The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s better than nothing but…”
Despite an obvious need to upgrade the town sewer system and despite being considered a “shovel-ready project,” the town of Crested Butte has been informed they missed out on a federal stimulus fund grant. The town staff is extremely disappointed and pursuing information on why they weren’t awarded a grant.
The town had applied for a $2.3 million grant to replace the town’s sewer clarifier and upgrade other parts of the sewer system. Crested Butte was informed that they could be eligible for a loan with an interest rate of 2.5 percent. They did not get any grant money or the zero-percent loan. The federal money is being funneled through the state and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
“It’s better than nothing and it will save the town money over the life of the loan but we really don’t understand how we didn’t get a grant and some of the other projects with a lot lower priority did,” said Crested Butte town manager Susan Parker. “We are disappointed and we are following up with the politicians and the people running the process to make sure we understand how the decision was made and make sure everyone was treated fairly.”
Crested Butte public works director Rodney Due is baffled by the decision. “I think we did everything right and on time and I just don’t understand how some of the other projects received grants, yet we seemed to have a higher priority,” he said.
He explained that Crested Butte’s request was listed in the second of six categories and had compiled 30 “priority points.” There was $30 million up for grabs statewide and $23 million requested in category 1. Due said the town met all the required deadlines and had state approval for the project plan. The fact that the current town clarifier he needs to replace is 35 years old, is smaller than required by state design criteria, and regularly overflows every spring also gave him confidence that Crested Butte would receive some stimulus funds.
“I didn’t think we would not get a grant, given the circumstances,” he said.
Due cited a project in Widefield, Colo. that was identical to Crested Butte’s proposal. That town received a $1.7 million grant and had only 15 priority points. He said a category 6 materialized in the process at the last minute and at least three projects—in Greeley, Steamboat Springs and Littleton—received better financing opportunities than Crested Butte under that category.
“The regulations governing the grants were supposed to prioritize small communities that needed obvious help,” Due said. “Crested Butte and this project fits that description,” he emphasized.
The town has contacted the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) representative, Erick Worker, to begin probing for answers. The town is also in touch with Colorado state representative Kathleen Curry to try to get an answer on how Crested Butte’s proposal ended up where it did.
Out of the same pot of money, Gunnison County was awarded $474,019 for an extension of the North Gunnison central sewer collection system. Two “failure-prone” sewage lift stations and a lagoon will also be replaced. The town of Saguache also received a zero-percent loan for $437,000 in sewer improvements.
The state ARRA board that awarded the grants will give the grants a final look on August 21. Given time needed to obtain the funds and conduct a competitive bidding process, the town’s clarifier project probably won’t happen until next year. “And that’s unfortunate,” said Due, “but we’ll keep on plugging.”
