January 10, 2023
Mayor and Council:
The following is the report for the current term:
• Water Shares – It is my pleasure to report that the City has been successful in working with Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company (MVIC) in combining most of our water shares into one certificate. This is significant since our water shares were certificated under various names of subordinate systems of the City such as parks and the golf course, but not specifically naming the City. This left us vulnerable to fraud or other losses, and really was not as orderly as we should be. Apparently, this has been an issue for the City for many years that has not been successfully addressed. I am not certain what the disconnect was, but the problem is solved now, and we are grateful to the MVIC team for their patience and assistance. We now have a total of two MVIC shares certificates establishing City ownership of all 177 shares, and they are now stored in the secure custody of our City Clerk.
• Now that we are in the new year City staff is very busy working on many projects and upgrades that are necessary for future operations. Some of these include year-end financial reports, updates to our health insurance plan, finalizing job descriptions of new or modified employment positions, land use code bid and selection process, identifying a location for a backup dispatch center, water carriage agreement, various capital projects, and finalizing the future disposition of our broadband system just to name a few. It is a pleasure to work with so many hard working, competent, and dedicated team members, and I am proud of what they are accomplishing.
• Graffiti – There has been a noticeable uptick in the number of graffiti incidents recently. We are working to catch up on addressing the damage that has been done and move toward speedy mitigation. The weather is making it somewhat more difficult, but I want Council and the community to know that we are addressing the problem. As part of this, everyone is encouraged to contact the police if they observe graffiti incidents in progress, or if their property has been damaged by this act. We are planning to do more to increase public awareness of this problem and hopefully deter it from occurring.
• It is my pleasure to announce that earlier today our Finance Department received a check from the County Treasurer’s Office in the amount of $601,741.65. This amount represents the mil levy funds impounded by the State Auditor’s Office resulting from our delinquent audit circumstance for the period of Oct. 2, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2021. This was made possible in large part by the persuasive and intellectual talents possessed by our Finance Director, Kelly Koskie. She has successfully developed a relationship of trust with the State Auditor’s Office and was able to present the evidence needed for them to partially release impounded funds. We wish to thank Montezuma County, and the Treasurer’s Office in particular for their ongoing patience during this process.
To view the official City of Cortez City Manager Report please go to City Manager Report