Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christi Reece and her team hear from the movers, shakers and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western Slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the Full Circle!
Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Mayor Greg Mikolai - City of Palisade - Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Christi sits down with the Mayor of Palisade, Greg Mikolai. Hear how tourism impacts this small Colorado town, the exciting things to do there, and how they are looking to the future.
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Speaker 2:The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Welcome everyone to the Full Circle podcast. I'm your host, Kristy Reese, and today I am really excited to have as our guest, the mayor of Palisade, Colorado, Mr. Greg McLay . Greg, thanks for being with us. Yeah , thanks
Speaker 3:For having me here, Kristy .
Speaker 2:Yeah . Um, so tell us about how you got to the Grand Valley. When did you first come here?
Speaker 3:Well, I originally , uh, I was , um, born and raised in Minnesota. Uh, graduated , uh, from the now University of St . Thomas back then. College of St . Thomas. Uh, worked in the Twin Cities , um, uh, up until , uh, 1994. And then , uh, job opportunity came up here in the Grand Valley with KJCT , uh, um,
Speaker 2:Our wonderful local stations.
Speaker 3:Yes, I , um, worked there. Uh , originally , uh, thought that I was gonna use this as kind of a stepping stone to, you know, some other , um, larger television market. But ended up , uh, meeting my wife Kelly , um, fell in love with her, fell in love with the Grand Valley. We got married, had two kids, and then I've, so I've made this my home for 30 years. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. And your background in the film and television was in the, on the production side, correct? Right. Not in front of the
Speaker 3:Camera. Uh , not usually on this side of the camera. That's correct.
Speaker 2:<laugh> . Well, I think you could be on this side of the camera. Um, and , um, and when did your tenure at CMU start , because you are now , uh, a , a professor at CMU for film and television, correct?
Speaker 3:Well, I , um, in , in 1999, I started working for Rocky Mountain, PBS , uh, KRMJ TV here in Grand Junction as, again, as a, a producer. Um, and then , uh, there was a very close association between Rocky Mountain, PBS and CMU. And so we moved our studios from WCCC at the time, now CMU Tech , uh, we moved it from WCCC to the main campus , uh, in , uh, 2011. And that's when Tim Foster asked me to start teaching the video production classes for the Mass Communications Department. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So I transferred over from being a producer to being an instructor and video producer, still for CMU. I do production work for them from time to time. And , uh, been doing that now since, since 2011. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I was actually a film major in school. Uh, it's been a long time since I've used any of that, but, you know, I did , uh, one of my classes was editing. We were actually editing tape, you know, with a splicer and everything. So that was pretty fun. I loved doing that. But, you know, back then not every school had a film department or a media department, and now you pretty much have to, don't you, I mean, video is so pervasive in our society.
Speaker 3:Well, there's, there's varying degrees of, you know, what some , um, programs will incorporate or try to, you know, have as far as their , uh, you know, video production slash whatever, you know , uh, audio production type , uh, programs , uh, depending upon the size and and breadth of, of what they're trying to do. Um, some can be very , um, I , you know , very straightforward in terms of they're just doing production slash pre-production. In other words, go out and shoot footage, bring it back and edit. Um , we actually have a little bit more comprehensive program in that, you know, we do the field production and editing , uh, but we also have full, you know, multi , um, camera tv, studio production, you know, live edit Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> as some people refer to it. And so, yeah, we're, we're a little bit more , uh, broad in our, our aspect of what we can teach at CMU.
Speaker 2:That's great. I love that we have the program there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So , um, that's your full-time job,
Speaker 3:Correct.
Speaker 2:<laugh> and , uh, mayor is also a full-time job. Correct.
Speaker 3:<laugh> , it seems like it at sometimes .
Speaker 2:How do you balance the two?
Speaker 3:Well, it's actually, you know, being mayor of Palisade actually doesn't require, you know, too much of my time. Um , you know, as a community of 2,500 , uh, people , um, you know, it's not like I'm the mayor of Denver or something like that. Uh, also, we, you know, we have a very good staff. I mean, between, you know, Janet Hawkinson as our town manager, and then those , uh, people that work, you know, directly, you know, to, you know, answer to her. Um, I , I think we have a great staff. And so, you know, they, they bear most of the burden of, of town operations. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , my job is primarily to help the board set policy set direction, you know, and then , um, you know, as mayor, I guess I'm kind of the front person Yeah . For the town.
