District hoping to fill two seats on school board by November

Petitions available July 30

Two seats on the Gunnison Watershed School District board of education will be up for grabs this November, or at least available to just about anyone willing to sit in them.

Crested Butte representative Lee Olesen, who’s served for the last two years, says, it’s “time for new blood,” and will be making his exit, along with current board president Jim Perkins, who is term-limited after serving three consecutive terms.
Olesen was appointed to take over the seat in 2010 from longtime Crested Butte board member MJ Vosburg. Perkins says in his tenure, school board elections have rarely been contested and, more often, might be left vacant if it weren’t for the board’s power of appointment.
“Sometimes people are interested, but don’t want to go through the election process,” Perkins says. “When I got on, I think we were still short one [representative].” But once the word got out about the vacancy, people started to step up, even initiating a round of interviews of potential board members.
Perkins hopes people don’t wait so long this year. If more than one person steps up for one, or both, vacant board seats, the district will be able to move forward with a several-month-long election process that started Tuesday, July 30 when petitions to run became available.
Petitions are available from the County Courthouse at 400 N. Wisconsin in Gunnison or from one of the school district offices. All petitions have to be returned by 4 p.m. on August 30.
 “We’ll seat the board that’s available in November and then advertise that there’s another open seat,” Perkins said. “Sometimes we know people who would be good but aren’t going to be the people who step right up. So we’ll wait to see what happens.”
For more information about the board vacancies or to obtain a petition, call the district at 641-7770.