Dolores trustees approve $79,000 water plant rewire
Newly posted minutes of the October 26 meeting record a unanimous vote on Resolution 726, a liquor license transfer to El Patron and a decision to put off filling the town's vacant trustee seat until November 23.
The Dolores Board of Trustees voted unanimously on October 26 to accept a Durango contractor’s proposal to upgrade the electrical service at the town’s water treatment plant, according to minutes the town posted this week.
The vote on Resolution No. 726, which accepts a proposal from Durango Electrical Services for electrical service improvements at the plant, was moved by Mayor Pro Tem Chris Curry and seconded by Trustee Marie Roan. The minutes record that the motion carried unanimously, without a numeric tally.
The minutes themselves give no dollar amount. The agenda packet for the meeting put the proposal at $79,000 for the option the resolution identifies as Option B, covering an upgrade to 400 amps and 480 volts, three-phase, and said the money was already in the 2026 Water Fund capital improvements budget.
The consent agenda
A second unanimous motion, moved by Trustee Marie Roan and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Chris Curry, carried the consent agenda. It held three items: a liquor license transfer to El Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina, the minutes of the October 12 meeting, and an appointment to the library board. The minutes do not name the license type or the library board appointee. Nothing was pulled off consent.
The vacant trustee seat moves to November 23
Under administrative business the board decided to reschedule its trustee candidate interviews and the appointment itself to the November 23 meeting. The town had previously set both for November 9, and the agenda for that meeting carries neither.
The seat has been open since Linnea Peterson’s resignation took effect on October 1. The town took applications through October 29.
Three speakers on the Community Center
Three people spoke during public comment, all on the Dolores Community Center and senior services. The minutes record one saying attendance at senior lunches has been declining, a second comparing the cost of running the center at a deficit to the town’s running of its parks, and a third saying the community supports seniors by making the center available for lunches.
That third speaker also raised a concern that uses of the facility which are not fully reflected in its financial reporting may affect its financial position, and said she would like to see the Community Center Advisory Board and the trustees working together. The Cortez Current does not name members of the public who speak at meetings.
No action was taken on any of it. The board and the advisory board are due to sit down together at a joint public workshop on November 23, and the November 9 agenda carries a $10,000 allocation to Montezuma County Senior Services for 2027.
The budget workshop
The regular meeting followed a budget workshop that ran from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The minutes say the board reviewed the 2027 budget notebook in its entirety, covering revenues, expenditures, capital projects and funding priorities. They record no figures, no votes and no adoption. The town has set its budget hearings for November 23 and December 14.
Who was there
Mayor Chris Holkestad called the regular meeting to order at 8:09 p.m. and adjourned it at 8:23 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Chris Curry and Trustees Josh Maule, Derek Beckman and Marie Roan were present. Trustee Bill McCoy, whom the minutes render as Billy McCoy, was absent. Town Clerk Kelley Unrein signs the minutes; no other staff member is named in them.
Trustees gave no reports, no conflicts of interest were disclosed, no public hearing was held and nothing was added to the future-agenda list.
The signature lines on the posted copy are blank, so the document does not itself show that the board has approved it. The October 26 minutes are on Monday’s consent agenda for approval.
The minutes are on the town’s Town Board Meetings page.