Noticias

• Dan Covualt Runs for San Miguel County Sheriff
• Telluride Zhuzhes Housing Policies and Guidelines
• Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

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Dan Covualt Runs for San Miguel County Sheriff

Dan Covault has been working in law enforcement in San Miguel County since 2000.

He started at the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office. He left to work at the Mountain Village Police Department for a number of years before returning to San Miguel County.

In 2025, the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners appointed Covault to the position of San Miguel County sheriff following former Sheriff Bill Masters’ retirement.

Covault is now running for San Miguel County sheriff as an independent. He spoke with KOTO’s Julia Caulfield.

Julia Caulfield (JC): Why are you running for sheriff?

Dan Covault (DC): I’ve been in law enforcement for just over 26 years. All of that has been in San Miguel County, with the exception of a little bit of work with the Olathe PD at the very beginning of my career. I have been with the sheriff’s office for about 21 years, and I did a five-year piece with the Mountain Village Police Department. So I have a pretty long history in the county. My first few years here, I lived in Montrose and commuted back and forth, but then I moved over here in early 2005. So I’ve got about 21 years as a resident of San Miguel County. Not just as a peacekeeper, but as a member of the community here as well.

That has given me the opportunity over the years to see what has worked and what hasn’t. Areas that I have felt we could possibly improve on or expand. I’ve been able to work with the demographics of Mountain Village and Telluride as well as that of Wrights Mesa and the Egnar area. It’s truly four different lifestyles, if you will. So being able to learn to relate to all those people, work with them, accommodate their needs, that’s all extremely important to the Office of Sheriff.

JC: You mentioned that all of these communities are different. They have different needs. With that in mind, What do you think policing in San Miguel County should look like?

DC: First and foremost, it needs to be impartial. It’s quite frankly, one of the reasons I’m an independent. Impartiality is extremely big for peacekeeping services, especially in these smaller areas. The concept of anonymous policing is something you will see in the metropolitan areas. You may deal with a person today and never see that person again in the rest of your life. Our world isn’t that way. In our small rural communities, Mountain Village and Telluride combined, they’re pretty small, pretty rural.

The victim of today’s crime might be tomorrow’s suspect. How you treat and interact with those people are going to be a deciding factor in how each of those endeavors turns out. If that person was a suspect before they were the victim, and they felt like they weren’t treated fairly or appropriately, then they’re not going to be a cooperative victim, and vice versa. If you treated someone well as a victim, and then they’re a suspect in something, then they’re far more likely to be amicable, assist possibly. You never know a person’s own thought process, but in my career, it has served me well to treat everyone differently as if I would treat my grandmother. That’s what I tell my deputies is, would you do that with your grandmother? If you wouldn’t, then you’re probably off base here a little bit.

JC: You mentioned you’re running as an independent in this race. Why did you make that choice?

DC: When I was in the academy, one of the things that was taught when we’re learning about the branches of government – the things most of us should have learned in high school, but they reiterate in the academy – when our Supreme Court justices are seated they’re supposed to give up party affiliation because they are supposed to be the ultimate in impartiality. It kind of dawned on me that peacekeeping and law enforcement is the very front line of the judicial system. Why should we have to wait until we reach the U.S. Supreme Court to have ultimate impartiality? In my mind, being an independent is the forefront of being impartial because I don’t fall into all of the party politics. I’m here for everyone, no matter what their political stance or views are. We are to be the impartial forefront to the judicial system.

JC: Why do you think you’re the right person for the job?

DC: I have a great working relationship with our county commissioners, county managers, our HR department. We are able to sit down and communicate, say, ‘here’s our problem. How do we best fix this problem? Where is the compromise? Because I really need this. So how do we come to a compromise to get what I really need, but still not overburden our budget or our taxpayers?’

It also comes down to the time I have spent with our employees here. We have many, many employees here with more than 10 or 15 years of experience. With our combined knowledge, we are able to implement those values, those philosophies down to our newer people that may just be coming into the job. That’s very difficult to do without that many people with that many years of experience. When you’re all on the same page, it makes it that much easier. That’s something that I already possess with the staff as it currently exists.

JC: When you think into the future of law enforcement in San Miguel County, what do you hope that that looks like under your tenure should you be elected?

