• A new tradition may have started on Feb. 1 when Pagosa Springs Middle School students and staff faced each other in a special basketball game.
The staff, coached by Junior Lister, edged out the Lady Pirate team 14-13 in the defensive affair.
The game was planned after the day’s opponents, Miller Middle School, did not have as many teams as the Pirates, leaving one of the Pirate C teams without an opponent.
• The Pirate boys’ wrestling team participated in the Intermountain League (IML) championship dual against Centauri in La Jara on Feb. 1, losing 51-24.
• The Lady Pirate swim team drew its season to a close Feb. 2 and 3 at the Western Slope Conference meet in Grand Junction.
Despite the team’s season ending short of the state tournament, according to Miller, the conference meet was “spectacular” and the team’s athletes logged their best times and saw “huge drops” in time.
The Lady Pirates finished 10th at the meet.
• At its Feb. 6 work session, the BoCC discussed propane delivery difficulties in the area with the sheriff.
Commissioner Veronica Medina explained that both she and Le Roux received phone calls on Feb. 5 regarding constituents having difficulty in receiving propane deliveries.
Le Roux commented that the delivery issues centered on a lack of drivers, not a lack of propane supply.
The issue was reportedly affecting all the suppliers in the area.
• On Feb. 6, the Pagosa Springs Town Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution canceling the April 2 municipal election.
Three at-large council member seats were supposed to be up for election. However, since only the three individuals currently holding those seats — Leonard Martinez, Mat deGraaf and Brooks Lindner — filed their candidate petitions by the Jan. 22 deadline, all three were automatically elected to additional four-year terms starting in April.
• At the Pagosa Springs Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Community Conversation and Celebration on Feb. 9, numerous entities and individuals were honored for their contribution to the Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County community.
Winning the Citizen of the Year award was Bob and Robin Brobst. The Volunteer of the Year award went to Ken Rogers. The Small Business award went to FootPrints. The Pagosa Nordic Club was selected as the Non-Profit of the Year.
• The Lady Pirate girls’ wrestling team competed at the Girls West Region 3 tournament on Feb. 9 and 10, with one Lady Pirate, Laykyn Baxstrom, advancing to the state wrestling tournament — the first ever Lady Pirate to do so.
The Lady Pirates took 18th at the tournament.
• On Feb. 13, the state of Colorado announced a panel to review applications and recommend finalists for appointment as the district attorney for the 6th Judicial District following the resignation of District Attorney Christian Champagne.
According to a press release from the state, Champagne would step down effective mid-March.
Champagne told The SUN he was leaving to pursue other opportunities.
• At the Feb. 13 regular meeting of the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education, the board heard about its 2023 audit from a presentation by Jessica Bogner, audit partner at Wall, Smith, Bateman.
According to the written audit report, the district received an unmodified audit opinion.
Bogner summarized the material weakness ASD received as an internal control deficiency.
According to the audit document, “The District’s system of internal controls did not prevent or detect and correct financial misstatements,” and the recommendation is that “the District should strengthen internal controls with adopted policies and procedures to include a review process of monthly and year-end reconciliations of balance sheet accounts to ensure accurate financial statement reporting. The District is converting to a new system in fiscal year 2024 and should ensure complete training to identify system capabilities and implement reconciliation procedures accordingly.”
• The Pirate boys’ basketball team clinched the league championship in mid-February with a win over the Bayfield Wolverines.
The team finished league play with a perfect 10-0 record in the IML.
The win also improved the Pirates’ overall record to 21-1 and extended the team’s winning streak to 21 games.
• The Lady Pirate basketball team also clinched the league title in mid-February.
At that point, the Lady Pirates’ overall record stood at 18-4 and IML record was 9-1.
• At its Feb. 15 meeting, the PAWSD Board of Directors voted to raise fees and rates for 2024 in accordance with the rate study by Stantec that the board approved at its Dec. 14, 2023, meeting.
The board voted to increase the monthly service charge per equivalent unit (EU) by 3 percent, going from $31.44 in 2023 to $32.38 in 2024.
The monthly service charge per EU for wastewater was voted to in- crease by 30 percent from $32.80 in 2023 to $42.64 in 2024.
Short-term rentals would be charged 140 percent of the wastewater rate, according to the fee schedule approved by the board.
The capital investment fee (CIF) for water increased from $5,352.37 in 2023 to $8,958, and the wastewater CIF increased from $1,178.98 in 2023 to $15,697 in 2024, according to the fee schedule.
Other fees, such as availability fees, dumping fees for septic haulers and water fill station fees also increased, with the increases matching the percentage increase in water rates for water-related fees and the percentage increase in wastewater rates for wastewater-related fees.
The new rates and fees took effect March 1.
• On Feb. 16, a mistrial was declared in the trial concerning allegations of homicide against Christopher Ross Maez, 56, of Pagosa Springs.
The mistrial was declared by 6th Judicial District Chief Judge Jeffrey Wilson following allegations of juror misconduct.
Proceedings related to the alleged misconduct were held by the court the morning of Feb. 16, with Wilson explaining there were allegations that one or more jurors had done research on the internet, potentially about aspects of the case, and had discussed it with other jurors, as well as looking up information related to “unanimous.”
• In February, it was announced that Jayslynn Perea would represent the area as a delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Boston, Mass., hosted by the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, June 26-28.
• It was also announced in February that remains located in Mineral County dating back to 1991 had been identified through work performed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation cold case team and the Mineral County Sheriff ’s Office.
