Crested Butte continues to try and deal with post office future

Been trying to stay ahead of the situation for three years

By Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte town council is publicly expressing concern that the town might be without a U.S. Post Office a year from now. The council has tried to work with post office officials for close to three years now and offered to form a partnership where the town would provide a piece of land it owns across from Gothic Field on Sixth Street for a new building. But after what seemed like sometimes positive progress on the issue, the USPS bureaucrats would go silent.

The council last Monday authorized mayor Ian Billick to send a letter (see page 4) to the USPS laying out the potential dire situation coming after February 2026 when the post office lease on the current Elk Avenue location is anticipated to expire. The letter will also be copied to US senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and congressman Jeff Hurd.

“If nothing else, I would like to get it on the record that we see this as a serious issue,” said mayor Ian Billick at the January 6 council meeting. 

“I’d like to blow the whistle louder right now,” added councilmember Kent Cowherd.

“You’ve been blowing the whistle pretty loud for a while now,” said town attorney Karl Hanlon.

“We have had a lot of communication with the USPS officials but mostly behind the scenes,” said town manager Dara MacDonald.

“Despite the town’s purchasing land in the center of town that could accommodate a new facility, we have seen no progress on the part of the USPS towards addressing this grave issue in our community,” the letter states. “As a vibrant rural community, we rely heavily on USPS to maintain commerce and essential services. The current post office serves a resident community of approximately 4,000 households, swelling to a much larger population of second homeowners and visitors during tourism seasons. Not only would shifting services to the nearest post office 30 miles away be impossible in many respects, it would also likely overwhelm that facility…”

Councilmember Gabi Prochaska asked if the USPS had a legal obligation to provide service to Crested Butte. Hanlon indicated that in some respects they did, but that didn’t mean they will.

“They can refuse to respond to us and put off the issue,” said Hanlon. “Frankly, I expect that agency to be in turmoil for the next 12 to 24 months. I’m not sure they know what form their agency will take in the future with the new administration. We have offered them multiple options and it looks good but then they just disappear.”

Hanlon said basically the USPS official they were dealing with was a bit overwhelmed and ultimately didn’t have the authority to spend the money for a new post office.

“All we can do now is try to raise publicity over the issue and get others, like the county on board,”said Billick.

The letter concludes with a request for “an immediate response detailing USPS plans to provide mail service for Northern Gunnison County, including the town of Crested Butte after February 2026.”

When emailed by the Crested Butte News several times in the last month, including this week, for a comment about any progress in the situation, USPS strategic communications specialist out of Denver, James Boxrud responded saying he would track down a person to comment on the Crested Butte situation, but that has not yet happened.

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