DC: For me, what I’d like to see is stabilization. What I mean by that is with all of the current political turmoil in the United States, this is a very uncertain career. I would like to see our office be a part of the bigger things taking place at the state to help bring some of that calmness or some of that solidity to our ranks here. So people aren’t wondering every day if they’re going to have a job or if legislation is going to change to the point they don’t want this job. I would like to see our agency become a forefront for the smaller rural agencies to say, ‘look what San Miguel County is doing. Can we do that too?’

I think in the long term, I want to become the agency that other rural agencies can look at and emulate.

Dan Covault is an independent candidate for San Miguel County Sheriff.

Lane Masters has also announced his candidacy, running as a democrat. You can find an interview with Masters at koto.org.

The candidates will likely face each other in the general election on Nov. 3.

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Telluride Zhuzhes Housing Policies and Guidelines

The Town of Telluride is continuing to zhuzh its affordable housing policies for town-owned rental properties and shift guidelines for deed-restricted ownership units.

In 2024, the town adopted the housing policies with the goal of creating a set of policies that would be consistent and clear across all the projects — for both tenants and staff — with the mission to “support the local residents who make up our workforce with safe, well-maintained, and sustainable housing opportunities.”

The policies apply to residents living in town-owned rental properties — those are Shandoka, Virginia Placer, Sunnyside, Voodoo and the Boardinghouse.

Following feedback from the community, this week the town amended the policies to exclude income earned by minors from household income used to determine rent.

“We heard a public comment at the last meeting that income by minors was included in household income. That is true. Income is household income; it does not exclude any income of minors,” said Telluride Assistant Town Attorney Allie Slaton, speaking at Telluride Town Council on Tuesday.

“So right now, if there’s a minor that’s earing $500, $10,000, whatever it might be. That would count towards calculating that household’s tier for purposes of rent year over year, or qualifying for a purchase opportunity of a deed-restricted housing unit,” Slaton said.

At that meeting, Town Council expressed an interest in eliminating that requirement so the income of young people under 18 doesn’t have to go toward rent. Councilmember Elena Levin also advocated to have minor income excluded from the percentage of income required to be earned in the region — currently 75% of a household’s income must be made within the Telluride R-1 School District.

“What if a high schooler is at a summer camp in Fort Collins for the summer. I don’t think should count towards their earned income,” Levin said.

The shift is a no-brainer for council, and Mayor Teddy Errico.

“It’s a great start. It shows we’re listening and doing the right thing,” Errico said.

At the same time, the town also voted to reduce the number of work hours required to qualify for housing in 2026 due to the closure of the ski resort in December and January.

Telluride Community Services Director DeLanie Tapson said it’s a blanket statement across town-owned properties.

“For a reduction for 2026, as people come in for renewals, from 1,400 hours to 1,200 hours,” Tapson said.

Tapson noted the housing department already has discretion to allow a lower number of hours on a case-by-case basis. This change would eliminate the housing department and tenant from even needing to have a conversation.

“If somebody comes in with only 800 hours, we would schedule an appointment with them to go over why and work through that with them, and continue to utilize our discretion,” Tapson said.

Council was once again unanimously on board, Levin said.

“I think sets a standard that acknowledges the lack of work that happened this winter and alleviates some fear that some people might have around not getting those hours. Then anything beyond what we decide today can still be approved by staff,” Levin said.

Town Council unanimously voted to exclude minor income from household income, in addition to lowering the required work hours for 2026 due to the resort closure.

Town Council plans to address more comprehensive changes to the guidelines and policies next year.

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Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

It’s Wednesday and time for another installment of Cat Movie Fisher, a segment where Telluride High School’s Risho Unda chats with members of the community about their favorite movies.

This week, he’s talking with Telluride Intermediate School Principal Zoe Gillet.

Story beings at 11:10.

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Cardboard Creativity Sparkles At Sled Derby

Picture a sled in your mind’s eye — you may see the steel runners of a bobsled, or a colorful plastic bottom heading down Firecracker Hill.

But head up to the NASTAR hill this weekend and sleds — for as far as you can see — will be of cardboard.

It’s the One-to-One Mentoring Cardboard Sled Derby.

