Interview Crested Butte Mayor Ian Billick

Interview Crested Butte Mayor Ian Billick – It was my pleasure recently to get a chance to sit down, have coffee and chat with the new Mayor of Crested Butte – Ian Billick.

I believe we are all in good hands with Ian as Mayor. Ian has been a great leader in the valley in many roles, and as the head of RMBL he has accomplished a ton. He has shown how the local community, ranchers, developers, second homeowner and scientists can come together.

I am especially looking forward to seeing the progress on the proposed 80-90 affordable housing units that will go in at the corner of Sixth and Butte in downtown.

Video – Interview Crested Butte Mayor Ian Billick

Transcript – Interview Crested Butte Mayor Ian Billick

KOPF – Hey, it’s Chris Kopf and I’m in downtown Crested Butte, and I’m super excited to be sitting here having coffee with Ian Billick, who is the mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado. Ian, tell us a little about yourself and your background.

BILLICK – Thanks Chris. It’s a real pleasure being here with you. I started coming to the area in 1988. Spent one winter living up in Gothic with my wife, 1996, 1997. Then we moved to the Crested Butte community full time in 2001. So I’ve been here for a little over 20 years full time.

KOPF – Wow, well good. And you’ve been involved in the community for a very long time, of course, as executive director of the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic as well. You’ve sat on a number of boards, and tell people about your background in that regard.

BILLICK- I’m a scientist. I trained as a biologist, I have a PhD from San Diego. I became executive director of the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in 2000 and moved here with my wife, we have two boys. It’s a small community. And so like a lot of communities, community’s what you make of it, we’ve been very involved in a lot of different ways. Been involved with the school and school finance. I was on the county’s planning commission, chaired that for almost four years. Have been involved with the recreation district and now I’m serving as mayor of Crested Butte.

KOPF – Well, thanks for your service and all that you’ve done to give back to the community and help this community in so many ways. People are curious about what are the changes that are going on in downtown Crested Butte. So, obviously, you know, some different things with regard to housing and you know, others. What are your opinions or thoughts about the future of Crested Butte and the community, et cetera?

BILLICK- Yeah, I mean, a lot of what we’re dealing with is what people are seeing all across the country which is workforce is challenging. It’s always been challenging. I think our housing makes it even a little bit more challenging. So we’ve got some projects in the pipeline. There’s Sixth and Butte, just to the north of Crested Butte, as you’re leaving. We’re in the process of developing that parcel and creating some housing units there. We’ve been working with the county and other partners on housing. So that’s been one of our big priorities is to ensure that we can retain our critical workforce. That’s the teachers in the school, it’s the fire protection district. It’s the town and county employees. So that’s one of the big things going on. The most recent thing that we’ve been thinking a lot about is how Elk Avenue works. Elk Avenue is one of the most iconic downtowns that you can find in the United States.

KOPF – Right.

Future Location of Affordable Housing – Sixth and Butte

BILLICK- People care deeply about it. The last two years we’ve had one way down Elk with outdoor seating. Some people loved it. Some people thought it was terrible. One of those things in a small community, you kind of just have to decide.

And we ended up compromising and so next summer we’ll have two-way traffic but we’ll still have outdoor seating. So. You know, I think outdoor seating, people love that. They love the ambience. So we’re gonna see how that works for a couple years.

KOPF – Very good. Well, you mentioned community, you know, Crested Butte has always been a diverse community. We have a lot of different people that are here. We have visitors, we have, you know, people that have lived here for a long time. We have people that are enjoying Crested Butte, having a second home. Now we have a lot of people working remote. How do you see that, over the last few years, seems like it’s changed significantly. How do you see that going forward?

BILLICK – I think it’s one of these national trends, which is people have much more flexibility in terms of where they spend time. They can work remotely, Zoom conferencing. So that’s definitely one of the things that we’re thinking about. Historically, we’d think about putting people in silos for better or worse. So we’d have tourists and second homeowners and full-time residents or locals. And now the reality is people are very fluid and there aren’t these well defined boundaries.

So we definitely have people that come for two days but we also have people that come for 30 days and we have people that come for a 180 days. And we have people that come all year but they’re working elsewhere ’cause they can work remotely.

And so we’re really having to think deeply about how we define our community and take an inclusive approach.

KOPF – Right, I know that there’s been some great strides as it relates to some of the infrastructure stuff here too, with regard to fiber and cellular and you know, it sounds like there’s some good things happening to help improve the amenities if you will, or the the ability for people to be here, but still be connected.

BILLICK – Yeah, in my role as executive director of the rural Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, we host scientists and those scientists have to stay connected. And if they can’t check their internet and stay in their workflow, they can’t come out here in the summer. And I think the same is true for a lot of people, is that they need to be in their workflow and they need to be connected when they’re here. And getting internet out to these remote valleys can be a little challenging, but we’ve made some good strides in recent years. One of the big issues is redundancy. So if there’s been a cut over in the Montrose area to the west of here, that would shut things down. We now have a fiber optic cable that comes in from the east. And so we’ve got some nice redundancy.

KOPF – Yeah, over Cottonwood.

BILLICK – Over Cottonwood, yeah. So it’s a work in progress but I think we’ve made some really nice strides.

KOPF – Good. Well again, appreciate all that you do. One of the things that I’ve told people and I think is really great is that you’ve you’ve always been someone that’s reached out to the community. How can people, if they have questions, comments, you know, how can they get involved or what are some of the things that you would offer to people to be a part of the process?

BILLICK- So you can always reach the Crested Butte town council. There’s an email that goes to all of the council members, you know, and then one of the things, and I’ve given this advice to a lot of people in a lot of contexts, is I think the nonprofits are one of the things that make the area special.

KOPF – Yep.

BILLICK – And so people who engage and there are lots of different nonprofits and ways to get engaged but I think it’s a great way to connect with the community, make friends, social networks and often that’s where a lot of influence and change comes about is sort of those indirect pathways. And you know, it’s great when people come to council meetings and tell us how they want the world to be but often sort of the engagement in the nonprofits has more of a lasting effect.

KOPF – Right, I agree. And I always tell people that are, you know, spending extended periods of time here, get involved in, you know, the community through nonprofits. Find something that’s your passion and that you’re passionate about. And you know, that organization or group of people is here and it’s a great opportunity to give back and positively provide contribution to the community. So Ian, really appreciate your time here today. Any last comments or thoughts?

BILLICK- You know, Crested Butte’s a wonderful place. And I always tell people, it’s what you make of it. And so, you know, outdoors, friends, community, and everybody has their own way of connecting. So if you decide to join our community, whether it’s for couple days or for a lifetime, we love having you here.

KOPF – Thanks so much, Ian. And we hope to see you in Crested Butte, Colorado. Have an awesome day.

BILLICK- Thank you.

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