CB council rehashes the details of Whatever USA

The good, the bad, the ugly

What probably should be, but probably won’t be, the last public meeting dedicated entirely to last September’s Whatever USA event was held Wednesday, December 3 at the Crested Butte town hall.

The purpose of the meeting was to conduct a review of the major special event and allow the public to voice its opinions on the event to the Crested Butte Town Council and staff. The majority of the people attending the meeting brought up the negative issues that came with the production. The council listened and promised future decisions on major special event requests would be made in part from the feedback.
Mayor pro tem Jim Schmidt opened the meeting and said the council had learned a lot from the experience. One thing he promised would not happen in the same manner would be the “lack or delay of public notice over the event. We would never do it again in the same way,” he said. “Some things about the event will result in disagreements between people forever. But this was a very strange and special event and I don’t think we’ll see something like this again.”
But Schmidt did admit that similar productions, such as commercial or film shoots, could be located here and the town wanted to be prepared.

The chamber liked it
Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director Dave Ochs went over results of a survey conducted about the event. Of the 640 people sent a survey, the chamber received 67 responses. “Overall, the majority liked the event,” he reported. “In the end, people were excited to see a new demographic in town.”
Local artist and gallery owner Shaun Horne said breaking down the results into detail about who responded and whether or not they were in “the footprint” of the event was significant. Ochs said he would get Horne that information.
John Penn of The Tobacconist said he was not a member of the chamber so was not included in the survey even though his shop was located “in the footprint and severely impacted. And I don’t know if the council members understand that September is not a shoulder season anymore.”
Nancy Reimer, who owns the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, pointed out that 67 responses was actually a very good response rate.
“It’s the biggest one we’ve received,” said Ochs.

The town learned some lessons
Crested Butte town manager Todd Crossett conducted a PowerPoint presentation on what lessons were learned from the town staff. “The biggest one was that there was probably too little time,” he told the crowd of about three dozen people.
He also said the applicant lacked permitting experience, and the management structure and coordination was lacking.
“The timing of the submittals was last minute and the lack of manpower on the part of the applicant was an issue,” he said.
Crossett explained some solutions he would implement in the future, including requiring more lead time for such a big event, requiring proof of experience with such a production, sticking to harder deadlines and developing a better review process.
“Things like the fencing that was put up is something we wouldn’t allow in the future at all,” Crossett said. “I still have nightmares about it.”
Crossett said follow-through issues came up when the primary permit holder hired subcontractors who didn’t follow through with understandings between the town and applicant.
“We had protocols worked out but sometimes the subcontractors didn’t get the memo,” he explained. That was a problem.
“No policy or rule was broken but the public notice issue was a big issue,” Crossett continued. “Obviously this is something that should have been chewed on well in advance. That might be the biggest consternation and it is a valid one.”
Crossett said the town staff did a great job but in hindsight, there could have been a lot of more manpower involved. He again cautioned the Town Council about getting involved with issues that came up between local businesses and the promoters. He acknowledged that some businesses did really well from the event and others were hurt.
As far as the wristband debacle where not every local got one as promised, “Obviously that just shouldn’t be done that way again,” he admitted.
Crossett said the town ended up with a good contract with the organizers and he is confident there is plenty of money to deal with any lingering issues such as the Elk Avenue paving, which will cost the promoters a lot of money since the blue paint failed after the event when it rained and didn’t adhere to the asphalt.
“As for benefits, there is the safety issue. No one got killed or seriously hurt,” Crossett said. “The plan ended up being solid and the town received a ton of publicity. A different demographic was introduced to Crested Butte. From the outside, it looked like it went off pretty smoothly. Sales tax was up significantly in September and there was a lot of shoulder season work for some locals. It generated a lot of community dialogue that was raggedy at times but that is good. Big Mine showed it could handle a big event and the two towns worked well together. “
So Crossett said the big picture questions started with “Do we want to even do big productions like this again?”
Most of the people attending the meeting indicated “no.”

