Roughly 50 community members showed up to Monday morning’s Coffee with the County on Monday after it circulated online as a platform to demonstrate local support of public lands.
“Join local residents who are concerned about the future of local public lands … with Montezuma County elected officials,” an email from the League of Women Voters of Montezuma County read. “We would like to get their support.”
Coffee with the County is a monthly event, and it’s a chance for locals to meet with the three Montezuma County commissioners and county administrator in a conversational way.
Attendees ask them questions directly or raise concerns at the off-camera gathering in their board room at 109 W. Main St.
There’s typically a county department head present, too, to provide an update on what’s going on in their respective department. This month, Montezuma County Fairgrounds Manager Justin McGuire joined the meeting.
McGuire’s update was a brief beginning to the 90-minute meeting that largely focused on concerns with the federal government.
McGuire reminded people to check the fairgrounds calendar, as it’s updated with the “gauntlet” of spring shows coming up, like the Four Corners Home & Garden Show the weekend of April 4 and the Cortez Gun Show, April 11 to 13.
He added that what used to be a roughly $2,000 monthly electric bill is now $400, thanks to solar panels on the indoor arena’s roof.
The rest of the meeting was open for public comments and concerns.
A community member started by asking about Commissioner Jim Candelaria and Administrator Travis Anderson’s recent trip to Washington, D.C. They wondered how the meeting went with Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd of the 3rd Congressional District.
Candelaria said they spoke about the soon-to-be-reintroduced National Conservation Area designation for the Dolores River, which Hurd supports.
In regards to protecting public lands more generally, Candelaria said that wasn’t a conversation they had but that public lands in Montezuma County are public, and it’s intended to stay that way.
To illustrate the point, Candeleria brought up the Free Land Holder Committee’s fence on U.S. Forest Service land outside Mancos, and how citizens removed it in October.
As far as drilling on public lands – a concern someone had since Hurd supports it – Candelaria said how, if there’s “valid and existing right,” people are allowed to mine, even if it’s within something like a National Conservation Area.
He went on to say how “public lands are critical to us.”
Montezuma County is 72.5% public lands, and it gets 48 cents per acre for those lands – which is “unheard-of” but still helpful, Candelaria said.
That money comes from payments in lieu of taxes, which are “federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries,” according to the state’s Department of Local Affairs website.
Secure Rural Schools money – another topic of discussion with Hurd – brings in just under $250,000 to the county annually “through timber receipts and other leasing activities within national forests,” according to the aforementioned website.
Of that money, 25% is set aside for schools, 25% for the road department and the remaining 50% is “discretionary.” Last year, that discretionary half went toward catching up on road projects, Candelaria said.
This year, it’s supposed to go toward the schools, but first, “reauthorizations need to happen” at the federal level.
“We haven’t even had conversations with the schools yet,” Candelaria said.
Candelaria said Medicaid was a topic the whole delegation discussed.
Essentially, there’s a need to mitigate bureaucracy within Medicaid: “What can we do to get the money to where it needs to be,” he said.
He added that “rural hospitals around America are a big deal” and that the county has supported our local hospital.
On the topic of bureaucracy, Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer said, “Say what you want, this system is broke.”
For example, last year, of the more than $1 million in Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits the county paid out, it spent $345,000 on labor and adhering to the many regulations to distribute it.
“There needs to be some change,” Koppenhafer said. “It shouldn’t cost that much to help people, and that’s just in this little county.”
Several times, Candelaria said the goal is to “pull back the reigns” and be more efficient overall, mitigating bureaucracy.
“We’re in the same position as a county,” Candelaria said. “We have to cut back also.”
And that might mean reduced services, he said, because there’s not enough money to pay for it all.
“At the end of the day, we only have control in our county, and that’s it,” Candelaria said.
Someone questioned whether any funding for our county is tied up or eliminated.
Administrator Anderson explained how state and federal funding works differently. State funding, he said, is continuing as normal.
As far as federal funding goes, Anderson said a takeaway he had from D.C. was “don’t jump the gun or worry” because the money will come back.
“The worst thing that’ll happen is that we might have to reapply,” he said.
Locally, there’s a $167,000 federal reimbursement for a Sheriff’s Office Taser grant they’re waiting on, which “takes time because it’s the federal government,” Anderson said.
Overall, Candelaria said that Hurd “seemed open to our issues.”
He said to “come to us,” meaning the commissioners, with specific concerns because Hurd and our other representatives are likely getting thousands of calls every day.
“We have a better chance of getting through to them,” he said. “Anyone can get to us. We’re your representatives, it’s easier for us to get contact with him.”
At the end of May, they invited Hurd to a Board to Board Meeting that happens every quarter or so between the county, its municipalities and the tribe, though it’s “hard for him to attend all the meetings he’s invited to.” At the very least, a staffer might go.
Toward the end of the meeting, the conversation switched gears and focused on large-scale solar.
The county is talking about putting a moratorium on such developments, and will have a public hearing about the moratorium at its regularly scheduled Board of County Commissioner’s meeting on April 8.
An attendee who said she works in the energy sector said she’s seen six-month moratoriums – which they’re proposing – turn into six years, which means lost revenue.
“We’re not just blocking it to block it,” said Candelaria.
He mentioned the IronWood Mill property outside Dolores, which has cost the county a lot in litigation. Years later, it’s still in the courts, and it’s still not cleaned up properly.
The county wants to avoid a similar negative experience with solar, because in 25 or 30 years when the panels are worn out, they want to ensure it’s decommissioned properly, said Koppenhafer.
There will be another conversation like this – a traveling town hall – on April 21 at the Dolores Community Center, 400 Riverside Ave., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
