Dolores

With visitor centers and roads closed at Mesa Verde and other National Parks due to the federal government shutdown, KSJD’s Outdoor Report highlights ways to make the most of your time in the Four Corners — from local music and dining to art, museums, and community events.

Cool, sunny weather continues across the Four Corners with chilly nights and a gradual warm-up midweek before weekend rain chances return.

Aspens across the San Juans are starting to turn, with peak fall color expected from late September into early October. Early changes are showing near Silverton, Red Mountain Pass, and Telluride, while Dolores, Rico, and La Plata Canyon remain mostly green.

Voters in Montezuma County will have several local questions to answer in November’s election, depending on where they live.

Hundreds of people waited in vain Monday for an aide to U.S. Representative Jeff Hurd to show up at a meeting in Dolores.

Last month, the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners voted to cut 10 positions from the Sheriff’s Office. In response, employees have petitioned the state of Colorado to begin the process of collective bargaining in the new year. Allen Phelps is a detective at the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office and the president of Mesa Verde Lodge 74 Fraternal Order of Police. Without proper staffing levels, Phelps says the office is unable to adequately deal with the number of homicides, sexual assaults and property crimes that occur in the county. Phelps says 70 of 72 employees at the office signed petitions in favor of collective bargaining, which will now initiate a ballot election. And a plane crash in a forest north of Dolores resulted in two deaths this past weekend.

A new bond initiative on the ballot in Dolores in this November’s election would fund renovations for the town’s secondary school campus. Earlier this month, the Dolores School District RE-4A board voted to move forward with the bond initiative, and established the Dolores School Campaign Committee as a separate group to craft the proposal and generate community support. Maegan Crowley is a member of the school board and the campaign committee, and a resident of Dolores. She says the enhancements to the secondary school are badly needed, especially after intense flooding this past spring damaged roads and infrastructure throughout town. The bond proposal, which would consist of $11.2 million funded through increased property taxes, would include flood mitigation at district facilities, as well as improved drainages and the raised elevation of some buildings.

In Dolores, unusually high amounts of winter snowpack are rapidly melting and causing severe flooding throughout town. Vicki Shaffer, the public information officer for Montezuma County, says that the snowmelt is mainly coming from nearby Granath Mesa. And lawmakers moved forward on Tuesday with a bill that would change how the government deals with disease outbreaks among livestock.

The Dolores Affordable Housing Task Force moved forward with plans to build residences on two pieces of town-owned land Tuesday night. And Colorado lawmakers want to lower the disability requirements veterans need to receive property tax exemptions.

Some Colorado lawmakers want to make it easier for residents to see how the state is spending their tax money, but the state would still be able to hide some data from its online checkbook. And the two candidates for Dolores mayor spoke at a candidate forum on Monday night.