Tribute Made to Long-time Leader and Volunteer
Rick Langenberg
A new leadership guard has taken the reins of the Cripple Creek Council, with a new year and post-election proceedings and ceremonies.
The change was mostly highlighted by a final tribute to outgoing council member Melissa (Missy) Trenary, who actually briefly served as the first female mayor for Cripple Creek for a brief period. Trenary recently stepped down from her council position due to term limits after serving two terms (a total of eight years) as the town’s Ward Five representative. Trenary, who is employed in the local gaming industry, also has served with a variety of local organizations, such as the Cripple Creek District Museum, the Two Mile High Club and the Cripple Creek Elks, and once even worked as a history columnist for TMJ.
She was replaced by JR Gatlin, an eight-year resident of Cripple Creek, who won the seat during the Nov. 2025 election. Gatlin has been involved with the Historic Preservation Commission and the Main Street advisory board, positions that he decided to give up with his new role as a council member. As far as other leadership moves, Bruce Brown has retained his seat as a Ward Four representative.
Trenary’s departure was marked by an emotional speech, as the former councilwoman heavily complimented the city staff and their top officials. Moreover, she noted the many challenges the city faced with the COVID epidemic.
“It’s been a good ride… and a difficult ride,” said Trenary, in outlining the town’s challenges with COVID, which resulted in the loss of more than $2 million in revenue due to the closure of local casinos for several months and subsequent restrictions. “COVID was tough,” admitted Trenary, in outlining the inability for the city to have any in-person meetings for a lengthy period. During this period, the city almost became a ghost town, and all businesses were shut down, and major events were cancelled. Plus, the epidemic hit home hard, as key officials and leaders got infected with COVID.
Nevertheless, even with these obstacles, Trenary believes the city made good progress every year. In her eight-year stint on council, Trenary said she dealt with a wide variety of councils and three different mayors and several different city administrators.
She highlighted the fact that she actually became Cripple Creek’s first female mayor, following the exit of the late Milford Ashworth, who left due to health reasons. At the time, Trenary was the mayor pro tem, so she became the natural replacement to fill this seat. Trenary ran for the permanent mayoral position, but was defeated by Annie Durham.
Trenary thanked the staff, whom she described as absolutely “amazing,” and especially complimented current administrator Frank Salvato.
But she became the most emotional in describing her involvement in working to bring back the Salute to American Veterans rally to Cripple Creek. The event took a slight detour to Woodland Park, after getting cancelled following the COVID epidemic. Then, the rally encountered some political resistance locally, as city leaders retreated from their involvement in funding special events and festivals.
Trenary admitted being brought to tears, when hundreds of motorcycles made their final descent into Cripple Creek for the 2025 rally, a reality that no one believed was possible for some time. Trenary became a key player in the negotiations to revive this event, which had been an important part of its summer festival season for decades.
Trenary, in turn, was heavily lauded by her fellow council members and by the mayor, who noted that Trenary really represented the heart of the community. Gatlin took a more low-profile approach in assuming his new seat on the council.
Historic Staircase and Housing
As far as key issues during the 2026 inaugural meeting, the elected leaders found themselves dealing with bringing back a historic staircase on Bennett Avenue that provided a better pedestrian connection to city hall and securing more rental housing.
The city administrator said he didn’t quite understand why the staircase was removed. With this removal, it became much more difficult for residents and visitors to access city hall on foot due to a large infrastructure barrier. Previously, the staircase offered a much better shortcut for visitors to access city hall and many local businesses, as parking is often difficult near the city’s government hub.
Salvato said the total engineering cost would exceed $30,000. Out of this, the city has already invested about $17,000.
At first, the council appeared ready to nix the project altogether. But with the amount already spent, they expressed support for continuing the engineering.
It is uncertain how much the overall staircase project will cost and how it will be funded. A few leaders suggested this could become a Main Street venture, in the hope of getting grants to pay the bill.
And in what has become a regular procedure at council meetings, the elected body at the Jan. 7 meeting took action to take emergency action to assist one organization in securing grant funds for a project that could result in 40-plus apartment units. The city has been working with Sandstone Housing Rentals, in hope of securing a grant for a project, which will be located on city property. “It is an urgent need for the community,” said Durham, who supported the council taking whatever steps are needed to help move the project along.
In the last few years, the city has explored ways to fast-track its dire housing situation, considered the number one issue facing the community.
