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VOL. 143 NO. 26 | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | $1.00
State responds to power losses at Country Meadows Mobile home park back on the market Bella Biondini Times Editor
Months of unresolved power outages at Gunnison’s Country Meadows mobile home park have forced the state to intervene. After some back and forth over delayed repairs, owner Ski Town Village LLC put the mobile home park up for sale last week. Meadows A6
GO WITH THE FLOW: Gunnison River Festival hooligan race contestants showed off their acro-yoga skills atop the rapids at the whitewater park on June 22. For more, see A9. (Photo by Mariel Wiley)
City receives Jeff Hurd wins TODAY $100,000 for fire Republican nomistation redesign nation in CD3 INSIDE
NEWS: County grant prevents evictions, A11
COMMUNITY: Women on the water, B1
Considering ballot initiative for 2025 Bella Biondini Times Editor
SPORTS: Stingrays kickstart season, B8
OBITUARIES A2 OPINION A4 CLASSIFIEDS A14-A17 SPORTS B8 ONLINE GUNNISONTIMES.COM
The City of Gunnison is preparing to return to voters in November of 2025 with a less complicated ballot initiative it hopes will help fund a new fire station. The existing station houses Gunnison County’s primary fire department, staffed entirely by volunteers who serve an area of nearly 3,000 square miles — excluding Crested Butte. The steel storage building is structurally failing and lacks
sleeping quarters and training space for volunteer firefighters. According to city officials, the station is 20 years past its useful life. But with cost estimates for a new fire house exceeding $20 million, none of the city’s reserves could support a capital project of this size. If a ballot is pursued, it will not be the first time the city has asked residents to help pay for a new station. In 2021, the city proposed a 1% sales tax increase to fund both road maintenance and the construction of a new fire house. That same year, the Gunnison County Fire Protection District (the organization that oversees the fire department in conjunction with the city) proposed its Fire station A6
Stern fills GCEA seat Bella Biondini Times Editor
Voters have chosen Jeff Hurd as the Republicans nominee for Colorado’s Third Congressional District (CD3). He will face Democratic challenger Adam Frisch in November in the race to represent the Western Slope. Even with United States Rep. Lauren Boebert’s move out of the district, CD3 remains one of the most contested seats in the upcoming general election. Six candidates entered the Republican race this year, but few pulled ahead in the crowd. Frisch, who was narrowly defeated by Boebert in 2022,
led in fundraising across party lines. Hurd is an attorney and former president of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. At the polls, Hurd rose above former state Rep. Ron Hanks who described himself as the only “pro-Trump, America first,” and the “most conservative” candidate in the race. The Colorado Republican Party endorsed Hanks in May. Hurd received 42% of the vote, while Hanks received 28%. The other four candidates —Stephen Varela, Lew Webb, Russ Andrews and Curtis McCrackin — received less than 10% each. In Gunnison County, Hurd received 568 votes (45%), with Election A7