- Montezuma County employees will be working on Columbus Day from now on.
- BLM tells Montezuma County Commission that expansion of Phil's World cannot be expedited.
Montezuma County employees will be working on Columbus Day from now on. The county commissioners on Monday voted 3 to 0 to eliminate the paid holiday in October. Commissioner Keenan Ertel said the county recognizes the “heartburn” that American Indian tribes have over celebrating the explorer’s arrival in America, and Commissioner James Lambert said that, with 12 paid holidays remaining, county employees were still doing fine.
Also on Monday, the Bureau of Land Management’s Connie Clementson told the commissioners she could not expedite a decision over a proposed expansion of the Phil’s World Bike Trail east of Cortez. Clementson is the decision-maker on the proposal to double the size of the popular trail system, most of which is on federal land. The county commissioners had expressed concern that the Southwest Colorado Cycling Association might lose out on a $100,000 state grant if the BLM did not give the go-ahead to the expansion by March, but Clementson said the cycling group could always reapply next year. She said it was important that the agency do a thorough job in evaluating the proposal, which has sparked concern among some adjoining private property owners. There are also concerns about the trail’s proximity to an eagle’s nest. The commissioners asked whether Clementson could give some indication that the expansion would be approved, but she said she could not be “pre-decisional”.