Evaluate it like a business; have a vision; transparency is an issue
Ethan Hicks of Paradox Footwear asked if a profit-and-loss statement had been generated by the town for the event. That, he said, would provide solid numbers that businesspeople understood and could discuss. “Without a real financial statement, it is just an opinion on whether this was financially successful for the town or not,” he said. “And for a lot of people, more than just making money matters.”
“A big difference with this event is that it all came from the outside,” said Danica Ramgoolam of Townie Books. “The other big events like Vinotok or Big Air on Elk are locally generated.”
“We still have to have consistent policies for special events,” responded Crossett.
Local resident Sumaya Abuhaidar suggested the town organize a visioning process of what the town wants to be and where it wants to go. “It’s an opportunity to move forward in a positive way,” she said.
Horne said he organized the new Downtown Business Association (DBA) as a result of Whatever and found that many small retail shops did poorly. “The guests were urban, social media types, not Buttians,” he said. “They were not the classic Crested Butte lover.”
He wants the DBA to review and comment on special event applications, especially those that involve street closures. “There needs to be better communication between the town government and the small business community,” Horne added.
“Don’t be so hard on yourselves,” said attorney Chuck Cliggett. “You tried to do what was in the best interest of your constituents. There were no side agendas. Nobody is perfect, but clearly you tried your best.”
Resident Paul Merck said he thought the secrecy of the event was a negative issue and liked the idea of a profit and loss statement but felt overall it was a good opportunity for everyone in the town to work together.
Susan Eskew said she too was uncomfortable with the lack of transparency and said most people probably wouldn’t want to see such an event happen again in the same way. She also said she had hoped to comment on how the $500,000 legacy gift would be spent, but the two town councils had already come up with and approved a recommendation.
“Our family fully supported the event despite the negative impacts our business realized,” said Doug Hudson of Gravity Groms. “You should talk about how it was mismanaged leading up to the event. The process left a lot of people and businesses feeling disenfranchised. That’s not the way we do it in Crested Butte.
“This was not a major special event, it was a production,” he continued. “It was a commercial shoot and that is very different.”
Resident Mel Harper said it was uncomfortable to feel discriminated against for not being an avid supporter of the event.

Trust and spirit in
Crested Butte
“There was a lot of mistrust that came out of the event,” said citizen Jim Starr. “This council bought into a mandate of secrecy. That should never happen again. You took the voice of the people away.”
“I thought the event was fabulous,” said Reimer. “It represented the spirit of the town and people wanting to have a good time. Crested Butte is a tourist community and the exposure was incredible and done in a positive light.”
“I was opposed to the way it was handled,” said Johnna Bernholtz, “and I agree it was a major production and not a special event. Plus the citizens and the town children should not be excluded from their town.” She also felt the public should have more time to comment on how the $500,000 was being spent.
Mt Crested Butte resident Jill Lindros said both communities felt impacts from the event and deserved a voice in the spending of the money. “But we learned a lot of lessons so let’s move on and fix it for the future,” she suggested.
Hicks reiterated he has never been bashful about his feelings toward the event and they weren’t always supportive. “A big thing is the amount of money itself,” he said. “This is how much you think the town is worth? You originally negotiated $250,000. Seriously? It was a bone-headed business decision. It was so little. And it is not your guys’ job to keep secrets from the electorate. This is not the feds or the state. This is Crested Butte. You tell people what’s going on. That way you can bring in the collective brainpower. My advice is that you enact an ordinance so that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Former town planner John Hess said that while “It was nice to be able to have a beer, a crappy beer but a beer, on Elk Avenue, Friday night was one of the most miserable nights I’ve ever spent in Crested Butte.” He said the problem for him was the noise levels. “It came through the walls in my home. My home. I don’t like the variances the council allowed, especially the one allowing the increased sound levels. Why would you do that to us?”

Don’t even think about it
“For me, the amount of sales tax collected doesn’t justify how it happened and how it divided the community and tore it apart,” said longtime resident Sue Navy. “So next time think about the disruption and the time needed for such an event and not just the actual event. The impacts were felt for more than two days.”
Given the Elk Avenue paint failure, Navy suggested any other such event of that scale that planned on using paint should have an environmental consultant called in. “Don’t take things at face value,” she said. “And it would be nice to lead the effort to have a zero waste event.”
Artist Mike Mahoney reiterated the negative impact the street closures had on his business and joined Horne in suggesting that developing an arts economy would be a better long-term revenue source. “I hope some of the angst that built up in me from this event will make for better paintings,” he said.
Glo Cunningham said she never realized how much she said “Whatever” until the event. “I think there were so many good and so many awful things that happened with the event,” she concluded. “And I don’t think we will ever see something like this again while I live here. But Don’t Even Think About It.”
Cunningham said she was surprised and disappointed to learn the two town councils had already decided how to spend the $500,000 legacy gift.
“I respectfully request you undecide the decision about the $500,000,” she said. “People care about it and want to comment.”
The council showed no desire to do that.
“We just had probably five different meetings on how to spend more than $12 million and we had nary a member of the public at those meetings,” pointed out Schmidt, referring to the town budget. “I had wanted separate contracts between the promoters and the two towns, but that didn’t happen. If we open it up again, I don’t see it going any better.
“In the end, the disagreement and passion has shown again how much people care about this town,” summarized Schmidt.
The council and staff said they would take the lessons learned from the Whatever USA event and improve on any similar future special events.