Paonia Mayor Paige Smith resigns
Paonia Mayor Paige Smith resigned yesterday, following months of drama surrounding the town’s government and several other resignations. The town’s official Facebook page posted Smith’s letter online. It states, “I’ve taken a hard look at the ongoing effort to collect enough signatures to validate the petition to recall me as Mayor. This effort is creating an undercurrent of negativity and divisiveness undermining the true value of what the Town staff, elected officials and the Town’s outgoing Administer have accomplished. This is destructive and is not in the best interest of our Town.” The letter continues to defend the work of outgoing town administrator Stephen Wynn, who resigned last month after receiving a volley of negative feedback from residents about the installation of security cameras in the town. Smith concluded the letter by asking for support for Interim Town Administrator, Greg Sund, and all of the staff. She also said that though she is stepping aside, she is not planning to disengage.
Delta Egyptian Theater installs new projector
In some fun community news, the Delta Egyptian Theater announced that it installed its new laser projector. The theater’s previous projector broke in May, and the nonprofit was able to crowdsource tens of thousands of dollars for a new one. A social media post states that “After two long months, countless hours of work, an incredible amount of community support, and one absolutely amazing installer, our brand-new laser projector is officially installed and calibrated.” Paperwork needs to be squared away with film studios, but as soon as that’s complete, the theater will be back in business.
Montrose to get three new hotels
And down in Montrose, a trio of new hotels has been slated for the Colorado Outdoors complex. The Montrose Daily Press reports that Lamont Companies built and opened the first hotel in the complex, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott. Lamont plans to build a Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton nearby. The hotel is anticipated to break ground prior to October of 2026. Lamont has also secured the rights to build a Marriott SpringHill Suites and a Home2 Suites by Hilton. Those hotels will only come to fruition if the first two prove to be successful. But Colorado Outdoors developer David Dragoo is hopeful, telling the Daily Press that the Fairfield in is exceeding expectations.
The Hampton Inn & Suites has received a loan from the Montrose Urban Renewal Authority, known as MURA. At a meeting on July 9, Montrose Council Member Dave Frank expressed his excitement for the additional hotels, and stated that one successful hotel gives confidence that the loans would be paid back.
Montrose to initiate watershed collaboration
The Montrose Board of County Commissioners is proactively seeking to protect Western Slope watersheds. Commissioner Hansen announced plans to convene a regional group of water providers, spanning across counties, to address watershed health and wildfire mitigation. She said in this week's meeting, “We want to have maybe even develop a more robust group that has some funding associated with it so that we can start looking at watershed health, because the watershed health, especially with all these fires going on, we're at risk.”
Hansen is hoping that pooling resources will attract federal funding. “Ute Water has obligated $100,000 to the effort, and so we're kind of hoping that by pooling our resources," she said. "That gives us some leverage to go to the federal government and say, hey, we're willing to put this up.”
Hansen said the collaboration is top-of-mind for the board, saying, "if we can't get clean water here, if we're at risk, then there's a lot more at risk than just whatever else."
She also claimed that other areas have been able to secure significant federal funding for similar work, but that she feels the Western Slope has not been seen as favorably.
Commissioner Kirsten Copeland will oversee the project.
Conflicts continue between state law and ICE activity
A Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement from sharing personal identifying information with ICE unless there's a warrant or subpoena.
But immigration advocates say the law has not stopped people across the state from being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after spending time in local jails.
For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, K-O-T-O's Julia Caulfield reports on one recent case in southwest Colorado.
