What a difference three words could make. For several winters, motorists heading south through Ridgway would encounter a blinking Colorado Department of Transportation sign near highways 550 and 62 that provided the onerous warning "Red Mountain Pass Closed" during icy road conditions. Concerns from Ouray business owners that their retail volumes were being impacted in some immeasurable way when drivers heading south through Ridgway toward Ouray were turning around after reading the sign, prompted the Colorado Retail Council, under the leadership of JoAnn Groff, to network with the retailers and come up with a solution. CRC, a non-profit organization that is committed to promoting "an environment that encourages profitable retail growth through strong advocacy on government actions," helped the retailers connect to CDOT, which agreed to add three words to the sign, and it will now read: "Red Mountain Pass Closed South of Ouray."

Ouray City to Cut

Four Jobs in

Restructure Effort

In an effort to streamline the city's middle tier positions and reduce annual payroll costs by about $50,000, the Ouray City Council approved a re-organization plan on November 21 that will eliminate four city positions and create a community development specialist to coordinate with local businesses and focus directly on the city's long-term economic development. The move was prompted by flat sales tax revenue projections for 2006, an economic assessment report in August that called for more effort to improve economic diversity and development in the city, and the pending retirements of City Attorney John Kappa and Development Director David Vince.

The restructuring eliminates the positions of parks department director, assistant pool manager, community development director, and parks maintenance director. The new positions will be a land use coordinator, community development coordinator and an environmental, health and safety coordinator. The parks maintenance employees will merge with the Public Works Department. The city will also create a part-time accounts payable clerk who will delegate human resource related tasks to an assistant clerk.

The revised organization chart will contain three mid-level director positions: police chief, clerk-treasurer and public works director, with the usual financial planning and managerial duties. The community development coordinator position will include economic development functions, management of the Community Center, Box Canyon Park, and the children's ski hill. In addition to city asset management, that individual will engage in event coordination and grant writing. This new position will be charged with better promotion of, or "maximizing," existing tourist assets such as the city's two waterfall sites, and working with the Ouray Chamber Resort Association.