The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The deadline to submit the letter of interest is Thursday, November 13. To be considered, the applicant should be a registered voter who has resided in the town of Crested Butte for at least one year. The council plans to schedule a special meeting on Thursday, November 20 to consider any letters of interest and make a decision on a replacement. Under the town charter, the council has 30 days to choose a replacement for a councilperson who has resigned. Owen officially resigned October 27, which puts the 30-day mark at Thanksgiving, and that presents some timing and logistical issues for some councilmen who plan to be out of town that week. Councilperson Shaun Matusewicz suggested making the decision at the regularly scheduled Monday, December 1 council meeting. “Let’s do it at the December 1 meeting, which is just a few days past the 30 days. If we get sued, we get sued,” Matusewicz said. Town attorney John Belkin choked to show his displeasure at the thought and explained that the town code “says shall. There isn’t much wiggle room,” he said. Lois Rozman, Crested Butte human resources director, said in the past appointments have been made in an open session of the council. Secret ballots are written down and tabulated until a candidate receives the majority vote. Longtime council veteran Jim Schmidt said that using the secret paper ballots is appropriate and has worked well in the past. “Given the six sitting members, there is a good chance of a tie with a split vote,” he explained. “If it’s three to three, for example, you give the two people another chance to make comments and then vote again. It’s sort of like picking a pope. You keep voting until you see the white smoke.” Schmidt emphasized that the current situation is a great opportunity for someone to step into a council role and see if they like it before having to run for election next fall. “Think of it as an opportunity to take a test drive,” Schmidt said. Mayor Aaron Huckstep said the council could take a few days past the next regularly scheduled council meeting of Monday, November 17 and set a special meeting on November 20. “The meeting should take no more than an hour,” he said. “More like 15 minutes,” said Schmidt. “I guess it doesn’t take long to select a pope,” said Belkin. Anyone interested in filling the Owen seat for the next year should simply write a letter of interest to the town in care of Lois Rozman.