Speaker 2:And when you first came to the Grand Valley, did you start living in Palisade or did you migrate that way? And how did you come to love that community so much?
Speaker 3:Well, my , uh, you know, I, I first moved here and lived in Clifton. And then, you know, I met my wife, you know, who , uh, later to be my wife , um, Kelly , uh, and she was living in Palisade. And so that's just where we set up our home. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:And when did you decide that getting into politics might be a good move for you?
Speaker 3:I don't know if it was a good move, <laugh>. It was, well,
Speaker 2:We think it is <laugh> . We think
Speaker 3:It's, I don't know if it was a good move. Um, what ended up happening in , in , um, this is always an kind of an interesting, 'cause I got into it almost in, in a , in a by mistake or, or almost accidentally in some ways. Uh, so in 2009 , um, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ran a , a article stating that , uh, there weren't any candidates for District E for the , uh, school board. Now, I knew about the school board, and I'd had friends and other, you know, involvement with people who had been on the school board over the years. Uh , but I'd never thought about running for it for myself. Well, district D is Palisade and, and , uh, quite a bit of Clifton. But anyway, there weren't any candidates. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, at the time, Leslie Keesler and Harry Butler were running unopposed and their districts, and I think those would've been then C and and D. But there wasn't anybody running an E. And I said, okay . I talked to Kelly and said, you know, our sons are in school, you know , uh, one would've been in still , uh, elementary, the other one was in middle school. You know, we , you know, we , we want to set an example for them that, you know, if you want things to change or be better, you need to get involved. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And so with that in mind , uh, I threw my hat into the ring. You know, we talked it over and said, yeah, okay, I'll, I'll run for the school board. Uh, so we went from zero candidates to three because of the article. So there ended up being two other candidates, but I prevailed in 2009, was elected to the board , uh, was reelected in 2013. I did serve as the school board president for four of those eight years. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And then when Mike was term limited in 2017, a good friend of mine in Palisade, Rick Fox, talked me into running for the town board. And so I ran for the town board in 2018. And then , uh, my good friend Roger Granite, who was , at the time mayor, was term limited, so he talked me into running for mayor. So I keep getting kind of talked into some of this <laugh> . Uh , however, I did get even with Rick Fox, 'cause I talked him into running for the town board this year, and he was, he was elected as a board of trustees member. Perfect.
Speaker 2:Well , did you, when you were on the school board, did you find it more work than you expected or about what you expected? I mean, I , you know, I think it's a, it's a huge commitment to get on , uh, a board like that.
Speaker 3:There was
Speaker 2:A lot of consequences.
Speaker 3:There was, you know, it's interesting because it was, it was , uh, the, the , the involvement tended to be in clumps. So, you know, my time, you know , uh, tended to be in clumps in terms of, of how much time I had to put into being a board member. Um, come June and July, you wouldn't even know there was a school board, hardly anything was going on. Then of course, school was out. Um, then you'd start getting into some of the budgeting issues. And that took some time , uh, as we would go in in October and November. Um, then once you hit January and February, there wasn't much going on. And then you'd start getting into the MVA negotiations portion. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> of the year. And so, yeah. You know, you're , you , your time involvement had a lot of , you know, kind of hills and valleys of it. So,
Speaker 2:And, and how did that differ once you became a town trustee?
Speaker 3:Um, again , uh, the involvement as a , as a trustee member or as mayor, again, tends to be fairly, you know, up and down. Uh , uh, right now we're in the budget process, so, you know, there's a little bit more involvement at this point. But again, I think once we get into, you know, December and January it begins , it dips off quite a bit, and the summer months tend to be a little slower. So I'm not nearly as , um, called upon to, to spend my time doing town business. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> with , for those people that think they might want to get into , uh, a government position , uh, what do you think makes a good town trustee? What do you think the qualities are that somebody needs to be thinking about?
