NFRMPO Elects New Chair and Vice Chair for 2018

Fort Collins, Colorado—The North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Council, the lead planning organization for transportation and air quality in Northern Colorado, has elected a new Chair and Vice Chair for 2018.  The Chair is Larimer County Commissioner, Tom Donnelly, and Town of Windsor Mayor, Kristie Melendez, is Vice Chair.

Larimer County Commissioner Tom Donnelly was elected by the membership of the MPO after having served as Vice-Chair in 2017. Donnelly also previously served as chairman of the MPO in both 2011 and 2012.

“I’m honored to have been elected to lead the MPO organization during this critical time for our regional transportation system. It’s clear that our local governments are working well together,” Donnelly said. Donnelly cited the recently completed Berthoud ‘climbing lane’ on I-25 is an example of MPO funding serving as a catalyst to move an important transportation project forward.

The MPO works to promote a regional perspective on transportation and air quality issues in the region and is comprised of elected officials of the 15 member governments, one from each of the towns and cities in Northern Colorado, as well as Weld and Larimer Counties, the State Air Pollution Control Division, and the Transportation Commission of Colorado. Commissioner Donnelly can be contacted at donnelt@larimer.org

Mayor Kristie Melendez began serving on the NFRMPO Council in 2012. She has served on the Finance Committee since early 2017 and will be the committee’s Chair in 2018. She became Windsor’s first female mayor in 2016 after serving as Mayor Pro Tem for two years and Town Board Member for District 4 beginning in 2010. She currently serves on the North I-25 and Hwy 34 Coalitions, Lariat Loop Board as President, Windsor Downtown Development Authority Board, DDA Marketing Committee as the Marketing Chair, Northern Colorado Regional Tourism Authority as Chair, Upstate Colorado Economic Development Board, Off System Bridge Grant Committee, and is involved with many other local organizations in the region.

For the last 17 years Melendez, has worked in a variety of development, marketing, management and sales roles, while operating a full-service agency, Smart Marketing, LLC. In the tenure of her company she has formed partnerships and relationships with dozens of local Chambers of Commerce, municipalities, elected officials, and 100’s of businesses in Colorado through effective collaboration and relationship building efforts. One of her career highlights was working with former Denver Mayor, Wellington E. Webb, on a series of projects from 2008-2010 that inspired her to act on her political dream.

As a CSU graduate and fourth generation Windsorite, Melendez’s roots to her family and the community go back to 1912 when her great grandparents immigrated to the US from Grimm Russia. She credits the values instilled in her by her family and church upbringing vital to the success she has reached to date. She hopes her involvement in the North Front Range Region will make a difference for generations to come. She has been married for 31 years to her high school sweetheart and has raised two beautiful daughters. Mayor Melendez can be contacted at kmelendez@windsorgov.com.