By Mark Reaman
Staff whack-a-mole
A major renovation of the Crested Butte town hall will result in staff shifting office space starting in February. Most town staff will relocate to various other town-owned facilities while the renovation work is being done. The Depot will become a primary relocation spot. The project is expected to run into May.
Possible Trump impact on CB raises eyebrows
Town attorney Karl Hanlon said municipalities all over Colorado are trying to analyze the impacts of the change in the White House administration and what president Donald Trump’s executive orders might mean. He said there has been a freeze on some grants that local governments were expecting, and he said a federal hiring freeze could impact local situations.
The council expressed concern over how to protect local schools from immigration issues, along with impacts to public lands. Mayor Ian Billick said Gunnison County Electric Association wholesale energy supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association was expecting a major award to help it move to sustainable energy projects and that could be in jeopardy which would impact the town’s Climate Action Plan goals.
“We’ll see how it all shakes out,” Hanlon said.
Natural medicine healing center public hearing moved to February
A public hearing on adjusting the municipal code to accommodate the Colorado Natural Medicine Health Act was postponed to February 3. Community development director Troy Russ said the state had changed some definitions at the last minute forcing some adjustments at the local level. One future issue in Crested Butte that the council wants to explore is whether to allow healing centers and treatments in residentially zoned neighborhoods in CB. Council appeared open to the idea but seemed inclined to address that during the formation of the new Community Plan.
Stuff
– Council allocated $122,000 to the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority to support operations and programming in 2025.
– Council reappointed Ed Schmidt to BOZAR.