The Tennyson Event Center is a rather lovely little building located at the west end of town, just before you get to the turnoff to the Vista mobile home park. I suspect it could easily accommodate 80 people or more for some kind of gala event.
A somewhat smaller crowd turned out for the annual meeting of the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation last night. Other than four Board members and four economic development staff — one of whom attended via Zoom — and the three people in the audience scheduled to give presentations, I counted a total of four members of the public in attendance, although chairs had been set out (socially distanced) to accommodate an audience of about 18 people. A couple of other members of the public attended via Zoom.
The Board gave no any indication that they were surprised or disappointed by the turnout.
During the two-hour meeting — following the election of new Board members and officers — we heard a summary of the organization’s accomplishments from Board president Sherry Waner… a summary of projects recently completed or planned by the Town of Pagosa Springs government from Town Manager Andrea Phillips… a summary of projects recently completed or planned by the Archuleta County government, from Commissioner Warren Brown… and a rather lengthy summary by Jason Cox, of the Archuleta County Broadband Services Management Office, touching on various local broadband projects the Office has reportedly helped to bring about, as well as its plans for the future.
The broadband presentation was the only one to generate significant conversation among audience members — most of which concerned the Starlink satellite internet system currently being deployed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. Starlink has no connection whatsoever with the Archuleta County Broadband Services Management Office, but had been mentioned (in passing) in the final sentence of Mr. Cox’s Power Point presentation.
SpaceX is planning to orbit about 42,000 Starlink communications satellites that will eventually facilitate internet communication everywhere on the planet — regardless of ground-based internet availability. The company claims it already has 500,000 customer pre-orders for its service, and a limited number of customers are already in beta testing.
If I’m not mistaken, you will be able to get an internet connection at the North Pole. Or even, in Arboles.
The PSCDC is legally a non-profit corporation, with its own Board of Directors elected by its paid membership, but nearly all of its revenues come from the taxpayers — local or state. When the organization was formed in 2010, the general idea was that the Town and County would put in the ‘seed money’ necessary to get it off the ground, but that it would eventually become eagerly and generously supported by Pagosa’s private sector businesses.
Wishful thinking?
The CDC almost immediately became involved in some unpleasant controversies, however, when it hired a self-proclaimed economic development guru from Mississippi named Steve Vassallo… and then hired, as Mr. Vassallo’s assistant, the daughter of one of the sitting County Commissioners. Mr. Vassallo quickly earned the disapproval of many members of Pagosa’s business community.
You can read a bit about those controversies here.
Mr. Vassallo’s resignation in 2011 did not put an end to the CDC controversies — and even now, ten years later, the CDC has been unable to wean itself off the government teat. The “2020 Income” graph shared at last night’s annual meeting illustrated the situation:
The orange sliver, at ‘three o’clock’, above, indicates “membership dues” of about $5,350 — out of an apparent organization budget of about $187,000, with about $41,000 coming from local government subsidies, and about $140,000 coming from state and federal grants accruing to the Archuleta County Broadband Services Management Office. (I hope I am presenting this information correctly; we were not given a thorough explanation during the meeting.)
I will admit to some confusion when we were then shown the “2020 Expenses”.
Perhaps I will find out, at some point, how a non-profit organization with an income of $187,000 in 2020, can report that it had $272,000 in expenditures that same year.
We also heard from the newest CDC Executive Director, Robert Clark, whose position has been funded by federal COVID monies; his official job title appears to be “Recovery Coordinator” for the time being… at least until we have “recovered” from the pandemic.
I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a number of presentations by economic development experts during my 17 years reporting for the Pagosa Daily Post, and most of the presentations — if I am recalling things accurately — recommended economic outcomes that either never came to fruition, or likely would have happened regardless of any ‘economic development’ efforts. But I am always willing to be surprised.
At one point in his economic development presentation last night, Mr. Clark shared with us a list of “Ten Signs of a Business Friendly Community (Circa 2003, Still True Today!)”
I will be the first to agree that this list appears to be dated “2003”. I don’t necessarily agree, however, that these signs are ‘still true today’.
“1. The community has a pro-business attitude — starting at the top.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Clark did not explain what he means by “the top”, and I was left wondering where, exactly, “the top” might be located. Wolf Creek Pass?
Or maybe the CDC Board itself? The Rotary Club? The Town government? I wonder if anyone will step forward and claim that they are “the top”.
“2. The community lets it be known that it is”open for business” by having someone — usually an economic development director — in place to act as a liaison between businesses and community officials to strengthen the development process.”
Mr. Clark identified himself as the “economic development director” in this particular situation.
“3. The community is proactive about offering tax increment financing packages (TIFs) or other tax breaks to attract businesses.”
The Town of Pagosa Springs created an Urban Renewal Authority in 2019, for the express purpose of offering TIFs for local developers. But when the town voters were asked whether they wanted the right to approve such TIF financing schemes, they voted — by a 3-to-1 margin — in favor of requiring voter approval for such schemes.
Then we come to number 4. “The community has a skilled workforce…”
A possible bottleneck in Mr. Clark’s list…
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.