The Pagosa Springs Town Council has scheduled a few important events this week. But ‘important’ isn’t precisely the word I’m looking for.
I brought up the thesaurus this morning to find a more accurate term, and found a selection of words that were even less perfect. ‘Significant…’ ‘Momentous…’ ‘Relevant…’ ‘Crucial…’
The best choice might be ‘noteworthy’ — because we don’t know, yet, if the upcoming Council events will actually be “important.” An event can be called “important” only if something significant happens. Certainly the possibility exists for something significant to happen at this week’s Council events.
Today at noon, for example, members of the Town Council will meet jointly with members of the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners. These two leadership teams are elected by slightly different community groups — the Council by the voters within the Town boundaries in non-partisan elections, and the BOCC by the entire county in excessively partisan elections. But the two boards are typically concerned with the same basic community problems.
Not always. But typically.
We have only one incorporated town in Archuleta County, and most of our residential neighborhoods are within a 10-minute drive of the historical downtown commercial district… and also of the non-historical uptown commercial district.
Below is a convenient map I created earlier this month, showing — in magenta color — the San Juan Water Conservancy District. We’re not talking about that particular government agency this morning, but the district does in fact include the majority of our community’s population, so this little map does a pretty good job of indicating how much of Archuleta County is populated.
About 10 percent of the land area, by my estimate.
Two large parts of the county — the light brown areas, administered by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the light green areas, administered by the US Forest Service — are relatively unpopulated.
Today’s joint Town-County meeting will hear a couple of reports — one by by Region 9 Economic Development District Executive Director Laura Lewis Marchino about the new ‘Opportunity Zone’ program, and another, by Region 9 Project Manager Heather Otter, about Archuleta County’s ‘Performance Report for 2018.’
Do we have Opportunity Zones here? Yes, indeed. (You can read more about that federal program in this Daily Post article.) . The map below shows the OZ areas in yellow.
But how did we perform, economically, in 2018? That should be an interesting report.
We hear a lot about economic development at local government meetings, and I suppose most residents in this little mountain community are comfortable with the thought that our elected officials are keeping a close eye on the local economy, and spending our taxes in ways that might “create jobs.”
Which is not to say, however, that these same Archuleta County residents actually want to work at jobs. I don’t have truly accurate percentage numbers, but the US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the number of folks in our county who work for an employer (other than themselves.) As of the end of 2017, the Bureau reckoned about 4,082 employed workers here. In a county of maybe 13,000 residents.
Deduct the children under the age of 18, and we might estimate that less than half of the adults living in Archuleta County are gainfully employed at a ‘job.’ I’m not sure if that estimate will be part of the Region 9 performance report at today’s joint meeting… but certainly, it has a bearing on the community’s performance.
People around the US have been talking quite a bit about “socialism” lately. We also hear the term “entitlements” thrown around. What does it mean about a rural community, when less than half the adults appear to be employed? And when the largest groups of employed people are working for this or that tax-supported government agency?
Is this what is meant by “economic development”? Or do we mean: “socialism, at work”? Maybe we will learn more at today’s noon meeting.
The next Town Council event will take place on Thursday morning, March 28, from 7-8am at the Pagosa Baking Company. “Coffee with Council.” This will be the first of several ‘neighborhood’ meetings intended to encourage “public feedback on issues that you feel strongly about.” Council members Maddie Bergon and Tracy Bunning will be there, to hear your thoughts.
Additional “Coffee with Council” events will take place on the last Thursday of each month, at other locations around town, between 7 and 8am. On April 25, Council members Mat deGraaf and Matt DeGuise will be at The Lift Coffee House, 175 Pagosa St., Unit 4. On May 30, Nicole DeMarco and David Schanzenbaker will be at Boulder Coffee Cafe, 634 San Juan St. On June 27, Bergon and Mayor Don Volger will be at Higher Grounds, 189 Talisman Drive.
Mayor Don Volger explained the planned events this way:
Starting this week we’ll meet informally with members of the community to share ideas about current town issues during a new program called “Coffee with Council.” All are invited. It seems that the best, and most candid conversations, occur over a beer or a cup of coffee. This is not a new concept and similar programs have been initiated by many other communities. As you well know, people like to talk about local issues. The Town Council wants to improve communications with the citizens we serve, and sometimes our Town meetings are a little too formal to encourage those discussions.
For almost five years now, Council has set a goal to improve communications with community members. We discussed ways to do this better at our 2018 Council retreat. This is one of the ideas we considered and we’re finally going to give it a try. So, for March, April, May and June, two of us will meet at 7am, at four different locations that serve super coffee, to talk. No set agenda. If it works, we’ll continue scheduling similar times together.
Put it on the calendar. We’ll meet the last Thursday morning, 7am to 8am, for the next four months and I look forward to developing more trust relationships with those who care deeply about our “refreshingly authentic, small mountain town.”
A third noteworthy Town Council event will take place later in the day on Thursday, March 28. A conversation about affordable housing.
Hopefully, a real conversation…