The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Three applicants
By Mark Reaman
John O’Neal will be the next Crested Butte town councilmember. He was voted in on Monday by the current council to replace departing councilmember Jason Macmillan whose family is soon moving out of town. O’Neal will be sworn in at the December 16 meeting.
O’Neal along with Gerald Lund and Gabriel Walker were the three citizens to apply to replace MacMillan. Each gave a brief presentation to the council at a work session on why they wanted to fill the seat.
“I want to work with you to help shape a bright future for this town,” O’Neal said, noting that he had grown up in Crested Butte and gone to school in the current town hall. “It is an exciting and important time to join the council.”
Lund said he was recently retired “and have some time on my hands. I look for opportunities and this is an opportunity for a long-time, older resident of town to sit on council. I would like to contribute.”
Walker and his wife moved to Crested Butte in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. “Crested Butte is our home. We stay here because of the soul of the town,” he said. “Our roots are not deep, but they are strong. We love the culture and core values here. We’ve had to fight like hell to stay in Crested Butte so we know what it’s like now and I can offer that perspective.”
Council took a secret ballot vote during the meeting and O’Neal was declared the winner by town clerk Lynelle Stanford.
O’Neal will take his seat at the next meeting and have to run for election next November if he chooses to try and continue in the role.
