Landscaping design for the proposed airport interchange.

Who they talked to: Consultant Patty Meirs.

Meirs presented the commissioners with a handful of possible designs for roundabouts and the bridges that will be built if Eagle County receives a federal grant to build the connecting road and interchange between the Eagle County Regional Airport and Interstate 70.

Eagle County Engineer Eva Wilson said the design work on the project is complete, and there are only a couple of pieces of right-of-way that need to be acquired for work to start on the estimated $70 million project.

What's next? Waiting until the feds announce winners of the latest round of transportation grants. The final announcement is expected by Feb. 17. If Eagle County lands the grant, the project gets built. If not, it's anybody's guess when, or if, the state will be ever able to finance the interchange.

Group bookings into the Vail Valley.

Who they talked to: Chris Romer, sales and marketing director of the Vail Valley Partnership.

Romer gave the commissioners an update about booking group business — from corporate meetings to softball tournaments — into the valley. Romer said that business accounted for about 10,500 room nights booked in 2009. Those people, coming to the valley primarily in the spring, summer and fall, spent about $7 million while they were visiting.

Romer said there are 7,800 room nights booked already for 2010.

Events this year include a “Gaelic Festival” in mid-May with more than 400 participants, a pair of softball tournaments and a firefighters' challenge event.

Advance bookings for 2011 already exceed 10,000 room nights, and a judo tournament will be a new event on the summer schedule.

Developments in the county's “energy smart loan” program.

Who they talked to: County planner Adam Palmer and county sustainability director Yuri Kostick.

Palmer and Kostick talked about the work they've done so far to put together a low-interest loan program for county residents who want to have solar panels, new windows or other energy-efficient improvements added to their homes. County voters last fall approved creating the program.

Those improvements would be paid for with a special assessment on participating homeowners' property taxes.

The idea behind the program is for energy savings to offset the cost of improvements. Using the example of a solar panel system for a single-family home, the numbers Palmer and Kostick presented showed that those savings on taxes and energy bills would put a homeowner about $50 ahead after the first year, with the pay back increasing in later years to a few hundred dollars.

The commissioners asked about how the program would ultimately be funded and how, or whether, local contractors could get preference in hiring.

What's next? The next public meeting on the program is set for next month, and the program is expected to be completed and ready to write its first loans by April or May of this year.

Present: Jon Stavney, Sara Fisher, Peter Runyon.