Met Rec district begins journey to expand focus beyond television

Looking to a new future and determining how many use the TV service

by Mark Reaman

The Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District has a new board and a new direction. A move toward servicing more than over-the-air television is now likely, but gathering information appears to be the first step in any change, followed by a new small grant process.

A three-person slate of candidates—Ian Billick, Dave Clayton and Derrick Nehrenberg—won overwhelming confirmation last month and are now seated on the five-member board, giving them control of the district.

The three candidates had made it very clear during the election that they wanted to broaden the scope of the Met Rec to include funding of valley recreation opportunities instead of focusing solely on television, and to look for more ways to perhaps use the district’s infrastructure. The remaining members of the board appear to agree with that direction.

New board president Dave Clayton said the board decided immediately to hold a retreat for the staff and board members and look at the future. “The retreat was the first action of the new board and attempts to hit a reset and define and develop long-range strategies for the district,” he explained. “The first item at the retreat was a discussion of the viewership of the television system and how to get a statistically valid estimate of viewers. The operation of the TV system is basically the only function of the district since grants were suspended in 2009. If the district is to move forward with any new programs, we need to find a way to balance cost versus benefit for all programs we operate or support.”

Clayton said the board will launch a campaign to get users to register with the district so it can determine who uses the system and where they live. He said the board would use multiple media efforts to get people to sign up. They will use radio and crawls on the TV, plus ads in the papers and a mailing to all district residences requesting people to register via web, phone and mail. Results from the registration will be used in future planning of resources.

“There is not a good number and previous efforts to determine how many people use the service did not give reliable results and I don’t believe are valid in this day of internet-delivered content,” Clayton said. “So that is the reason we are taking this action. The idea is to get as close to a true census as possible within a reasonable budget.”

Clayton said the district provided some receivers but people could easily have purchased their own, plus he said newer TVs have digital receivers built in.

“We see this outreach effort as an educational effort plus registration,” he said. “We want to get the word out via newspapers, radio, TV, website and Facebook over four to six weeks and then we will be sending a flyer to every residence in the district. The preferred method of registration will be via the internet by filling out a brief questionnaire—name, address, phone, email plus a few questions about usage. They can also call the information in and we are considering having a tear-out return card to mail info back. We are trying to get this done this summer while some of our part-time residents are around.”

The data would be used to determine the numbers of users by translator site. Second, the district will have a database of users that can be used to send information about repairs, upgrades and programming changes. Third, the board will use the information in long-range planning about future TV operations. Last, the board will communicate the information to the public. Clayton said a major effort of the board is to have transparency in managing the district and its funding.

Opportunity for small grants for local governments

Given that the majority of the new board ran on a platform to help fund broader recreation in the area, the district is looking at how to begin that process. “We are also going out with a modest restart of grant funding projects,” Clayton said. “We have thoughts that we could allow grant funding of $10,00 to $20,000 from the Conservation Trust Funds [CTF] fund. These funds can be used for recreation projects on local governmentally owned lands and we are preparing an initial RFP [request for proposals] that will be distributed via the newspapers and PSAs on radio and TV.

“Additionally, we discussed and will be approving at the June board meeting some board committees to help plan and administrate the district,” Clayton continued. “The three committees discussed were technical, to develop a technical operations, management and a replacement plan for the district; administrative/personnel, to develop operations plans and personnel policies and procedures—this is new since district staff are now employees as of January 1 instead of contractors; and the third committee would be financial, to develop financial policies and procedures, oversee preparation of the annual budget, oversee and manage the annual audit, and develop long-range funding needs for the district.”

Down the road, the board may ask the voters to “de-Bruce” so the district isn’t strictly tied to Colorado’s TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) restrictions.

“We discussed de-Brucing and the need with current and future goals but we are not ready to commit to a new effort,” Clayton said. “If we decide to move forward in that direction, I believe that the district must demonstrate that we are competent to deliver on a plan, that we have a plan and show a clear need for funds. Ian, with his experience with ballot issues for schools, and my time on the RTA gives us insight into what is needed if we go forward with de-Brucing. That said, without ways to get additional funds, expanding services and goals will be difficult or impossible, given the limitations under TABOR.”

The board has stated it wants its constituents to be well informed and have easy access to the actions and pending actions of the board. Clayton said it will, in addition to the statutory noticing requirements, be posting meeting agendas in both papers, posting the full board packet on the website and making important information available electronically.

“With all this said, the board will still be a policy and oversight board and we want to develop clear guidelines for and expectations of staff,” summarized Clayton. “This will be evolving over the next few months as the new board members learn about past and current operations and work with the old members to build a plan for the future.”