School construction projects were major items for 2014 in Bayfield and especially Ignacio.
Ignacio kindergartners through fifth graders moved into their new elementary school in early February, and high school students moved into the old elementary school downtown, prompting jokes about kindergarten sized water fountains and desks, and references to the ele-high.
The move into the new elementary school was delayed from early January by previous roof leaks that caused damage inside the school. On move-in day, there was a five gallon plastic bucket in the center of one of the hallways because of a leak.
In November and December, Superintendent Rocco Fuschetto expressed ongoing frustration with trying to get the general contractor to fix the problems and indicated intention to go after the contractor's performance bond. That contractor, Okland, no longer operates in Colorado, he said.
With high school students moved downtown, asbestos remediation was the first step toward demolishing much of the old high school. Locating and removing old utilities was an ongoing complication.
Major parts of old IHS were demolished in late April. As 2014 ended, the new school was taking shape and district officials were offering tours. The building is supposed to be ready for the start of classes in August 2015.
The IHS football field was rebuilt in time for fall 2014 games, and the track will be ready for this coming spring. But winter sports were moved to SunUte Community Center.
Bayfield High School also saw major construction while students continued to use the building. Work finished in September on the new performing arts addition and new auxiliary gym. Band and choir students got state of the art new rehearsal and performance spaces. Students got more space for PE and indoor sports practice.
Less noticeable were major roof repairs on other schools, and district-wide conversion to LED lighting.
Projects in both districts came from voter approval of bond issues in 2012.
Ignacio's downtown experienced major change in 2014 as the New Mexico operator of the Shur Valu pulled out. The store closed in June, eliminating jobs and a major source of town sales tax.
But Cindy Swanemyr from the McClanahan family, which still owns the property, and Brook and Ezra Lee announced plans to demolish the old store and rebuild bigger and better, including a pharmacy and a deli.
Once again, the first step was asbestos removal. Actual demolition happened right before Thanksgiving, the old SUCAP building to the north, and then the old Shur Valu. Dirt work and foundation work started in December.
As for that lost sales tax money, Town Treasurer Lisa Rea advised in December that there was enough other revenue that was higher than anticipated to make up the difference.
Ignacio town officials also discussed prospective new businesses that might happen in 2015 - a Family Dollar and a new Subway. Design work started on the downtown stoplight.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe mourned the March 31 death of its young Chairman Jimmy Newton. He was 37. Clement Frost, long-time Tribal Council member and former chairman, was inaugurated as chairman again in December after winning a run-off election.
Ignacio's longtime status as ground zero for the Labor Day weekend motorcycle rally is in question for 2015. The Chamber of Commerce, which has organized the rally since rescuing it on short notice in 2006, is hoping to sell the rally to another entity. There's a prospect that the bikers will come to the area anyway.
Bayfielders once again have their own brewpub several years after Steamworks closed its Bayfield branch. Bottom Shelf Brewery on Mill Street started brewing and selling its own beer in 2014, along with other area craft beers.
Bayfielders also have a new health clinic, opened in May by Mercy Medical Center. And the Pine River Library received notice as the Best Small Library in the U.S., awarded by the Library Journal.
Those items didn't put town residents in a mood to raise sales taxes, though. Twice in 2014, town voters rejected raising the town sales tax from 2 percent up to 3 percent, with the additional money (estimated at $260,000 a year) to pay for street maintenance and related items. Town officials finished 2014 trying to figure out how to cover those costs without cutting other town programs.
In related news, the estimated cost to replace the two 1930s-vintage bridges on Bayfield Parkway ballooned from around $3 million to more than $5 million. The work might happen in 2015. It is complicated by federal wetland and endangered species rules.
After many years of dissention and distrust between town government and business representatives and Colorado Department of Transportation over accesses onto Highway 160, an Access Control Plan seems to be giving more weight to town development goals. And in December, a CDOT representative announced that Commerce Drive is now recognized as a legal deeded access.
2014 was an election year. In hard-fought contests, Democrat Sean Smith beat out longtime Sheriff Duke Schirard. Ignacio area sheep rancher J. Paul Brown reclaimed his State Representative seat from Mike McLachlan, who took the seat in 2012 on a close vote district-wide. The 2014 vote margin was even closer, but not close enough for an automatic recount. The Brown-McLachlan race saw a big influx of out-of-state money for campaign ads and mailers.
Nov. 19 marked the sad two year anniversary of the reported disappearance of 13 year Dylan Redwine from his father's house north of Vallecito. Some of his remains were found in late June 2013 off of Middle Mountain Road. No charges have been filed in the boy's killing.
Good news in 2014 was the absence of serious wildfires in Southwest Colorado, despite the proliferation of mountainsides covered with beetle-killed trees.
And Vallecito reservoir finished the year with ample water, thanks to mountain storms and the "bubbler" that allows Pine River Irrigation District (PRID) to keep the water level much higher in winter without ice damaging the big release gates.
La Plata/ Archuleta Water District (LAPLAWD) delivered water to its first customers early in 2014 and continued expanding its water distribution lines along county roads southwest of Bayfield. This is 20 years after the PRID board of directors first started efforts to create a rural water system for southeast La Plata County.
Area residents turned out in force in 2014 for meetings on a statewide water plan and a statewide effort to reach some consensus on fracking regulation for oil and gas development. Those efforts are continuing in 2015.