Speaker 3:I think the first thing is to , is to, you know, really evaluate your own reason why you want to be a board of, you know , a trustee or actually , you know, to serve on any board Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , whether it be school board, whether it's a city council or a , you know, board of trustees, anything like that. A county commission, planning commission, any of that. What is your motivation? If your motivation is self-serving, then you're not gonna be a good board member. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know, if you're doing it because you're trying to get something out of it for yourself, whether , um, it's you're basically just trying to stroke your own ego, or maybe you have some agenda that's going to benefit you personally, you're not gonna be a good board member. Yeah. And you're gonna find that the , you're gonna have a lot of frustration and conflict. And so that's the first thing. I think anybody considering getting into some type of, in , you know, municipal involvement or municipal government or governance , um, they really do, they need to, to first really sit down and evaluate, why am I doing this? Agree . If you can say, I am doing this for the betterment of the community , uh, the betterment of the people that I live with , organization. Yeah . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , then yes, you should get involved , uh, if you've got it, because, well, I want to change the zoning codes so that I can get a different house built or, or, you know, my piece of real estate might become more valuable, then you're not, you're not gonna be a good board member, and you're gonna, you're gonna end up in conflict.
Speaker 2:I agree. I think that's true. Um, so as you're in your second term as mayor now, correct. What , uh, what do you think are the biggest challenges facing Palisade now? And we'll talk about successes too, but what do , what are you facing right now , uh, that you're working on?
Speaker 3:Well, as I think with any municipality, especially, you know, depending on, on, on size, you know, it's always gonna face the issues of , um, infrastructure. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know, I , I was speaking with somebody here the other day, and I , you know, I , I stated quite clearly that , um, you know, the, the main function of a municipality, town, city, whatever it is , is to provide services to its, you know , uh, citizens. And that is streets, water, sewer, those are the first three mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know , that should be at the top of the list and should always be a priority. Um, with that in mind, that costs money.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:So, you know, there's, the, the , uh, I always think of the , uh, mercury seven astronauts, when I think about some of this with the Mercury seven astronauts, in terms of what was going on with the space program in the late fifties, early sixties, you know, had the philosophy that no bucks , no Buck Rogers, they understood that as , um, you know, they weren't just pilots, they were also promoters. They needed to promote the program so that they could get the funding to put these spaceships up and into the atmosphere or beyond the atmosphere into outer space. Um, so with that in mind, I think in, in some ways, what we have to do as a board is that we have to look for ways to promote , uh, economic diversity, economic development within the town of Palisade so that we can expand our tax base, our, our revenue base to provide those basic services to our citizens. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 2:Uh , it's a pretty small community, as you mentioned, 2,500 people. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um , you've got a lot of small acreage properties around, and you've recently , um, made some decisions about density and larger density projects. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> in the Palisade region. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 3:Well, we, we , um, went through and , and redid our comprehensive plan, finished that up about a year ago. Uh, we had not had a reevaluation of our comprehensive plan since 2007. So it was, you know, well timed to , to look at that and see what the community wanted us to do. And so obviously we did the whole thing of community outreach and engagement, getting people,
Speaker 2:Did you get good participation?
Speaker 3:I think , I think we had very good participation. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And one of the things that you , that came out that was, you know, I think, you know, front and center of the whole thing was we do not want high density development in the town of Palisade. And so we just went through and we did change our zoning codes to basically knock down some of our high density , um, zoning prior to this was, was pretty, I think, I think overly large, especially for communities such as ours. So I think it was well timed that we, we looked at that reevaluated and , and , uh, got the density into, into the, you know, to the realm that the, the , the town wanted. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, because a lot of people felt that those kind of high density , um, projects might change the character of your community.
