I rarely get phone calls or emails from Daily Post readers, complaining about our local governments. Normally, my readers allow me to do my own complaining — on behalf of the community, of course. That’s my job.
But the past week has been different. Although I’m merely the editor of a local news website, several people contacted me, over the past few days, to discuss concerns related to the Archuleta County government.
It started with two people concerned about the proposed 100-acre development across the highway from City Market. We met for coffee and had a nice long chat about loss of trust, preservation of scenic natural beauty, wildlife corridors, and the best way to approach government officials when you want to share alternative ideas about Pagosa’s future.
Then I was contacted by a person looking for my recommendation for an attorney who could help her with a legal situation — a private road that Archuleta County has been claiming to be a County road.
The next appeal for advice and a listening ear came from a person dealing with the Archuleta County Sheriff’s office and a series of reportedly corrupt situations that have taken place there recently, and some that are ongoing.
Then, yesterday, a call from a property owner concerned about the County solid waste department.
As I’ve suggested in previous editorials, over the past 20 years, the Pagosa Springs community seems burdened by a lack of trust in our Archuleta County government.
The County is presumably well aware of this “lack of trust” issue. Back in 2022, the Board of County Commissioners commissioned a survey by political consultants Magellan Strategies to advise them on a proposed sales tax increase, and Magellan reported that only 4% of the people surveyed “strongly agreed” with the following statement:
Archuleta County is fiscally responsible and spends money wisely.
63% of those surveyed “strongly disagreed” or “somewhat disagreed” with the above statement.
In spite of receiving a grade of “D-” in the Magellan survey, the commissioners went ahead and put a proposed sales tax increase on the 2022 ballot, asking Archuleta County voters to approve a 37% higher local sales tax. The ballot measure was rejected by a large margin, as predicted by the survey.
Two of our current commissioners — Ronnie Maez and Warren Brown — were serving on the BOCC when this survey was done, but the lack of trust issue was evident to some of us. long before either of them were elected.
Commissioner Maez is term limited and is serving out his final two months, after eight years on the BOCC.
Commissioner Brown was re-elected on November 5 to another four-year term.
Commissioner Veronica Medina joined the BOCC after this survey was done, running on a campaign platform of transparency and fiscal responsibility. Has the public’s trust of the County improved — or not — since her election? We don’t have any evidence one way or the other, although she was briefly threatened by a group of citizens circulating a petition to have her recalled based on allegations of “conflict of interest”. The allegations were connected with a proposed County property purchase on South Pagosa Boulevard, across from Pagosa Springs Medical Center that would have benefited a real estate company that Ms. Medina worked for.
We must assume, and hope, that the public’s trust can be restored, even after a government entity has developed a poor reputation.
But if so, how?
The BOCC will be holding a couple of meetings today: a work session at 8:30am, and a special meeting at 1:30pm. Meeting agendas and information for the BOCC and all other County boards and committees are posted on the Archuleta County website, and the public can find out if issues important to them will be discussed, and perhaps voted on, by elected and appointed County officials. The link to the agendas page is here.
As I said, it’s my job, as a news editor, to complain publicly about our local governments. But I’ve also made it my job as a member of the community — as a citizen — to pay attention to how my taxes are spent, and what policies and regulations my local governments are addressing changes to my adopted town of Pagosa Springs.
Or failing to address the changes.
Or causing the changes.
Some of the more interesting BOCC discussions — if you are looking for entertainment — take place at the morning work sessions, typically on Tuesday mornings at 8:30am. These are opportunities for the commissioners to engage in debates about pending decisions, throw around ideas, get advice and information from their staff and from outside citizen groups…
This morning, for example, the BOCC will discuss a $291,000 invoice for electric line installations in the Pagosa Trails subdivision. Although the Trails subdivision was created back in the 1970s, and although the developer was required to install electricity and utilities to all of the platted parcels, developers don’t always do what they promise to do.
By installing electricity along a currently non-existent street called Traveler’s Circle, the County could make several dozen more parcels available to home builders. Perhaps to builders of affordable housing?
Hopefully, the County — or somebody — will eventually build the actual street.
In this particular instance, the County requires the electric lines to be underground. In this particular case, the ground is extremely rocky. In this particular case, the installation is not going to be cheap. But maybe we will eventually get some more housing?
The community group overseeing this improvement to Traveler’s Circle is the non-profit Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation, which was created by our Town and County governments in 2011 to promote economic development. Recently, the PSCDC board has determined that, without sufficient housing for working individuals and families, Pagosa is not likely to see much in the way of economic growth.
So the PSCDC has been focusing its energies, lately, on figuring out how to get more housing built, and has had about 35 vacant parcels in the Trails and Chris Mountain subdivisions donated to them by the BOCC.
Parcels that have been vacant for 50 years.
The money to pay for these improvements in the Trails subdivision is coming, I believe, from the state of Colorado.
What we all want, I think, is a livable community. Warm homes for families to live in. Jobs that pay a decent wage. Schools able to find and retain trained teachers.
Governments, that can regain our trust.