JOURNAL 10/23/05
Take a few months off, a week on, a couple weeks off . . . we'll try "on"
this week and see what happens.

Here's the pre-journal news:

The GVCA is going formal. We reviewed the current draft of by-laws on
Sunday. Richard, who was kind enough to draft them with help from Vikki and
Karen, will make the suggested corrections and bring them back one more
time. (So far, it makes no provision for paying the chair, so I will be
abdicating my position soon.)

We are going to have our first formal membership meeting on Sunday, Nov. 6,
4 p.m. The location depends on how many members want to attend. If you are
planning to attend this meeting -- at which the officers and steering
committee will be selected -- please let me know. If you regularly attend,
don't bother letting me know. But if you're an infrequent attendee (or a
never-ever), please chime in so that we'll know if we need to look for a
larger venue.

We will, once the by-laws get adopted, have a formal determination for who
are members are. As promised, it's not onerous: you either pay $20 every six
months, or participate in two GVCA activities within a six-month period.
Attending our mostly weekly meetings counts as an activity; helping with one
of our community projects counts as an activity; attending a meeting as a
GVCA rep counts.  And if you think these requirements are too stringent,
then I suggest you get yourself to a meeting on or before Nov. 6 and propose
a change.

Now, onto the journal:

1) City Council
    The 2006 budget will be presented in draft form on Tuesday, and the
council will talk with the consultant hired to find a new city manager -- a
consultant who didn't bother to advertise his search locally. An EDC
presentation to councl last week sounds as if that organization is
struggling for a sense of definition and direction.

2) City Planning Commission
    The county appears to move forward on yet another questionable
development, one located well within the flood plain, and with the potential
for retail sales outside the city's collection boundaries. There is also a
vacancy on the commission.

3) County Planning Commission
    The commission slogs on with its essential housing draft, an important
component of which almost got dropped save for GVCA intervention.

4) Housing Authority
    In that same vein, please keep in mind the housing symposium set for ths
Saturday. The cost is $15 for the day, including food, and there are
scholarships available for people who can't afford the $15. This symposium
is open to the entire valley, and is being funded by the county and all
three municipalities.

5) Referenda C and D
    Ballots are being turned in at a good clip locally, but the News (maybe
it's the Post -- I don't know my right from my left, either) reports this
isn't the case statewide. If you haven't voted yet, please do so -- and
don't forget, locally we're also voting on a jail -- and if you have friends
or family elsewhere in the state, encourage them to get out and support C.

6) RE-1J
    Busybodies that we are, we've now gained a pair of eyes in the vital
area of our schools. One person turned in a petition for three available
school board seats, and community members are not turning out in droves for
a say in the superintendent selection process.

7) Farmers Market
    We actually didn't cover this this week, but I wanted to put a plug in
for local vendors who still have product available: I've lost Kathleen and
Greg's number, but you can order beef from them year-round, both in
individual cuts and larger sections; Mike is planning to run a "bread club"
-- $20 per month for four loaves of bread -- call him at 642-0280; and
Lynn's baked goods are available on a six-day-a-week basis at 219 N. Iowa
(in the alley behind Farmers Insurance, next to Gunnison Gallery), 275-6682.
Bowlz, if it gets up and running again, will be offering some of her
pastries in the morning as well.

8) Western State College
    I didn't get to this in my last report, so hopefully this week I'll get
you some details on the meetings with the downtown merchants.

I'm guessing I won't get to all your details this morning, so I'll just
start at the top and go until time is out, hopefully finishing the rest up
like I did two weeks ago, one piece at a time.


DETAILS:
1) City Council
    The budget process has been underway for several weeks, with council
discussing its funding philosophies. One group that came under discussion
was the Gunnison Valley Economic Development Corporation, and members of
that entity were on hand last Tuesday.

It sounds like that board has been having philosophical discussions of its
own, since Mike Darnell reported that the board made a motion to ask
(governments around the valley, I guess) if economic development is a
priority and if so, how are we going to fund it. He said we the people need
to stop thinking of economic development as the EDC, and start thinking of
it as a general concept.

