Gunnison County Commissioners

Hap Channell, Vice-Chairperson
District 2
Took Office in 01/2005
Term Expires 01/2013

Hap is a Kansan by birth and childhood (Kansas City, Wichita, Valley Center, and El Dorado).  In his early teens his parents moved the family, Hap and his four siblings, to Dallas where Hap graduated from Bryan Adams High School in 1961.  He graduated from Austin College in Sherman, TX with a BA in biology in ‘66 and attended TCU in Ft. Worth for post BA study in European history, earned an MA in science education from Western State College in Gunnison, and studied science ed at the University of Northern Colorado in a doctoral program.

Hap and Narcissa Moore from Marshall, TX< married in 1966 and have two daughters, Leslie and husband Greg Osgood of Gunnison and Narcie Channell of Santa Fe, NM.

Hap and Narcissa began their teaching careers in Ft. Worth, Narcissa in the public schools and Hap at Ft. Worth Country Day School.  He taught science and history before becoming high school principal.  They decided to move their young family to Colorado in 1976, spending the first year in their Tin Cup cabin before moving to Gunnison.  After an eight year stint in the lumber business (sawyer, pre-cut log homes, retail manager and partner), Hap returned to the classroom as a Gunnison Middle School science teacher, retiring in 2004.

While in Gunnison, Hap has been most directly involved with community theater, helping to develop the Gunnison Arts Center, and restoring/preserving a historic stone house.  He decided to run for public office in the spring of 2004 and was subsequently elected to the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners that fall.  He is presently the Chairperson of that Board.

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Jim Starr, Chairperson
District 3
Took Office in 01/1999
Term Expires 01/2011

Jim Starr was Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and spent the better part of his childhood with his parents and four siblings in Ft. Collins, CO.  Jim holds a Bachelors Degree from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins – where he served as Student Body President – and a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law.  Prior to beginning his law practice, Starr & Associates P.C., in Crested Butte in 1982, Jim started a full time legal services clinic in Ft. Collins, CO and helped establish the Student Legal Services Office at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, which continues to serve over 22,000 students.

Over the years, Jim has shown a devout commitment to the Town of Crested Butte and Gunnison County at large through numerous community service activities. These include involvement with The Crested Butte Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR), the Crested Butte Town Council, the Crested Butte Nordic Council, the Crested Butte Land Trust, and tenures as both the Crested Butte Town Attorney and a Gunnison County Commissioner (an office he has held since 1999).  In 1990 he earned the honor of being recognized by the State of Colorado< for his outstanding child support collections work for Gunnison County.  He also serves as President of Peanut Mine, Inc., the non-profit corporation responsible for reclaiming and restoring the Peanut Mine parcel just west of Crested Butte.

Since 1991 when it was founded, Jim has served on the Board of Directors for Green Century Funds, a group of publicly traded mutual and equity funds based in Boston, MA, with over $80 million in assets invested with environmentally screened companies.

In his spare time, Jim enjoys time with his family, skiing, mountain biking, hunting, hiking, and golfing.