During its first work session of the year on Jan. 6, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) discussed priorities for 2026, with the three commissioners aligning on some goals, while expressing varying perspectives on other matters.
Commissioner Warren Brown was the first to speak, stating his No. 1 priority is to “settle the admin building question,” noting this is now the beginning of the fourth year the county has dealt with the topic.
Brown mentioned that he wants the board to make a decision so that “we stop wasting our time, however that works out.”
In March 2025, the BoCC unanimously approved a purchase and sale agreement for a 5.5 acre property located at 2901 Cornerstone Drive for the purpose of constructing a new administration building.
The county relocated offices in June 2025 due to an arson incident and is now leasing a building from Wyndham located at 305 Village Drive. Prior to the incident, the county still had multiple offices operating out of the old county courthouse building located at 449 San Juan St.
The county sold the building at 449 San Juan St in April 2022 to Ronnie Urbanczyk for $550,000 and five years of free rent, valued at $80,000.
During the work session, Brown noted that he wants to be able to hear from the public and to be able to consider all of the needs of the county with its administration building.
“So, I think that this is a discussion that I would like to see,” he said, noting also that he’d like to have the other elected officials who were “directly affected” be involved.
Brown went on to explain that he spoke to a company recently that “does essentially what we have been looking at,” noting the county was previously expecting roughly a $300,000 bill for design services.
“Their company does it for nothing, and their hope is they would be the one selected if the project goes forward,” he said.
Brown added that there are options when trying to “balance” it all out and “be good stewards of taxpayer money.”
Brown then mentioned that his second priority for this year is roads.
“We’ve done a very good job over the past few years of bringing our roads up … but this will never stop being a need,” he said.
Brown commented that every year the county grows in population, roads that are in poor shape will degrade even faster.
Brown mentioned that the county needs to figure out where it might be able to get a revenue source to assist with its road projects.
“Because, as it is right now, I can see us cutting back substantially in the coming year,” he added, noting that a “potential fix” to that is looking at the county’s lodgers’ tax rate, which is currently at 1.9 percent, but is now able to go up to 6 percent with the passing of Colorado House Bill 25-1247.
That bill allows for the expanded use of lodgers’ tax revenues to include public safety, infrastructure, child care and affordable housing.
“We have the ability to put that to the voters,” Brown said.
He then explained his last priority “would be economic development,” explaining that it is a “two-part,” with continuing support for our downtown businesses and housing.
“As we know, a big part of our economic development is housing,” he added.
Brown also commented on the BoCC budgeting $100,000 for the main street assistance grant program, saying, “I think it speaks very well of the county recognizing the value ... and doing something to sustain the value of the businesses and, more importantly, the people.”
Commissioner John Ranson then shared his priorities, with his No. 1 being a “commitment to increase funding for roads.”
Ranson commented that “pretty much everybody that runs for county commissioner” tries and does their best to improve roads around the county.
Ranson also mentioned that he’d like to work on the budget quarterly, or at least periodically, to avoid getting behind.
“I felt like we got behind this year on that budget process,” he said. “I’d like to see us be better prepared going into that budget season.”
Ranson commented that he’d like to go in with the goal of “finding” $1 million in the budget that could be allocated to roads, “and show the public we’re gonna do our job to try and bring in some more revenue.”
Ranson mentioned that he’d also like to see the lodgers’ tax rate increase from the current 1.9 percent up to 5.9 percent, noting that his preference would be to have 90 percent of those funds go to roads and 10 percent go to child care programs.
Ranson then spoke about wanting to move forward with a gravel pit in the community, noting “that will help out a lot with our expenses on the roads.”
He also spoke about looking at a long-term arterial road “to get that traffic off of [U.S. 160].”
Ranson noted that if the county has a long-term plan, it can inform the community about it.
He noted that it might be a 10- to 20-year-long plan, “but we need a loop around this community at some point.”
Ranson then acknowledged the county administration building matter.
“Me and Commissioner Brown are maybe on different sides of the fence,” he said, explaining that his preference would be to postpone any expense on a new building for this year.
Ranson indicated that a monthly payment on a new 30,000-square-foot building would come out to roughly $150,000 to $200,000.
“Financially, we gotta be realistic on this,” he said, explaining he’s unsure how the county could come up with those funds in the short-term.
He added, “My position’s not ‘no’ on building, it’s just not now.”
Ranson then went on to express that he’d like to continue helping downtown business during the construction.
“We all know they struggled,” he said, noting he is proud of what the county has been able to do to provide support.
Ranson then spoke some more on the matter of building a new county administration building, stating he’d like to review more options of current locations.
“I have not talked to — other than some of us who live in these county buildings seem to favor a new building — outside of that I haven’t had one person say you need to build a new building,” Ranson said.
He cautioned about other local entities going after funds.
“You can not take that much money out of a community, “ he said, noting more than $350 million is needed between multiple local entities for various projects.
Ranson also mentioned long-term energy needs in the county, noting he’s excited for the completion of the new La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) substation on Trujillo Road.
Ranson also mentioned there are multiple ways to generate power, indicating there might be other options for the county to explore.
“Why don’t we start looking today at the different options Archuleta County may have for energy?” he said.
Commissioner Veronica Medina then spoke, noting that her goals “are a lot in line” with the other commissioners.
Medina first indicated that she “would really like to move forward the ballot initiative for the lodging tax,” noting she’d prefer to have those revenues split with 80 percent going to roads, 10 percent to emergency services and 10 percent going to child care.
Medina explained that when residents call 911 for emergency services, they expect someone to answer, adding that rural communities like Archuleta County may face unique obstacles with trying to ensure emergency services.
Medina also explained the percentage of revenues that would be dedicated to each use really doesn’t matter until the BoCC decides how much it wants to propose raising the lodgers’ tax rate by.
“I don’t know if it’s the right thing to increase it all the way up to 6 [percent],” she said, indicating her thought was to raise it 4 percent, which would provide roughly an additional $500,000 in collections to the county.
Medina commented that most of this tax would come from tourists visiting the county, “but it is definitely going to assist our local economy.”
Medina also noted that bringing sufficient power into the county is one of her goals, as well.
She indicated that a “power options” person would be speaking to the BoCC next week.
Medina went on to indicate that updating the county’s land use code and community plan, along with housing ad her other priorities.
“As Commissioner Brown said, housing is critical to our community,” she said.
Medina commented that affordable or workforce housing “is not all that it’s cracked up to be,” explaining the county needs to look at how it wants to do more housing projects.
Medina then responded to Ranson’s point on sourcing gravel locally.
She explained that the county spent roughly $2 million “a few years ago” simply to haul gravel in.
“Just to haul it,” she reiterated.
Medina also indicated that she wants to get back on track with the county’s strategic plan.
She then spoke about a three-phase power project at Cloman Park, indicating that a constituent has been able to secure a grant to get three-phase power “exactly where we want it to be.”
Medina then commented on the admin building, indicating that, like Ranson, “I too am not a ‘no’ on the building, just not right now.”
Later in the day during the BoCC’s regular meeting, resident Marybeth Snyder offered public comment in opposition to building a new county administration building right now.
“We’ve had a couple public meetings; I didn’t hear anyone say they wanted an admin building, so I just want to remind you to work for the people who would pay for it, not necessarily the employees that want it,” she said.
Snyder suggested the county could spend money on a consultant to help organize its current spaces for maximum productivity.
“I think people might do better off in the Wyndham building if they organize things well,” she added, suggesting the county table the idea of building a new administration building for at least a year.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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