"As a group, we have nothing to lose if the EDC folds," Mike said, noting
that he has a full plate without those duties. Ron Watson noted at least
three times that the $1,000 he puts in as an individual is a far larger
chunk of his family income than the $15,000 is for the City of Gunnison.

Bill Nesbitt, who didn't seem charitably inclined toward the EDC, noted that
the city still has $15,000 in its budget allocated to the EDC.

Mike did say his focus has dropped down "drastically" from "what Lee Dusa
was doing." For me, the curious part was that none of the three EDC board
members present could provide an actual dollar figure for Lee Dusa's salary,
citing some confusion about bonuses. I don't think Mike's salary was offered
as an actual dollar amount, either, but simply a percentage (30, I think) of
this unspecified amount, which was vaguely somewhere around $70,000 to
$75,000.

Bill told the EDC that if they couldn't get buy-in from downtown, he wasn't
interested in funding them. Ron replied that small businesses in Gunnison
get "hammered" by requests for money (and I'll vouch for that), so the EDC
targeted the bigger businesses for funding contributions. Ron warned that if
this group of "diverse volunteers" disbands, it will be difficult to get
another volunteer group to assemble.

Rick Miller told the EDC he'd like to see quarterly reports, and he'd like
to know what the city can do to support the effort. "Not necessarily
incentives, but what tools are available," he said. He added that the EDC
ought to be at the forefront of projects like Ajarian's request for retail
use of the Hartman Castle -- even though, to my thinking, that would be
setting a very bad precedent for retail operations outside the city limits,
and could potentially cost the city sales tax dollars. (I have learned that
the arts center does, indeed, charge tax on the artwork it sells. TWO pieces
that sold recently contributed $360 to city sales tax coffers. I don't think
we want to dismiss art as a non-revenue-producer just yet.)

At a long-winded rate by now, I don't think anything conclusive was gained
Tuesday, so we'll see what the budget presentation brings this week.

This week council will also meet with Fred Rainguet, consultant to the
stars. Fred, whose original ad for city manager candidates needed to be
rewritten, and who has not bothered to advertise this position locally (so
you have to wonder where else it didn't get advertised) wanted to meet in
secret with the council to discuss desirable attributes of manager
candidates. So far, I'm counting three strikes against him, and I'm not
enthused about the city 's apparent plan to make him our only search
coordinator. (He conducted the police chief search, and most of the council
just wanted to hand him the manager hunt, which pretty much happened
anyway.)

The agenda doesn't make it appear that Fred's going to get his executive
session wish, and I understand Rod Landwehr said NO to that one (let's hear
it for Colorado Sunshine!). So if you want to hear what our council wants in
the way of a city manager, tune in Tuesday. Of course, you couldn't have
tuned in last week, since Adelphia failed to allow the signal through on
Cable Channel 15. Gail did try placing a call, but no one responded. So
maybe attend the meeting instead: budget sounds boring, but these are your
tax dollars at work.
*****


2) City Planning Commission
    First: Newly-married Commissioner Kurt Schram has resigned -- he and
bride Amanda Nappen are off to try their fortune in the Pacific Northwest.
With all kinds of items on the commission's plate, such as West Gunnison,
potential annexations, a master plan process that may start someday, and
three-mile reviews coming in left and right, it's a cinch that there'll be
plenty to do.

Applicants need to have been a resident of the city for at least one year,
and registered to vote. If you meet those qualifications and are interested,
submit a letter stating your interest and qualifications. Either mail it to
Gail Davidson at PO Box 239, or drop it by her office. Applications are due
by 5 p.m. Thursday, nov. 3, with interviews set with city council onn
Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Next:  We have been digging into the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)
between the city and county regarding the area of the county that lies
within three miles of the City of Gunnison. On several occasions recently --
and, as we learned, well into the past as well -- the city planning
commission and staff have sent thoughtful reviews of projects to the county,
only to have their recommendations ignored, even when those recommendatins
point out how the projects don't adhere to the county's own standards.