Speaker 3:And that's part , that's what really came out within the comprehensive plan, was just how important it was to maintain and preserve the personality and , and character of the town of Palisade. Uh, we are a small town and we want to remain a small town. Um, we, you know, obviously we , we like our festivals. We recognize at times that sometimes the festivals can be a burden, but they are an economic driver for what happens in the town. Uh, we are , uh, most of our economic , uh, you know , uh, progress. I'll say our , our , our , our , you know, what we, we, where we derive a lot of our , uh, revenue for infrastructure is from tourism. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Whether it's somebody coming in for the festivals, whether it's somebody coming in for , uh, the fruit , uh, you know, coming in for peaches, whether they're coming in for the wineries. Yeah . Whether, you know, whether they're coming in for some kind of , uh, you know, outdoor activity, palisade plunge or something like that. Or just, you know, enjoying the river or enjoying just the area. They do tend to, they, you know, a lot of that , uh, the revenue that we derive through our sales tax is from an outside source and from tourism. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. And how do you continue to grow economically in such a small town when you don't have a lot of development potential? I, I did read that you were thinking about some light industrial opportunities for the region.
Speaker 3:Well, I think the one thing that I, I've been trying to, you know, stress, you know, from my own opinion, I will say that, you know, and again, this is something when you're working with a board of seven people, you know, I am just one board member, you know, one opinion out of seven. Um, you know, we need to come to a consensus of what , of what we think is best for the town of Palisade. And, you know, in my own opinion, I think we need a little bit more economic diversity. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I, I think we're a little too dependent on tourism. You know, what ends up happening is about , you know, you get into end of November, beginning of December, and all of a sudden your business is just dies off. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know, and then if we talk to the restaurant owners, you know, and again, I try to keep in touch with them or try to talk about how things are going. They'll let you , they'll tell you that, you know, January and February, there's hardly anything going on. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And then , uh, you know, things start picking up again. Starting somewhere middle of March, maybe beginning of April, things will start picking back up again. Well, that means that for at least 25% of your year, you don't have a very strong economic base. Um, and so I think I've been trying to see, or, you know , hopefully, you know, get some , uh, opportunities for a little bit more economic diversity. Um, we do have some places where , uh, light industrial or some other type of , um, nont tourism type , um, businesses could, you know, exist in the town of Palisade. It's, you know, and , uh, I would hope that , uh, maybe at some point we can develop that idea so that , uh, again, we don't have this complete downturn in our , um, our tax base for, for , for 25% of the year.
Speaker 2:Palisades such unique community , uh, geographically, as you come out, you know, down the Colorado River and the Canyon opens up and you've got the great , um, growing , um, season, all the crops that you grow out there, it's also considered quite an artist community. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . What's your kind of, your elevator pitch? Like when, when you go places and people say, tell me about Palisade. How do you describe it? What do you love about it?
Speaker 3:Um, I love the , you know, I , I do love the character and , and , and personality of Palisade. I love that it was, that it is a small town. Um, but it's a, it's a small town with big opportunities. You know, the , you know, I grew up in a , in a , a small town in southern Minnesota that a small farming community and same size, 2,500 people. And, you know, you would go into my hometown on a Friday night, and basically they've rolled up the streets and it didn't matter what time of year, <laugh> , you know, there was, I think we had a one restaurant that was sporadically open, I'll put it that way. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Um, you did not have the distilleries or the wineries or the brew pubs like we have in Palisade. So, you know, it's interesting for me to see kind of that , um, that difference that Palisade presents in that , um, you know, we've got , um, some very good restaurants. Yes. Excellent. In Palisade. I mean, you know, and again, I'll probably get, somebody's gonna get mad at me for not , they're gonna think I'm skipping 'em , but I'm gonna try , you know, so you have Pesh. Yeah . You know, Fidel's. Yeah . 3, 5, 7. Fantastic. 13 bricks. Yep . Um, and I , somebody's gonna get mad 'cause I'm probably forgetting somebody as far as the
Speaker 2:Wine Country Inn,
Speaker 3:You've got the wine country Carolyn's at Wine Country Inn , uh,
Speaker 2:Great , great pies right there around the corner. And pies up in East Orchard Mason, east
Speaker 3:Orchard, Mesa . Um , you know , and , and again, you've got a slice of life. Yeah . <laugh> , slice of life , such a good bakery. That's with Yeah. Mary Lincoln. With, with that. She does , you know, she's been doing that for as long as I've been there, and she does a great job. Um, so they're , they're , um, oh, that , that Berry cup that they have Oh, yeah. Which is really good. And , uh, you know, and along with that, yes, you have the Brew Pub , um, the Distillery, which is like a nationally, you know, award-winning, you know, distillery with their, with their brandy and , and their, their vodka. You , um, have, again, the wineries, I mean, so you have all of this activity and all, you know, all of this, the , this, these interesting , uh, uh, aspects of Palisade for, for a town of 2,500 is, is, you know, very quite remarkable. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And yet we're not, you know , you look at something like a ure , you know, and how Ure economy works and what, you know, 'cause they're extremely tourism driven
Speaker 2:And fairly seasonable seasonal, although the , um, the Ice Park has given them a pretty decent winter season.