Marisa Marshalka with One-to-One Mentoring caught up with some young people making their sleds for this year’s derby.

“What we want to do is make really glittery so whenever we sled down it will shoot glitter,” said Juniper and Delilah. The participants are creating a sled for Team Glitter and Sparkle.

“We thought of this idea to make boosters that shoot out fire so we would win, but we’d glue glitter onto them, so when the boosters went, glitter would fly,” they said.

One-to-One is San Miguel County’s youth mentoring program, pairing adults with youth in the community to enjoy the outdoors, support in school and be a positive adult in a youth’s life.

The cardboard sled derby gives pairs the opportunity to let their imagination fly and build the fastest, wackiest and most creative cardboard sleds that then fly down the hill.

There are prizes for creativity and the top three finishers.

The Cardboard Sled Derby will take place at the NASTAR Race Hill on Saturday, March 21. Check-in and sled inspection starts at 9 a.m., with the race at 10:15 a.m. Pre-registration is required and available at onetoonetelluride.org.

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Colorado Ballot Measure Targets Transgender Athlete Participation

Colorado voters will weigh in on a ballot measure in November that would block schools from letting transgender students play on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.

Under the measure, schools and athletic associations would have to designate teams as male, female or coed. It would prohibit boys from playing on female teams and girls from playing on male teams. It also defines male and female based on a person’s “biological reproductive system.”

The measure is backed by anti-LGBTQ+ political advocacy group Protect Kids Colorado. It runs counter to recent trends in the state, which has expanded protections for transgender students over the past few years.

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Snowpack at Historic Lows, But Runoff Could Be Efficient

Snowpack is historically low across the Upper Colorado River Basin.

At Idarado, SNOTEL monitoring stations are recording a snow-water equivalent of 54% of median.

Even though that’s bad news for spring runoff, forecasters say much of the basin will likely see an efficient runoff. That’s the amount of water that makes it into rivers and streams instead of being absorbed into soil or lost to evaporation.

Seth Arens, a hydrologist with the Western Water Assessment, says that’s due to rain last fall that increased soil moisture.

“That’s a good thing that the soils are wet. So the meager snowpack that we do have on the ground, a higher proportion of that will make it into the streams than in many other years that we’ve seen over the past five, six years where it’s been really, really dry going into the snowpack season,” Arens said.

Arens added that there’s not as much data for snow cover as there is for snowpack, but based on historical satellite data, the total area in the region covered in snow is the lowest it’s been in years.

He said a big factor is a lack of snow at low to mid elevations, between 4,000 and 7,000 feet.

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ICE Holding Facility in Glenwood Faces Scrutiny Over Detention Times

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have violated federal policy — and its city permit — by detaining people too long at its holding facility in Glenwood Springs.

Aspen Public Radio and Aspen Journalism’s Eleanor Bennett reports this could be grounds for the city to revoke the permit.

Bennett reports ICE’s smaller holding facilities have come under scrutiny over the past year as detention lengths rise and concerns about conditions continue.

Sally Boughton, one of several concerned residents who spoke at a recent Glenwood City Council meeting, said, “The people being treated so inhumanely are our neighbors, our friends, our family, members of our community. This is a blight on our community, and it is one that the public has been largely unaware of.”

Most short-term holding rooms like Glenwood’s don’t have beds and aren’t meant for overnight stays. Until recently, ICE was not supposed to keep people there longer than 12 hours. The agency changed its policy in June, increasing this to 72 hours.

But at least eight people were held for longer than allowed at the Glenwood facility in May, before the policy change. The longest detainment was 16 hours, according to Aspen Journalism’s analysis of ICE detention data released last year.

Karl Hanlon, Glenwood’s attorney who also provides legal counsel to Aspen Public Radio, said if the city confirms the data, the planning and zoning commission will likely hold a hearing to reconsider the special use permit it approved for the ICE facility in 2003.

“It would be, at that point, a binary decision for them to revoke or not revoke,” Hanlon said.

The city is expected to give an update at its council meeting Thursday.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which oversees ICE’s Glenwood lease, did not directly respond to the allegation that ICE violated the conditions of its permit.

ICE said it cannot verify the accuracy of the detention data shared by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley. The agency also said its holding facilities conform to national detention standards and are inspected regularly.