City council

“Meet the Finalists” forum on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Gunnison Rec Center, but two of them withdrew their applications the evening before the event for “personal reasons,” according to staff

Berger, the remaining candidate, fielded questions from residents and local leaders about affordable housing and obtaining grants, among other issues. The following day, Berger was interviewed by numerous city and community stakeholders — including representatives from Western Colorado University, the Town of Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, the Hispanic Affairs Project, Gunnison County and the Gunnison Country Chamber Commerce.

Although Berger was the only candidate who participated in this “face-to-face” process, Mayor Diego Plata said council felt comfortable moving into negotiations. Residents expressed some questions around Berger’s experience following the forum, but Plata said the comments collected were supportive.

“While he has a somewhat short career span, he's really delved deep into the inner workings of the operation at Poncha Springs,” Plata said. “He's got his pulse on fi nance, how to drive the plow truck and on grants. I feel like that breadth of experience and the career point that he’s in, in many ways, primes him to become an even greater leader.”

The search for street funding continues

The failure of ballot initiative 2A in 2022 left the city in need of a new plan for funding street maintenance. During a work session on Jan. 24, staff requested direction from council on developing a path forward.

Acting City Manager Ben Cowan presented council with three different courses of action: keeping operations status quo and allowing existing roads to continue to deteriorate, bringing a modified ballot initiative back to voters and exploring ways to make budget cuts. Staff recommended a combination of the latter two options — making it possible that the city will attempt to bring its request back to local voters in 2023.

“We just don't have enough funding,” Cowan said. “And the way we're doing it right now, within five years, there's kind of a point of no return … if we don't change anything, and keep funding it at half the level we need, it is kind of like a vote no is a vote for gravel streets.”

In November, Gunnison residents voted against the proposed 0.5% sales tax increase to create a dedicated funding source for street maintenance and rehabilitation. The final ballot counts read 56% against and 44% in favor.

Although council remained undecided on a specific strategy to locate additional funding, the majority favored a combination of trying to pass a tax increase again and making cuts to city services that directly compete for the same funding as streets. These areas include parks and recreation, fire and police departments, community grants and its strategic fund, which can be used for aff ordable housing and sustainability projects.

If the initiative is returned to voters, it will likely look a little different. The options Cowan shared included broadening the appeal with larger tax — including coverage for alley and sidewalk maintenance and a request to remove the 2032 sunset on a portion of the recreation sales tax that was passed in 2007.

What ultimately convinced voters to pass the recreation tax, Cowan said, was coupling the pool with the ice rink and trails, creating enough appeal to pass the initiative..

At the same time, council members emphasized the importance of doing a better job educating the community about the city’s funding need. Although it was a close vote, there was no effort to get it over the finish line, said Councilor Mallory Logan.

“We didn't have that broad concerted educational push and effort to be out there advocating for it as a council,” Logan said. “And I think that's where we failed.”

Council member Boe Freeburn said letting Gunnison’s roads return to gravel shouldn’t be an option.

“We've got too much at stake to go that direction,” Freeburn said.

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@ gunnisontimes.com.)

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