After resigning from his seat as Grand Lake mayor, Steve Kudron was appointed to be Grand Lake’s new town manager during the board of trustees meeting Monday, Feb. 24. Kudron has been acting as both mayor and interim town manager since Sept. 23, 2024, following the departure of former Town Manager Guy Patterson.

Prior to officially resigning as mayor, Kudron delivered a short speech reflecting on his time in Grand Lake as a business owner and resident over the past 12 years and how he gradually found himself getting more and more involved with the town.

“When I was first elected to the board of trustees in 2014, I’d already developed an undeniable tug at the realization that Grand Lake was my home, my place,” Kudron said. “Our little shop was a novelty for sure, only for it to grow into the Grand Lake destination it is today. I became more involved. I wanted to help steward Grand Lake in the next chapter. I began to ask, ‘Why this? Why that?’ I learned by paying attention to the reasons for the actions of the past and listening to the needs of the future.”

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While mayor, Kudron faced an unsuccessful recall effort in 2021 led by a group of longtime residents after the board voted to purchase a property that was meant to become affordable housing. Opppnents filed a petition to recall Kudron citing improper leadership, fiscal irresponsibility, violation of Colorado open meetings laws, and insufficient financial and comprehensive planning. Ultimately, Kudron was retained in a landslide vote.

Kudron said he’s excited to take the town board’s priorities and work on turning them into reality as town manager, including creating affordable housing, balancing the town’s budget and supporting residents and visitors.

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“The town has made so many great strides in the past 10 years, but it still struggles with many of the same age-old challenges,” Kudron said.

Grand Lake faces many of the same struggles that other towns in Grand County do, such as a lack of affordable housing for employees, hardship in maintaining a year-round economy, dependency on tourism and more. The town is currently working on several projects, including the Space to Create project, to try to address these issues.

On Feb. 24, the trustees accepted Kudron’s resignation as mayor before moving to offer him the position as Grand Lake’s town manager.

“I’ve been now given a unique opportunity to put my work where my mouth is. Your confidence that I will carry out the vision of this board, your ideas and your dreams is a great honor,” Kudron said. “I’ll work my tail off for the people of Grand Lake as your manager.”

To Kudron, the new role represents an opportunity to use his institutional knowledge of the town and its needs.

“The understanding of Grand Lake’s unique, small and engaged community will help me to get things done while navigating the needs of the community. I get to work in the most beautiful place on earth, doing good things for the people and the town,” Kudron wrote in an email.

Even though he didn’t follow the traditional path of other town managers, he believes he’s qualified for the position, citing his experience as an elected official.

“I have spent the past decade learning and understanding the way government functions in Grand Lake and Grand County,” Kudron wrote.

He calls his time as the interim town manager a “trial period” where he demonstrated his ability to evaluate and hire staff, complete a budget on time, create paths for necessary future developments and execute an events-based revenue strategy for the town.  

Northwest Colorado Council of Governments Executive Director Jon Stavney, who has helped the town of Grand Lake in previous searches for a town manager, offered his congratulations to the town and Kudron on the appointment.

“It was, perhaps, an unorthodox choice, but Grand Lake is a very special and unique community. Having assisted the town four times with manager or interim searches, I’m not at all surprised. No one I can think of knows the town and community like Steve,” Stavney said.

Mayor Pro-Tem Christina Bergquist explained that the decision not to solicit applications for the town manager position was a deliberate one.

“As a community, board and staff, we needed time to process and regroup after the deeply disappointing and challenging experience with our previous hire. The past few months had been tumultuous, and rather than rushing into another search, we felt it was important to pause and ensure we made the right decision moving forward,” Bergquist said.

Patterson, the former Grand Lake town manager, was found to be a cultural misfit due to his management style and misaligned expectations, according to Kudron. Patterson was the Grand Lake town manager for only 81 days before resigning.

Bergquist said the board initially had no intention of putting Kudron in the role permanently; however, she said that after witnessing his “deep understanding of our community and proven leadership,” the board decided that conducting a broader search would have been “unnecessary and even counterproductive.”

“His performance as interim manager demonstrated that he was not only capable but also the best person for the job,” Bergquist said.

She explained that the decision to offer the position to Kudron was “not made lightly, nor was it about bypassing due process. It was about recognizing strong, experienced leadership that was already in place.”

As town manager, Kudron will be compensated $160,000 with the opportunity for future salary adjustments beginning in January 2026.

Following his appointment as manager, the trustees moved to fill the now-empty mayoral seat.

Trustee Julie Causseaux motioned to have the vacancy filled by Mayor Pro-Tem Bergquist until the next municipal election in April 2026. The motion passed, and Bergquist was sworn in as mayor during the meeting.

Now left with a mayor pro-tem vacancy and a trustee vacancy, the board moved to appoint trustee Michael Sobon to the mayor pro-tem position and directed the town clerk to advertise the open trustee position. An appointed trustee will fill the vacancy until the election in April 2026.