Owen, Matusewicz and Michel elected to council

Library proposal pummelled

The voters of Crested Butte and Gunnison County were very clear Tuesday. Town voters overwhelmingly chose two experienced planners and a relative newcomer for the Town Council. Countywide, the voters sent a message of fiscal conservatism and said no to both a bond issue and a mill levy for a proposed library expansion, and rejected a proposal to raise funds for statewide education.
Aaron Huckstep ran unopposed for Crested Butte mayor and garnered 359 votes. On the council side, county planning commission member David Owen tallied 379 votes. Former Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) chairperson Glenn Michel received 314 votes. Political newcomer Shaun Matusewicz, who spent time going door-to-door in his campaign, took in 344 votes. Local farmers market organizer Kevin McGruther pulled 127 votes.

“I’m really happy the voters of Crested Butte decided to elect me,” commented Huckstep Tuesday night. “Seriously though, the three guys elected by the people, I think, will help give the town an opportunity for a very productive council. Along with the guys already there, we have a great opportunity.”
Huckstep said he was a bit surprised at the lack of discussion during the campaign season over a potential mine in the area. “But right now there are bigger priorities,” he said. “How do we continue the momentum built this summer for residents and businesses alike? How do we keep building the communication between the council and residents and businesses? David and Shaun went to every door in town and that opened great lines of communication with the residents. We’ll address things like the mine when it comes back around but the economy is a priority. We’ll no doubt address Elk Avenue issues, but everyone who ran has put forward good ideas and topics that we will deal with.”
Huckstep said the town is facing some low-key but serious issues. Whether it is making sure airline flights keep coming in to Gunnison or helping to make all the local business organizations more efficient, the council wants to help facilitate a healthy community. “Frankly, if we could make high-quality broadband Internet capability a reality before the next election, that would be a great win for everyone,” said Huckstep.
On the county level, voters overwhelmingly rejected the idea of paying for a library expansion. Issue 1A went down 2,720 to 1,316, while 1B was rejected 2,741 to 1,269. Essentially the vote was two-thirds of the people against the proposal and one-third for the idea.
“We’re all disappointed,” admitted library board executive director Larry Meredith. “We knew it would be a tough election in this economy but I’m a little surprised at the margin. That disparity says something. That’s one reason you have elections, to find out things.
“Right now we’ll regroup and analyze this before making any decisions on the next steps,” Meredith continued. “My feeling is that the voters are saying this wasn’t the right time. You can’t convince me people don’t like the project. But I am astounded at that 60-40 margin. That tells us something about this economy.”
As for Proposition 103, the statewide proposal to slightly raise state income and sales taxes for five years to funnel money toward statewide education, that went down in Gunnison County 2,399 to 1,633 (60 percent to 40 percent). Across Colorado, the measure went down by a large margin of 65 percent to 35 percent.