The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
by Alissa Johnson
Sink hole on Crystal Road
The town of Mt. Crested Butte performed a temporary repair on Crystal Road this spring after a sink hole occurred right over a culvert. At the first right turn off of Gothic after entering town, the road is elevated several feet above the culvert.
According to town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, the sink hole was about five or six feet wide underneath the pavement, and caused a hole in the pavement itself that was a couple of feet wide. Crews dug out material and filled it in with road base, but Fitzpatrick emphasized that it is “a Band-Aid temporary fix.” The town is working with engineering company SGM to identify a solution.
“It will be a somewhat difficult repair because the road is way up in the air, at least ten feet above the culvert. So to keep that road open and functional for fire safety as well as residents and get this thing repaired, it is going to be an interesting project,” Fitzpatrick said.
Mountain Express Update
Council member Gary Keiser, who sits on the board of directors for Mountain Express, gave the council a report this spring on transportation at the north end of the valley. He reported that Mountain Express has three new buses this summer. In addition, the board is trying to determine the best next steps for establishing shuttle service to Judd Falls.
The Forest Service recently turned down an offer to provide free bus service to the Judd Falls parking area one mile past the town of Gothic because two private shuttle companies already have a permit to operate in the area. The Mountain Express board has since been talking to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and Gunnison County for help pursuing the service. “We also talked about asking the towns to write a letter and say this is an issue that needs to be addressed,” Keiser said.
Keiser also said that to the board’s knowledge, the private shuttle companies service Schofield Pass and the hike to Aspen, but do not actually stop at Judd Falls. Mountain Express will have daily service to Gothic.
2014 Audit Complete
The 2014 audit of town finances was complete a month earlier than expected, and according to town finance director Karl Trujillo, there were no major adjustments. The auditors did recommend adding a separate line item to the budget for the completion of the rec path, for accountability and easy reconciliation.
Yellow Sweet Clover blacklisted
The town of Mt Crested Butte is adding Yellow Sweet Clover to its list of Noxious Weeds—it’s the only weed on the list that doesn’t appear on the state’s list. The addition was made as the town rewrote its Noxious Weed Management Plan to be a more comprehensive document with details on noxious weeds in Mt. Crested Butte and how to properly manage them. The plan will come with a renewed emphasis on notification and enforcement.
Sales tax is up
April sales tax was five percent below budget (about $3,400), but 2015 as a whole is six percent above budget, which amounts to an additional $58,590. That’s almost 10 percent above year to date collections in 2014.
