New Team Members

The Community Development Department is excited to introduce two new members of its team. As the Community Development Department continues to work on pressing community issues surrounding growth, equity, quality of life, resilience, affordability, and prosperity, the team will be aided in their work by the addition of two new key staff members.

These new staff members bring rich experience and diverse perspectives to the Department and the Durango community is fortunate to have them. Please take a moment to learn more about them and their roles at the City of Durango. 

Eva Henson, Housing Innovation Manager

Eva HeEva Henson - Housing Innovation Manager photonson, Housing Innovation Manager, is stepping into a new position created by City Council to bring focused effort to addressing the housing crunch currently facing Durango. Her role in leading the new Housing Innovation Division is to assist in creating, implementing, and administering community housing initiatives towards the goal of maintaining and enhancing quality of life in Durango through the creation and support of affordable housing development. The Division is front and center in the effort to achieve the Affordability and Economic Opportunity goals in the City’s Strategic Plan. To help achieve these goals, the City of Durango recently hired Eva Henson as Housing Innovation Manager. She started on the job in late November.

The key functions of the Housing Innovation Manager include directing, planning, and coordinating Durango’s Housing Program as well as creating and directing overall strategy to strengthen our community’s access to housing and affordability. The Housing Innovation Division is housed within the Community Development Department. This creates positive synergy between housing, economic development, sustainability, and other quality of life initiatives. The overall Department mission is “Making Durango a Safe, Thriving & Authentic Place for Many Generations to Come”.

Eva brings over 19 years of broad experience and expertise in public administration, government policy, real estate and development, public housing programs and a deep understanding of workforce housing issues. A University of Cincinnati alumnus, Eva brings passion and deep knowledge to her work to address the housing crisis in Durango and the surrounding community. She recently relocated to Durango from Frisco, Colorado with her husband, two kids and their golden retriever. She truly enjoys the mountain lifestyle and spending time with her family recreating in the outdoors including skiing, snowboarding, biking, paddle boarding and camping, to name a few.

Marty Pool, Sustainability Program Manager

Marty Pool, Sustainability Program CoordinatorMarty Pool fills a vacancy created by the departure of Imogen Ainsworth. Marty joins the Community Development Team as the Sustainability Program Manager. In this role, Marty is looking forward to providing technical assistance to all City departments to help meet identified sustainability goals and serving as the point of contact for the broader community on sustainability initiatives. 

Durango’s City Council has placed a high priority on sustainability by including Environmental and Social Sustainability as one of their six key objectives in the Strategic Plan. The mission of the Sustainability Division is to provide analysis, coordination, and management of programs, events, and collaborative initiatives designed to promote the responsible use of resources, enhance quality of life, and maintain the unique character of Durango for the benefit of present and future generations. What fascinates Marty the most about sustainability is the interconnection of all the social and natural systems that surround us. By thinking carefully about how our decisions and actions affect these systems, he believes the City of Durango can live up to its vision of a thriving and sustainable community.

Marty was first introduced to the concept of sustainability through the topic of green building in his undergraduate architectural engineering studies at CU Boulder, and he began his career performing assessments of energy, water, and material consumption for building operators and businesses. After receiving his M.S in Environmental Policy and Management with a focus on Energy and Sustainability, a position at the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center brought Marty and his wife to Durango. He worked there for over five years, developing strong student environmental leaders and advancing campus and community sustainability. 

Like so many Coloradans, Marty’s love for the natural environment was sparked by spending time outdoors growing up. The activity of choice for his family, though, was different than most: llama backpacking. Excursions into wild places didn’t stop there. Later in his life, Marty spent many summers as a multi-day rafting trip guide on the rivers of the Colorado Plateau. These experiences, and many others, have shaped his view of our planet, the variety of ecosystems which it supports, and our connection to these natural spaces both personally and as a society.