Jonathan will continue to use Public Health guidance and science based metrics to make the hard decisions necessary to protect the health of the community while simultaneously supporting our local economic drivers and small businesses.

• Undoubtedly, one of the most important responsibilities I have is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Gunnison County. This will continue to be the case as we move through Covid, and unfortunately, we still have a ways to go.
• Our economy and business activity are not lost in the matrix of decision-making and the impacts are real and difficult. Covid response considers and weighs these impacts as well.
• We are currently one five counties, out of 64, that has met the high bar for “Protect Our Neighbor” status from the state. What this means is that we are able to use our county specific metrics and plan with more local control while still working under the state framework. Continued success over time allows for more opportunity.

Jonathan has been uncompromising in his understanding and support for the construction of additional affordable workforce housing units. Jonathan’s leadership has helped develop and is currently building workforce housing valley wide.

• In my last term we were able to finish our build out of Stallion Park workforce housing project, just outside of Crested Butte. The county project consist of 14 deed-restricted units and is a mix of sizes. Some units have been sold, some are for sale and others are part of a rental program.
• The Corner at Brush Creek. The BOCC in listening to the community input, reduced the unit count from 240 to 180 when we approved the sketch plan. Ultimately, the towns were not persuaded to approve at that level and the project did not move forward. I stand by my commitment to be supportive of a reasonable project with a meaningful amount of units and eagerly await the towns to bring forth a proposal.
• Paintbrush Development (aka Lot 22) is going vertical, being built as you read this!. This project is a county led project on county secured land in the NE corner of the City of Gunnison. Working with the private sector, 76 units, of which 68 are deed-restricted rentals, are currently being built and the earliest completed units will be on the market spring of 2021. This is the largest affordable/workforce housing rental project ever done in Gunnison County.
• In the last legislative session, Commissioner Messner and I were able to lead a statewide process of collaborative efforts that eventually led to the passage of HB-1322 (https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-13220) From this new $65 million of statewide funding, the City of Gunnison was awarded $1.2 million for their Lazy K affordable housing project. Legislative leadership is key to creating new programs and funding sources for affordable/workforce housing opportunities.
• GV HEAT is a program the county led on establishing by re-directing resources and collaborating with Delta County. The focus is on lowering utility cost by increasing the energy efficiency of residential properties. When folks are able to make their homes more efficient, they say money and use less energy. http://gvrha.org/gv-heat/

Jonathan has been instrumental in protecting and managing our outdoor recreation infrastructure, an essential component of our economy.

Ranching, Agriculture & Water: Jonathan has been a fierce advocate for Gunnison County ag producers, protecting water and is widely supported by the ranching community.

• Jonathan led efforts to avoid an ‘endangered listing’ for the Gunnison Sage Grouse. Under is current listing of ‘threatened’, he has led all of SW Colorado in recovery efforts with a goal of de-listing. Jonathan is currently the Chairman of the Gunnison Basin Strategic Sage Grouse Committee, long recognized as the most impactful and action oriented group addressing Sage Grouse recovery. http://crestedbuttenews.com/2019/03/county-commissioner-houck-goes-to-washington-d-c/ 

https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/saving-sage-grouse-lessons-listing-gunnison-sage-grouse#stream/0

Jonathan supports a resilient economy with diverse economic drivers. He has put resources toward additional transportation & broadband connectivity to ensure our business community has better infrastructure to meet their needs and are able to evolve to meet the realities of a rapidly changing world.

Being a successful County Commissioner means getting directly involved with all levels of government, pushing for legislation, programs and opportunities that bring direct, positive impact to the citizens of Gunnison County. Whether for public lands, healthcare, housing, renewable energy or higher education, Jonathan’s efforts have been successful.

Public Lands: Active on your behalf at the county, state and federal levels Jonathan has fought relentlessly to ‘Keep Public Lands in Public Hands’ and ensure beneficial management.

Gunnison County  takes seriously the need to address climate change immediately and lead in the valley to a better future. Change and leadership will also need to come from the municipalities, electric providers (GCEA and City of Gunnison/MEAN) as well as major institutions such as WCU, CBMR and GVH. The BOCC strategic plan contains specific measurable goals that include:

The following from Strategic Plan section B Protect The Environment

1.Gunnison County shall continue to work with its partners to protect water quality and quantity for in basin purposes on a manner that is socially, environmentally and economically sound.

