The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looking for public input before July meeting
[ By Mark Reaman ]
After evaluating the cost effectiveness of its translator sites, the Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (Met Rec) is in the process of formulating a new comprehensive operations policy that could result in the decommissioning of several of the translator sites.
A Met Rec work session was held Wednesday, May 19 and the tech committee recommended to the board that it focus on the translator sites that serviced the vast majority of people in the district and let the others eventually go dark. There are four sites out of 12 that service 92 percent of the district population and that is where the committee wants the board policy to be centered. After assessing the cost to maintain all sites, the committee found these sites to be the most cost effective to maintain in the long-term.
The W Mountain, Jack’s Cabin, Crested Butte South and Sunlight Ridge translators reach the most people while the remaining eight sites, Parlin, Pitkin, Powderhorn, Sapinero, Waunita, Sargents, Monarch and Gateview reach just 8 percent of the population. So for example, based on 2020 survey results, the W Mountain site costs $71 per person per year to run for those that indicated they use the Met Rec over-the-air television service and $4 per household when considering all residential units that exist in the area. On the other hand, Parlin costs the district $4,384 per person per year for those that indicated they use Met Rec television and $227 for each household in the area.
“A big part of our evaluation was the cost-effectiveness of the sites,” explained Met Rec district manager Hedda Peterson. “The Tech Committee brought forward figures for each translator site and explained how the cost-effective criteria was developed. Our recommendation to the board was to consider the cost effectiveness of a translator site to inform the long-term operation of the system as a whole. At last week’s work session, we shared the criteria used to determine the relative cost-per household for each translator site.”
As part of its official operations strategy, the Met Rec board has stated that it “seeks to responsibly operate its translator system by making cost-effective, forward thinking investments that optimize its function, reliability and that keeps the system relevant as technology advances.” The original Met Rec translator system was set up in the 1970s.
Peterson explained that as a next step, the tech committee would develop a policy to formalize the process in which Met Rec assesses a site’s cost-effectiveness. The draft policy will be shared with the board and public for review at a work session scheduled for July 21 at 4:30 p.m.
As shared at last week’s meeting, the implications of assessing the translator sites’ cost-effectiveness will likely result in the eventual decommissioning of up to seven of the system’s 12 translator sites. These are the sites that serve the least amount of people and therefore have a high relative cost per household. “The policy is intended to provide the board, staff and public a clear procedure and explanation for when and how a site’s cost-effectiveness is considered and what the decommissioning process would entail,” explained Peterson.
Right now, approximately 39 percent of the $677,000 annual budget goes to television, 41 percent goes to recreation projects and approximately 20 percent goes to overall administration.
Peterson said Met Rec is continuing its efforts to overhaul the translator system and replace aging equipment. Having already made major improvements to the Gunnison Studio and W Mountain sites, they’re now moving outwards to make upgrades to the Jack’s Cabin and CB South sites this summer.
“In the long run the revamped television system will be better,” said Peterson. “This new equipment will make things more reliable for residents that use that service.”
