CB South annual meeting recap

POA election results, fundraising and Red Mountain Park plans

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

The Crested Butte South Property Owner’s Association held its annual meeting and party last weekend on Saturday, August 24. The meeting covered results from the recent board member election and one other ballot question regarding excess dues collections.  

There were four candidates for four open board seats, so it’s no surprise that they each found a seat at the table. Three previous members, Scott Clarkson, Sue Schappert and Hannah Lang will serve another term and new member Theresa Truettner will join them. All four candidates received 75-90% of votes, ranging from 394 to 444 with the most going to newcomer Truettner. 

Members also voted for the covenant change allowing the POA to roll over any potential membership dues to capital reserves at the end of the year instead of refunding them. The covenant change received 54.7% of the membership’s vote (497 votes total) in favor and will be voted on anew each year going forward. 

“The turnout was pretty awesome for an election that was not very contentious,” commented POA manager Derek Harwell. “To see that level of turnout and engagement bodes well for later this fall when we will have a covenant vote to amend the short-term rental (STR) policy.”

The STR policy is getting some fine-tuning from the POA’s legal counsel, and the board will vote on its final language at their next meeting on September 18 and set a timeline for the vote sometime this fall. Members can expect an information campaign well in advance, said Harwell. “Right now there are no restrictions in CB South and that leaves us vulnerable to be exploited by larger entities… but the new policy cap on STR licenses doesn’t put us at a cap that we would expect to hit anytime soon,” he said. The vote would cap STR licenses at 20% of all dwelling units in CB South, or about 700. There are currently 53 licenses. 

The meeting also covered election results and other updates on finances, Red Mountain Park plans and CB South Metro District. The POA reviewed its biannual audit which was given a clean score, and the hope to work with Met Rec to apply for a GOCO grant to make improvements to Red Mountain Park fields and hockey rink after Met Rec finalizes its own master plan this year.

Ronnie Benson from the CB South Metro District was invited to share with members what is new with the district. He reviewed that the district is now fully online with the new sewage treatment plan, and explained that the district has determined it can no longer snowplow for private contracts with public equipment, which was an issue for some POA members accustomed to paying for that service. 

“There is some concern for folks, because they had about 200 different contracts,” said Harwell. He said there are other contractors available, or possibly a new opportunity for another entity to start one up. 

The district is finalizing a contract to replace the road surface on Cascadilla Street at the intersection with Teocalli Road to the bus turnaround. The work will likely be done in October.

The POA tried a new approach to the annual party this year, bringing in music and food trucks and treating it as a fundraiser. Harwell says the event  was successful with about 150 members in attendance and raised somewhere around $2,000 for the POA, although final numbers have not yet been confirmed. The fundraiser served a dual purpose aside from bringing POA members together. 

“When we plan to go for larger grants, showing that we are making efforts to raise funds on our own is something those grant organizations look for,” he said.