Speaker 3:It , uh, yes. But, you know, I remember going into UA on I , like on New Year's Eve for one time, my, my wife and I went, well, we're gonna go to URE and stay there for New Year's Eve , uh, one time. And and you would've thought that there was, there was only six people in the entire town. Yeah. You know, and , and again, it's interesting how things like that work. Uh, whereas, you know, Palisade, you know, even though we do have a down season , uh, because of some of the attractions of the restaurants, I mean, people come in from fruit in Grand Junction to go to Yeah . You know, some of these restaurants or to come out to the pub.
Speaker 2:It's, it's , um, it's a unique situation in Colorado because many of our small towns are so remote and Palisade retains that small town feel. And yet you have a pretty big population to draw from. Oh , I love to go out there for a meal or just an afternoon or the farmer's market. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh , yeah. And of course, yeah, we're in the midst of Farmer's Market. Uh, I was just there yesterday and I think there must have been at least close to 3000 people , uh, I bet out there . So out course , you know, the peaches are, are now available. And so I think you have just people showing up from all over the state or even, you know, Utah, whatever, and they're coming in to buy peaches. And so we had just a very large throng <laugh> Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> barely , uh, moved there on, on Main Street and third at times, because just the number of people that were coming in and enjoying the , the farmer's market, you know, the other , the and the fact that that Farmer's Market is , um, has has consistently rated in like the top 10 nationally.
Speaker 2:How's it really? Oh , I didn't realize that.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes. We've actually , uh, like USA today poll, there's one time we finished third, another time we finished seventh. Uh, there's a couple other , um, polls that where we've finished in the top 10. So, you know, and then of course, we've got the best of the West coming up, and we are nomina, you know, we're, we're placing, you know, how that goes with, you know, they , they, okay, yes. You're gonna get at least third place. So Mm-Hmm . And we've done, that's been consistent for years now with Best
Speaker 2:Of the West, well deserved. I mean, when I go out there, I, I get some kettle corn <laugh> , and some tomatoes, and some berries and some earrings and some clothes. I mean, you can get a little bit of everything. That's really wonderful.
