Plata elected Gunnison mayor

Incoming Mayor Diego Plata, left, and Mayor Pro-tem Mallory Logan.

Gunnison City Council on Tuesday elected Council Member Diego Plata to serve as mayor. He received three out of five council votes and will be the first naturalized U.S. citizen in the position in city history. Plata succeeds Council Member Jim Gelwicks as mayor and will serve a two-year term. 

Mallory Logan was unanimously elected as mayor pro-tem. Logan, owner of RoShamBo Marketing + Creative, has served on Gunnison City Council for four and a half years. She will succeed Council Member Jim Miles in the position.

Unlike Crested Butte, Gunnison voters do not directly select who will serve as mayor. Once the new council is seated after elections, it holds a reorganizational meeting where the mayor is chosen through an anonymous ballot. Gelwicks opened the floor for comments and discussion before the vote began. 

Logan, in prepared comments, said the decision had weighed heavily on her for the last few weeks, and that their job as councilors is to “make decisions in the present moment that will have the greatest positive impact on our community and the Gunnison Valley.” She proceeded to nominate Council Member Plata for mayor.

“When I envision the mayor of Gunnison addressing groups of people, I see Diego's charisma and intellect as an opportunity for powerful representation of our collective voices,” Logan said. “He has taken the time to speak with city staff and understand the challenges facing different departments.”

Plata received three votes in the secret ballot among council members, while Miles received the other two.

Plata moved to Gunnison in 2014 to be a part of Western Colorado University’s first cohort of the Master of Environmental Management program. He said his involvement in city government was not “part of the plan.” 

Upon graduation he said it was difficult to find a job that related closely to his track in the program, sustainable resilient communities. While he worked as a corporate sustainability analyst, he applied for and was appointed to the County Planning Commission in 2017. 

During his time there, Plata said he learned a lot about the city process and then heard about an opening on city council. He was elected in November 2019.

“My time on council has been inspired in large part by wanting to be involved in helping the town move forward and representing some less than spoken for communities in our community,” Plata said.

Plata said he wasn’t expecting to be selected as Gunnison’s next mayor, but “wanted it. And far less for me, more so for the city to see a different representation at the leadership level.” 

“I put myself in the running for representing a different demographic within our community and in hopes of really continuing to build a bridge with our Latino and Latinx and Cora community. As an immigrant myself and Spanish speaker, I have heard feedback from that group of our community that it's exciting to have someone on council that is immigrant, let alone be the mayor.” 

His other goals include improving pedestrian safety, raising support for the ballot initiatives, as well as “continuous collaboration” with Mt. Crested Butte, Crested Butte and the county, particularly around housing. 

“We're not going to build our way out of it, we're not going to subsidize our way out of it,” Plata said. “I think we just need to be all ears and work together.” 

Plata commended Jim Miles and Gelwicks for their work over the past four years. Gelwicks has served as the mayor of Gunnison for six and half years, elected first in 1993 and 1995 and then again in 2017. He said he was ready to pass the title along to Plata.  

“I have complete trust in Diego and his ability to continue moving the city forward,” Gelwicks said. “And we have a strong council, and it's not solely dependent on any one individual, all five of us are important.” 

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)