A new and growing business, A&R Mechanical repairs diesel truck engines in the shop and out in the field.
n Amazon deliveries
5 Grand Junction’s Amazon delivery station has been operational for 3 months.
n GJ Auctioneer named state champ
Graig Medvesk was recently crowned the Colorado Auctioneers Association’s State Champion Auctioneer.
n Moving municipal elections to the fall City Council is deliberating changing municipal elections to November instead of April.
10
n Overhead Door sells to employee
Once again, a longtime employee has purchased Overhead Door from a longtime owner.
13
n Impact and Linkage Fee Study discussion
On Jan. 14, City Council opened dialogue with stakeholders about the Impact and Linkage Fee Study. 15
Brett Armour stands in one of the four batting-cage lanes at Armour Athletics, which he and his wife, Rachel, opened for business on Jan. 17 at 2892 North Ave., Unit A. The Armours wanted their facility to stand out for the quality of everything in it, something more often found in much larger cities than Grand Junction. Armour said his dream of developing such a facility goes back to his childhood and one of his oldest friends, Rylan Reed, who is an owner and general manager of Impact Sports Performance, a giant sports-training complex in Superior, CO. Reed served as a consultant on the Armour Athletics project, and Brett Armour said, “We had talked long about (Grand) Junction needs something like he’s doing on the Front Range, and he’s like, ‘Can you imagine if we’d had something when we were growing up like this?’” Photo by Tim Harty.
TThey weren’t going to settle
Tim Harty The Business Times
oo many times over too many years, Rachel Armour said she’s heard people suggest the finer things found in major metro areas aren’t meant to be in Grand Junction.
She’s tired of hearing, “Oh, it’s just Junction,” and it has to settle for less.
“Our kids, our community deserve nice things, and I wish we would shed the ‘good enough’ belief,” she said.
Rachel and her husband, Brett Armour, were determined not to settle when they started their new business, and now the community can see what they mean as they opened Armour Athletics on Jan. 17.
The couple, who met at Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University) in 2006, invested about $100,000 in a battingcage facility for baseball and softball players. Instead of a warehouse with concrete floors, a few nets and mats and pitching machines that often suffice for a batting-cage facility, the difference at Armour Athletics is noticeable immediately.
Armour Athletics has 5,400 square feet of green, padded turf; 14-feet-high permanent shell nets; four batting-cage lanes; five pitching machines; and two Portolite pitcher’s mounds. It exudes class, and that is intentional.
Brett Armour, 40, played baseball at Fruita Monument High School and Mesa State, and he said providing a facility like Armour Athletics in Grand Junction has been his dream. Now, it’s a reality, and he expects customers will be impressed.
“I want you to walk in these doors and feel like you have teleported to a big city, really, a Las Vegas, a San Diego, a Scottsdale,” Brett said. “We don’t see this kind of stuff around here, haven’t historically, and I want people to know that it’s possible, and that we are here to do it right and do it well.”
Armour Athletics co-owner Brett Armour stands in the upper-deck area of his new batting-cage facility, where people can watch everything that’s happening on the turf below. To the right of the upper deck is a photo of baseball players emerging from an Iowa cornfield in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.” The movie provided the famous line, “If you build it, he will come,” which Armour, like many people, modifies to say “they will come.” He hopes it applies to his new business. Armour chose the “Field of Dreams” photo because the movie is one of his favorites. “I remember watching it with my dad (Dave Armour); it was his favorite movie,” Brett said. It was a staple in Armour’s home as a child and now as an adult, as Brett and his wife, Rachel, have two sons, Ben and Rylan, who play baseball. Photo by Tim Harty.
agility (groups), just to utilize the turf.
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Armour Athletics is located at 2892 North Ave., Unit A, next to First National Pawn and two doors down from Big O Tires.
Rachel said it took almost two years to find a suitable building, because they had some precise needs, such as ceiling height and a clear-span structure.
“I feel like I’ve got a good idea of what the vision is or was,” Brett said, “and it started with the building, the right building with the right ceilings and pitch lines and clear span, and then it goes from there. Then, it’s you fit the building with as much usable space as you can.
“And I wanted it to be versatile as well. It’s very obviously baseball/softballthemed in here, but I’ve had interest from lacrosse teams, from seven-on-seven spring football guys, different speed and
“So, I feel like I had a really clear vision, and then my detail-oriented wife helped me put it together. And I wasn’t willing to forgo on the vision either and settle and be ‘good enough.’”
Once they found the building, the Armours knew what they wanted to put inside. They knew it was going to cost money, and they didn’t mind sharing the amount.
“They should know the kind of investment we made,” Rachel said. “Nothing’s been cheap here. I mean, we did the most high-quality turf you can find. The nets are custom made.”
Brett added everything is professionally installed.
“The guys that came and installed it came from (working on) a 20,000-square-foot facility in like, Indiana,” he said. “They’re doing big jobs, indoor/outdoor turf. They’re doing turf fields. … This company is quality.”
Quality is a must as Brett said they’re trying to provide something with staying power.
“That’s what we want to create generationally for our kids, our community, something that’s lasting,” he said. “And the investment totally feels worth it.”
The Armours hope they’re just getting started, as Brett said he foresees a 20,000-square-foot facility in the future.
“We would like to outgrow this quickly, and I think we will,” he said.
In terms of users, local baseball and softball teams are natural clients, but the Armours want more than that. It is important, they said, that the public has access, which means they have to set limits on the amount of sports-team usage.
Get Your GJ Lions Raffle Tickets!
Club Announces Over $150,000 in Grant Donations
The Grand Junction Lions will be holding their 96th Annual Carnival, Parade and Raffle on Saturday, February 15, 2025 to provide over $150,000 in grant donations to Mesa County nonprofit organizations.
The Grand Junction Lions’ Club raises the funds through the sale of the Grand Junction Lions’ Club Raffle Tickets. Raffle tickets ARE ON SALE NOW from Grand Junction Lions members right up to the Carnival and Raffle on Saturday February 15, 2025.
Lions Club Carnival & Parade Downtown Grand Junction
This year’s raffle has over $34,000 in prizes available including:
• Thomas Hunn Jewelers 4CT Diamond (valued at $6,000)
• The BarnYard 4’x12’ single slope shed ($2,025)
• Xcel Energy 4 seats w/access to all inclusive suite (Nuggets, March 28, 2025) ($1,400)
• Xcel Energy 4 seats w/access to all inclusive suite (CO Avalanche, March 29, 2025) ($1,400)
• Hoskin, Farina & Kampf Estate Planning ($1,200)
• EC Electric $1,200 CASH PRIZES
• ANB BANK $1,000 CASH PRIZE
• Suehiro Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Gift Cards ($1,000) AND MANY MORE PRIZES DONATED BY LOCAL VENDORS!!!
Like a surgeon (with tools)
If a diesel truck engine needs repair, Adam Salikie can go to you, or you can come to him
Tim Harty The Business Times
Rochelle Salikie knows she is being biased when she says it, but she’s darn sure this is true about her husband, Adam Salikie: “The man is truly amazing at what he does. He is like a surgeon, but for big rigs.”
