We ended Part One in the midst of a conversation at the June 24 Archuleta Board of County Commissioners’ work session… about moving several County departments into a new building space following fire and smoke damage in the Old County Courthouse on June 12.
Three elected officials — County Clerk Kristy Archuleta, County Treasurer Elsa White, and County Assessor Johanna Tully-Elliot — had rolled out a floor plan of a vacant Wyndham Resorts building located at the corner of Talisman Drive and Village Drive, and had invited Dr. Judd Choate, Colorado State Election Director, to help explain why the move needs to happen relatively quickly, due to election deadlines faced by the Clerk’s office, in preparation for the November 2025 election.
The three officials had marked out, with colored markers, how the Wyndham could accommodate the various County offices that have been operating out of temporary spaces following the fire in the Courthouse.
The three commissioners — Veronica Medina, Warren Brown and John Ranson — made comments and asked questions about the proposed Wyndham location. Commissioner Medina mentioned that the existing furniture in the building, previously used by the Wyndham sales team, might remain and be available for the County’s use.
Information Technology (IT) Coordinator Gabe Cersonsky asked about the availability of a fiber connection at the Wyndham building, and was encouraged to hear that fiber existed at the old dispatch center office in a neighboring building.
Commissioners Medina and Ranson sounded supportive of the Wyndham option.
Commissioner Brown, however, seemed intent on discussing an alternative location: the west wing of the Old Courthouse, which has been mostly vacant since then-County Sheriff Rich Valdez abandoned that space in 2015. The west wing was not affected by the June 12 fire.
He noted that the County currently has a contract with Ronnie Urbanczyk, which has been providing free rent in the Old Courthouse, noting that the offer of free rent would apparently continue if the departments moved into the west wing. Commissioner Medina had shared that the Wyndham building, by comparison, would cost about $6,500 a month in rent.
What problems might the County face if they walked away from a lease contract at the Old Courthouse?
The department heads then unrolled a floor plan for the Courthouse west wing, and shared their reasons for disliking this alternative.
Assessor Tully-Elliot:
“Just take a look at this. There’s a lot of small rooms, and it’s not easy to get around. We sat there for an hour yesterday, trying to envision how this would even work, for five different offices… We also wanted to point out that the restrooms are working right now; there’s no real public access; no waiting room for the public… and it’s not ADA compliant…”
She also expressed concerns about the HVAC system, and the lack of public parking during the two-year reconstruction of Highway 160 through downtown.
“We truly looked at this, to try and see how this could work…”
Treasurer Elsa White:
“We walked it and looked at it, and my office is the smallest — it’s myself and three employees — and looking at all those offices, there’s not one of them large enough to accommodate even my department… unless you took out walls and did a bunch of other stuff.
“I just don’t see it. And the other offices have twelve or thirteen employees. There’s just no way to fit…”
Commissioner Brown noted that the building owner seems willing to modify the offices to accommodate the County’s needs.
Commissioner Medina asked the three department heads for their preference, choosing between the two building options.
“I mean, you’ve already said, it doesn’t look like the [west wing] is going to work,” she noted. “And it looks like the other one would work. It’s already ADA compliant, and if the fiber is already there, then it’s going to be — not simple, but…
“If you had your choice — of A, being in the west side of the Old Courthouse building, or B, the Wyndham building — what would be your preference?”
All three department heads expressed a preference for the Wyndham building.
Commissioner Medina:
“We’re not deciding anything [today] — just to be clear. But I am very appreciative of Mr. Urbanczyk for making the offer that he did, to let us move over [to the west wing] and doing everything, apparently, that he can. He’s been very generous in that aspect.
“I don’t think this is the forum to talk about the contract that we have [with Mr. Urbanczyk]. I think that’s something that needs to be discussed outside of a public meeting, with counsel… And I think a conversation needs to be had with Mr. Urbanczyk to see what he wants to do, as well.
“It sounds like Option A, at this point, has changed. Option A, from the elected officials, would be Wyndham. Option B, if that’s even an option, would be the other side of the Old Courthouse.”
She suggested that, if Commissioner Brown were still going to meet with Mr. Urbanczyk, as scheduled, maybe the conversation would be more about the County’s current preference for the Wyndham option.
The commissioners then discussed the idea of holding an executive session later in the week. That meeting was held on Thursday, June 26, and following the planned executive session, commissioners Medina and Ranson voted to enter into a lease for the Wyndham building, with Commissioner Brown voting ‘nay’.
It appears that Pagosa residents will have one less reason to visit downtown.
The BOCC had held another fire-related discussion a week earlier, at their June 17 work session.
The Wildfire Resiliency Act. SB 23-166.
Colorado has suffered a number of catastrophic wildfires over the past decade, resulting not only in lost of lives and structures, but also a dramatic increase in homeowners insurance rates.
It’s possible that stricter regulations such as SB 23-166, governing the materials used to build future homes, and their placement in the landscape, can make some future catastrophic wildfires less catastrophic.
And also make catastrophic insurance rates less catastrophic.