Paonia will forfeit Verkada camera contract
The Paonia Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to dismantle the Verkada security camera system that the previous board had embraced just months earlier. According to the High Country Spotlight, the board discussed the situation at length before reaching a decision to end the contract with Mitchell and Company, which sold the Verkada system to the town last summer. The contract was for three years and cost $53,000. Trustees agreed that the termination should be completed within 30 days. The mayor confirmed that the town will lose the money spent on the contract, but the cameras and other hardware may be sold to recoup some of it. The camera to monitor the vote box at the front of Paonia Town Hall belongs to the county and will not be removed.
Bears active in the Paonia area
In other news out of Paonia, the town is notifying residents that bear activity has been spotted in the area. Residents are encouraged to stay alert and take steps to reduce attractants around homes, yards, and neighborhoods. The town is asking residents to keep the community and wildlife safe by putting trash out only on the day of pickup by 8:00 AM, storing garbage in a sturdy building, bringing pet food indoors, picking ripe fruit and removing fallen fruit from the ground, securing compost piles, and never feeding wildlife.
Montrose Veterans Memorial breaks ground
And in Montrose, the long-awaited veterans memorial broke ground on Friday. The Montrose Free Press reports that the memorial was originally to be sited in Cerise Park, but now will rise on a bit of land just west of the Montrose Pavilion, near the Montrose Botanic Gardens. The planned memorial is the result of partnerships between the Veterans Memorial Coalition, the City, local businesses, the Colorado National Guard, and hundreds of donors. When complete, the memorial will have informational panels, bricks honoring individual military members, and recognition of all branches of services.
Mushrooms as a sustainable food source
Mushrooms present a nutritious, sustainable food source in a warming world. But an expert who recently visited Carbondale says Americans have only scratched the surface of edible fungi’s potential. Aspen Public Radio’s Michael Fanelli has more.
EMS in the rural West End of Montrose County
As part of our continuing coverage of EMS services on the Western Slope, we next head to the West End of Montrose County. The Nucla-Naturita EMS Department has a 940 square-mile coverage area. The small, mostly volunteer EMS agency serves the communities of Nulca, Naturita, Paradox, and others in the West End. The area has a population of around 2,000 residents and the nearest hospital is two hours away in Montrose. For KVNF, Laura Palmisano interviews Nucla-Naturita Chief of EMS Jeff Stephens. He discusses the difficulties the rural and remote EMS agency faces.