She made the comment a day after Adam Salikie on Jan. 14 hopped in his truck with tools in tow and drove from Fruita to the Love’s Travel Stop in Parachute. There, he repaired a seized A/C compressor that had caught fire on a 2020 Freightliner Cascadia and also burnt the fan belt and the A/C belt.
It took him an hour to do the repair, which included replacing the tensioner along with the compressor and the other two belts.
And keep in mind it’s cold in January in Colorado.
Rochelle Salikie said the driver of the big rig mentioned how fast and accurate Adam was, and he was happy enough to give Adam a tip, which he then used to take Rochelle to lunch.
This has been what Adam Salikie has been doing since August, when he and Rochelle started A&R Mechanical LLC Diesel Repair. Adam’s the mechanic and road warrior, and Rachel does all of the office work while also looking after their infant daughter, Maizee Grace, who is now 10 months old.
But Adam got so busy and had so much demand for his skill set, he had to add another element to his business. Instead of being solely mobile, he leased space for a repair shop at 864 20 Road in Fruita and took up residence there in mid-December.
“I got busy enough with locals around here, we had to get the shop,” said Adam, who has more than 20 years of experience as a diesel mechanic.
Soon after, he took on his first job in the shop, and it was a doozy: an out-of-frame rebuild of an engine in which he took two generations of a Caterpillar motor and made one.
“The customer was over the moon about this,” Rochelle said.
“In the mechanic world, this is really a huge deal.”
It was the kind of job that compels a wife to call her husband “truly amazing.”
She clearly is not the only person of that mind. Adam worked eight years for Helsinki Customs until it closed, and Rochelle said a lot of Helsinki customers knew Adam and followed him to his new business.
There’s good reason for the loyalty as Rochelle explained: “We’re not the kind of shop, you know, where we’re just gonna throw parts at it. We like to diagnose, get it right and get people out the door.”
A&R Mechanical was busy enough before adding the repair shop, but now things have kicked into overdrive, and the Salikies may have to add another diesel mechanic. Or, hire a tow-truck driver.
Adam said A&R Mechanical is purchasing a towing company, it soon will have two 25-ton units and an off-road wrecker.
“It’s growing so fast,” Adam said. “It’s been seven days a week the last four weeks. … I’m going to have to hire some help.”
A&R Mechanical LLC Diesel Repair co-owner Adam Salikie flexes his muscles on Jan. 6 in celebration of a successful engine rebuild that took three weeks to complete. Rochelle Salikie, Adam’s wife and business co-owner, said of the out-of-frame rebuild: “He took two generations of a Caterpillar motor and made one. This was our first job in the shop. The customer was over the moon about this. In the mechanic world, this is a really huge deal. This was completed, and we fired the engine on Jan. 6. Runs amazing, and I had to add: No leaks.” Photo courtesy of A&R Mechanical, LLC.
Rochelle Salikie, holding 10-monthold daughter Maizee Grace, and husband Adam Salikie started A&R Mechanical LLC Diesel Repair in August 2024 and quickly got so busy they had to lease a repair shop in Fruita. Rochelle says Maizee Grace is A&R Mechanical’s “supervisor.”
Photo by Tim Harty.
CONTACT INFORMATION
A&R Mechanical LLC Diesel Repair is located at 864 20 Road, Unit F, in Fruita.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and call the office phone at 970-858-2055.
For 24-hour roadside service on diesel trucks, call 970-730-7964.
GOT ANYTHING TO WELD?
Rochelle Salikie is doing the administrative work, bookkeeping and marketing for A&R Mechanical, but she has another handy skill.
“If anything needs welded on, I’m a welder by trade,” she said.
Ready to talk about it GJ’s Amazon delivery station has been operational for 3 months
Tim Harty The Business Times
Under the cover of the holiday shopping season, Amazon’s last-mile delivery station, a new 37,400-square-foot building near the airport in Grand Junction, began operating in October with no fanfare.
Three months later – Jan. 22 to be precise – it is having its grand opening.
Sam Bailey, Amazon’s head of economic development policy in Colorado, said rather than have such an event much closer to the actual opening date, Amazon preferred to avoid any disruption at a critical time.
“We try not to bother our sites during our busiest season with a big event,” Bailey
Bailey said even with the holiday shopping and the winter weather, two things that could have caused hiccups as the new delivery station got up to speed, the transition went smoothly.
“We hired quickly, which is an indication Grand Junction has great talent that employers like Amazon can utilize,” he said. “We were able to train up. I think certainly the big thing that is always interesting, and I saw this when we did the Missoula (Montana) launch as well, we were launching right as the weather was starting to get interesting in Colorado.
“So, certainly making sure that as part of our training we’re promoting and ensuring safety and navigating through
said, “so we opted to hold off until we were out of the holiday season. … As you can imagine, when you start taking in that volume, thousands of packages to deliver, we want to give that site time to get them into a good rhythm, train up staff on the operations, so that we are in good shape to welcome everyone into the community and to hear about how our growth has been.”
weather, whether it’s someone at our site or they’re delivering packages out of the community, I think the timing was just right.
“As snow starts to fall, that’s probably the biggest hiccup we can experience is delays as a result of weather conditions. But other than that, we’ve been successful at getting this site off the ground.”
See AMAZON on Page 8
Amazon’s new last-mile delivery station in Grand Junction, shown before it began operations in October. Photo courtesy of Amazon.
Armour
Continued from page 2
“We really are trying to balance public use,” Rachel said. “I know just in the murmurings, people are skeptical that that’ll happen. They’re very used to a facility opening and then being shut out from it for public use. And we would like to rewrite that for them. … We’re gonna truly dedicate space for public access.”
Brett added about the availability to the public: “We do want them to be included, feel like they have a place, that you don’t have to have a 10-year-old on a travel ball club team in order to access a facility of this quality.”
Brett said he’s optimistic they can strike the balance they seek, which will allow them to rent out the facility to groups for private events. Perhaps a group wants to host a birthday party and be able to play Wiffle ball. For that matter, maybe a group wants to organize a Wiffle ball league.
Helping with the event hosting is another nice feature of the facility: a lofted area where people can gather and watch whatever is happening on the turf.
“We’re gonna get creative with filling the space,” Brett said. “Even when the summer rolls around, we’re gonna keep it cool in here. So if it is a billion degrees, they might still wanna come inside and hit.”
MORE ABOUT ARMOUR ATHLETICS
CONTACT INFORMATION
To find out more about Armour Athletics, such as hours of operation, the cost of memberships or facility rentals, go online to armourathletics.com.
For additional information, call 970-314-2565 or email info@armourathletics.com.
THE EQUIPMENT
Armour Athletics has five pitching machines: two from Hack Attack for baseball only; two from JUGS that pitch baseballs and softballs; and one from JUGS for softball only.
The facility has two Portolite mounds for pitchers to throw from, including to live batters.
