In an April 24 interview with The SUN, Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) District Engineer/Manager Justin Ramsey explained that an inquiry into the compliance of the Weber family with its lease on Running Iron Ranch resulted in the district finding no violations of the lease.
In its April 18 issue, The SUN published an article reporting on sales of road gravel and shot rock to Archuleta County by Weber Sand and Gravel disclosed in the county accounts payable and the potential that these sales represented violations of the lease for Running Iron Ranch that the Weber family holds with PAWSD and the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD).
The 2023 lease for the property states, among other things, that gravel mined at the property may only be sold to PAWSD or A&M Construction and Excavation, a construction company owned by the Weber family.
A potential 2024 lease is still under negotiation, PAWSD Business Manager Aaron Burns explains in a communication to The SUN.
Weber Sand and Gravel, which is represented by Donald Andrew “Andy” Weber, did not reply to a request for comment for the April 18 article.
At its April 18 meeting, the PAWSD Board of Directors directed staff to investigate if any violations of lease had occurred.
Ramsey explained that he contacted Weber about if he is selling material from the pit to buyers not allowed under the lease and Weber stated he is not.
In an interview with The SUN, Archuleta County Public Works Director Mike Torres explained that, although the material sold to the county by Weber Sand and Gravel in the fall of 2023 was listed in the December 2023 county accounts payable as “road gravel,” it was actually shot rock, the same material the county purchased in the spring of 2024 and that was listed in the March county accounts payable.
In an April 19 interview, Weber explained that the shot rock sold to Archuleta County by Weber Sand and Gravel was not sourced from Running Iron Ranch and thus did not violate the terms of the lease.
He stated that it was obtained from a variety of excavation jobs, including a 2014 job installing new sewer lines for PAWSD and “a few house project sites.”
He added that the shot rock was temporarily located at Running Iron Ranch, but that PAWSD asked it to be removed from the site a year ago and it was stored at another location when the county purchased it.
Weber explained that shot rock is primarily composed of sandstone and that the pit at Running Iron Ranch does not produce this type of rock.
Torres corroborated Weber’s account, stating that the rock was picked up from another location and that no county trucks entered Running Iron Ranch to obtain material for county projects.
He explained that the shot rock purchases in the fall of 2023 were connected to the repair of the liner for cell 4A in the county landfill, while the purchases in the spring of 2024 were for culvert repairs on North Pagosa Boulevard.
He stated that he initially contacted Weber to obtain shot rock in a “last-ditch effort” as a highly specific material was needed for the repair of the leachate lateral for the cell and none of the other gravel suppliers Torres contacted had the material.
Torres added that he reached out to Weber because his company was listed as a supplier of material for the leachate lateral when the cell was initially constructed.
“He really did help the county out, the whole county as a whole, not just Archuleta County,” Torres said. “If it wasn’t for him having that rock, that repair wouldn’t have been able to get done.”
josh@pagosasun.com