2.By December 31, 2020, third-party certification and recognition for energy efficiency from Energy Star, LEED or other independent organization will be achieved, verifying and recognizing the energy efficiency of the County courthouse and the Health and Human Services building.

3. By December 31, 2020, 26 fleet vehicles will have been replaced by natural gas vehicles from the 2016 baseline.

4. By December 31, 2021, Gunnison County will support the development and implementation of a coal mine methane capture, mitigation and/or utilization strategy to decrease the greenhouse gas impacts of coal mine methane being emitted from the North Fork valley by 85%.

We are on target to meet these goals in the timelines connected to them.

In the fall of 2019 the One Valley Leadership Council (OVLC) created a sub-group made up of representatives from each local government to explore the addition of climate action and environmental sustainability as an additional focus area of the collaborative One Valley Prosperity Project.

The sub-group concluded that collaborative action among local governments, utilities, and other stakeholders in the valley would be the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by activities in the valley. As a first step to aligning action a model was developed to forecast the effect of various actions. The model was developed as an expansion from the 2015 GHG baseline report that the County commissioned from Dr. Abel Chavez.

From that work, these are potential policies I will be bringing to the full board for consideration to address climate change and lower emissions.

BUILDINGS:

• Maintain adoption of IECC code at most current standard available
• Subsidize building energy audits or make them free
• Incentivize air sealing through education for do-it-yourselfers and rebates
• Develop energy reporting standard for both residential and commercial buildings

• Commercial reporting to central website on annual basis
• Residential home scoring or EUI disclosure at time of sale or lease. Make requirement for listing a standardized score or EUI prominently on MLS listing.

• Incentivize heat pump retrofit and other costlier improvements like windows and insulation through low-interest on bill financing. 
• License builders and require annual training hours which include building science and efficiency.
• Award builders publicly with annual awards for lowest energy new construction and most energy reduced through renovation.

VEHICLE TRAVEL

Vehicle travel accounts for 29% of county-wide GHG emissions. Emissions from the transportation sector continue to increase as actual fuel efficiency of vehicles is relatively stagnant because of the increasing popularity of SUV’s and trucks and the increase in miles driven. Reducing VMT by 8% by 2030 combined with the State LEV and ZEV standards will result in a reduction of 36% in the transport sector. The reduction in the total county-wide GHG’s would be about 7%.

• Increase number of bus trips
• Increase ridership on buses by accommodating mountain bikes and skis
• Provide ample parking for buses with park and ride locations at both ends of the Valley
• Increase Bustang service to Denver (more trips)
• Add Bustang service between Crested Butte and Montrose
• Increase school bus ridership
• Ridesharing pool sponsored by RTA and businesses
• Lower speed limits in Gunnison and improve bike lanes and non-motorized routes in the City
• Ensure workforce housing is near jobs which is attainable with wages paid :

Facts that dispute Steve Schecter’s comments that the county is doing nothing meaningful

Why we have used CNG (compressed natural gas) as a bridge fuel for RTA buses and County small fleet. By moving from diesel to CNG, it is worth noting the following:

• Each CNG bus reduces carbon emissions by 111 metric tons/ yr.
• An electric bus would raise emissions compared to diesel with our current electric mix
• If Tri-State meets it’s emissions reduction goals the math will begin to flip by 2026 when the first CNG bus is up for replacement and will continue to get cleaner as buses retire
• We are still unsure that there is an electric bus that can run the RTA route based on range limitations, especially in the winter

 County Solar, Ground Source Heat and building efficiency efforts and their yields:

• Our solar arrays are more than “token” they are the next step in an intentional process that started with increasing efficiency in all our buildings by improving lighting, insulation, and air sealing then moved on to electrifying our HVAC system with heat pumps which also cut energy use to 1/3 of previous, THEN we installed solar panels which will cut energy use again by ½.
• At the Courthouse we’ve gone from 1,400,000 kWhs/ yr to 200,000. We achieved similar results at HHS. Again, these are not token changes; we’ve established a path to huge energy reductions that we can replicate over and over. We’ve also done this without spending exorbitantly. The BOCC leadership and long-term commitment to energy efficiency  has made this happen, it takes time to develop a strategy but now we are running with it.
• County-wide: we’ve worked with the OVLC and the public to forecast a path to reducing our emissions by 50% by 2030. I am currently working with OVLC to finalize a report with action items that we intend to begin bringing to elected bodies this winter.