And there are four L-screens to protect whoever is operating the pitching machines or throwing batting practice.
DETERMINED OPPORTUNIST
Making Armour Athletics happen required patience and determination, which are traits Brett Armour has in abundance.
He made that clear as a baseball player who was a late-bloomer. Armour said he spent most of his time on the bench at Fruita Monument High School, but he became a starting infielder and occasional pitcher as a senior.
And a perfect-timing moment during a baseball camp before his senior season helped him advance to junior college baseball.
“It was the last day of camp, and we were scrimmaging, and they were running out of arms to pitch. They asked if anyone wanted to throw, and I said, ‘I’ll throw a little.’”
Armour didn’t think he did anything special with that opportunity, but it meant something to someone at Phoenix College, where he spent two years as a pitcher, then headed to Division I Oral Roberts University.
“I warmed up one time and never once saw the field,” Armour wrote on armourathletics. com. “That year at ORU made me, though. I learned to pitch there, transferred to Mesa State College, and went on to have the most successful seasons of my career.”
Armour pitched two years at Mesa State (now Colorado Mesa University). He had a good junior season, appearing in 23 games, primarily as the Mavericks closer, and he notched six saves.
Then, he broke out as a senior and earned All-America honors after posting a 14-3 record while appearing in 17 games, all as a starter. He tied the school record for wins in a season and tied for second most wins ever in a season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
In 2009 he was one of the 12 players named to the RMAC Baseball Centennial All-Time Team, and he was inducted into Colorado Mesa’s Hall of Honor in 2018.
NO NEED TO GO PRO
Armour was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays following that great senior season. He went to extended spring training, but after he was told he would be joining the Hudson Valley Renegades in Poughkeepsie, NY, he decided against playing minor-league baseball.
“I quickly determined this was not my style of baseball I wanted to pursue,” he said. Armour said he was young and didn’t understand he needed to have the mindset that baseball is a job, not just a passion. Had he known, he said, “I probably could have made a run at it, but truly God was telling me this isn’t the place for me. And so I hung it up and came back home.”
WHIRLWIND ROMANCE
A big part of coming home was to be with his fiancee, now wife, Rachel. They were two years apart at Fruita Monument, but they never actually met until August 2006 at Mesa State, and Brett proposed in January 2007 before the start of his senior season.
“Five months later – I know!” Rachel said. “Brett’s always been a risk-taker. He knows what he wants and he gets after it.”
She added, “Oh man, I have loved Brett Armour since the moment we met.”
FATHERHOOD CHANGES THINGS
The Armours have two sons: Ben, who is 13 years old, and Rylan, who is 11.
Brett coaches them as part of the Westslope Mustangs Foundation youth baseball teams, which is something he never anticipated in his younger days. Many of his college teammates spoke of wanting to coach, but Brett wasn’t feeling it.
“That never once crossed my mind,” he said. “Then God gave me two little boys that love, love baseball, and I’m so lucky and blessed in that way.”
THEY QUALIFIED
Starting a business comes with risk, but that didn’t deter the Armours.
“We say that God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called,” Rachel said. “And we have felt called to this work for a very long time, and He has absolutely made a way for us, made things possible that we know would not have otherwise been possible on our own merits.”
NOT ENOUGH ON HIS PLATE
Brett is an outside sales loan officer for Major Mortgage in Grand Junction, and he said he’s thankful his job there is flexible enough to allow him to start Armour Athletics.
As if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, he also is executive director and president of the board of the Westslope Mustangs Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that fields competitive youth baseball and softball teams.
Brett acknowledged Armour Athletics will benefit the Mustangs, which he wants to grow.
“I couldn’t seek out enough church cafeterias or what have you for us to work out in in the winters as we grow the number of teams,” he said. “Because again, that’s the ultimate goal: Grow the nonprofit, give kids lots of good opportunities to be wellcoached, grow in their love and passion for the sport, learn life lessons along the way. But they need space to do it.”
Armour Athletics co-owner Brett Armour stands next to a Hack Attack pitching machine, one of five pitching machines at the batting-cage facility. Photo by Tim Harty.
Amazon
Continued from page 5
As a last-mile delivery station, Bailey said Amazon limits how far it will go.
“Generally we will serve about a 45-minute to 60-minute territory from the delivery station, and a lot of factors can go into that,” he said. “We’re looking at where demand is. Is it most effective to ship via Amazon or through one of our partners like U.S. Postal Service?”
“So, for right now we’re looking for that 45-minute drive time, but certainly as we identify other demands in those areas beyond Grand Junction, Mesa County we will consider future investments or ways we can best serve those customers.”
Bailey said the Grand Junction site, which is at 800 Saccomanno Road, is “the first of Amazon’s investments outside of the Front Range of Colorado.”
Bailey said Amazon’s capital investment in the Grand Junction project was more than $25 million, and it was a relatively easy decision to make that investment.
“We did our homework, and we knew that we needed to be in a place like Grand Junction,” Bailey said.
Bailey said Amazon approached Curtis Englehart, executive
director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, and said, “We are interested in coming to Grand Junction. We’d like to work with you to make sure what we’re proposing aligns with what the community is focused on from an economic development standpoint. We proposed the site where we also landed, and that alignment allowed us to move forward.”
Bailey said Amazon’s investment did not include any economic incentives, “because we did not pursue any.
“We were very candid with the community, we want to be here, we want to partner, we want to invest. And kudos to both the city of Grand Junction and their staff and the Grand Junction Economic Partnership. They made it very easy for us to execute this project and get a building on the ground.”
As a result, Grand Junction has a new business that currently employs about 75 people as either full, part-time or flex associates. Among the jobs at the site are: operations managers; receiving; package sorting and routing; and delivery.
Bailey wrote in a LinkedIn post eight months ago that most Amazon employees in customer fulfillment and transportation earn between $17 and $28 per hour.
MORE ABOUT GJ DELIVERY STATION
WHO DOESN’T WANT FASTER DELIVERY?
Grand Junction’s Amazon delivery station is deemed a “last-mile” delivery station.
Given that fast delivery time tends to be of particular importance to people who buy products on Amazon, the lastmile sites deliver on that.
Sam Bailey, Amazon’s head of economic development policy in Colorado, said such a site “allows us to take our delivery times, which are now between three to five days, down to two days or less and enhance the customer experience.”
HEY, YOU’RE JUST LIKE US
The Grand Junction delivery station is similar to other stations recently opened around the Mountain West. To name two, Bailey mentioned Missoula, MT, and Idaho Falls, ID.
Of the latter, he pointed out it “represented the first expansion outside of the Boise Valley in the state of Idaho.” That makes it similar to Grand Junction, which Bailey said is the first delivery station in Colorado outside the Front Range.
“It highlights we’re recognizing we want to best serve our customers, whether they’d be in an urban corridor, or like in Colorado on the Western Slope,” Bailey said. “We have great customer demand and active accounts in Grand Junction and the surrounding area, so this investment allows us to best serve those customers.”
