With respect to recent government conversations about the maintenance of Archuleta County roads:
Our gravel road, Jacobson Circle, is off Jack’s Pasture Road, 8 miles north on Piedra Road from Highway 160.
This road maintenance issue hit us in the face last summer when we asked the County for some maintenance on three short sections — a few hundred yards — of our 1.2 mile road. In several places, the gravel layer was gone and the underlying road base was exposed and the snow plows were scraping 6″ rocks out of the road base, leaving holes.
Our Association president, Keena Carstensen, asked the County please to patch those sections to prevent the road base from being destroyed, which would cost even more money later.
A summary:
1. [County Road & Bridge Manager] Eric McRae responded that the County does not maintain private subdivision roads.
2. And Yari Davis in county engineering told us, “the County did not accept this subdivision for maintenance.”
3. So we sent them the September 15, 1989 “Proceedings of the BoCC”, that stated that the Commission voted to accept Jacobson Circle into the County maintenance system.
4. Then Mr. McRae — apparently acknowledging that our subdivision had been accepted for maintenance — said that our maintenance had been rescinded by a 1998 BoCC Resolution which would end maintenance 5 years later.
He sent us the Resolution.
We were one of 12 subdivisions to be kicked out.
Point 2 of the Resolution does say that maintenance would end after 5 years, but point 3 of the 3-point Resolution says, “This Resolution is specifically contingent upon the voters passing an increase in the road & bridge mill levy” in the upcoming November, 1998 election. I’m not an attorney, but it appears that the entire Resolution is null and void (including the 5-year cap on accepted subdivisions) if the mill levy vote failed.
5. The November 5, 1998 Pagosa Springs SUN reported that the mill levy vote did indeed fail.
6. Therefore, it appears that the entire 3-point Resolution capping our road maintenance at 5 years is void, and that our acceptance into the County road maintenance system still stands.
Did Mr. McRae share a copy of that resolution?
Also: Was there essentially a “contract”, legally or morally, between the County and our subdivision that we deeded Jacobson Circle to the County, and the County would then maintain it, and did the County unilaterally break the contract? The 1989 minutes stating that our road was accepted into the maintenance system gives no time limit, no conditions, and no mechanism whereby the County reserves the right to reverse their commitment to maintain it.
I do understand their quandary, but I also believe that a commitment was made.
Regards,
Bruce Wilke, vice president
Teyuakan 1 Property Owner’s Association