Briefs Crested Butte Council

by Mark Reaman

Don’t look (or listen) for the Groms this summer

Gravity Grom founder Doug Hudson told the council the kids-oriented summer activity program was taking a break and would not be around this summer. The summer program had rented some town space and so Hudson wanted to tell the council about his decision directly.

“We are shelving Gravity Groms for a couple of years,” he told the council on Monday, April 18. “There are a lot of summer kid programs out there right now and we have decided to go in another direction.” Hudson said he will return to building and plans to work on a Buckhorn spec house this summer.

“We hope to rekindle Gravity Groms in the future. It has been a lot of fun but there are new opportunities out there as well,” he said.

Council to look at some downtown parking pavement

The council will consider paving some of the dirt parking areas in downtown Crested Butte this summer. While money for the work must be officially approved by the council at a public meeting, the cost does not meet the threshold of requiring a bid. So if directed by the council, public works director Rodney Due will see if United Paving can do the work when it is in town to do some paving by the tennis courts in May or June.

“I’m certainly interested in this,” said councilman Jim Schmidt. “We have collected extra sales tax and we didn’t put money into Big Air on Elk this year, so we can afford it. I think it demonstrates we are taking care of downtown.”

Mayor Glenn Michel suggested the issue be put on the May 16 agenda for discussion in the broader context of the town parking plan and what specific spots might be paving priorities.

Summer overload without Ochs?

Crested Butte councilman Chris Ladoulis suggested to the rest of the council that not having a Chamber of Commerce director in place for the summer special event season could impact the town. He said soon-to-be-former Chamber of Commerce director Dave Ochs did a great job with events and many summer events that took place on Elk Avenue. He expressed concern that some of the work now done by the chamber could fall back on the town.

Councilperson Laura Mitchell suggested the council look at perhaps hiring a person in the future who could split duties as a town events manager and assistant town manager. “I’m just planting the seed,” she told the council.

Emission-free town idea

Andrew Heath and Sigrid Cottrell of Solar Hydrogen, Inc. approached the council with an idea to power the town without any carbon emissions. The two are involved in the hydrogen fuel industry and hope to meet with the council this summer to pitch their idea. Mayor Glenn Michel asked them to provide more information to the staff and council before scheduling a formal meeting.

Summer grant process

The summer grant process will begin soon. The council has about $17,000 in grant money budgeted for the summer process. Applications will be accepted until mid or late May.

Creative District Commission appointments

The Crested Butte Town Council appointed seven people to the new Creative District Commission. Members include Mary Tuck, Shaun Horne, Melissa Mason, Sasha Chudacoff, Kimbre Woods, Becky Chappell and Theresa Hoots. They have been meeting regularly in an order to secure official certification.

Summer vendors allocated to Visitors Center parking area

Council approved seven spots around the Visitors Center parking lot for summer vendors. They will all be located on the north side of Elk and not by the tennis courts.