RIGHT SIZE FOR THE JOB
Grand Junction’s delivery station is 37,400 square feet, and Bailey said that’s similar size to other stations doing last-mile delivery.
He added Amazon looks at the average customer demand and the space it needs to accommodate its equipment inside to move and sort packages to the various routes.
“They are fairly standard in size and not much variation in nature,” Bailey said. “That also allows us to move really quickly when we do want to get a project, because we have a design that we can work with and integrate.”
Grand Junction auctioneer Medvesk crowned state champ
Tim Harty The Business Times
On the heels of four consecutive top-five finishes, with a best showing of third place, it appeared Graig Medvesk’s bid to become the Colorado Auctioneers Association’s state champion auctioneer was just a matter of time.
And experience.
“The old saying,” Medvesk said, “is you can’t buy experience.”
But the 32-year-old who owns The Auction Team in Grand Junction has been an auctioneer for 12 years now, doing the things that judges at the state competition consider when selecting a champion.
There’s the auctioneer’s chant, salesmanship, presentation, spotting bids, working the crowd, all things Medvesk has done over and over. Then, the judges ask each contestant questions about the industry.
On Jan. 11, Medvesk’s mastery of skills and answers to the judges’ questions were deemed the best, making him the 2025 Colorado State Champion Auctioneer.
“It’s a really big honor,” Medvesk said. “I believe I’m the first auctioneer on the Western Slope of Colorado to win it, and I’m a Western Slope Colorado native. I grew up in Hayden, Colorado. … So, to come from the Western Slope and compete against those guys from Denver and other parts of the state that have sale barns and automobile auctions regularly, to be able to compete against those guys and win, it’s a big honor.”
He also won the rookie state championship 12 years earlier, and Medvesk said the auctioneers who have won both titles are rare.
“Being in the auction industry for 12 years now,
I’ve learned so much along the way that helped me in the championship, from answering the questions and being able to be a clear auctioneer,” he said.
Medvesk said he worked in commercial insurance for three years right out of college before he switched careers.
“I branched out and started my own auction company, and then from there I acquired The Auction Team,” he said. “And since then we’ve been able to really expand our endeavor throughout the Western Slope of Colorado.”
The Auction Team does live and online auctions. The latter has become the majority of what The Auction Team does, as Medvesk estimated it at 80 percent.
“It’s just as the world changes, you have to adapt with it,” he said.
But there are still live auctions, where his chant and working of the crowd take center stage.
Medvesk said he was drawn to auctioneering at a young age. He worked for his uncle, Will Montieth, who was a custom farmer.
“I learned a lot about equipment. ... I learned a lot of the agricultural business from him,” Medvesk said.
He also participated in 4-H, which each year had a junior livestock auction, and Medvesk gravitated to it.
“My personality fits it,” he said. “I’m kind of a Type A personality. I’m outgoing, and I really love the auction business side of it.”
Medvesk still loves it, and he thinks that is what separates him from a lot of the other auctioneers.
“It’s not just the chant,” he said. “It’s the business. It’s the relationships that I have with my buyers and my sellers. I just really enjoy the business from start to finish.”
Medvesk, who on Jan. 11 was named the 2025 Colorado State Champion Auctioneer, works an auction in Moab,
MORE ABOUT GRAIG MEDVESK
NEED AN AUCTIONEER?
The Auction Team, 2912 Hill Ave. in Grand Junction, does live and online auctions. If you’re interested in having an auction or have questions and would like a free consultation, call 970-245-1185 or email graig@theauctionteam.com. For more information about The Auction Team, go to its website: theauctionteam.com.
MORE THAN A STATE CHAMP
Calling Graig Medvesk the Colorado state champion is actually selling his prowess a little short. Auctioneers from other nearby states compete as well, making Medvesk a multi-state champ.
Graig
UT, with his son Hank on his lap. Photo provided by Graig Medvesk.
Council leans toward moving city elections to November
Brandon Leuallen
The Business Times
During a Jan. 13 workshop, the Grand Junction City Council considered the pros and cons of amending the city charter via ballot measure and moving its municipal elections to November instead of April.
City Manager Mike Bennett started the workshop by explaining some of the background information and the pros and cons.
He indicated that in 2020 the Secretary of State’s Office recommended counties avoid participating in off-cycle elections, prompting the City of Grand Junction to conduct its own election. This decision increased costs significantly, from $66,187.59 when managed by Mesa County to $168,923.71 when done independently.
Staff reached out to Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross in June 2023, and she agreed to oversee Grand Junction’s April 2025 election, but she recommended the City Council consider moving future elections to November.
City Clerk Selestina Sandoval emphasized that continuing with April elections would demand substantial resources and could require the city to conduct its own elections if coordination with the county becomes unworkable.
Furthermore, Sandoval addressed facility needs for elections, saying, “There’s just a lot of unknowns, and to potentially rent a facility and set up all of the technology, all of the security, all of that, to take it down is just really hard. So, I think that if that’s the direction we move in, we really need to look at a permanent solution that we can keep up.”
Some of the pros listed were increased voter convenience, increased voter confidence, increased voter turnout and financial savings.
Some of the cons listed were: The change would limit the city to one annual opportunity for TABOR questions; and the possible perception that sharing ballot space with county and state issues minimizes city issues.
COUNCIL DISCUSSION
The city council discussed questions about voter turnout, cost and moving council members’ seating dates to January if voters passed the measure.
Mayor Pro Tem Randall Reitz indicated he is open to the possibility of moving the election to November and asked Gross what the division of duties would be between the city and the county.
Gross said the city would handle candidate petitions and certify the ballot. Then, the county would handle it from there.
Council member Scott Beilfuss addressed voter turnout, saying, “It was a little concerning that all we’re talking about is money on the cost of the elections, but we certainly want to increase turnout if at all possible. Democracies aren’t free, so
we’re used to spending money on elections and reaching out to everybody.”
Beilfuss then asked Gross and Sandoval about past voter-turnout numbers for the county and the city.
Gross indicated in odd years voter turnout during fall elections is about 45 percent, and Sandoval could not recall the exact voter-turnout percentage for the city’s spring elections.
The staff report shows total turnout for the city’s special election in November 2022 for Measure 2A was 29,184, while the total turnout in the following spring’s regular election was 18,322, a difference of about 37 percent.
Furthermore Gross said, “Studies have shown that participation is higher in November than it is in April elections, because people are used to November elections.”
Council member Cody Kennedy said, “The only comment I would have is that I’m supportive … We have a lot of information, so it seems to save us quite a bit of money, and I think it would improve voter turnout.”
Council member Anna Stout said, “I think that if it weren’t for cost I might have a stronger opinion about this. But from a simple numbers perspective, I don’t see any reason to lose the partnership with the county and increase our costs like this. I don’t see that it’s worthwhile to fight for April.”
Council member Jason Nguyen said, “I’m supportive of this change and would be supportive of putting it on to the voters in April.”
