fishy. Late 15th century, “fish-like, slimy…” The sense of “shady, questionable” is first recorded 1840, perhaps from the notion of “slipperiness,” or of giving off a bad odor.
— from Etymonline.com
I suspect the term “fishy” — as a reference to something that seems somehow wrong — is more closely related to the bad smell, rather than the slipperiness. After all, the common expression is, “Something smells fishy”.
A fish might look perfectly fine to all outward appearances, but you can tell it’s gone bad… by the odor.
I normally don’t smell fish when I attend the meetings of the Pagosa Springs Town Council, but it does happen occasionally.
For example, this past Tuesday.
The Council had held a special meeting at 4pm to interview two candidates for the Town Manager position. Former Town Manager Andrea Phillips resigned in early August, and the Council had enlisted Greg Schulte to serve as interim Manager until a permanent selection could be made.
The two finalists interviewed on Tuesday were David Harris and Dawn Collins. My impression, based on the two 20-minute interviews, was that both candidates sounded like an excellent fit for our small-town government. Mr. Harris had an extensive background in government; Ms. Collins had a more extensive business background. Listening to the two candidates from the audience, I was not able to pick a favorite. And the Council, during their public discussion following the interviews, also expressed difficulty in choosing one or the other.
In the end, the unanimous vote was to enter into salary negotiations with David Harris.
A sensible choice, in my humble opinion. Time will tell.
But that wasn’t the fishy part. The fishy part came later in the evening’s agenda.
And it had an actual relationship to fish. But perhaps not to human beings, in the manner we might have been led to believe.
From the agenda packet:
Resolution 2023-15, Approving Gateway Project Management Agreement to the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership
This project proposes to design and construct improvements along an approximate 2.5 mile segment of the San Juan River upstream from the Hwy 160/Hwy 84 intersection. Improvements are focused on removing debris, installing aquatic habitat features and creating a low flow channel. The project does not establish a new public access; however, Archuleta County appears to be working with the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) and the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) to formalize a new public access on property owned jointly by the two entities.
Trout Unlimited (TU) was awarded funding from the Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) and the Tourism Board, and the Town was awarded funds from the State Water Conservation Board (CWCB) along with matching funds from numerous local and regional entities totaling $1,100,000 for this project. WEP wrote both grant applications, commissioned the concept plan submitted with the grants and has secured property owner agreements.
A request for proposals (RFP) is expected to be advertised for “Design and Build” services as soon as possible, with preliminary design work expected to begin in late 2023 and being completed in early 2024 and construction anticipated in late 2024 and potentially being completed in late 2025 during low water flows. WEP has received approvals from most all property owners along the improvement corridor with the final remaining approvals expected soon.
At the end of the presentation of Resolution 2023-15, by Community Development Director James Dickhoff, the Council voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership.
The smell, I fear, will continue to linger.
There are so many things wrong with this expenditure of taxpayer money, I really don’t know where to start.
I guess we can start with the misinformation in the agenda description above, about the $1 million project…
The project does not establish a new public access; however, Archuleta County appears to be working with the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) and the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) to formalize a new public access on property owned jointly by the two entities.
It’s a simple fact that PAWSD is not working with Archuleta County and SJWCD to formalize a new public access. In fact, the PAWSD Board officially rejected the proposal from SJWCD and Archuleta County for public recreational access on PAWSD-owned property adjacent to the San Juan River, on September 14.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer on the PAWSD Board of Directors, but this editorial reflects only my own opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the PAWSD Board as a whole, or of any other PAWSD Board member.
This “river enhancement” controversy, and the PAWSD Board decision on September 14, was discussed at some length here in the Daily Post, last month, beginning on September 15. (I didn’t find any coverage of the PAWSD decision in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN newspaper, which is slightly curious, considering $1 million in taxpayer contributions for the WEP project.)
How, exactly, Community Director Dickhoff could suggest to the Town Council — in an agenda summary, on October 3 — that a public access was being “formalized” — was only one element of a more pervasive fishy smell.
Here’s a simple map shared with the Council on October 3, showing the stretch of the San Juan River that would be “enhanced” with the $1 million taxpayer-funded project. I’ve added a green dot to indicated the approximate location of the “new public access” that the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership was seeking from PAWSD — which has been officially rejected.
We will note that the information related to the Town Council’s fishy decision, to hand the management of this $1 million project over to a newly-formed non-profit organization with no previous track record of project management, consisted of 65 pages of technical descriptions and maps, so we might imagine that the seven Council members didn’t have a chance to study the documents thoroughly.
Which is why, during public comment, I had stepped up to the microphone and warned the Council that something fishy was going on.