Briefs Crested Butte

Good news on the bid front…    
It could look like a busy summer for town construction projects. Public Works director Rodney Due told the Town Council on Monday, April 5 that the bids for the two major construction projects slated for this summer both appear under the estimates.

The apparent low bidder for the Eighth Street paving project appears to have come in about $130,000 under the engineer’s estimate. The upcoming clarifier project at the water and sanitation department came in $400,000 under the estimate. “That’s good news,” understated Due.
The staff will evaluate the bids further and the council will look at the contracts at the April 19 meeting.
And the good news on the sales tax front is…
Crested Butte finance director Lois Rozman gave a quick report on what is becoming the standard monthly bad news. Sales tax revenue for February came in 8 percent down from 2009. Thus for the first two months of the year, sales tax is off 12 percent. “The silver lining, if there is one,” said Rozman, “is that we are only off about $10,000 from budget. We are hanging in there.”

Visitor’s Center will be open all the time
Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director Richard Bond told the council members that based on their request, the front desk staff would work Thursday through Sunday at the Four-way Stop Visitor Center. “In fact, because our administrative staff will be in there the rest of the days, we’ll actually have the doors open seven days a week,” Bond said.
The adjustment came at the request of the council, which said they would like to see the Visitor’s Center open during weekends when visitors were more likely to visit.

CDOT might help the Depot

The council agreed to have town staff apply for a unique Colorado Department of Transportation grant that would help pay for renovations to the old Depot. The town will ask for $200,000 toward the approximately $600,000 project. If that grant is received, the town would have to match $120,000.
The granting category includes historic preservation and rehabilitation of historic transportation buildings, which the rehab of the Depot falls under.

Council helps the Mountain Express
Speaking of transportation, the council agreed to throw in $3,000 to help pay for any needed additional buses for the Mountain Express. In 2009, the bus system ran a total of 90 hours above regular service for events such as the Bicycle Tour of Colorado, Philanthropy Days, Vinotok and Halloween. Twenty-four hours were late nights and 66 were extra service during regular hours. The total cost to the Mountain Express was $6,600. So this year, the town will contribute $3,000, Mt. Crested Butte will throw in $2,000 and Crested Butte Mountain Resort will add an additional $1,500.
“Most of these events help with our sales tax, so I would say let’s give them $3,000,” said councilperson Jim Schmidt. The rest of the council agreed and the Mountain Express will have a bit of a buffer.