Town surveys will be anonymous from now on after SNAFU

Demographic breakdowns push buttons in Whetstone survey

By Mark Reaman

After hearing a concern from citizen John Spencer, Crested Butte community development director Troy Russ said those taking surveys through the town of Crested Butte will not have their names and emails published as part of the results document. That happened with a recent survey concerning the so-called non-fiscal considerations of the Whetstone affordable housing property. 

“There should be a presumption of anonymity when doing surveys like this,” Spencer said at the Monday, August 21 council meeting. “Every name, email and comments were released. It is shocking and unacceptable.”

Spencer also told the council he didn’t think it was appropriate to delineate comments between full- and part-time residents given the nature of the survey that centered on the annexation and possible impacts to those with homes in town.

Russ admitted to the council that names and emails should not have been published as part of the document. “We should have just referenced where respondents lived,” he said.

Town attorney Karl Hanlon said the staff would discuss how best to proceed with survey protocols and get back to the council with some policy suggestions.

As for the specifics of the Whetstone survey, councilmember Gabi Prochaska said she agreed with Spencer’s concern that the survey separated full-time and part-time residents and felt it added to a sense of division within the community.

Councilmember Chris Haver disagreed. “I’m sorry you feel that way John, and I understand it pushes buttons, but the information helped me,” he said. “It was important information for me to get a perspective for where opinions were coming from.”

“I agree it helped me to understand the views of different constituencies,” said councilmember Beth Goldstone.

Councilmember Jason MacMillan said he was disappointed with the demographics of the people who filled it out. He noted that that of the 156 responses, it trended to an older demographic who own homes in and around Crested Butte. “The people who might be renters in Whetstone didn’t take the survey,” he said.

“It was interesting to me that the target renters didn’t participate,” said councilmember Mallika Magner.

Staff said the survey was widely distributed through various channels and they cannot force people to take a survey. They will continue to show demographic breakdowns on future surveys, but personal information will not be included.