Noticias

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Telluride Considers Council Attendance

The Town of Telluride is considering implementing an attendance policy for Town Council members.

Currently, there is no policy outlining how many meetings a council member can miss before facing consequences. According to Telluride Town Attorney Kevin Geiger, the town’s Home Rule Charter allows an elected council member to serve a full four-year term, with only five exceptions.

“One of the exceptions is the constitutional provision of a recall,” said Geiger.

The other exceptions include death, incapacitation, resignation, or ceasing to be a member of the community.

“Absent that, there is no clear attendance policy, nor an expectation for attendance that’s set in the Charter or your rules of procedure,” Geiger added.

During Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Teddy Errico initiated a discussion on the matter.

“This is something I wanted to discuss at least briefly, to see if we wanted to create some type of attendance policy and ramifications for not attending,” said Errico.

To implement an attendance policy that allows the removal of a council member, the council would need to pass an ordinance on two readings before sending it to voters for a Home Rule Charter amendment.

All council members present at the meeting supported exploring a policy.

Councilmember Elena Levin pointed out that Telluride’s Boards and Commissions already have attendance requirements.

“We all get, to some degree, paid and benefits to sit here and be part of this and show up and do our job,” said Levin. “I feel like if someone is not doing their job that feels unfair to our taxpayers who are essentially paying for us to sit here and be in these positions.”

While her name wasn’t mentioned during the discussion, Councilmember Jessie Rae Arguelles was the only councilmember not at the meeting on Tuesday. Since the beginning of 2024, Arguelles has missed one third of Town Council’s meetings.

Councilmember Geneva Shaunette said the absences hinder the council’s ability to conduct business.

“I think we need to do something to prevent what has happened with this council, which is a largely absent council member, not having an odd number of votes, not having full input,” said Shaunette. “Most people from the community that I’ve talked to about this issue are shocked we don’t have more requirements.”

Councilmember Dan Enright initially had concerns about an attendance policy but has since changed his stance.

“It seems like that process hasn’t rectified the problem, and I’d certainly call it a problem at this point,” said Enright. “So, I’m open to exploring alternative measures to make sure that our town, who deserves representation and effort and showing up, actually happens, and that’s just not happening from one member currently.”

In a statement to KOTO News, Arguelles responded:

“There are a lot of things that go on in life that not everyone is privy to, which affect someone’s availability period; family, travel, and health.”

Town Council plans to move forward with discussions on an attendance policy, as well as a separate policy change allowing council members to participate in executive sessions remotely.

If an attendance policy ordinance passes on two readings, it will go to voters for a decision in November.

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Federal Funding Confusion for Local Nonprofits

Local climate and sustainability nonprofit Eco-Action Partners and environmental conservation nonprofit Sheep Mountain Alliance are among many organizations across the country left wondering about the status of their federal funding.

Eco-Action Partners and Sheep Mountain Alliance received a $150,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency last year. It was the first federal grant either organization had received. The three-year grant is through the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Program.

Locally, the grant funds initiatives aimed at removing existing barriers to climate resiliency programming and increasing public health and environmental resiliency among underserved populations in the region.

Emma Gerona, executive director of Eco-Action Partners, described the current status of their grant.

“We first lost access to our grant back when the original memo was put out in late January, and there was no communication about the status of the grant,” Gerona said. “There’s been very little communication from our contacts at the EPA around what’s actually happening. The way we’ve been checking is every day seeing our grant portal and whether or not we can access our account.”

The grant, Gerona said, is reimbursement-based, with funds drawn from a federal account each month once the work is completed. After President Donald Trump ordered a federal funding freeze, confusion arose over what was happening.

“A couple weeks later, the grant came back—we were able to access it again for about a week,” Gerona said. “And then it went away again, and then it came back, and then it went away again. So it’s just been this really confusing back-and-forth of being able to access this grant and tracking down whether or not it is available because we don’t have any communication from the EPA themselves.”

Eco-Action Partners and Sheep Mountain Alliance work together on programming that includes workshops on drought resilience, wildfire preparedness, and equity in the outdoors. Typically, they are paired with an EPA project officer to assist them with technical questions, but right now, there is no one to contact.

