Crested Butte council struggles with various board conflicts

Who has a conflict of interest? Everyone!

The Crested Butte Town Council held a long and detailed debate Tuesday, August 4 to determine what degree of participation members of the council should have as board members of other non-profit organizations in the area. Almost every council member sits on another board, such as the Center for the Arts, the Nordic Council or the Chamber of Commerce.

Town attorney John Belkin had been warning the council he was uncomfortable with council members participating in debate concerning the other boards of which they may be members. He was especially uncomfortable with the council member voting on allocating town money to a board of which he or she might be a member.
“The essence of our job as council people is to try through discourse, to try and influence the direction the council goes,” argued councilmember Skip Berkshire. “The essence of the job is to advocate and you are saying we can’t do that. What you are suggesting is unachievable in my mind.”
“It’s a hard thing and I understand what you are saying,” said Belkin. “But from my research with other towns and the state statute, I think that is where we need to go.”
“We are a different little town than someplace like Aurora,” responded Berkshire. “It’s a small community and we are all involved in various things. These kind of actions nibble away at our uniqueness and I worry about ending up like every other little place on earth. I think we can have more latitude.”
Councilperson Dan Escalante held the contrary view. He said too many times a councilperson advocates too strongly for a particular issue and the perception is a negative one from the public’s standpoint. “For example, if you are up here fighting for the Nordic council and trying to influence us and you are on that board, it looks bad and it is bad,’ he said.
Mayor Alan Bernholtz and councilperson Margot Levy agreed with Berkshire. “I want the ability to be able to speak for a board I sit on if it doesn’t have anything to do with bringing me money,” said Bernholtz. “I think that is fine in our town.”
“I agree,” said Levy. “In a small town like Crested Butte, do you want to discourage participation on boards? That could be an unintended consequence of this.”
Councilperson Leah Williams said there are different levels of being a non-profit board member and Town Council member. “The council appoints us to certain boards and we are the town representative on that board,” she said. “I think we should be able to participate in town discussions. But perhaps if one of us chooses as John Q. Public and not as a member of the Town Council to sit on a board, that would be a conflict and the councilmember should not participate in those discussions.”
“So if you serve on a board because you are appointed by the council you can stay and talk and vote on that issue but if you serve on a board because it’s your choice, you should leave the room. What do you think of that?” asked Bernholtz.
“Welcome to Aurora,” responded Berkshire.
The council discussed the matter at length. Belkin will take a month to distill the direction of the council and bring back a potential conflict-of-interest ordinance in September that he and the council can be comfortable with.