Using forensic investigative genetic genealogy, confirming with dental records and other investigative tools, the remains were identified as those of Steven Kenneth Risku (date of birth Aug. 16, 1957), of Indiana.
Risku’s remains were located on Wolf Creek Pass in Mineral County in 1991.
• In February, La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) announced that CEO Jessica Matlock had been hired as the CEO of PNGC Power, the sole operating generation and transmission cooperative in the Pacific Northwest.
Matlock was hired by LPEA’s board of directors in the spring of 2019 and began her CEO tenure in the summer of 2019.
• On Feb. 17, the Pirate boys’ basketball team closed the regular season with a victory at home over the 3A Del Norte Tigers by a score of 59-38.
The win helped the Pirates enter the 4A state playoffs as the No. 4 seed.
• Four Pirate wrestlers wrestled at the state tournament at Ball Arena in Denver on Feb. 15-17.
Luke Tressler took fourth place in the 138-pound weight class, Conner Kelly took sixth place in the 190-pound weight class and Harley Armijo took fifth in the 215-pound weight class. Samuel Kelly also received a medal for his victory in a Unified division match.
• On Feb. 18, the bracket and seedings for the 4A girls’ basketball playoffs were announced.
The Lady Pirates, as the league champion, automatically qualified for the bracket, which consisted of a 32-team field. After the league champions, the remainder of the bracket was filled, utilizing the final data from the Seeding and Selection Index.
The Lady Pirates earned the No. 5 seed and entered the tournament with a 19-4 record.
• On Feb. 20, the BoCC approved requests for American Rescue Plan Act funding totaling $665,730 from five local organizations: Archuleta Housing Corporation, Healthy Archuleta, A Safe Place in Pagosa Inc. (which does business as Aspen House and Aspen Services), Archuleta County Housing Authority and Southwest Housing Providers on behalf of Housing Solutions for the Southwest.
• The Lady Pirates’ first game in the playoffs was played at home on Feb. 20 against the No. 28 Manitou Springs Mustangs.
The Lady Pirates defeated the Mustangs 40-16.
• The Pirate boys defeated the No. 29 Delta Panthers 59-45 in the first round of the playoffs on Feb. 21.
• On Feb. 22, an ongoing disagreement between two local government entities came to a resolution when the town council voted to approve a certificate of occupancy for Archuleta County’s justice facility on Harman Park Drive.
The building sits within the town limits, and, therefore, the town contended, should be subject to the town’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC). The county disagreed, stating case law supports that the county is not subject to the LUDC.
At the heart of the disagreement was the question of if the county was legally bound to abide by the town’s LUDC, particularly a provision regarding the screening of rooftop appurtenances, such as mechanical equipment and antennas.
In April of 2023, the council approved a letter, authored by Town Attorney Bob Cole, spelling out the town’s intention to “withhold a certificate of occupancy” for the building, unless the county “complies with all conditions” of the town’s building code.
The council voted 4-2 to issue the certificate to make the issue a thing of the past.
• In late February, long-time employee Shari Pierce was promoted to publisher of The Pagosa Springs SUN.
• In February, discussions concerning the U.S. 160 reconstruction project — planned to start in the spring of 2024 — intensified, with a number of organizations and governmental bodies focusing on how to help residents, businesses and visitors navigate the two-year project.
• In late February, PSHS demonstrated outstanding performance at the Future Business Leaders of America District 8 Leadership Conference. PSHS students secured 13 first-place awards, 12 second-place awards and eight third-place awards across various business and leadership categories.
• The Lady Pirate basketball team punched its ticket to the Great 8 round of the 4A basketball playoffs by winning a nail-biter against the Eaton Reds in second-round action on Feb. 23. The No. 5 Pirates defeated the No. 12 Reds by a score of 40-39.
• The Pirates basketball team was also on its way to the Great 8 round after defeating the Holy Family Tigers in the second round. The No. 4 Pirates defeated the No. 13 Tigers 51-45 on Feb. 24.
• On Feb. 26, Pagosa Peak Open School announced three finalists for its school director position: Emily Murphy, of Pagosa Springs; Brianna Kaiser, of Denver; and Brian Clyne, of Brownsville, Texas.
Angela Reali-Crossland, then the school’s director, announced in December 2023 that she would not be renewing her contract at the end of its current term.
Murphy served as the school’s assistant director.
• In February, a number of PSHS wrestlers were named to the all-conference teams: Madisen Stretton and Baxstrom were named to the all-conference team for girls wrestling.
Four Pirate boys’ wrestlers were named to the all-conference first team: Harley Armijo, Conner Kelly, Colton Lucero and Luke Tressler.
• In a Feb. 28 press release circulated to customers, PAWSD announced that it would be closing its offices at 100 Lyn Ave. to the public on March 1 until further notice “per guidelines set forth by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
The PAWSD board had previously discussed a closure of the office due to concerns about security issues at the office and increased aggression directed by customers and members of the public toward staff.
• A stabbing incident took place Feb. 28, with law enforcement officials looking for the suspect into early March.
• Conflicts continued between the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) and the PAWSD board over control of the Running Iron Ranch property at meetings early in the year, as well as over the three-way agreement between the entities and the Colorado Water Conservation Board concerning the management of the ranch — the proposed site for a reservoir.
The SJWCD also expressed concern over the PAWSD board holding conversations about the sale of the ranch.