“There’s been very little to no communication,” Gerona said. “Unfortunately, our project officer, who is the point person for our grant with the EPA, was part of the recent layoffs. So we’re kind of in between contact people right now, so that also hasn’t helped with reaching out and asking questions. They’ve been given the direction to not communicate when a lot of these things are in the air. So it’s been a lot of us reaching out and trying to set meetings, trying to get more information from email, and not really hearing anything back.”

While the status of the funding freeze remains unclear, both organizations say they remain committed to continuing their work in the community.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about what it looks like to continue working on our projects and serving our community,” said Ruthie Boyd, program director for Sheep Mountain Alliance. “And that isn’t something we want to stop depending on whether our account is frozen or not, which leaves us in an interesting place. As Emma mentioned, we have to do the work first and get paid for it later. So right now, we’re feeling committed to continuing to do the work and figuring out what that looks like moving forward—even if this grant never comes back, which we can’t really count on.”

Gerona said they have been discussing ways to diversify funding sources and leaning on individual donors.

“We’ve been spending a lot of our time over the last two months just trying to address the uncertainty and figure out what’s going on,” Gerona said. “I think we’re all kind of at the point where we’re shifting our mentality to getting back to programming and getting our heads back into the work. Trying to figure out the funding still and hoping that’ll come into place a little bit, because I think a big piece of this tactic is trying to distract people from that work that’s trying to get done and just create chaos so that people are spending their time writing back and forth with their point people or lawyers and not actually getting the work done.

“We’re really trying to get back to the programming and get our heads back to the community, like Ruthie mentioned, because that’s what really matters in this work.”

Two weeks ago, the EPA released a statement saying it had canceled more than $1.7 billion in federal grant funding for more than 400 grants, a majority of which came through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

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Telluride High School’s Risho Unda Takes Theatrical Turn

On Cat Movie Fisher, Telluride High School’s Risho Unda typically chats with community members about what they’re reading and watching.

This week, however, he is taking a theatrical turn, interviewing fellow student Savannah Baize.

Story begins at 8:40

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Telluride Residents Plan ‘Hands Off’ March Against Budget Cuts

Thousands of people across the country are planning to gather this weekend to protest budget cuts from the Trump administration and Elon Musk.

In Telluride, community members will march on Saturday, April 5, beginning at 3 p.m. at the San Miguel County Courthouse.

The march will continue to the gondola, where local organizers will highlight the impact of Washington’s policies and budget cuts on Telluride.

The demonstration is part of a coordinated effort with several dozen events across Colorado. The community is invited to participate.

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Off-Season Restaurant Closures in Telluride and Mountain Village

Spring has officially arrived, and the off-season is just a weekend away.

While many restaurants around Telluride and Mountain Village will close temporarily, some will remain open.

Restaurants staying open include:

• Counter Culture
• Cindybread
• Telluride Brewing Company
• Telluride Coffee Roasters
• Crazy Elk Pizza
• Telluride Coffee Company
• The Village Market
• Cornerhouse
• Kazahana
• Liz
• Smugglers
• Steamies
• Stronghouse
• Telluride Truffle
• The Telluride Company
• Uno Dos Tres
• West End Bistro

The Sawpit Mercantile and Butcher and the Baker will close for several weeks in April.

Days and hours of operation may vary, so be sure to check ahead.

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Ping Pong at Wilkinson Public Library During Off-Season

Ping pong, table tennis, whiff-whaff – whatever you call it, nothing says “spring break off-season” like some friendly competition.

Each Tuesday and Thursday during the off-season, the Wilkinson Public Library will host ping pong from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. All ages and skill levels are welcome.

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Funding Cuts Raise Concerns for Farmers, Climate Researchers

Jobs and funding cuts from the Trump administration are causing uncertainty for farmers and researchers concerned about climate change.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports.

Story begins at 13:00

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Colorado Joins Lawsuit Over Gender-Affirming Care Restrictions

The Trump administration issued an executive order in January restricting federal funding to institutions providing gender-affirming health care for patients under 19.

Colorado has joined a lawsuit challenging the decision, but the order has left many trans teenagers uncertain about their access to care.

Halle Zander reports on an Aspen High School senior fighting to protect herself and advocate for her peers.

Story begins at 14:12

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