Fifth in a series of profiles on candidates for Ketchum City Council.
Deborah "Burnsie" Burns
Age: 50
Experience: Marketing and convention coordinator for Elkhorn Resort, 10-year business owner, three years Ketchum P&Z, Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber board member, president Ketchum Retailers Alliance.
Why running: "I'm committed to revitalizing Ketchum and returning our focus inward to the community and concentrating in the next one to three years on not only the big picture but the small things so we can be a strong economic and fun resort town destination."
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Deborah "Burnsie" Burns has a vision for Ketchum.
"As I drive into town I still see open space and then a thriving, exciting main street with banners showing me what there is to do in the place I have just come to for my vacation. I find my hotel because the way-faring signs direct me to the place ... I am excited because the hotel has a spa and after a day at the convention I cannot wait to relax.
"The chamber of commerce has guided me to book a boot-camp fitness day on my day off ... I had a hard time deciding between the yoga spa day or the challenging hike day..."
So it goes. An easy, enjoyable experience in a well-thought-out resort town, and all such things are possible, said Burns, the owner of Burnsie's Boca clothing store on Fourth Street.
The bottom line for this three-year member of the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission is that she wants to see increased vitality through commitment to community.
"What I find is the trend of development forward is a good thing, but unless we as a city really start paying attention more about how much that development is giving to our problem areas, then we're going to end up being off balance."
And some things are already off balance, she said. Buildings sit empty. Parking is increasingly sparse. Alleys are over-used.
"New developments are driving the economy up," she said. "It's not improving the economy. It's actually making all of us incur all the costs of living expenses that go up. We need as a city to get in there and formulate a new vision. For me it starts with making the existing place, Ketchum, a more livable spot."
Burns outlined several key platform positions, better communication between the city and its residents foremost among them.
"There's got to be a formulated, clear communications system," she said. "We need to tell people what's going on in a more organized fashion."
She suggested the city should hire or contract for a communications specialist, and she said all city job descriptions, from the mayor through the staff members, need to be clarified.
Warm Springs Village revitalization also finds itself near the top of Burns' list.
"I think that if we have any kind of five-star entity (hotel) we need to do whatever we can at a city and P&Z level to get our ducks in a row to invite them in with open arms," she said. "We need to have our own base of the mountain with active retail, with bars and restaurants that will then make our whole town flourish as the excitement of Warm Springs spills out into downtown."
A successful hotel project in Warm Springs is among the first dominos that could lead to revitalization, she said.
In the arena of obtaining more affordable workforce housing, Burns said Ketchum needs to become more independently proactive.
"We need a Ketchum housing authority that's retrofit to Ketchum and Ketchum's economy," she said. "We need to look at the inclusionary zoning model again and see what kind of housing that's really providing for us. Is it affordable? And we need to spend more time on our relationships with developers."
Burns also has a vision for a rezoned light-industrial area that would include more affordable housing along with accommodating businesses that could help support a growing community there.
A shortage of parking in the downtown core is another thing Burns hopes to address if elected.
"I think there's not one person you could ask on the street or at Atkinsons' or somewhere else who would say there's not a parking problem," she said. "If the city removes parking from the core or anywhere else it needs to put it somewhere else."
She proposed a three-story parking structure on a city-owned lot at the corner of Sixth Street and Leadville Avenue. Such an operation could be combined with something like valet car washes, which would employ people and simultaneously provide a unique service.
She also has a vision for a human-powered public transportation system threading the city. People could draw carts using bicycles.
"No resort towns are doing it," Burns said. "It would make Ketchum unique. We'd get people around town, up and down Fourth Street."
Finally, she said voters shouldn't underestimate what she called "the woman's touch."
"We have an extraordinary way, women, of looking at two, three, four things at once," she said. "Women have an incredible capacity for digging in and finishing projects."
Curious voters can meet Burns and one of her opponents, Rich Fabiano, at Apple's Bar and Grill in Warm Springs today, Oct. 26, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
"That's the way I want to do things in this town," she said. "I want the candidates out there walking the streets and actually finding out about the problems. I want to know the temperature of what's going on."
