On June 27, the Pagosa Springs Town Council held a work session to review its goals and objectives.
The purpose of the session was for the council to hear updates from town staff on each of its major goals and objectives for the 2023-2024 season and then for the council to give staff some direction on these priorities for further action, explained Mayor Shari Pierce.
Town staff could then “use this [information] to build the budget for this year,” she said, adding that a working group consisting of Pierce, council member Leonard Martinez, Public Works Director Karl Johnson and Town Manager David Harris is moving forward on hiring a firm to assist in creating a “strategic plan that will help guide us for next year and the years after.”
The council’s stated top three priorities are:
• The Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District: “Develop a long-term strategy to provide essential sanitation collection and treatment services that are financially viable, future-oriented, and maximize the existing assets and partnerships in a community of our size with limited resources.”
• Staffing: “Ensure adequate staffing levels and appropriate employee benefit packages to carry out core services and desired programs for the community.”
• Workforce housing: “Support private sector and community organizations’ efforts to provide housing of all types to ensure housing choices for residents.”
Sanitation district
On the top issue, the town’s sanitation district, Pierce turned the floor over to Johnson to “see where we are” on the issue “and where we might need to go,” she said.
Johnson explained that, since his last update to the council, the district has purchased a camera system to help detect where struggling and failing pipes exist, and that staff has completed the inspections of “all known category fives,” adding, “we are about half way through all the category four inspections.”
“With what we’ve learned … we’ve been working on a tentative budget to start this [pipe] replacement project,” Johnson said, adding that staff would bring the potential budget for the project in front of the council at its July 2 meeting.
He said that “once we figure out what direction we want to go,” staff could go out to bid for potential engineers and contractor services to complete the pipe replacement project.
He also noted that town’s sanitation district is in talks with both the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) and the state of Colorado to bring the PAWSD-run Vista Wastewater Treatment Plant into compliance with state environmental regulations, particularly Regulation 85, which limits the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen allowed in a plant’s effluent.
Since the town’s current system sends its wastewater nearly 7 miles uphill, using a series of pump stations, to the PAWSD-run Vista Plant, the town would be responsible for 25 percent of any upgrade costs to bring the plant into compliance with state regulations.
Johnson explained that he’s hoping the project to complete the required upgrades would come in around $10 million, “so our portion would be about $2.5 million of that upgrade.”
Council member Gary Williams asked if spending money to upgrade the Vista plant would be “a waste of money” if the town ultimately decides to build a new plant.
Johnson replied, “Not necessarily,” anticipating that even if a new plant was built, the old Vista plant would still likely remain online and therefore would need to be in compliance with state regulations.
“I thought we were moving towards one big plant, not keeping the other one open, which is why I was asking,” Williams said.
Johnson replied, “I mean, it’s on the table. It’s not off the table that it’s gonna close or stay open. It’s just part of the discussion.”
Harris added, “I think the Vista plant is woefully overdue for an upgrade to meet Regulation 85. We should have done it before now.”
Harris also reminded the council of the memorandum of understanding approved by both the town and PAWSD.
“That agreement outlines the goal to eventually find a way for us to consolidate the two systems into one,” he said.
He added, “Will the town take the lead on that? Will it become PAWSD? We don’t know just yet, and I think we’re not going to fully know until we work through and fix our system first.”
To the suggestion that the town should consider “getting out of the sanitation business,” offered by council member Matt DeGuise, Pierce replied, “I think we just have to consider the pros and cons and as we go down this path of upgrading our system. We continue to watch out for those pros and cons. I don’t think it’s something we’re going to decide today.”
“I’m just trying to understand how we might close a plant that we just spent millions of dollars on and build our own,” council member Brooks Lindner said.
He asked if there was any other path, “where we don’t spend that money and instead we spend it on building a new plant.”
Johnson replied that the Vista plant upgrades would need to happen in order for PAWSD “to be able to renew their discharge permit,” and this would be needed to stay functioning while a new plant is being built, if that’s the ultimate direction the two entities take.
He noted that the town is currently seeking more grant funding for its share of the Vista upgrade costs, on top of some of the grants it has already received.
Staffing
On the issue of staffing, both Harris and Town Clerk April Hessman presented the issue and cited the progress that the town has made on the issue over the last year.
