Hospital board ballots due by Tuesday, May 6
Registered voters within the Aspen Valley Hospital District have until May 6 to return their mail-in ballots for the board of directors election.
Ballots were mailed to voters living in the district from April 14-21.
Incumbent hospital board directors David H. Eisenstat, Chuck Frias and B. Lee Schumacher are running for re-election to four-year terms. The one challenger is Dr. Joseph John Ruzbarsky. Three seats are up for grabs in the contest.
Running unopposed for a half-term is John Sarpa, who was appointed to the board in 2024 after board member Greg Balko moved out of the hospital district. The board at the time appointed Sarpa to serve until the next election cycle, which is now. He is running for the remaining two years on the term that started with Balko.
The hospital district covers Pitkin County with the exception of Redstone. Other rural incorporated communities in the county, such as Meredith and Thomasville above Ruedi Reservoir, are part of the district.
Special district elections are held the first Tuesday in May of every odd year. The hospital district’s next board election cycle is when two seats are available in May 2027.
Ballots can be mailed to the attention of hospital’s designated election official, Andrea Shaffran, with an address of Aspen Valley Hospital, 401 Castle Creek Road, Aspen, CO 81611.
Ballots also can be returned to the ballot box located on the hospital’s east-side entrance. The deadline to drop off ballots is 7 p.m. May 6.
For information, contact Shaffran at 970-544-1261 or ashaffran@aspenhospital.org.
Report: Home Team fire originated in bin
A March 17 structure fire outside of an Aspen restaurant and hotel was ignited by “an unknown heat source in a recycling bin,” according to a report from the Aspen Fire Protection District.
Investigators did not find the exact source, the report said. “No sources of ignition were identified inside the dumpster area due to the amount of damage done to the available fuels. Scene was delayered without finding any suspected source.”
The fire happened in a shed, about the size of a two-vehicle garage, used by Home Team BBQ and the Inn at Aspen for garbage, recyclables and other refuse. There were no injuries or fatalities from the event. The fire department was called to the scene at approximately 7:38 p.m. and put out the blaze in short time.
“The building suffered significant damages, as well as a meat smoking unit directly in front of the structure,” the report said.
Fire authorities hypothesized that an “ignition source was discarded into the recycling dumpster where it came into contact with numerous potential first fuels; including cardboard, paper and other materials. The material in the recycling dumpster then spread to the structure then to the rest of content in the structure. The grease container and olive oil container that was situated toward the back of the building contributed to rapid and large fire growth throughout the rest of the structure.”
The fire was limited to the dumpster shed. The primary investigator was Deputy Fire Marshal Benjamin Smith.
Rescuers help injured backcountry skier
Search and rescue crews located an injured skier who was retrieved by a helicopter on South Maroon Peak and airlifted to Aspen for medical attention on Wednesday morning, according to a news release from the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
Using a Garmin inReach device, the skier contacted Pitkin County dispatchers at approximately at 8:38 a.m. about the leg injury. Mountain Rescue Aspen volunteers were put into action, coordinating with a helicopter from the High Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum to reach the injured skier.
By nearly 10 a.m., three rescue teams were deployed to reach the skier, who was loaded onto the helicopter shortly before 11 a.m. The patient was flown to Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. From there, the patient was transported by ambulance to Aspen Valley Hospital for further treatment, the release said.
The release urged caution and preparedness in the backcountry.
“Those venturing into the backcountry should remember to carry a device capable of two-way communication with emergency services. Conditions in the backcountry remain highly variable. The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank Mountain Rescue Aspen, the High Altitude Aviation Training Site and the Aspen Ambulance District for their assistance in this rescue.”