Cortez Journal

Dolores board dodges library issue

Jan. 17, 2001

By Janelle Holden
journal staff writer

Although Dolores Town Hall was packed with people on Monday night, the town board heard from few of the gathered citizens, and moved most of its agenda items to its next workshop.

One of the most contentious items on the agenda, a request to help the Dolores Library District plan the library’s future, was immediately moved to workshop without any discussion. Library-board representative Wayne Davis read a letter from Shawna Valdez, the president of the library board, which asked the board to consider three options.

The options include continuing with the original plans for expanding and renovating the library and town hall by asking the voters to reconsider a 1.8-mill-levy increase this November; scaling the planned expansion down and staying in the town hall, or moving the library.

The mill-levy question failed by only 15 votes in November.

The matter was discussed at length with the town board at last week’s workshop. Several members of the board were hesitant to commit their support to the plan again. Last summer the town board unanimously voted to donate $100,000 to the project if it passed.

The town did make a decision on where to put the new Joe Rowell Park bathroom. It will be placed near the existing park Port-a-Potty, on the east side of the main parking lot. The board also decided to put a storage building on Second Street, instead of next to the bathroom.

"I just don’t think the maintenance shed should be within sight of the highway at all," explained board member Tazewell Vass, who made the motion.

The bathroom will include three women’s stalls and one men’s stall with urinals, but further details will be worked out later. The town hopes to finish the handicapped-accessible bathroom to coincide with the new park playground.

Other items that were moved to workshop included:

• CenturyTel’s suggestion that the town and the phone company could share the costs of building new cable and water lines to the top of the mesa.

• Building interpretive signs for Dolores historic landmarks like McPhee Reservoir and the Galloping Goose.

• An agreement between the school district and the town to let the school use Joe Rowell Park. The board wanted the school district to submit a complete list of activities and dates that the school would need to use the park.

"We know that spring baseball will be included, but we don’t know what else will be included," said board member Val Truelsen.

Another concern was a $4,000 school-district cap on contributing to the maintenance and upkeep for the park.

"I’m not sure whether that will cover it," said Mayor Jim Moore.

 

Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal. All rights reserved.
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