During a busy work session before the Tuesday meeting, the Cortez City Council agreed to move toward providing more benefits to volunteer members of town boards.
The discussion was continued from the June 27 meeting, when City Manager Shane Hale suggested giving employee discounts on city services to people in volunteer positions. Council members were unable to agree at first about how to implement such a discount, but on Tuesday they settled on a resolution to be brought to a vote at a later meeting.
Other topics discussed during the workshop included possible limitations on Veach Street parking and a request for matching funds for the construction of a new Bridge Emergency Shelter.
Hale recommended giving all city volunteers an annual gift certificate that could be applied to the Conquistador Golf Course, the Cortez Recreation Center or the outdoor pool. He emphasized that the certificate would only be good for a certain amount of time and would not be transferable to a nonvolunteer.
Most council members agreed, but they did have some concerns about who would count as a “volunteer.” Most of the city’s volunteer jobs are leadership positions on boards and commissions, including the council.
“It looks awful cozy if we implement this now, and we all get it,” Mayor Pro Tem Ty Keel said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking that kind of benefit.”
Board member Bob Archibeque said he didn’t believe city council members should count as volunteers, since they’re paid to participate in meetings. The rest of the board agreed. They also decided to give each gift certificate a value of $75. Hale said he would draft a resolution to that effect.
“You’ll see it in two weeks,” he told council members.
Laurie Knutson, executive director of the Bridge Emergency Shelter, gave a presentation to the council earlier in the workshop, asking the city to absorb $20,000 of the shelter’s first water, sewer and building permit fees for its new location on North Park Street. She has estimated the construction will cost a total of $2 million. So far, the shelter has raised about $65,000 in donations and grants, and they are in the process of applying for another grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.
“This is only a good thing for the city,” Knutson said.
Several board members said they would be favorable to the idea, but they didn’t give Knutson a final answer.
The council also continued their discussion on long-range planning from the previous workshop. Hale named a few more possible goals for the next few months, such as finding a way to pump water to the old Montezuma-Cortez High School property, where the city wants to build a park.
A more immediate goal was brought before the council by Public Works Director Phil Johnson, who said some business owners on Veach Street had requested that some of the spots in the public parking lot there be changed to two-hour parking. He said the LivWell marijuana dispensary, in particular, was running out of space for employee parking. City attorney Mike Green confirmed the city would need to pass a resolution in order to restrict parking in the area. Hale and Johnson agreed to do more research and bring a resolution before the council at a later meeting.
