Briefs Crested Butte

Waiting on Big Air safety
The town is waiting on the safety report from the Tilton Safety Group concerning the Big Air on Elk event scheduled for March. The town’s insurance company and some town staff were expressing concern over the potential for injury with the event so the council agreed to pay for a safety report from Tilton. It was hoped the report would be complete by the end of last week but as of Tuesday, the town still had not received the document. Town manager Todd Crossett said he expected to see it soon and the staff would evaluate its recommendations.

Earlier meeting times on the horizon
The Crested Butte Town Council is still pursuing the idea of shifting the start time of its meetings. They instructed the town manager and town attorney to take the steps to allow them to be flexible in their start time. The idea is to start regular meetings at 6 p.m. instead of the traditional 7 p.m.—that is, if there is no work session planned. If a work session is scheduled on the night of a regular council meeting, the work session will begin at 6 p.m., with the meeting to follow.

Sales tax revenue keeps rising
Sales tax revenue was up for December by 1.7 percent. For the year 2013, the Crested Butte sales tax revenue was up 6.5 percent over 2012. Councilperson Chris Ladoulis asked for inflation-adjusted numbers with the sales tax. Town finance director Lois Rozman said she could provide those and he would be “pleasantly surprised” with how the town is tracking with the CPI (Consumer Price Index).

Tows are up
Chief Marshal Tom Martin told the council last month his department was very busy over the three-week storm cycle. As a result of that good snow, more than 40 cars were towed to facilitate night plowing. “That’s more than we towed all last season,” he said.

BOZAR update
The council and town building department director Bob Gillie gave kudos to retiring BOZAR member Bob Vandervoort. A proclamation was read in his honor highlighting his 16 years of service on the board. “That’s not always an easy board to sit on,” remarked Gillie.
Vandervoort’s seat will be filled by Roxana Alvarez Marti.
Gillie said the building department and BOZAR are already busy this year. He said several houses are being planned and those, along with meetings over the Caddis Flats affordable housing project and a possible Grubstake building renovation, are keeping everyone very busy.

Planners coming to town
Town manager Todd Crossett said the three finalists for the town planner job would be in Crested Butte for interviews February 20. He expects the council to have an opportunity to meet each of the finalists.

Changes to RETT to be considered
Town attorney John Belkin said he will bring some suggested changes over the real estate transfer tax regulations for the council to consider at a future meeting.