The city of Durango’s Engage Durango monthly public forum was created to provide residents another avenue to speak with city officials, ask them questions, share ideas and voice concerns.
But attending the meetings can be difficult for parents whose immediate responsibilities are their children.
To make the meetings easier for parents to attend, the city is offering child care services at the meetings, which are held at 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Durango Public Library on the fourth Tuesday of each month.
The thing is, nobody’s taken advantage of the free child care yet, said Durango Community Engagement Specialist Klancy Nixon.
“So far, nobody has utilized the child care services for the Engage Durango forum,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop offering it at this point in time.”
Nixon said it’s a chance to test whether offering child care services makes any difference in public participation at meetings.
“I’m a working mom and so I know that it can be really challenging to show up for a meeting where you want to provide feedback, but you also are kind of putting either the burden of care onto your family … or you’re having to take the financial burden of finding care in order to attend,” she said.
Nixon said the services are also available to city directors and staff members.
Giving residents the room to have face-to-face discourse with department directors is the point of the Engage Durango forums, and the city wants them to be able to easily attend as well, she said. Having somebody to watch the children is especially helpful after regular workday hours.
Professional child care providers in Durango have said services for city workers are much needed, and more centers are generally needed around La Plata County.
The city currently does not offer child care services at other meetings such as City Council meetings.
Nixon said staff members, who already provide regular child care at the Durango Community Recreation Center, drive to the library for Engage Durango meetings.
She said the city hasn’t explored the idea of expanded child care at more city meetings because people haven’t used the current service.
As is, the staff members at Engage Durango forums don’t need to be licensed for child care with the children’s parents are on-site.
Nixon said she hopes the service ultimately brings more people out and drives more interaction between the city and residents.
“City Council meetings can feel pretty formal,” she said. “And this is kind of the opposite in that you can come in and provide feedback to staff members in a very casual setting where you’re kind of knowing about the room and learning about projects.”
She also said food and drinks are provided at each meeting in addition to Spanish language interpretation services.
Each Engage Durango forum focuses on a specific topic and then leads into a casual meet-and-greet format.
On Jan. 23, Durango Public Works Director Allison Baker is scheduled to give a presentation about city snow removal, a timely talk because of the weather, Nixon said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
