At its Sept. 8 meeting, the Gunnison City Council issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a host for the Taylor Mountain Park Campground for the 2027 season.
In June, Campfire Ranch, which had been hosting guests at the site, dissolved, leaving city Parks and Recreation staff to manage the campground and handle guest needs for the remainder of the season.
Parks and Recreation Director Dan Vollendorf explained to the council that his department has received "lots of inquiries" from local and out-of-state businesses about the possibility of taking over management of the campground.
"The summer's been pretty intense for our park staff, keeping the campground in good shape, the bathroom stocked and cleaned, dumpsters tipped and managing registration, but we've gotten through it," he said. "We'd be interested in having a camp host in there for next year, and I feel like … now is a good time to put that out and see what we can get back."
In response to a question from Mayor Pro Tem Marisela Ballesteros, Vollendorf said the contractor to manage the park could be a local business, another entity or an individual.
Councilor Matt Schwartz said the RFP should require the campground to be stocked with bear-proof dumpsters and trash cans rather than merely suggesting them.
Vollendorf replied he intended it to require bear-proof dumpsters, which have been the primary issue this year.
Councilor Loren Ahonen said he found it interesting that the contractor would be in charge of determining how frequently vault toilets at the site should be pumped, rather than the RFP including a schedule for this.
Vollendorf said that this is typically done at the end of a given year and that the RFP language was intended to ensure that the contractor would be responsible for managing the toilets appropriately if use increased sharply.
Ballesteros asked if the RFP was just for the 2027 season.
Vollendorf said the current RFP is for 2027, but if things went well, the issue could be brought back to the council to extend the contract term.
Mayor Diego Plata asked Vollendorf about the scoring system for assessing RFPs, which included sections for qualifications and experience, and he wondered whether the two could be combined.
Vollendorf said they should likely be combined. However, Plata noted the value of applicants being able to demonstrate experience adjacent to camp hosting and in related industries, even if they have not hosted a camp themselves.
Vollendorf said that some of the businesses that had expressed interest in managing the site have experience in lodging or other activities but not directly in camp hosting.
Plata then asked whether fire mitigation work, such as clearing trees and brush, would have to be done by the host or the city. He added that this should be clarified in the RFP.
Vollendorf said the camp host would be expected to clear brush and trees at the campgrounds and perform other fire-prevention work, and that he would clarify this in the RFP.
"Thank you again to staff for holding this down, on such short notice, for this ending season," Plata said. "I've heard nothing but good things and thank you for pulling this one together."
The council then unanimously approved issuing an RFP to find a campground host for Taylor Mountain Park for 2027.
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