Mayor Abram Herman said, “I’m generally supportive of the change as well. I also feel like we don’t have much of a choice at this point, since the system keeps being changed in a way that somewhat prevents municipalities from running their own elections, even if we wanted to. But I think, by and large, it makes sense, and it certainly saves money.”
See ELECTIONS on Page 12
Anna Stout Bobbie Gross
Dennis Simpson Mike Bennett
Coffee & Community Connections
A Chance to Connect, Collaborate, and Learn
The Fruita Chamber of Commerce will be hosting Coffee & Community Connections on Tuesday, January 28, from 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM at the Adobe Creek National Golf Course in Fruita. This special event will provide an opportunity to engage with fellow community members and have important conversations with local leaders about the state of our community, upcoming initiatives, news, and more.
This roundtable event will feature informative presentations from several influential speakers who are deeply invested in the future of our area. The session will kick off with a series of presentations, each speaker sharing insights at their own table from 8:30 AM to 9:50 AM. Afterward, there will be an opportunity for open networking until 10:30 AM.
FEATURED
SPEAKERS
Korrey Klein, MD
President/CEO of Family Health West
Shannon Vassen
Interim City Manager, City of Fruita
Kelly Johnston
President/CEO of Johnston Financial Services (JFS)
Brad McCloud
Area Manager, Community Relations at Western Colorado Xcel Energy
Jeff Engell
Regional Specialist, Colorado State University (CSU) Extension
The roundtable format of the event allows for a more intimate and engaging discussion, where community members can interact directly with the speakers and ask questions, voice concerns, or offer suggestions.
Free for Fruita Area Chamber members, $5 for non-members
Please make sure to register at events@fruitachamber.org.
Don’t miss this chance to connect with local leaders and your neighbors, learn about the latest community initiatives, and help shape the future of our community. We look forward to seeing you at Coffee & Community Connections on January 28 at Adobe Creek National Golf Course!
Elections
Continued from page 10 Herman proposed seating new council members in January instead of December if elections were moved to November, citing concerns about their lack of participation in the budget process.
Stout and Nguyen agreed and indicated it would be helpful for onboarding.
Council member Dennis Simpson disagreed and noted most of the budget was already complete by December.
MORE ELECTION INFORMATION
SECOND READING AND VOTE
The Grand Junction City Council at its Jan. 15 meeting again addressed the possibility of moving its elections from April to November, then voted on it.
After a second reading of the proposed ballot measure, the council voted 6-1 to advance to the final reading on Feb. 5, with a change that new council members would be seated in January. Council member Dennis Simpson cast the lone opposing vote, citing concerns about the change.
Simpson argued, “If four members want to overhaul the process, it’s better to know in December rather than January. However, it’s unlikely that four members, including carryovers, are going to want to make that drastic of a change. Another option is to hold a late November meeting of the existing council to approve the budget.”
Simpson added, “I’m presenting that there are problems with doing this, and the benefits that have been explained are weak or nonexistent.”
CITY ELECTION HISTORY
The City of Grand Junction has held its municipal elections in the spring since adopting its city charter on Sept. 14, 1909.
The last time the charter was amended was in 1925, and the charter currently reads:
“A municipal election shall be held in the city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April, 1925, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April of every second year thereafter, and shall be known as the General Municipal Election. All other municipal elections that may be held shall be known as Special Municipal Elections.”
page 10
Once again, longtime employee buys Overhead Door from longtime owner Like 2002 all over again...
The transaction that became official on Jan. 1 had a familiar feel for John MacElhaney, albeit this time he was on the other side of the sale of Overhead Door Company of Grand Junction.
In June 2002, MacElhaney took ownership of the company, which specializes in sales, service and installation of residential and commercial garage doors. James Maguire started it as a branch of Overhead Door Company of Colorado Springs in 1972.
So, a longtime owner (30 years for Maguire) sold the business to a long-time employee (26 years for MacElhaney at that time). Twenty-twoand-a-half years later, it happened again.
When MacElhaney tried to remember the year he bought Overhead Door, he paused, then quipped, “It’s been so much fun I can’t remember.”
MacElhaney, who is a year-and-a-half from hitting the 50-year mark at Overhead Door, sold the business at 2944 I-70 Business Loop, Unit 303, to longtime employee David Preuss (21 years at the company).
MacElhaney might still reach 50 years with Overhead Door. He agreed to work for another year, helping Preuss with the transition to ownership. And MacElhaney might stick around a little longer and hit 50 years.
“I’m gonna go another year, maybe a year-and-a-half. Maybe two. At least a year,” he said.
Preuss said MacElhaney is welcome to stick around as long as he wants. Pruess is grateful for the experienced help.
“I’ve definitely got a lot to learn on some of that stuff, and it definitely will help to have somebody that’s done a lot of it to fall back on if I need to,” he said.
Preuss has his share of experience to fall back on, too. He joined the company in January 2004 as an installer and service technician. He moved into sales and management in 2014.
“I’ve dabbled in a lot of it,” Preuss said. “I definitely will be taking on a lot more of the bigger commercial end part of the business with some of our bigger commercial projects, whereas I’ve been doing mostly our residential stuff for a while. But I’ve been slowly getting into that, and it adds a whole new learning experience of running a business. It’s definitely a first for me on that one.”
MacElhaney started as a shop employee and an installer, then moved into sales and management before buying the business.
He recalls his transition to ownership being “pretty simple, because I’d been the manager for I don’t know, eight or nine years prior to that. So, the owner was remote out of Colorado Springs, and he was getting up there in age.”
Still, when it was his time to put his money down for the purchase, there was nervousness.
“It scared the hell out of me,” he said. “I mean, when you go from working for somebody to owing the bank a lot of money, you’re a little hesitant. But it’s all gone pretty well.”
When asked about his successor, MacElhaney first had a little fun with it, saying, “I don’t even like the kid.”
places in the company to start the year as
remain with the company at least another year as an employee. If MacElhaney decides to stay a little longer after that, he can hit the 50-year mark with the company. Before purchasing the business, Preuss had been an employee of Overhead Door for 21 years. Photo by Tim Harty.
“And we still make him go out – well, I guess I can’t make him go out, because he’s my boss now – but he’ll go out and do service work and stuff like that as required.”
That drew a laugh from Preuss and MacElhaney, who then got serious and said, “He’s going to do an awesome job. I have no doubt. He’s been in sales for about 10 years now. Prior to that he was installing and serving.
Doing what’s familiar and proven successful is fine with Preuss.
“Hopefully,” he said, “we just keep chugging along like it has been for the last 40 years, 50 years.”
Overhead Door Company of Grand Junction’s John MacElhaney, left, and David Preuss traded
Preuss bought the business from MacElhaney, who will
RESOLUTIONS GOING?
HOW ARE THOSE HOW ARE THOSE RESOLUTIONS GOING?
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City Council opens dialogue; stakeholders welcome it
Brandon Leuallen The Business Times
The Grand Junction City Council joint meeting on Jan. 14 with stakeholders of the current Impact and Linkage Fee Study stood out for an obvious reason. It’s not something the council has done previously.