The city will look at another one of these projects this Wednesday. A nice
young couple from Lake City wants to move their woodworking business down to
Gunnison, and can't afford anything in the city's industrial area. So they
want to set up a woodshop right over an aquifer close by the Gunnison River,
somewhere back behind Sun Spot or the Knowles property, or Wildwood Mobile
Home Park (the map was hard to read). This is in the county, so if people
visit their business and make a purchase, no city sales tax will be
collected. Butch voiced concern about the potential for woodworking
chemicals spilling into the river or groundwater.

The IGA has a few teeth the city maybe needs to start looking at and
utilizing in the interests of protecting itself, if the county is not so
inclined to do so. (Proposed projects north of town also like in the flood
plain and sit near city water sources. Any Cityfest attendee has access to
the city's little model showing how pollution can easily leak into potable
water sources.)

The IGA says -- and we feel pretty sure this has never happened -- that the
county SHALL (so, not optional) develop urbanizing standards so that
annexation could be allowed if desired later in life. The IGA also says that
any projects within the urban growth boundary -- and perhaps someone else
could provide a definition of what that is, because I can't -- need to be
constructed to the standards of the nearest municipality. "Design standards"
are specifically cited in that provision.

And most to the point, the IGA says that if the city and county disagree, a
Technical Review Committee can be called by either party. It sounds as
though the TRC is appointed and meets on a case-by-case basis. I wasn't
clear -- again, maybe someone can clarify -- if the committee's findings are
binding, or if after all this, the county can go ahead and do what it wants.
But we're thinking the city should explore some of these questions and
invoke that TRC occasionally.
****

Well, two out of eight -- I'm practically home free. So we'll see what else
I can report to you on tomorrow. Tune in then!

TL
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3) County Planning Commission
    The commission slogs on with its essential housing draft, an important
component of which almost got dropped save for GVCA intervention.
***

After hoping to complete their work and running well over budgeted time, the
commission agreed to an eighth draft for the purpose of more discussion and
refinement.

County Commissioner Hap Channell was on hand for the meeting, and told the
commission that the county commissioners would prefer that the legislation
take longer and be done right rather than rushing something into place.

Now, here comes the lecture about the importance of attending every public
meeting:

I was wrong, Rita, in that the seventh draft of the essential housing
proposal does say that if you put a development at the north end of the
valley, your affordable housing component must be north of Round Mountain.

Had Richard not been at the meeting, chances are good that provision would
have gone by the wayside last week. Without that provision, it would be
fairly automatic, I think, that all the "essential" developments would be in
or near Gunnison, and the costs of sewer, law enforcement, schools, etc.
would be borne by this end with the main revenue production at the north
end.

I know our city's planning staff is small in number and plenty busy, but if
this is what could happen at county meetings, it's very important to have
city representation in the audience. In the meantime, maybe Gunnison owes a
debt to Richard for speaking up -- and attending the meeting in the first
place.

Richard did note that Crested Butte developer Gary Garland has provided an
affordable housing component to his Larkspur development, located (I think)
between Highway 135 and the golf course (is it still called Skyland? I think
it's the Club at Crested Butte, but maybe the couse is still called
Skyland). Garland did this voluntarily, since no legislation is currently in
place.



4) Housing Authority
    In that same vein, please keep in mind the housing symposium set for ths
Saturday. The cost is $15 for the day, including food, and there are
scholarships available for people who can't afford the $15. This symposium
is open to the entire valley, and is being funded by the county and all
three municipalities.
****

One of the hopes for this symposium is that it will offer a common
definition of "affordable/essential/attainable" housing so that everyone in
this county is speaking the same language. After all, when Gary Hausler
objected to the Riverwalk development (north of Gunnison, classier looking
but far more expensive than Reddens' trailer park) because it didn't offer
an affordable component, Gerald Lain responded something along the lines of,
"Who's to say $350,000 isn't affordable?"

Denise is hoping for a broad spectrum of turn-out, including contractors,
developers, government officials and staff, as well as ordinary folks who
live here. My friend Bruce, who is starting a solar-installation business
(I'm going to be one of his first cutomers), is hoping to attend to make the
push for alternative energy construction. Mother Earth News awhile back
profiled a development in Texas with $100,000 homes and utility bills that
average about $15 per month. The blue prints are apparently on-line for a
nominal fee.

