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Hickenlooper Leads Community Forum In Montrose

John Hickenlooper
Laura Palmisano

Governor John Hickenlooper and members of his cabinet were in Montrose on Thursday for a community forum.

About 150 people attended the event where Hickenlooper gave a speech and took written questions from the audience. 

The governor first addressed the Animas River spill. He says that he's never seen the head of a federal agency so quickly take responsibility for an incident.

"In a funny way that's the way a federal agency should work," Hickenlooper says. "When they make a mistake they should admit it. They should say they are going to fix it and the they should go forward and fix it."

He says he's spoken to EPA administrator Gina McCarthy four times since the spill happened, most recently on Tuesday night. 

"I think she is hell-bent for leather as my grandfather used to say," Hickenlooper says. "I think she's very focused on actually making sure that we get that river back to better than it was before."

Hickenlooper also discussed economic development, education, health, tourism, energy, TABOR, immigrant, broadband access, and transportation. 

The town hall lasted for a little over an hour. It's the third community forum the governor and his cabinet held this year.

Last month, they hosted similar events in Frisco and Leadville. 

His office says it plans to hold at least four additional town hall meetings across the state this year.

Laura joined KVNF in 2014. She was the news director for two years and now works as a freelance reporter covering Colorado's Western Slope. Laura is an award-winning journalist with work recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, Colorado Broadcasters Association, and RTDNA. In 2015, she was a fellow for the Institute for Justice & Journalism. Her fellowship project, a three-part series on the Karen refugee community in Delta, Colorado, received a regional Edward R. Murrow Award.
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