And that was not lost on the stakeholders, which included representatives of local Realtors, contractors, home builders, economic-development groups, members of nonprofits, members of committees within the city, and atlarge community members.
Many of them expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage directly with the council. And the council had been urged by new Grand Junction City Manager Mike Bennett a month earlier at a council workshop to hold the joint meeting.
Diane Schwenke, governmental affairs consultant for the Home Builders Association and the Grand Junction Area Realtors Association said, “I just want to start out by saying thank you for this meeting. We’ve all served on various committees, and the opportunity to actually be able to interact directly with the full city council is unique.”
She added, “It may be the first time that we’ve had that opportunity, and we just really, truly appreciate the opportunity that you’ve given us.”
Bennet emphasized later in the meeting that he prefers to take a holistic approach when collaborating with staff, stakeholders and city council before making a recommendation to city council during policy discussions.
As more than two-and-a-half hours of discussion rolled on, city staff were given lists of data and information to collect and bring back to council at future
meetings.
Schwenke spoke about a study that was commissioned under the umbrella of Associated Members for Growth and Development.
The study was commissioned jointly by the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Junction Area Realtors Association, the Western Colorado Contractors Association, and the Home Builders Association of Western Colorado.
The cities included in the study were Boise, ID; Greeley; Montrose; Reno, NV; and St. George, UT. Notably, these five cities were included in consulting firm TischlerBise’s current Grand Junction impact-fee study.
Schwenke said the proposed maximum fee levels in the study are significantly higher than the averages of the comparison cities, and most of the comparison cities do not have as many different types of fees, and none of them impose a linkage fee.
Mayor Abram Herman questioned the list of cities, saying, “I appreciate the expertise that GJEP brings. I also am kind of wondering about the methodology of deciding that these are the cities that we are competing against. What kind of data set are we working off of in determining that?”
GJEP Executive Director Curtis Englehart responded that the cities selected for the study were based on requests for proposals issued by Colorado’s Office of Economic Development, direct business inquiries and prospect data from the past three to four years.
“So the data that we had, these five rise to the top most often,” he said. “They’re the ones that we’re continuing to see when we’re working on these proposals.”
See STAKEHOLDERS on Page 16
HOUSING-AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS
The Grand Junction City Council’s meeting with stakeholders also included a lengthy discussion about impact fees affecting affordable housing.
During that discussion, Grand Junction Planning Commission member Orin Zyvan said it’s important to look at fees from the perspective of total cost.
“I mean, if you look at a 4,500-square-foot house and a $30,000 maximum supportable fee, that $30,000 is a very small portion of the cost of a 4,500-square-foot house,” he said. “I don’t feel like that’s going to make or break it for somebody to buy that house.”
President and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce Candace Carnahan responded, “Orin I appreciate your comments, but I would say for every $10,000 we’re adding to a mortgage, the payment might be attainable, but does that make it harder for a down payment? Does it make it harder for qualifying? These are questions for funding experts in the room, but we can’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s just a little bit.’”
When it comes to affordable housing, Carnahan said every dollar matters, adding, “If it’s appropriate, and we decide that as a community, fantastic, but I think we have to stop saying it’s just a little bit, because all the little bits are adding up.”
Regional Transportation Planning Office Director Dana Brosig spoke about the gap between the city’s transportation needs and the funding received from taxes, highlighting safety as a critical concern. “The needs are much higher than the funding received from taxes,” she said. “There are a lot of safety needs. Do we want our roads to be safer?”
Brosig also echoed Zyvans sentiments about the impact of fees on housing costs, framing them as an investment in the community.
“If you look at a $400,000 house, the fee is typically 2 percent to 4 percent of the cost, which is less than Realtor fees historically,” she said. “This is an investment in our community that makes it better and increases property values.”
Brosig further noted $400,000 homes are not affordable housing and suggested that such fees are unlikely to deter buyers in that price range.
“When you consider the impact on the city budget, trying to spread general-fund resources thinly across all needs is not a good way to build a community where people want to live,” she said.
Emilee Powell, executive director at Housing Resources of Western Colorado, said, “As the affordable-housing nonprofit person on the panel, of course that’s my big concern is the cost of the construction of housing. Over the 20 years of doing this, that problem has gotten worse and worse.”
“I can’t necessarily speak to Grand Junction, but just in the places that I’ve worked we used to be able to build much more for the incomes we were trying to serve. And the same amount of money that I used to be able to raise 20 years ago to help somebody at 60 percent AMI, now that’s going to somebody at 100 to 120 percent AMI, because the gap has just gotten so much bigger.”
“So, it may only sound like a little bit here, a little bit there, but you go over budget $100 at a time and at some point that person just will not qualify.”
Powell added, “The biggest concern I have is that for the community to really provide affordable housing in a meaningful way, it has to come from the for-profit sector. The nonprofit sectors do not have that capacity to really make the community affordable. We can work at the margins.”
“So, if it becomes not affordable to build those modestly sized units, whether they’re rent or for sale, that’s when we do not have affordable housing anymore.”
Stakeholders
Continued from Page 15
Herman highlighted differences between the selected comparison cities and Grand Junction, specifically regarding other forms of tax revenue.
Additionally Schwenke said the city of Montrose only has a fee for parks, and the philosophy of the city is different from the city of Grand Junction.
“Montrose’s philosophy,” she said, “is we’re going to be open for business, we’re going to attract new business, and we’re going to use the revenue that we see come in in property and sales tax to then reinvest in the infrastructure improvements that we’re going to need as a result of that growth. So there’s a little bit of a different philosophy.”
Addressing impact fee uses, Bennett said, “Impact fees are not to be spent on catching up. They are meant to be for new expansion.”
Bill Findlay, a member of the parks and rec advisory board, said the board supported city council adopting the recommended fee and felt the open-spaces requirement should be negotiated to a lower level but not reduced to zero.
Englehart said, “We have a real opportunity to increase our competitive edge from an economic development standpoint but when we look at these impact fees and then we add the linkage fee on top of it, we’re looking at increases anywhere between 27 percent clear up to 499 percent.
“If you take the linkage fee out of that, there’s still some really large increases on the impact-fee side. And so when it comes to economic development, I guess my ask to city council is to really take a strong look at some of the unintended consequences of these large increases, because it will affect economic development and really hurt our chances going forward.”
President and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce Candace Carnahan said, “We
have concerns that increased fees at the maximum rates plus additional project costs could potentially push, especially commercial development, out into the county as opposed to inside city limits.”
Grand Junction City Attorney John Shaver noted the city’s Persigo sewer system intergovernmental agreement would be a limiting factor in the amount of residential development outside of the city’s incorporated areas.
Speaking specifically about commercial development, he said, “For example, if you have a commercial or industrial kind of activity, they’ll need industrial pretreatment services. They’ll need some of the things that we provide by virtue of connection to the Persigo wastewater treatment system.”
City Council member Jason Nguyen asked if staff could address whether grant funding could be considered in the formula because grants make up a portion of the funding already for the city.
