Each time Dean Brookie has assumed the mayoral role in the city of Durango, a disaster of unprecedented proportion has hit the town.
Four months into his tenure as mayor in 2015, 3 million gallons of mine wastewater spilled into the Animas River, turning the river a sickly yellow. Fast forward five years, he assumed the mayoral role at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The significance of those events falling under his time as mayor is not lost on Brookie.
“I have been mayor through the two most significant disasters that have faced Durango in the history of Durango,” Brookie said.
Historically, Brookie said, the mayoral role has been largely symbolic.
“The mayor was never really in the media or anything special. It was just the person who ran the meeting,” Brookie said.
But the mayor was called on to play a greater role during the Gold King Mine spill. Brookie said he became the point person for a number of government entities that were responding to the crisis. He also became the face of Durango’s response as the community demanded answers.
When the spill occurred, the city was able to make quick, understandable decisions in responding to the crisis, like shutting down certain water systems and closing the river to recreation.
The global pandemic is a far different issue, and city government has played a more complementary role, Brookie said.
“The response is appropriately placed with health officials, rather than municipal government,” Brookie said.
As Brookie plays second fiddle to health officials, such as San Juan Basin Public Health, he believes his role is to support the health department with enforcement and also, crucially, to listen to and respond to community needs.
While his role as mayor has played out differently in each disaster, Brookie said the visibility of the Gold King Mine spill helped foster community support for government action.
“That was something that was very visual, people immediately panicked. ... It was very definite that it was going to be here. People were reacting to something they could see and understand,” Brookie said.
Community members certainly expressed frustration to Brookie and other officials, but they eagerly awaited government action. If anything, community members were frustrated if government did not act quickly or forcefully enough, he said.
On the other hand, Brookie said because the threat of COVID-19 is invisible and easy to underestimate, there is less community support for government action, despite the threat to public health being more dangerous.
Brookie said the Gold King Mine spill was “proved by science to be not that impactful.” There were certainly nasty minerals in the water, but it was more like a heavy concentration of the minerals we get every day in the Animas, Brookie said. Moreover, nobody died.
As of Monday, La Plata County reported 29 deaths in which people had COVID-19 at the time of their deaths.
While he noted a majority of the community has been complying with public health orders and is supportive of government action, there has been a vocal minority who is upset with any government action related to the pandemic. Brookie has been a popular target of individuals in the community who are frustrated; he’s received more criticism while handling the pandemic than the mine spill in 2015.
His recent spat with congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert made headlines last month as she accused him of saying the city is going to let businesses like Top That Frozen Yogurt, which ignored public health orders, “starve over the winter.”
Brookie claimed Boebert essentially made the quote up.
“She was so off base, it was amazing,” Brookie said.
However, Boebert’s claim is not so outlandish. At a news conference on Oct. 30 held by San Juan Basin Public Health, Brookie said, “I’m not really worried about one bad actor on the corner of College and Main. ... How much yogurt do you really need in the middle of the winter, you know, and maybe we won’t have this problem next spring with that particular entity.”
For much of the fall, Top That Frozen Yogurt, while encouraging customers to not wear masks, had a sign in the shop that read, “Your mask is as worthless as Dean Brookie.” Brookie also said there have been a number demonstrations outside his house, “complete with Trump and American flags.” He even said he’s received a number of death threats.
“It’s been a little trying from that standpoint ... but you kind of take it in stride,” Brookie said.
Despite frustration from some community members, Brookie is trying to focus on doing right by the community.
“It is my job as mayor to do the right thing for the majority of the population and that’s what we will continue to do, despite the negativity from the community,” Brookie said.
And, as he evaluates the needs of the community going forward, it is clear to Brookie the business community is going to need support. Based on vaccine schedules, there won’t be herd immunity gained from the vaccines until early summer. That means it is unlikely health restrictions will change drastically in the next couple of months, so along with fellow council members and business owners, Brookie is trying to think of creative ways to allow businesses survive.
Brookie pointed to the bump-out program the city sponsored throughout the summer as an early sign of creativity. City Council continued to be creative as it encouraged the governor to sign onto the 5-star Certified Business Variance Program, which allows restaurants to feature some indoor dining and was approved late last month for La Plata County. The city is also considering a number of cost-cutting measures to help small businesses, including as it relates to utilities, business renewal payments and tax collections.
Additionally, the city has set up a grant program for small businesses with leftover money the city received as a part of the CARES Act. Almost 200 small businesses applied to receive a grant.
The goal, Brookie said, is to leave no stone unturned in the search for how to help businesses survive the pandemic.
However, the most important priority for Brookie and the city is paying attention to the health crisis.
“The fastest way to solve the economic crisis is to solve the health crisis,” Brookie said.
Regardless of the spike in COVID-19 cases in La Plata County over the last month a half, Brookie continues to believe in the community.
“I have faith in the citizenry of Durango to do the right thing,” Brookie said.
smarvin@durangoherald.com
