Photo: The standing-room-only crowd at the Wednesday, August 20 Board of County Commissioners’ special listening session with builders and developers.
I used the term “weird” yesterday, to describe the process used by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners to obtain a resignation from County Manager Jack Harper II — now former County Manager.
The process left the community without any knowledge about why Mr. Harper was asked to resign. Speaking as a journalist who attends nearly every BOCC work session and regular meeting, I cannot recall any of our commissioners taking issue with Mr. Harper’s performance or criticizing him publicly since he was hired a year ago, in August 2024.
Other weird things have been going on as well.
On Wednesday, the BOCC met with a standing-room-only crowd of Pagosa builders and developers, at a special meeting originally suggested by, and organized by, Commissioner John Ranson. Commissioner Ranson has almost single-handedly (or so it appears to me) brought about the partial dismantling of the County Development Services Department this summer — a governmental shake-up that he has repeatedly described as beneficial to the community, and especially, as a benefit to Archuleta County builders and developers.
Although Commissioner Ranson promoted the listening session, our two other commissioners — Warren Brown and Veronica Medina — also expressed their appreciation, at the start of the meeting, for this chance to hear directly from a room full of construction workers.
The builders who spoke at the special meeting — during the 40 minutes I was able to attend — didn’t express any particular affection for the way the County has been running its Development Services Department, but rather, offered one complaint or recommendation after another.
One shared complaint concerned the uncomfortable time span between submitting building plans and getting those plans approved.
We might assume that wait times would increase, following the resignation of five team members at the Development Services Department including the Development Director, the Building Official and the head Planner. And indeed, that has reportedly been the case, with some approvals currently taking twice as long as earlier this summer.
Other complaints focused on the growing number of regulations and requirements placed on new construction, which tend to increase the cost of each home or apartment building.
There’s no doubt that the price of a typical Pagosa Lakes home has increased at an almost obscene rate over the past decade. Here’s an illustration of that increase — more than a 300% increase since 2011 — for a typical home on a 1/4 acre parcel. The graph comes from a local realtor…
According to some real estate websites, the median offering price of a newly built home in Pagosa Springs is currently around $700,000.
What’s not clear to me, as an outside observer, is what this means to the construction industry itself. Is our construction industry now producing millionaires? The men in the room on August 20 didn’t look like millionaires. (Yes, they were almost all men.) We must recognize, however, that millionaires in Pagosa Springs often dress like construction workers.
The construction industry in Archuleta County is a major part of the local economy, comprising about 890 jobs out of the total 7,200 jobs in our community. That’s about 12% of the workforce. The only segments with more employment are Government (1,190 jobs), Retail Trade (990 jobs) and Accommodations & Food Service (980 jobs).
Speaking as a journalist, some of the recommendations I heard sounded reasonable. Some did not. But apparently, the commissioners appreciated the chance to meet with builders and hear their complaints, because they have scheduled another listening session for 5pm on Wednesday, September 10.
By then, the BOCC no doubt hopes to find, and hire, qualified employees to fill the holes in the Developmental Services Department. Outgoing interim Development Director Owen O’Dell noted that the County has received numerous applications for the department vacancies.
But who will interview and select these new employees, in a department that has been dismantled, and in a County that no longer has a County Manager?
None of our commissioners are especially qualified to make those selections. The people most qualified to interview the candidates have already resigned.
But somehow, the dismantled department needs to be re-assembled.
Which brings us to the BOCC’s Thursday morning special meeting, where the three commissioners were scheduled to discuss the roller coaster ride they are on.
CALL TO ORDER THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF AUGUST 21, 2025 AT 8:30am.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussions Regarding County Manager Vacancy
Presenter: Cathleen Giovannini, County Attorney
Consideration and Designation of Supervision of County Departments
This agenda item is for the Board of County Commissioners to divide up the county departments that normally report to the county manager amongst the commissioners to supervise until such time as an interim or permanent county manager is hired.
Presenter: Cathleen Giovannini, County Attorney
Now that the BOCC has disposed of their County Manager, who is going to run the show? Especially perhaps, who is going to pick the people to run Development Services?
We note that the presenter on Thursday morning was County Attorney Cathleen Giovanini.
Ms. Giovanini was hired earlier this summer to replace former Attorney Todd Weaver, who resigned somewhat suddenly in the spring. During the hiring process, the commissioners acknowledged that Ms. Giovanini seems highly qualified to serve as County Attorney — except for her lack of experience with Land Use planning and regulations.
The very area of County government that appears to be disintegrating before our very eyes.