TOP STORY: A citizen’s veto referendum petition regarding Paonia’s new short-term rental ordinance led the town council, by a vote of (3-2), to send the controversial ordinance to the voters this spring in a special election. According to a report by Thomas Wills, April 1st was chosen because the County Clerk's office will also be coordinating a City of Delta question at that time. Paonia will share election costs with Delta.
Wills reported that while a number of short-term rental owners gave well-reasoned arguments for an immediate repeal, the majority of trustees felt that most citizen input heard over the past year supported the ordinances restrictions. In his report, Wills noted that while all trustees present seemed open to reexamining the ordinance and tweaking it for fairness and practicality, that was not a choice. The citizen’s petition offered only two choices: to repeal or set an election.
LOCAL NEWS: KVNF's Brody Wilson reports on two local stories. First, two important health foundations serving the Montrose community are merging and the United States Department of Agriculture announced a new loan program that could be of benefit to one of Montrose's largest employers.
FEATURE: The Mountain West News Bureau's Yvette Fernandez report on how undocumented immigrants are a big part of the economy. An estimated 813,000 of them have a household income of roughly $26.8 billion dollars – and pay billions more in state and federal taxes.
KVNF FARM FRIDAY: USDA's Rod Bain and\ USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey talk about how the Climate Prediction Center earlier this month announced a La Nina advisory, and weather impacts are already being felt across the nation.
Over 300 participants, keynote speakers and breakout sessions leaders will descend on Montrose next Friday and Saturday for the annual Western Colorado Soil Health, Food and Farm Forum. The two day event will be held at the Montrose Pavilion. KVNF’s Farm Friday team will be at this year’s event to join in the learning. In person tickets are sold out but virtual tickets are still available at soilfoodfarm.org.