use of public lands. As Eagle County is 80% public lands, the county government will prioritize education, enforcement and collaboration.
Fourth, the county government aims to reduce wildfire risk countywide through landscape fuel reduction and home mitigation programs. “We don’t know when or where a fire will start, but we do know how to prepare for it,” Boyd said.
