The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Focus on environment, county roads and services, health and prosperity
By Adam Broderick
Much focus of county officials over the next few years will be on issues such as protecting the environment, promoting healthy and prosperous communities, delivering high-quality services county-wide, and ensuring a sound infrastructure for transportation. The Board of County Commissioners adopted an updated strategic plan for Gunnison County highlighting these issues earlier this summer, and Commissioners generally approved of the plan’s direction.
“I think it reflected very well what we went over at our [Board of County Commissioners] retreat,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck. “The ability to have measurable results is what we look for.”
Goals listed in the plan include, but are not limited to, hard-surfacing more dirt roads and bringing 90 percent of county-maintained road miles up to maintenance service level standards set by the BLM and Forest Service; achieving an overall net energy efficiency increase of 10 percent in county facilities; and developing a plan to convert county vehicle fleets to natural gas by the end of 2015.
Other action items include working with the ranching community to expand conserved private ranchland in the county by an additional 8,500 acres; enhancing aviation services to grow Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport’s position in the market; and helping 90 percent of Gunnison residents acquire health insurance by collaborating with brokers and using media outlets to provide residents with relevant information.
Strengthening local child welfare services and fully immunizing 80 percent or more of children two years of age by the end of 2016 were also listed as means to improving health and prosperity in the county.
To even further develop the community, the county plans to ensure redundant broadband Internet infrastructure before 2018, and the Juvenile Services Department hopes to improve the future of county residents by reducing substance abuse.
County manager Matthew Birnie said the plan is solid and realistic. “These are things we want to achieve and these steps are ways of getting there,” he said.
The county is still determining which resources are required to implement each action item in this new strategic plan, which was last updated in June 2013. But as time goes on, more details will surface and will be discussed at commissioner meetings and public hearings.
