Public Works Department Message

Public Works is the tip of the spear for the City of Cortez as we provide high-quality drinking water, maintain streets and water delivery and provide refuse collection and recycling services. 

Together, our team of 36 full-time employees provide daily essential city services as well as plan for future development, enhanced local and regional traffic safety, improved street design

and construction, increased multimodal travel accommodation, ongoing event support, a continual supply of clean water, and address citizen concerns with safe, practical solutions. 

We have implemented a restructure to become more efficient, to provide workload leveling between the water treatment plant and the water distribution team, and to optimize refuse and

 recycling collection. We are updating our Standard Operating Procedures, developing Annual Work Plans, and placing an increased focus on water conservation. 

Our Engineering team will cooperatively support and orchestrate construction of efficient infrastructure serving immediate and future needs. Our construction projects generally include 

street improvement projects, concrete projects (sidewalk, curb, gutter, crosspans), and waterline repair/installation.  Our Public Works Superintendent is responsible for the Street Division 

and Refuse and Recycling. The Street Division is in charge of maintenance and repair of the City streets - patching potholes, signage and traffic markings, sweeping, sanding, snowplowing, 

and tree maintenance. Our Refuse & Recycling team includes a maintenance worker, who paints and repairs dumpsters, and drivers/collectors. The drivers and collectors are responsible 

for weekly trash collection service for residential and commercial accounts, and picking up trash and hauling it to the Montezuma County Landfill. The addition of four new trucks later in 

the year will ensure that we cost-effectively conduct proper solid waste collection and disposal while making necessary infrastructure and fleet upgrades.

Our Recycling Division consists of weekly curbside recycling collection from residences and businesses and transporting the materials to have them processed. 

Our Water Treatment team is in charge of running and maintaining the water treatment plant, which delivers high-quality water to the citizens of Cortez for household use and yard 

irrigation. The City also treats water for Montezuma Water District #1 and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The Water Distribution team is 

responsible for waterline installation and maintenance; fixing leaks; reading, installing, and repairing water meters.

Our Geographical Information System (GIS) Division provides geospatial data of buildings, streets and centerlines, property parcels, fiber optics, addresses, waterlines, and fire hydrants 

that are used for planning and asset-management purposes.  Our public works team is made up of dedicated professionals who strive to make the City of Cortez a great place to live and 

work and play!