The symposium takes place at the Aspinall-Wilson Center at WSC. Featured
speakers are Gary Severson from the five-county region of Eagle, Garfield,
Lake, Pitkin and Summit Counties (the I-70 ski corridor); Mick Ireland, a
three-term commissioner, but it doesn't say of what (perhaps Pitkin County,
since he lives in Aspen); and Colin Laird, director of Healthy Mountain
Communities in the Lower Roaring Fork Valley (the cities that house the
workers for the I-70 corridor).

The Roaring Fork Valley is way ahead of our curve in several areas, housing
affordability being one of them. The Roaring Fork Valley, I've learned
through my friend Bruce, also puts a surcharge on developments that don't
use alternative energy and energy-efficient designs.

Wow, wo down and time enough to report on at least one more. Look at me go!

TL


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5) Referenda C and D
    Ballots are being turned in at a good clip locally, but the News (maybe
it's the Post -- I don't know my right from my left, either) reports this
isn't the case statewide. If you haven't voted yet, please do so -- and
don't forget, locally we're also voting on a jail -- and if you have friends
or family elsewhere in the state, encourage them to get out and support C.
***

Okay, you're probably sick of this issue, and may already have voted. But
it's very important, so we need to keep harping. The Denver Post noted
yesterday that every daily paper in the state has endorsed C and D. EVERY
DAILY PAPER (and the Gunnison Country Times). Maybe there's something to
this after all, hm?

I couldn't open Pat's PDF attachment (which is odd, because I don't usually
have trouble with PDFs), but here's a forward from Kelli Fritts of AARP
Colorado. (Don was unable to get an endorsement from the local AARP, because
the president feared this was a partisan Democrat issue. I think being able
to feed seniors transcends party lines, but then, I'm a Democrat.)

>>People always ask me, why should I vote for C and D?  What is in it for
>>me? The other side is full of pithy sound bites and not-so-correct
>>statements but the reality is that if C and D lose on November 1st
>>people will be hurt.

>>The Governor requested that each of his Departments write up an
>>alternative budget in the event Referenda C & D fail.  The attached memo
>>(which was just released) shows what the Office of Planning and
>>Budgeting suggests. Please note, these cuts are for one year only.  They
>>will just keep getting deeper.
>>
>>Here is a thumbnail sketch of the potential reductions:
>>
>>State funding for Senior Services ($3 million) these services are
>>provided through the older CO Act.  This includes Meals on Wheels,
>>transportation assistance. Would be eliminated or reduced!
>>
>>Aid to the Needy Disabled State only Grant Programs ($9.6 million) this
>>grant provides interim assistance to persons between 18-59 with
>>disability while they are awaiting eligibility determination for Federal
>>Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in fiscal year 2004-2005, 5,436
>>citizens in Co benefited from this program.
>>
>>In 2003 the Senior Homestead Exemption was eliminated for 3 years.
>>While it is scheduled to return next year, it could be delayed again.
>>This would save $66 million.
>>
>>Eliminate the state support for the Colorado Indigent Care Program
>>($12,492,364) this program serves indigent clients throughout Colorado,
>>typically those who arrive at a private hospital with no insurance.
>>
>>We're concerned about potential cuts to AARP ElderWatch due to the
>>$592,544 worth of proposed cuts in fraud investigation in the AG's
>>office.
>>
>>These are just a few, there are many more!  Unlike what the opposition
>>says, Referenda C is not a "blank check" it is essential and important
>>services to our members.
>>Please call the C and D campaign at (303) 759-1006 and ask what you can
>>do today!  Tell your friends and neighbors to vote yes on C and D!
>>
>>
>>Kelli Fritts
>>Advocacy Representative
>>AARP Colorado
>>1301 Pennsylvania #200
>>Denver, CO 80203
>>(303) 764-5991
>>(303) 249-1518 cell

And last, here's a note from Pat, seeking volunteers to help with ballot
collection:

There are lots of vacant time slots to fill this week at the
Blackstock building checking in hand-delivered ballots. If you can
spare an hour or two or more, please call Stella at 641-1516, ext. 5
and tell her when you can do it. The election staff has to verify
every signature, so volunteers doing the first check-in procedure
helps a lot.

