Photo: The existing 10,000-square-foot shop building at Pagosa Springs High School.
At the October 14 Archuleta School District (ASD) School Board meeting, we heard the Executive Director for Build Pagosa, Will Ridlehoover, present background information about a planned ‘Regional Workforce Center’ that might be built someday adjacent to Pagosa Springs High School, on vacant ASD property. The Center might be used in the future to teach adults certain skills useful to the Pagosa Springs economy, and might also provide expanded classroom and shop space for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs currently run by PSHS, in a 10,000 square foot shop building south of the main high school building, over looking the school’s three baseball fields.
The proposed building has been a dream of Build Pagosa since at least 2017, when the organization formed as a nonprofit, and began fundraising for a future ‘Regional Workforce Center’.
Build Pagosa has thus far raised about $4.3 million towards a total construction cost of perhaps $6 million. Build Pagosa doesn’t know, yet, how much the Center will cost, because they’ve not yet done the architectural design and engineering.
Thus, the October 14 appeal to the School Board for money for architectural design and engineering, estimated at $420,000.
Mr. Ridlehoover mentioned a 2021 Memorandum of Understanding between Build Pagosa and ASD, to collaboratively work towards the creation of the new Center. You can download that MOU here. The MOU is not a contract, but rather, a guidance document that lays out the proposed responsibilities of the two parties.
We note that Build Pagosa, Inc. bears most of the financial responsibility for the project, including an obligation to reimburse ASD for all design services:
BPI Responsibilities
1. To raise the necessary funds for the Project through donations, grants, and other means…
14. To reimburse ASD for the costs paid for design and construction services as required by the contracts with all design service providers, the general contractor, and other service providers…
ASD agreed to provide the vacant land for the Project, and also to select the architect, and will do so when Build Pagosa has raised half the necessary funds for construction.
ASD Responsibilities…
14. To hire the design engineer and/or architect to provide plans and specifications… Timeline for construction drawings will be dictated by donation acquisition. District will initiate the process once 50% of the funds have been raised…
I take this to mean that ASD will hire an architect once Build Pagosa has raised more than $3 million. Which they have reportedly done. Build Pagosa agrees to then reimburse ASD for the design costs. At least, that’s how I read the MOU.
Mr. Ridlehoover:
“Archuleta School District has the vision of providing this space and augmenting its CTE capacity. You have demonstrated good faith by investing in CTE classes, and Build Pagosa has demonstrated good faith by fundraising hard and generating community engagement for this…
“After the doors swing open, we want to hire one staff member, probably some sort of program officer who coordinates the use of the building, specifically for Build Pagosa after school hours… We think there’s an agreement out there, that ASD and Build Pagosa proportionately pay for the upkeep of this building. Maintenance and custodial and things like that…”
It’s possible there is an agreement “out there” to jointly maintain the proposed facility, but I didn’t find it mentioned in the 2021 MOU… so I’m not sure where “out there” might be. Perhaps this is one of the loose ends, at this point? Among other loose ends?
As mentioned in Part One, I’ve been involved with various nonprofit corporations, in various capacities, since the early 1980s. I’ve also served on various government boards. There are many similarities between the two types of organizations. Both governments and nonprofits are designed (at least theoretically) to serve their communities first, rather than serving shareholders first.
But one big difference is found in the funding mechanisms. Governments are funded by taxes and fees, which can fluctuate somewhat but almost never disappear completely. This means that a government board can, generally speaking, focus on “expenditures” rather than worry about fundraising.
Nonprofits, on the other hand, are not supported by taxes, but rather, by donations, memberships, foundation and government grants, and fees for service. All these financial inputs are be subject to fluctuation, sometimes severe fluctuation. (We might note, for example, the Trump administration’s efforts to de-fund any nonprofits that do not actively support the administration’s political agenda.) Normally, a considerable amount of time and effort must be dedicated by a nonprofit to fundraising.
Not a task for the faint of heart.
In order to qualify as a tax-exempt organization, a nonprofit corporation must have as its mission, ‘community service’. In the case of most Pagosa Springs nonprofits — such as Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County, Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation, Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts, and Archuleta Seniors, Inc. — the specific community to be served is Archuleta County.
Whatever funding the nonprofit obtains must be used to fulfill its charitable mission. The people serving on the corporation’s board must act to fulfill the organization’s mission. None of the money acquired can be distributed to “shareholders”, as profits.
This doesn’t mean, however, that the employees of the corporation cannot be well-paid, as sometimes is the case. According to a couple of online sources, Steven J.Corwin is the highest paid CEO of a nonprofit corporation, New York Presbyterian Hospital, earning $12.4 million a year.
It appears from the Build Pagosa website that the organization has two paid employees.
Are they well-paid?
Some nonprofits — but not all — post their financial information on their websites, so potential donors can determine the financial condition of the organization.
I was not able to locate any financial information about Build Pagosa on their website. As far as I know, the ASD School Board was not presented any detailed financial information at their October 14 meeting.
And there are obviously some loose ends in the non-contractual agreement between Build Pagosa and ASD, concerning who will pay for what.
But we cannot doubt that a commitment of, say, $400,000 by ASD, towards the Regional Workforce Center would help Build Pagosa raise the remaining money needed to break ground on the project…