Sewer repairs, playground in Dolores budget for 2002

Sewer repairs, playground in Dolores budget for 2002

December 15, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Like every other area municipality, Dolores had to tighten its 2002 budget, but the town board found room for needed capital-improvement projects and donations to local non-profits.

And as an added bonus, the town received a $100,000 grant this week for a new town playground.

"We wish we could give what everybody asked for, but we just don’t have the money," said Mayor Pro Tem Richard Teel at Monday’s town-board meeting.

The Dolores Town Board approved a general-fund budget of $491,650 on Monday, an increase of over $45,000 from last year’s $446,473 budget.

Repairing the town’s sewer lines took a chunk out of the budget. The town received a $300,000 state energy-impact grant to help complete repairs, but it will have to chip in $150,000 as well.

This year the town also gave $27,400 to community non-profit organizations; $42,000 was requested.

The town is also hoping to get a grant to update the water plant, and will chip in more than $300,000 in mostly in-kind services for that project.

A new $150,000 playground in Joe Rowell Park will cost the town $20,000. Great Outdoors Colorado awarded the Ron Kotarski Jr. Memorial Community Playground a $100,000 grant on Wednesday.

The proposed 15,000-square-foot playground complex will include tunnels, mazes, an assortment of slides, a climbing wall, bridges, and various other fun and educational equipment. It meets the requirements of the American Disability Association and will include some town history.

"Finally, we will have a playground that will not only be an asset to our parks, our children, and our community members, but may also be a potential economic gain. These types of playgrounds draw people into your community, from all over," said Wendy Mimiaga, the grant-writer.

Leathers and Associates, from Rochester, New York, put together a design for the playground based on the recommendations of Dolores children and town residents.

The company designed the Imagination Station in Telluride, and has designed playgrounds all over the world, including playgrounds in Gallup, Albuquerque, and Denver.

In order to get the grant, the town had to donate both cash and in-kind services. The grant partner, the Ron Kotarski Jr. Memorial fund, must raise $30,000 to contribute to the playground.

Fundraising ventures include selling engraved pickets for the fence around the playground, engraved bricks for the entryway, and children’s hand-print tiles for the front entry wall of the playground.

Construction will begin May 8 and finish by May 12, and Mimiaga hopes all citizens take part in the community-built playground.

"We need helping hands from the youngest child to the oldest senior citizen."

Other town projects include building restrooms and repairing the pavilion roof at Joe Rowell Park, improving Dolores River habitat and building trails from a Fishing is Fun grant, and building a new dog park near the water dock.