City Council member Anna Stout echoed Nguyen’s comments and asked TischlerBise President L. Carson Bise II if it could be analyzed.
Herman used the example of the new skate park where $1 million of the $3 million cost was achieved by using grant dollars, which was in the study.
After some discussion, Bise said if a steady stream of grants funds a significant portion of future parks, such as 40 percent to 50 percent, fees would be discounted accordingly. Using historical data, they analyze past funding trends to adjust future fees proportionally.
Stout said, “I would argue that we do have enough grant funding that we should at least consider this and look at it.”
Bennett recommended additional meetings between staff and stakeholders after information is gathered. He suggested this step before returning to the City Council, allowing for final policy discussions about the fees.
Grand Junction developer Kevin Bray questioned the continued focus on inclusionary zoning and linkage fees in the City of Grand Junction housing strategy update. He highlighted that cities who use them have much higher wages, and he cited a survey of stakeholders in which one out of 100 ranked linkage fees as the most important strategy.
Bray said of the linkage fee specifically, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t seem necessary, and it does not seem like the right tool for Grand Junction. … I question why we are still talking about linkage fees when there seems to be so little support for it.”
Candace Carnahan, president and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed concerns about the impact fees affecting existing businesses that are looking to expand or change their use.
“When you’re looking at the Independence Academy gym that’s currently going through the planning department, the linkage fee, if we adopted everything at the maximum allowable rate with the linkage fee, they’re seeing an additional $250,000 price tag,” Carnahan said. “That’s a lot of dollars, and we’re not talking about a manufacturer or a business. We’re talking about a gym for the kids.”
Later in the meeting Bray referenced confusion and discussion around linkage-fee formulas.
Bray elicited laughter from the room when he said, “You can get a good look at a T-bone if you stick your head up a bull’s a**.... Well, I’d rather take the butcher’s word for it.”
Rather than debating the formulas, Bray urged having a broader discussion on housing affordability, emphasizing the need to address planning-department deficiencies as well.
Bray highlighted the cumulative financial impact of incremental decisions, saying, “When we make these decisions in a silo, each time we can explain that this is only $2,000, or this is only $3,000. But when you add up all the times we’ve done that over the last couple of years, it amounts to tens of thousands of dollars.” F
Dear Editor, As the discussing could this an elected Currently Grand Junction council elects mayor and it is simply members to So how
Building barriers: the impact of fees and rising costs
Municipalities across the country are grappling with the challenge of funding infrastructure to support growth, from roads and schools to utilities and parks. Impact fees — charges imposed on new developments to offset these costs — have become a preferred tool for local governments.
However, their application often has far-reaching consequences that undermine broader community goals.
The situation is further complicated by the current economic environment. Rising interest rates have increased borrowing costs for developers, while higher material and labor costs have further strained budgets. In this context, the imposition of impact fees creates an additional financial burden that limits development, stifles economic growth, and deepens housing affordability crises.
Impact on Affordable Housing Rising Development Costs
Affordable housing has long been a critical issue in many regions, and impact fees are a significant contributor to the problem. These fees, which can range from $5,000 to $50,000 or more per unit, dramatically increase the cost of development. Developers facing these costs often pass them on to buyers or renters, resulting in higher home prices and rental rates.
When paired with rising interest rates, the financial equation becomes even more challenging. Higher mortgage rates reduce the purchasing power of prospective homebuyers, leaving fewer people able to afford homes. For renters, developers of multifamily housing face higher financing costs, leading to increased rents to maintain profitability.
Shift Toward Luxury
Developments
Faced with the dual pressures of impact fees and higher borrowing costs, many developers abandon affordable housing projects in favor of high-margin luxury developments. These projects, which offer greater returns on investment, are better suited to absorb the costs imposed by municipalities and financial institutions. However, this trend leaves low- and moderate-income households with limited options, further exacerbating housing shortages and deepening socioeconomic divides.
Reduced
Supply Flexibility
Speculative housing construction, which helps meet market demand quickly, is particularly vulnerable to these challenges. Builders of spec homes must anticipate future demand and carry significant financial risks during construction. When impact fees and rising interest rates increase upfront costs, many developers are deterred from pursuing these projects. This results in a supply bottleneck, where housing availability fails to keep pace with demand, driving up prices and reducing market accessibility.
Impact on Local Businesses
Barriers to Entry for Small Businesses
Impact fees also affect commercial development, creating significant challenges for local businesses. Small businesses, which often operate on tight margins, are particularly sensitive to these costs. For instance, a small retailer or restaurant looking to open a new location may find the additional expense of impact fees prohibitive. As a result, many entrepreneurs delay or abandon expansion plans, stalling economic growth and reducing community vibrancy.
Deterrence
of Large-Scale Investments
Larger businesses, while better equipped to absorb the costs of impact fees, also reconsider their investments in areas with high fees. Companies seeking to establish operations or expand into new markets often evaluate the financial landscape, including the regulatory and fee structures of potential locations. High impact fees, coupled with rising interest rates, make some municipalities less attractive, diverting investment and economic activity to other regions.
Long-Term Economic Consequences
Fewer businesses mean fewer job opportunities, reduced local tax revenues, and less economic dynamism. Over time, municipalities that rely heavily on impact fees risk developing reputations as anti-business environments, further discouraging investment and economic diversification.
Impact on Job Growth
Construction Industry Challenges
The construction industry, a cornerstone of local economies, is among the hardest hit by the combination of impact fees and rising development costs. Builders face higher borrowing costs due to increased interest rates, compounded by the significant upfront expenses imposed by municipalities. This leads to delays or cancellations of projects, directly reducing employment opportunities for contractors, laborers, architects, and suppliers.
Ripple Effects Across Industries
The slowdown in construction activity has broader implications for job growth. Fewer commercial developments mean fewer employment opportunities in retail, hospitality, and professional services. This reduction in job creation disproportionately affects workingclass individuals and exacerbates economic inequality within communities.
Economic Stagnation
The cumulative effect of these challenges is economic stagnation. Municipalities relying on impact fees inadvertently create a cycle of reduced development, fewer jobs, and slower growth, which further diminishes their appeal as places to live, work, and invest.
Cost vs. Risk for Builders
The Unique Challenges of Spec Homes
Speculative homes play a critical role in addressing housing demand, particularly in growing communities. However, the financial risks associated with these projects are amplified by impact fees and rising interest rates. Builders must invest significant capital upfront, often relying on loans to finance construction.
When borrowing costs rise, so does the overall expense of development, eroding profit margins and deterring investment.
For example, a $30,000 impact fee on a spec home might represent a significant portion of the developer’s expected return. Combined with elevated financing costs, this burden makes many projects financially unfeasible, particularly for smaller builders who lack the resources of larger firms.
Market Bottlenecks and Affordability
The reduction in spec home construction creates supply bottlenecks that drive up housing costs. Limited availability of homes leaves prospective buyers with fewer options, exacerbating affordability challenges. This lack of flexibility in the housing market disproportionately affects middle- and lower-income households, further widening the gap between housing supply and demand.
