JOURNAL 04/16/06

We did have a meeting yesterday; we did have more than three attendees; and
it did, of course, run over the scheduled ending time. But not by much.

And because I should be cleaning the house for my book group tonight, this
has to be short, although I imagine I'll overrun my budgeted time here as
well.

The Detentin Facility Committee is looking at four different designs, all of
them located at the courthouse, They have a very long checklist against
which to measure costs and whatnot, so their work is really just beginning.

Parking remains an issue, and while walking my dog the other day, I overhead
Erich Ferchau describing to Jerry Kowal's students the plans for a park
behind buildings in the 200 block of Main (I assume we mean the one getting
not just a face-lift/interior gutting but also a second story, plus perhaps
the new sunglasses store going in where Silver Run (Silver River?) recently
was. Parks are always nice amenities, but this one is going to put that many
more merchants and their employees in the two-hour slots intended for
customers.

By the bye, apparently Erich and three partners have purchased the Van Tuyl
property that Wal-Mart was considering (the large rectange bordered by
MainStreet/Hwy 135, Spencer Avenue, Vulcan and County Road -- is it 13?). I
am not aware of plans for this area; insight may be available at Erich's
website, gunnisonforsale.com.

But Butch did report that it looks as though Hasleden's (I saw that on the
side of a truck for the first time the other day, and it wasn't spelled the
way I've been spelling it -- but I'm not sure this is correct, either)
anticipated influx of up to 1,000 workers may not materialize this summer.
Apparently some other company is now undertaking the Borick Building at
Western State, and on-going sewage containment issues in Mt. CB may be
slowing projects up there as well.

Jaclyn reported on the school district's budget, which looks to remain flat
at best. The first draft presented a balanced budget, although some programs
are not funded to levels the school board wants. Jon Nelson's goal is to
build up the district's reserves to the point where the district can get out
of the state's loan program -- although this year that loan was repaid in
April, a month earlier than it ever has been.

The projection is for a loss of 28 students next year, and while state
funding may be up, federal funding is projected to drop. Also, this fall is
when the state will conduct its counts to establish pupil averages that
determine state funding -- not a good year to be down. Jaclyn did say new
Superintendent Marantino plans to contact parents of all students either
attending school at home or in a private school to listen to their reasons
for not utilizing public schools.

Narcissa noted that this was done once several years ago, and that it would
be good to revisit that project and update it.

The new superintendent has already commuted (three hours each way) to his
first board meeting, at which he signed his contract.

Technology director Chris Perkiss also showed the board a free program she
found on the internet that will allow the district to prioritize budget
items, and allow the board to look for correlations between goals and
priorities. The program can be found at Intel Education (maybe that's one
word), and perhaps could be applied to other situations as well.

The public hearing on the school district budget, which now goes to the
District Accountability Committee (Wednesday, 4 p.m., open to the public)
for revision. The board, which will see it again, will hold the public
hearing on it on June 15, and will adopt the budget on June 19.

We have 21 folks who have signed up to help with Community Clean-Up, which
is Saturday. Breakfast starts at 8 at the Community Center, and the work is
scheduled to be done by noon. Butch will be bringing buttons so that all
GVCA participants can be recognized -- the city's providing free T-shirts
for the event, along with breakfast. Karen will post more information after
she gets it from the city about where we will be cleaning (she will be
asking about the Recharge Area, bordered by Vulcan/Slaughterhouse Road and
the alley behind Tincup Drive.

We have tabled the request to advertise in the arts center's summer program
until we're sure we have a quorum (none of us could remember what
constitutes a quorum, although we're pretty sure we had one) and perhaps
take the time to forumlate a larger policy on our advertising plans.

A discussion on the Black Canyon water rights will take place Tuesday at 4
p.m. before the county commissioners, should anyone be interested in
attending.

And next week Vikki should have a financial report for GVCA members
regarding our own financial standing.

I think that's everything. or rather, I'm quite sure it's not, but I'll
leave it up to others to fill in gaps and bring up topics that I've missed.

Oh, don't forget: the ever-popular Gunnison Arts Center adult dance show
takes place Saturday, maybe at 6 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Taylor
Auditorium. I'm only in three numbers this year, but I speculate that I'll
look quite dashing in a tux, and I can't imagine anyone would want to miss
that.

TL