Kari Mohr, Town of Vail/Courtesy Photo
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the newly sworn-in Vail Town Council unanimously appointed Travis Coggin as the town’s mayor for the next two years. Barry Davis was named mayor pro tem, and will step in if Coggin is absent from future meetings.
Coggin is currently serving in his second four-year term on the Vail Town Council. He was first elected in 2017 and re-elected in November 2021. Coggin has served for the past two years as the town’s mayor pro tem.
Coggin has been in Vail since 1988, attending Red Sandstone Elementary, Minturn Middle School and Vail Mountain School. Professionally, Coggin works in real estate planning, brokerage, investment, development and construction as well as part-time on the Vail Mountain Ski Patrol.
Davis is halfway through his first four-year term on Vail Town Council, having been elected in 2021. Davis moved to Vail in 1999 after graduating from college and has since been involved in the creation of several hospitality businesses. Currently, he runs a catering company with his wife.
The Town Council appoints a new mayor and mayor pro tem every two years, following every municipal election. Coggin follows in the footsteps of Kim Langmaid, who served as the town’s mayor for the past two years, as well as Dave Chapin, who served as the mayor from 2015 to 2021. Chapin was re-elected to the council in the November 2023 election and will serve a four-year term.
Support Local Journalism
The Tuesday meeting marked the first for Vail’s newly elected council members, which in addition to Chapin, included incumbent Jonathan Staufer as well as Reid Phillips and Sam Biszantz. These new council members replace the seats previously held by Langmaid, Jen Mason and Kevin Foley.
The new members were sworn in shortly before making their first votes — which were those for the mayor and mayor pro tem appointments.
Phillips comes to the council from Vail’s Planning and Environmental Commission, where he has served for the past three and a half years.
“It’s an important commission here in the town of Vail. I learned a lot and hopefully, I can continue that work here,” Phillips said.
Phillips will now serve a four-year term on the Town Council.
“I love the team that we have up here because I think that we’re all highly motivated to get some great, positive things done for the town,” he added.
Biszantz is a local business owner, working as the co-owner of Two Arrows Coffee & Bar and Root & Flower. She was elected to serve a two-year term on Vail Town Council.
Staufer, who was re-elected to a four-year term in 2023 after serving a two-year term from 2021 to 2023, offered up a bit of motivation during Tuesday’s meeting.
Want the news to come to you? Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: VailDaily.com/newsletter
“I feel that it’s always worth mentioning that Vail didn’t just happen by accident; that it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, a lot of planning. So while we’re looking toward the future of making Vail a great place to live and work and visit in the future, let’s not forget what made us great to start with,” Staufer said. “Somebody told me, we have one charge: don’t screw it up.”
