The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Schmidt still skeptical
Gunnison County community development director Russ Forrest gave the Crested Butte Town Council a PowerPoint presentation recently on why the town should participate in the latest economic development endeavor. The Community Builders Group Concerning Economic Prosperity hopes to bring together representatives from public and private groups from across the county to define and move toward economic prosperity. That effort will ramp up starting in the next few weeks with a partnership with the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley.
But the longest-tenured member of the Crested Butte council was skeptical about the initiative that will cost the town $6,500. “I’m probably the most critical of the idea,” admitted council member Jim Schmidt. “I have seen a lot of these over the past many years. They all usually sound really good the first two years and then they tend to go away.”
Forrest had presented an extensive outline of the plan last fall and the town is currently represented on the group by councilperson Glenn Michel and town manager Todd Crossett.
“This is a real example of collaboration at the local government level,” Forrest explained to the council. “We received a grant from the Sonoran Institute and attended a meeting where they were very impressed that we had come as a region and had come with both public and private entities.”
Forrest showed how the level of competition between mountain communities in Colorado is pretty extreme. He compared places such as Durango and Eagle to Gunnison County.
“The keys to success,” Forrest said, “is that we need a vision, an alignment with the public and private sectors, good partnerships, strategic and comprehensive planning, pride in the community, and the implementation of a plan. It needs to get done.”
Forrest said while the area has incredible assets ranging from natural resources to authentic ranching and gems like Western State Colorado University and Crested Butte Mountain Resort, the county’s wages are among the lowest in the state, while the cost of living is on the high end. “We are also one of the most educated counties in the state,” he noted.
Statistics show that the second homeowner demographic is a major contributor to the local economy. But the biggest tax contributors are the coal mines near Somerset. “They are declining and closing and the federal government is giving us and Delta County a $400,000 grant to plan for economic stability and resiliency,” Forrest said. “The idea of the grant and of the Community Builders project is to create an effective and implementable plan and create a lasting framework across the county to communicate across jurisdictional boundaries.”
Forrest pointed out the $6,500 contribution from each municipality would be money well spent and would be leveraged against government and private contributions totaling nearly $500,000.
“It has already been great to meet the people across the county from Western and Crested Butte South and the city of Gunnison,” added council member Michel. “That is very valuable.”
“This is an opportunity to not just talk about working together but to really work together,” added Crossett. “This makes it easier in the future.”
“I’m really just trying to figure out what, aside from group hugs, is the end result,” asked Schmidt. “Cooperation between the different entities at the two ends of the valley waxes and wanes depending on the people sitting on the various boards. So often, economic expansion efforts here have come down to what people think of traditionally; we have found in areas like manufacturing, that our location makes it hard for us to compete.”
“We looked at the past efforts and while they have some good information, at the end of the day there wasn’t much follow-through,” said Forrest. “Implementation is the key.
“I think what appealed to us is that you do the planning to implement actions to meet the needs of your constituents,” continued Forrest. “We want measurable results at the end of the day.”
“I’m concerned that the results end up being the lowest common denominator because diverse groups are trying to reach consensus,” countered Schmidt. “I’m afraid you end up with something that is palatable to the overall committee but takes away too much of the fun stuff that makes each place unique. I admit I’m still skeptical.”
Forrest said he understood the sentiment but felt there was real opportunity to strengthen bonds, understanding and visions throughout the county while keeping jurisdictions special. “My sense is that the specific issues will vary from the upper to the lower valley,” he said.
“Will you include people who don’t want to see much more, if any, new development?” asked Schmidt. “Many people up here are fine with the level of development we have and don’t want another 10,000 people to come here. And if you try to bring in lone eagle types, for example, you can’t forget the dishwashers.”
“We definitely need to connect the dots in an integrated fashion to avoid unintended consequences,” responded Forrest. “There is a tie between open space preservation and affordable housing, for example. The public process allows public input.”
“Maybe don’t count moly [molybdenum] as a natural resource at the north end of the valley,” suggested councilperson Chris Ladoulis.
“That’s a good point, since everyone looks at things like the mine with a different lens,” added mayor Aaron Huckstep. “There are some game changers that some people might not agree on, like a potential mine.”
“True, but this can be an opportunity to have some tough discussions as well,” said Forrest.
The council has included the $6,500 in the 2015 budget and Michel and Crossett will continue to participate as the town’s representatives to the Community Builders’ project.