I think that does it for me today. Tune in tomorrow to see if I can't finish
the Journal and quit slacking on my duties.

TL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) RE-1J
    Busybodies that we are, we've now gained a pair of eyes in the vital
area of our schools. One person turned in a petition for three available
school board seats, and community members are not turning out in droves for
a say in the superintendent selection process.
***

We haven't paid a lot of attention to the school district. [We did donate
something like $600 in school supplies to the Gunnison Community School --
and while we got excellent press coverage, I would have to note churlishly
that the schools never really acknowledged our gift. Sheepishly, however (if
I may be both sheepish and churlish at the same time) I realize that I'm
personally terrible about sending thank-you notes, so I have no right to
expect others to be better.]

I don't think we're the only ones not paying attention, though: what if you
had an election and nobody came? The school board wanted to have an
election, with three seats open. One incumbent -- M.J. Vosburg of Crested
Butte -- re-upped, but the other two (Gary Sherman, I think, and Marcia
Duncan) did not. And absolutely no one stepped up to take their places. So
MJ got appointed, which ought to give the board a quorum, but there's still
an opening or two for a willing volunteer.

I don't know if this lack of interest is because we have a community
perception that the district is flowing along nicely, or because the school
district is perceived as having too many problems for people to want to
invest the time to tackle.

Our school population is thinning even as houses continue to sprout up and
drive the county's economy, and although we may feel complacent about the
district's finances because of the "largesse" provided by Amendment 23
statewide and a mill levy override locally, RE-1J is far from out of the
woods. Amendment 23 appears to be helping Colorado hold at 48th, 49th or
50th (depending on who you talk to) in the nation in education funding. I
suppose without it we'd end up below Puerto Rico or some other 51st state.

My understanding is that part of the district's financial hole was created
by an extremely well-intentioned but not viably financially backed move to
elevate district salaries. And even with this increase, new employees often
can't afford to move here (or at least one couldn't: my sister regretfully
turned down her "dream job" as Gunnison Elementary counselor a few months
ago).

Jaclyn reports that our teachers are paid 95% of the state average, and our
adminstrators are paid 98% of the average. But we keep hearing that our cost
of living is above the state average (but I forget the percentage).

Into all this mix is yet another hunt for a superintendent. I don't even
remember the timeline (three years? Four?), but we hired someone (some
nameless someone because I don't recall the guy's name) who lasted a few
short months. Then Teri Wenzlaff tried filling in while handling her job at
Western State, and then Bill Chambliss took over. Bill agreed to stay on one
extra year, but this is the year, so we're on the hunt for another
superintendent.

The district has been holding meetings to gain school and community input,
but the only place I've seen these advertised is in the small type in the
Times' classified section. A community meeting was held last week, with very
limited attendance.

So hopefully at least some of you will take the time to e-mail Dr. Wenzlaff
your thoughts. Jaclyn provided the questions that were asked of the focus
group attendees, and in case you eliminated them, here they are again:

Questions for the Focus Discussions:

1) What are the strengths of our school district that make parents proud to
send their children to the RE1J schools?

2) What are the challenges facing the school district now and in the future?

3) If you had a magic wand to wave, what is the one thing you would change
in the school district?

4) What are the three most important priorities to keep the district moving
forward?

5) Based on the strengths, challenges, and priorities, what leadership
expectations do you have for the new superintendent?

6) What do you want to happen for kids in our community in the next five
years?

You can e-mail your answers to twenzlaff@western.edu.

I sent my long-winded epistle (if you can imagine me being long-winded) last
night, and Terri already acknowledged receiving it, so your efforts won't be
in vain.

We seem to be a community that values education and our children. So please
take some time -- even if it's only to answer six not-so-quick questions --
to get involved. And if any of you have (a lot) more time than that,
consider a position on the school board. Our district needs you.

TL