1. The race for district attorney
District attorney candidates Anne Kelly and Robert Willett had never met before we hosted them Saturday evening for an hour-long podcast discussion in our studio on the southside of Alamosa. Theirs was a frank conversation and good back-and-forth. If you’re voting in the district attorney’s race, and we hope you are, you’ll want to listen to our election podcast with the two candidates for 12th Judicial DA.
2. Homecoming at Adams State brings community together
Homecoming Weekend at Adams State was awesome, except for the football game which the Grizzlies lost. Good for Adams State to stage a community-oriented Homecoming that made the football game an afterthought. Friday’s events downtown, Saturday’s parade and the family carnival on the North Campus green in front of the football stadium all had good crowds and made Adams State’s annual homecoming a winner.
3. Speaking of Adams … those fall enrollment figures
Can’t mention Adams State without going over its fall enrollment, which the Board of Trustees did Friday. Enrollment is everything to the school, and to Alamosa and the greater San Luis Valley. Not surprising Adams State’s undergraduate enrollment dropped to 1,313 degree-seeking students from 1,438 a year ago. The decline was inevitable. When Adams State lost its vice president for enrollment and several of its recruiters in 2021-22 during the Cheryl Lovell period and let those vacancies remain open during the critical recruiting season, it’s not a surprise to see the numbers down. Adams State has rallied since and is once again pressing its case for students. Adams State has also learned to prepare its annual operating budget by forecasting for lower enrollments, which helps it stay on course financially. It’s not spending money it knows it doesn’t have and won’t have with lower enrollments.
4. Deadline extended to serve on Alamosa redistricting commission
The city of Alamosa has extended its deadline to noon on Friday, Oct. 14, for residents to apply to serve on the city’s redistricting commission. After every census, Alamosa looks at its population distribution within each ward to make sure that all citizens are fairly represented. Redistricting is the process that decides where ward boundaries are drawn to make sure that populations are represented in a balanced way. The Redistricting Committee will be a short-term committee (approximately 6 months) that will look at populations and demographic information. The committee will make a recommendation to the city council on how the ward boundaries should be drawn. The deadline to apply for the committee is Friday, Oct. 14, at noon and interviews will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Here’s the application.
5. Seeing the Valley as the birthplace of Colorado
When Alliance for National Heritage Area members arrive Monday for their Fall 2022 conference they’ll experience sites that make the San Luis Valley the “birthplace of Colorado.” It’s quite the feat for the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area and its executive director Julie Chacon to land the national heritage’s annual fall event. About 150 individuals will participate in the weeklong conference that includes trips into Antonito, Conejos, San Luis, Fort Garland, among other destinations. Here’s more.
6. Latest on Douglas County and Renewable Water Resources
Through a Colorado Open Records request filed by Alamosa Citizen came this latest executive summary from a closed-door meeting between Douglas County Commissioners and the water consultants Douglas County has hired to advise it on Renewable Water Resources. We also report that State Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa is already gearing up to knock back any legislative push Renewable Water Resources attempts to make in an effort to amend state rules governing groundwater pumping. He said RWR has lobbyists in place, and he expects the group to begin a lobbying process. “I’ve always said they’ll be at the legislature at some point, going, ‘This is so important to the state we shouldn’t have to follow the same rules and regs,’” Simpson said.
Our water archive compiles all the articles on the health of the Upper Rio Grande Basin, Douglas County, and Renewable Water Resources. We also partner with and archive articles from the Rio Grande Basin Roundtable that reflect the major water users of the Rio Grande.
7. Cool job alert
CRHDC has a new career opportunity opening for the role of director of single family housing development. Founded in 1971, the Community Resources and Housing Development Corporation is a nonprofit that works provide pathways to home and asset-building opportunities to benefit low-to-moderate income communities throughout Colorado. More HERE.