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“TRIBUTE TO MAYOR NANCY HEIL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2256 on Dec. 12, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO MAYOR NANCY HEIL
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HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a tireless worker and a devoted public servant. After eighteen years of public service, Nancy Heil, who began her service on the city council in 1983 and has served as Mayor of Westminster, Colorado, for six years, is retiring.
Throughout her public career, Mayor Heil's priority has been preserving the quality of life for Westminster residents. During the forty years she has called Westminster her home, she has watched it grow from a small suburban town of 12,000 residents to a city of over 100,000. Ensuring that people are still able to enjoy the lifestyle they came to Westminster for has always been of top importance to the Mayor. She has been a constant, positive force in the community, displaying an unmatched passion for the welfare of her citizens.
Mayor Heil was a leader in focusing attention on the importance of removing the radioactive wastes from the U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility--which is located just west of Westminster. She spoke out about the importance of finding secure locations to remove the dangerously contaminated material from such a well-populated urban area and thereby safeguard the millions of people in the Denver-metro area.
She was also one of the leaders and original proponents of preserving the open space resources at Rocky Flats and in calling for the site to be transformed into a National Wildlife Refuge once it is cleaned up and closed. In such a fast growing area of the Denver metropolitan region, Mayor Heil saw an opportunity to keep much of this area as a natural asset for future generations.
Through her ability to forge coalitions and collaborate with neighboring communities, Mayor Heil was able to bring out the best in other leaders and ensure that it was always the citizens that benefited. I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with a community leader of her quality. She put the people first and I consider it an honor to represent her and her community in Congress. She is an example of what we all should look for in our leaders: commitment, selflessness, and passion. It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to recognize her and thank her for her years of dedicated service. The city of Westminster and indeed the state of Colorado have greatly benefited from her contributions and leadership. Her talents and resourcefulness will be sorely missed.
Her accomplishments and the esteem in which she is held were recently reported in the Denver Post. For the information of our colleagues, I am attaching a copy of that report.
Heil Leaves Office on High Note
(By George Lane)
Westminster--When Nancy Heil first took her seat on the City Council in 1983, she might have been one of the most naive politicians around.
Consider that she wondered if ``Dr. Cog'' might be a family physician. DRCOG is the acronym for the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
Since then, Heil's growth and political maturity have resulted in her twice being named Westminster Woman of the Year and becoming the city's first elected mayor.
Now, after almost two decades of service, in the middle of the term to which she was elected in 1999, Heil is resigning from office Dec. 31. She says it's time for something new.
``These are extraordinary times, and they have caused me to re-think the importance of the office of mayor,'' she said during a recent interview. ``I have willingly given 18 years of my life to work for the city I love. I have given it my best, and now I believe it is time for me to take a new direction.''
Councilman Ed Moss, recently elected major pro tem, will complete Heil's unexpired term, as dictated by the city charter.
Government observers here say following Heil won't be easy.
``Nancy, she's a class act,'' said Adams County Commissioner Elaine Velente. ``Her shoes are going to be tough to fill. I think she's done a tremendous job representing the city of Westminster.''
Heil was a teacher in upstate New York before she met her husband, Jay, and moved to Colorado. Jay Heil is a Colorado native who went back East for dental school. The couple now have four adult children.
The mayor said that Westminster was a town of about 15,000 people when she moved here about 40 years ago, and there was almost no place to live. She now points proudly at a city of more than 100,000, the Westin Hotel that opened several years ago and Westminster Mall, where sales tax has been Westminster's major source of revenue for a number of years.
The mayor said she has resolved some health problems over the past few years. During the past year, she also has faced a sometimes-divided City Council over whether one of their own should be removed because of expense-account irregularities.
``She had a good vision for the city, wanted the city of improve its image and it did, wanted the city to be known as a good place to live and I think she achieved that,'' said Vi June, mayor from 1985 to 1991.
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