Local Impact
Recent data underscores the severity of the situation: subdivision applications in Grand Junction, Colorado, have plummeted by 70%, all the while the city is currently conducting a third-party study to potentially increase impact fees. This reflects a troubling disconnect between municipal policies and the broader economic realities faced by developers and communities.
Now may not be the time to make development even less affordable, as these combined pressures could deter essential housing and business projects that the community urgently needs. F
Kelly Maves is vice president of Maves Construction and a licensed Realtor with more than 20 years of construction, development and real estate experience. She is a board member of the Colorado Association of Home Builders and the Housing and Building Association of Western Colorado.
Letter to the editor: Making Grand Junction’s mayor an elected position
Dear Editor,
As the Grand Junction City Council is currently discussing moving its elections from April to November, could this also be a good time to look at making our mayor an elected position?
Currently the general public does not directly elect the Grand Junction mayor or mayor pro-tem. The seven-person city council elects amongst themselves who will represent us all as the mayor and mayor pro-tem. There is no criteria to become mayor, it is simply a popularity contest. If you can get three other council members to vote for you: Congratulations, you get to be mayor. So how can we change this so that all city residents
have a say in who gets to be our mayor? It really is not that difficult to correct. Currently of our seven-member council five of them live in specific districts, and two of them are at-large. Each person serves a four-year term. Elections alternate every two years, so four people get elected one cycle and three two years later.
Keeping the majority of the current system, let’s make a few relatively simple changes. What if we took one of the at-large seats and turned it into an elected mayor position. It would still have all the characteristics of the at-large seat with two changes. You would have to run specifically to become the mayor, and I would recommend it be turned into a two-year term.
This way every election cycle would have the ability for the voters to choose their mayor. As for mayor pro-tem that position could still be decided in house by the council using the current format. Are there other details to be addressed, such as term limits? Absolutely.
This is just one person’s thoughts on how to take the next step in growth and give Grand Junction city residents more say in who their mayor will be.
Kraig Andrews is a former Grand Junction City Council member and the former Mayor Pro-Tem.
Kelly Maves
n RANCHERS DONATE 1,300 POUNDS OF BEEF TO NONPROFITS
Several Grand Junction-area ranchers and producers donated 1,300 pounds of beef to several local nonprofits, including Food Bank of the Rockies, Clifton Christian Church, Canyon View Vineyard Church, Hope of the Grand Valley, Catholic Outreach and The Joseph Center.
The ranchers, who wish to remain anonymous, reached out to a local producer with cows it wanted to give away. The discussion sparked the idea to donate the cows and provide the processed meat to local neighbors facing food insecurity.
Mountain Meats, a local meat processor, also joined the cause by donating all of the processing fees, allowing the beef to reach the community without additional costs.
Protein, especially meat, is one of the most sought-after items from Food Bank of the Rockies’ Hunger Relief Partners across the Western Slope.
“On behalf of all the organizations that received this donation, we are incredibly grateful to our agricultural community, especially as the need for food assistance is higher than we’ve seen in years,” said Sue Ellen Rodwick, Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope Director. “Our mission is centered around igniting the power of community, and our agricultural partners are essential in making that a reality.”
In addition to traditional food donations, Food Bank of the Rockies accepts animal donations from producers and farms. Producers or farms interested in donating can contact the Food Bank at 970-464-1138.
n LAND TITLE’S BAUTISTA GETS PROMOTION
Fiona Bautista has been promoted to closing agent for Land Title Guarantee Company, 2454 Patterson Rd, Suite 100. Bautista joined Land Title in 2022, beginning her career as an assistant on Jessie Carlson’s team.
“It was soon apparent that her attention to detail, focus and passion for the transaction process, as well as her natural ability to put customers at ease, made her an invaluable asset during any closing,” said Jennifer Brownell, Land Title vice president and branch manager.
n WORKFORCE SUMMIT COMING JAN. 29
The second annual Mesa County Workforce Summit will take place Jan. 29, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Colorado Mesa University Ballroom, 1455 N. 12th St. in Grand Junction.
A variety of speakers and sessions are planned throughout the day, including a breakfast keynote speech from Colorado Mesa University President John Marshall. Andreas Mueller-Schubert, CEO and chief strategist at WSI Next Gen Marketing, will deliver the lunchtime keynote about integrating AI tools to streamline operations, enhance decision-making and expand capacity.
The 2025 Workforce Summit is sponsored by Grand Junction Federal Credit Union, Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Mesa University, Colorado Workforce Development Council, FCI Contractors and other local businesses.
If you are interested in purchasing a table sponsorship, contact Mesa County Workforce Center Director Heather Nara via email at heather.nara@mesacounty.us or by calling 970-2480876. To register or purchase a table sponsorship, visit www.mesacounty.us/workforcesummit.
n GVP GETS
$13
MILLION FOR CLEAN ENERGY
Grand Valley Power will receive $13 million in grant funding over 15 years from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program.
The funding will be used for Grand Valley Rural Power Lines Inc. to procure more than 26 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from the Garnet Mesa Solar agrivoltaics facility that is under development in Delta. This will power nearly 6,600 homes per year.
The project will stabilize costs to rural cooperative members, create new short- and long-term jobs on Colorado’s Western Slope, and reduce climate pollution by more than 60,000 tons each year. The initiative will reduce greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to over 14,000 gasoline-powered cars annually.
The New ERA funding supports investment that puts Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc. on track to meet 100 percent of its consumers’ energy needs with renewable resources at a lower cost. The cooperative’s members will directly benefit from cost savings of more than $700,000 per year for 15 years, beginning in 2028. The grant would not have been possible without the support of the USDA Rural Utilities Service and Guzman Energy, the cooperative’s future power supplier beginning in 2028.
“The New ERA investment provides our rural members the opportunity to support the unique integration of renewable-energy development and Western Colorado values,” said Tom Walch, CEO of Grand Valley Rural Power Lines Inc. “The increased resiliency and production of clean energy will provide benefits for generations.”
The cooperative anticipates holding Empower Hour events around its service territory to meet with members and discuss the project. More information will be available on the Grand Valley Power website at gvp.org.
n DERE JOINS BRAY REAL ESTATE TEAM
Bray & Company Real Estate announced it has hired Lila Dere to join its team.
Dere is a lifelong resident of Grand Junction, and Bray Real Estate said in a news release, “Lila brings not only a deep-rooted connection to the community, but also a wealth of real estate experience that began at an impressively young age. … We are confident that her commitment to excellence will be a great asset to our clients and our community.”
n HAVE COFFEE WITH THE CITY MANAGER ON JAN. 30
The City of Grand Junction will host Coffee with the City Manager on Jan. 30 at 7:30 a.m. at Main Street BagelS, 559 Main St. in Grand Junction.
These events are an opportunity for members of the community to have a conversation with the city manager and members of city staff and hear about upcoming events or city initiatives. For this meeting, City Manager Mike Bennett will share information about his recent transition to Grand Junction’s city manager role.
