My name: Matt Jones

My age: 52

My family: Wife Shari, daughter Jessica, cats Spell, Ari and Nina

Education: Greeley West High, BA Colorado State University - Political Science, MA Colorado State University - Political Science/Natural Resource Policy and Administration, hard knocks

What I do: Outdoor recreation and resource planning and policy development

My favorite place in town to hang out: Blue Parrot, Louisville Inn, Paulie's Gelato, the library and recreation center

What I like most about living here: I love Louisville's small town character, which if elected, I will work to keep. The town is also close to services and cultural and sports events.

My interests and hobbies: I love to ski and be outdoors. I also love to travel, particularly to Europe and Cologne where my sister lives.

My favorite thing to cook: Pesto pasta, with fresh basil from the garden.

People who inspire me (and how): My parents: It sounds cliché, but they are great role models on how to live your life. We appreciate this more when we go through similar life experiences. They worked hard and smart, used education to advance, stressed the values of volunteering and public service, and provided lots of love.

How I have contributed to the community:

Helped broker agreement to establish the Louisville Open Space Citizen's Advisory Board, heading off a divisive special election that would have cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Chaired Louisville Open Space Citizen Advisory Board.

Served as Assistant Minority Leader, Colorado House of Representatives. One of the bills I passed enabled schools to save money for classrooms and conserve energy by entering into "shared savings" contracts. In these contracts private contractors install energy saving equipment and the money saved pays them back and provides more money to schools.

The biggest issues facing Louisville now: For Louisville the biggest issue is ballot issue 2A. I support 2A because we should have elected officials directly control urban renewal along Highway 42, with a citizen advisory board. It is the approach we use for every other appointed citizen board and it works well. This is the best and most accountable approach with our Old Town and 10's of millions of tax dollars at stake. Council members are best positioned to balance how much to spend on urban renewal and what to keep for other important city services.

Why I am running: I want to keep Louisville great. I love our city and all that it offers. It is critical that we keep Louisville's livability and small town character. There are some important decisions coming up:

First, we should not build a satellite community at StorageTek/Sun. Instead we should focus on retail and commercial, things that will help us pay for services and not drain them the way housing does. Housing in this area will also make a bad traffic problem around Dillon and St. Andrews even worse. This is the best place to improve our revenue to pay for services.

Second, we need to blend Highway 42 revitalization and the rail station with our old town. The areas should be connected under the railroad and the scale of the development on the east side of the tracks should be compatible with Main Street. We should maintain the look and feel of Main Street.

Third, we need to preserve the last key pieces of open space.

Fourth, we need to make sure our government is open.