“A lot of departments, as you know, have successfully filled a lot of their positions,” Harris said.
However, he noted that two positions in the Community Development Department, both the planning manager and senior planner positions, are still not filled.
Harris explained the town is working on using a recruitment services firm to assist in soliciting qualified candidates to fill these positions.
“One thing that we must consider as we move forward is continuing to make sure that we’re a competitive employer … one thing we’re gonna be looking at is the retirement systems. That’s one thing financially we can do that will help employees long-term and would help the recruitment process,” he said.
Hessman said that the town has been “looking at different options for our employees.”
She noted that, based on data from surveys and exit interviews, staff has been asking, “How can we encourage you to stay? How can we retain you? How can we recruit you?”
She said that a lot of employees are “looking for flexible schedules, the possibility to work part-time at home … they moved here to the mountains and want to be outside … so we did start keeping track of how many people are actually walk-ins to our facility.”
She noted that, on Fridays, “we get very few people, maybe between six to eight people, who walk in and some of these are just to use the bathroom,” mentioning the possibility of moving to a four-day work week Monday through Thursday.
Harris added that a four-day work week could be a “nice benefit to offer” and would be “little to no cost to our budget,” but would need the council’s approval, even if done as a trial period.
Hessman thanked the council for approving more competitive benefits and increasing staff salaries in the budget, citing the changes as “a huge reason that we now have almost full staffing.”
Williams said, “I very much like the idea of a four-day work week.”
Some at the session suggested that a four-day work week at 10 hours a day should be left to each department head to decide if that’s feasible for that particular department. Others wanted to make sure that all essential services would still be met and available, even if it’s on a Friday.
Community Development Director James Dickhoff chimed in that some employees in his department would not want to work 10-hour days and would rather do eight-hour days, five days a week.
He added, “It should be up to the department heads, because ultimately we want to make sure we are providing a service level that our constituents expect.
“And, I know, it’s aggravating to me, too, that if Friday is the only time I can go get my license plate, and they’re closed, that’s a little aggravating. And I know a lot of people who have Friday afternoons off, because their kids get off early and that’s a good time they can actually do some errands.
“There’s just some details that need to be ironed out about how all that works.”
Workforce housing
Dickhoff then discussed the issue of workforce housing.
He informed the council that the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) awarded the town a $200,000 grant to help fund a multi-jurisdictional housing coordinator for two years.
Staff is currently working on an intergovernmental agreement between the town, Archuleta County and the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC) to formalize financial and management roles and responsibilities of the new position, Dickhoff explained.
He added that the location of the office space for the new position was still being worked out, but it would probably be at Town Hall or at the PSCDC office.
Williams asked what the person who would fill this position would “actually do.”
Dickhoff explained that the person would be “the first point of contact for affordable housing projects, working with developers, helping them through the processes that they gotta go through, whether if it’s in the county or within the town.”
Part of the job description would also be to “expedite” workforce housing projects in a way that neither the town nor the county can do while also looking for grants and understanding how to navigate both land use and development codes, he said.
Pierce said that she “would love” to see the position housed at Town Hall.
“We have the space” as well as staff that “could possibly lend them some help,” she said.
The town’s Enclave middle-income housing development project — 58 apartment units and 12 ownership townhomes — is still waiting for the right Proposition 123 funding to help kick start the project, Dickhoff told the council.
He mentioned that the council is seeking a separate work session to deal entirely with this project and that he’s “prepared to do that at any time.”
He said, “I’ve certainly had other developers who are interested in that property if we are not going to work with the folks we have a contract with.”
The town currently has a contract with Texas-based developer Servitas for the Enclave development.
He added that there may be a way “to modify the direction we provide to Servitas.”
Pierce asked if the council wants its July work session to be dedicated to this issue, with the council agreeing to take up the issue at the next session.
It was decided to not invite Servitas to the work session, which will be held July 25.
Dickhoff added he continues conversations with multiple workforce housing developers and is currently working with a developer who intends to build 72 middle-income apartments, serving 80 percent to 120 percent of area median income, and likely deed restricted for a minimum of 30 years.
He noted the developer would be interested in the Goodman property or even the Enclave, but that they are currently looking at the property just east of the medical center.
He mentioned that he is also working with “a current motel” owner to renovate and convert the space into long-term rental units.
derek@pagosasun.com
