The Durango Financial Advisory Board is considering how it might reorganize to better meet residents’ needs to make their voices heard.
Durango City Council passed a resolution Tuesday to direct the city manager’s office to work with the FAB to “broaden the scope of FAB’s purview.”
The FAB is tasked with reviewing and recommending to City Council expenditures from the 2005, 2015 and 2019 voter-approved sales tax funds.
The resolution passed Tuesday is the result of months of meetings among city staff, FAB Chairman Doug Lyon and Co-Chair Anthony Savastano, which were also attended by Mayor Gilda Yazzie.
The reorganization of the FAB is a response to community requests for the revival of old boards and commissions that were retired in 2023. Residents and former city officials, including 16 former mayors, came out strongly against the dissolution of boards at that time.
On Tuesday, City Council heard another request to reinstate old boards.
Sweetie Marbury, a resident and former mayor, read a letter endorsed by herself and several more former mayors calling on City Council to bring back the Parks and Recreation and Infrastructure boards.
The coterie of former mayors argued the ballot language in the 2005, 2015 and 2019 sales tax initiatives explicitly promises there will be citizen advisory boards where residents can make their voices heard.
“Board members delve into the intricacies of complex projects, potentially saving time for City Council. By early vetting of projects by the Boards, the citizen has a place to go to ask questions and to shape the project,” the letter said.
It concluded boards and commissions are the grassroots for prioritizing projects and are integral to productive discussion between city staff, residents and community leaders.
A broadened FAB scope could consist of increased involvement from the board in city projects and increased chances for input to the board from residents, although concrete details are yet to be determined.
The reorganization could allow FAB to be involved in subjects such as capital improvement project processes and citizen initiatives (ballot measures) and to accept more public feedback “on a whole litany of topics,” Savastano said at the FAB meeting last week.
City Council approved a resolution 4-1 to pass the resolution. Councilor Shirley Gonzales was the odd councilor out.
Gonzales proposed a separate agenda item about reviving the Parks and Recreation, Multimodal and Infrastructure advisory boards, which did not receive a majority vote of support from the council. Councilor Kip Koso voted to support her proposal.
If it passed, Gonzales’ proposal would have been placed on a later meeting agenda for more discussion before another vote on whether to pursue it.
cburney@durangoherald.com
