Photo: Region 9 Economic Development District staff Laura Lewis Marchino and Shak Powers discuss past and future goals with Town and County leaders at a joint meeting on March 23, 2026.
As mentioned in Part Two, Region 9 Economic Development District Executive Director Laura Lewis Marchino and Deputy Director Shak Powers revealed on Monday that Archuleta County had paid dues to Region 9 last year worth about $19,000… and had received in return about $4.5 million in grants and other funding, almost all of which went into broadband development.
Did the $4.5 million in broadband grants truly help our community address our pressing problems?
Probably not. Of course, some locals and visitors who were served by slower types of internet service will soon have access to fiber optic cable. But that hardly seems like a game changer for our most critical problems in Archuleta County.
The joint Town-County meeting on Monday also heard other presentations, as mentioned previously in this editorial series. Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation executive director Emily Lashbrooke discussed funding issues related to the PSCDC’s housing project in the Trails/Chris Mountain subdivisions, focused on the recent denial of fee waivers by the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District board. (I serve as a volunteer on the PAWSD board and I would classify Ms. Lashbrooke’s presentation as “partly accurate.”)
Does our community view the housing crisis as a core issue? It might seem that way. The two consultant firms responsible for the 2025 Housing Needs Assessment — Eco Northwest and Western Spaces LLC — surveyed employers and employees in Archuleta County to learn how serious the housing crisis might be.
The responses were not encouraging.
63% of employers reported that — in spite of our ongoing efforts at ‘Economic Development’ — it has gotten harder to find qualified, willing employees. Another 26% reported that the challenges were about the same as three years ago. (It was already difficult three years ago.)
The employers who are struggling? The Medical Center. City Market. Walmart. Archuleta County. The School District…
Everyone, pretty much. The main reason for the struggle? Surely there are numerous reasons, but I’m betting the main reason is inflated housing costs — and too little energy directed at solutions to the housing crisis.
I seriously doubt the main reason is a lack of “outdoor recreation infrastructure”.
Nevertheless, three intelligent and caring people involved in Pagosa’s recreation industry spent 30 minutes, this past Monday, arguing before a joint meeting of Town and County officials that government revenues should to be redirected away from other local needs, and funneled into the Town Recreation Department.
Bob Milford, president of the Pagosa Area Trails Council and lead organizer of the Pagosa Area Recreation Coalition (PARC), explained that PARC received a $100,000 grant to plan for recreation improvements in Archuleta County. Apparently, PARC has now hired the Town Recreation Department to fulfill PARC’s grant obligations.
Mr. Milford:
“The key is getting a revenue source. We’ve seen other [Regional Partnership Initiatives], like up there in Chaffee County. They did a sales tax. So they’re getting this money in, and they’re getting like $1 million. And they turned that $1 million into $20 million, through grants…
“So the key to this is, having [matching funding] available when a grant comes down the pike. If you don’t have the money, and you have a month to get the grant submitted, you’re handicapped, right?…
“The great thing about the Town is, they have James [Dickhoff] and Kyle [Rickert] who are writing grants every day. These grants are all about relationships. If you’re working together… if we all work together and they see the community support… because we have to work a little harder here, because we don’t have the population…
“You talk about statistics. Those statistics don’t anywhere represent what’s really going on here in Pagosa, right? You have so many people here who aren’t Colorado residents, who live in Texas, right? Who aren’t in the statistics…
“I used to own car dealerships in Houston, and so I had to do marketing in Houston, which was very difficult because it’s very expensive to get a TV ad to cover a certain area, right? So what I learned was, ‘word of mouth’ is the most important thing in marketing, right? It’s the cheapest, and it works better.
“If you’re providing good recreation for this area, you don’t have to spend near as much on marketing, because they will just come, right?
“And so that’s the key. The more people come, and you don’t have the infrastructure, there’s no place to go, it doesn’t matter how much you spend. People are going to tell their friends it wasn’t a good experience, because we didn’t have the restrooms, we didn’t have the things they want to do…”
A number of interesting points here, offered up by Mr. Milford to a joint meeting of elected leaders who control local government purse strings.
One point that might be of importance? Mr. Milford once owned car dealerships in Houston. That could help explain my sense, while listening to the Monday night recreation presentation, that I was listening to three car salesmen trying to close a deal.
Another point that may be of importance. Nowhere during the 30-minute presentation did Mr. Milford, Mr. Lewis or Ms. Gadomski give an indication that pouring more money into government-sponsored recreation infrastructure would address the most pressing problems facing our community.
A failed road maintenance program.
A housing crisis.
Businesses and organizations struggling to find qualified employees.
Threats to our local healthcare system.
Unaffordable or unavailable child care.
A failing downtown sewer system.
Rising insurance costs.
Steadily increasing taxes and fees.
Declining public school enrollment, while our School Board plans, at the same time, for a replacement K-8 school facility.
Where is the heart of Pagosa Springs?
Is it out in the National Forest?
Is our heart guiding us to provide better remote restroom facilities for visiting tourists from Houston?
That may actually be the case.