The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Karl, then Carlos, then Greg Sund selected as interim town manager
[ By Kendra Walker ]
On Wednesday, March 9, the Mt. Crested Butte town council voted unanimously to terminate town manager Isa Reeb’s employment contract after discussion in an executive session. On March 15, the council appointed community development director Carlos Velado as acting town manager, effective immediately, however he is out of the office through March 23 so finance director Karl Trujillo will serve as acting town manager in Velado’s absence until the 24th. The council also voted to enter into negotiations with Greg Sund to be the town’s interim town manager until they hire a new town manager.
“This has been a very difficult decision for the Town Council, and we are doing everything possible to make this as smooth of a transition as possible for the entire staff and community,” mayor Janet Farmer told the Crested Butte News. “I am not at liberty to discuss the reasons behind the decision to terminate her contract except to say that it became apparent that she was not a good fit for the Town.”
The council instructed town attorney Kathy Fogo to draft a letter of termination for the mayor’s signature, which was officially submitted to Reeb last week. The town has not yet finalized its separation/settlement agreement. Monday, March 14 was Reeb’s last day. She had been town manager since March 2021.
Over the past month, the council has held two other executive sessions regarding the town manager. One was with consultant June Ramos regarding personnel policy and communication and the other was regarding the topic of the town manager’s residence.
As part of her employment contract, Reeb was originally promised a town-owned three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot unit with a garage in the Homestead affordable housing subdivision. However, due to significant delays with the project, Reeb had been living in temporary housing until the town could find an alternative.
In November, the town purchased an 876-square-foot two-bed, two-bath condo in Elk Ridge II for town employees, however no Mt. Crested Butte employees, including Reeb, chose to move into it. In February, Reeb requested the council waive the requirement that the town manager must reside in the town of Mt. Crested Butte. She said she was unable to secure housing in the north end of the valley and had put a house in Gunnison under contract. The council denied her waiver request.
“I think you should have brought this subject up before you went under contract on a property,” council member Nicholas Kempin told Reeb on February 1, when the waiver was denied. “We should have been given the opportunity to find you a place to rent or give you additional money. Buying a place in the valley was never part of our bargain with you.”
Reeb provided comment to the News regarding the council’s decision to terminate her contract. “The terms of my employment contract included a three-bedroom home as part of my salary package. Due to the issues with Homestead and the housing crisis, Council was not able to provide me with housing,” said Reeb. “Over the course of a year, we had six executive sessions on the matter, in addition to public meetings where it was discussed in general, and I worked with realtors and property managers regularly to no avail. After a full year of instability and frequent moves, the constant uncertainty of our situation weighed too heavily on our mental health to continue the same path.”
She continued, “Given that we had no options for suitable long-term housing, I alerted council that I would be expanding my search outside of town, which led to us purchasing a home outside of Mt. CB. Council was not willing to grant a waiver to allow me to live outside of town and therefore they terminated my employment.”
The council is tasked with appointing a new town manager within six months, and Sund is expected to serve in the interim as they conduct their search. Once negotiations are finalized, Sund is tentatively scheduled to start April 18, according to Farmer. Farmer told the Crested Butte News that the executive director of the Colorado Municipal League (CML), Kevin Bommer, recommended Sund.
“His background seems to make him a good fit,” said Farmer. “Right now he is the interim town manager in Telluride and before that Walsenburg (another small town) and town manager of Trinidad before that. Some of his strengths are in grant writing, wanting to get to know each member of the council and staff by meeting with them one on one, being action oriented, a collaborator and a people person.
“The council is pleased to have this first step done towards moving forward. Next we can begin to focus on finding a new Town Manager,” Farmer concluded.