Speaker 3:Well, Sarah Fina does a great job , uh, you know, with that. I mean, she has it very well organized, very well , um, set up so that people just have a very good experience with the whole thing. And, and I can't say enough about how, how well she's done. And again, that gets back to, you know, it's, it's easy sometimes being the mayor of Palisade because staff is doing all the work and
Speaker 2:People are just patting you on the back.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They , they , they , they want to credit me with it. But, you know, it's really, it's , it is people like Sarafina or with our, you know, with our festivals and what Troy Ward does in terms of setting up River Bend Park, so that those festivals can really, you know, thrive. And so yeah, we have, we just have great staff out there . And so again, it's, it's easy to to , to do.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what it takes is a , a good team behind you, but a good leader as well. <laugh>. Um, so we , we said we're gonna talk about some successes. So obviously your festivals. You have Peach Festival Wine Festival, bluegrass Festival,
Speaker 3:Lavender Festival, lavender Festival , uh, honeybee Festival. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, you know, yeah, we have a , you know, we do the , uh, uh, old, you know, old fashioned Christmas, we do that, you know, come, you know, in , in beginning of December. Um, so, you know, we have a lot of, of different activities like that. But again, we try to make sure that we balance that out so that the local population doesn't feel like they're overwhelmed with festivals all the time. I , you can get a little burned out on it and you can burn out your staff. So, you know, several years ago we made an effort to really look at the calendar and say, okay, these are weekends when we know we're not gonna do a festival. We are , we're not gonna have anything going on. Keep
Speaker 2:It open, <laugh> ,
Speaker 3:Keep, you know, keep, these are, you know, we like blackout dates, I guess you would call it. So we went through and said, okay, we're no festival this weekends and that type of thing to really, you know, make sure that A, we don't burn out the citizens, and b we don't burn out the staff. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, I know I talked to Matthew Breman from , uh, who's the mayor in Fruita , and we talked about something similar and, and that it was really important to address the needs of the citizens first, and then the tourists makes you , if nobody wants to live there, <laugh> <laugh> , what kind of community do you have?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, and again, it is, you , you have to strike a balance with it, you know , you know, we have to recognize that, you know, the festivals are important to us because they are an economic driver. And without that economic driver, we wouldn't be able to provide the services to the citizens who live there year round . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So, you know, again , you , you , you try to strike that balance so that, you know, we can, we can have the revenue that we need for infrastructure and yet not overwhelm our population with a festival every other weekend or whatever it would be.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, does Palisade have enough lodging rooms to , uh, satisfy the needs during all of your festivals?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:<laugh> . Is that a concern? I know you , um, <laugh> , I mean, obviously people don't have to go too far to get to Grand Junction or Clifton , uh, to get a room. Uh , but you also have a , um, a str a pretty strict policy on Airbnb, correct. And overnight.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. I , so, you know, we do have a limit of 20 , um, you know, vrbo, you know, only 20 should be our , our license are permitted to operate within the town limits. Um, you know, we, obviously, we have Wine Country Inn and Spoken Vine. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And those are great, you know. Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. You know , um, motels and, and hotels. Um, but again, I think we could use more rooms. But again, I, I would like to see it in, you know , terms of like a boutique Yeah . Motel or slash hotel. Um, something that isn't , uh, you know, like one or two people, but something that can accommodate maybe more like 15 to 16 rooms. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And there's a couple of locations that, that could be viable, that would work really well for that. It's just somebody who needs , uh, to uh , just take a look at it and say, yeah, this will be a very good business opportunity. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> to come in and, and build something like this. There's a couple of locations up at the interchange of 42, exit 42. Uh, there's a couple of other ones out on the highway, just out, you know, just on the outskirts of, of town. I think there's a lot of opportunity in those lines. Um, just somebody has to pull the trigger on it and , and , uh, you know , decide to do the investment. Okay.
Speaker 2:Listeners, viewers , <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's a business opportunity there. So,
Speaker 2:Other successes. How about your, your state of your healthcare , uh, facilities in Palisade?
Speaker 3:Well, we're very proud of the clinic that we, you know, completed , uh, about a year and a half ago. Um, that was a great partnership between community hospital and the town of Palisade. Um, the, How that came about is, you know, I , I've known Chris Thomas and worked with him on, on many things over the years, and he gives me a call and says, Hey Greg, now that you're mayor, you know, this might be a good opportunity to talk about trying to start a clinic up. 'cause we had not had direct medical services in the town of Palisade since about 2002. Wow . And Dr. Hoisington , uh, closed up his clinic in Palisade, moved his operation into Clifton, and then from there he moved it from Clifton to , uh, the clinics on 28 and a half or quarter row . So, you know, it'd been, you know, 20 years. And Chris Thomas saw an opportunity to benefit the community and benefit Community Hospital by starting a clinic. And so we kind of drove around and we had the old high school, Palisade High School was there. And he, he said, well , what would it take to tear that thing down? I said, well , you think about remodeling. And he said, no, I think we'd want to tear it down and try to use that property.
Speaker 2:Was it occupied at all at that time? No.
Speaker 3:The only thing that was ever in used was the gymnasium. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So the story behind that, and it's always kind of interesting how things can come back to bite you . One of the first things that happened in 2009 was I was , uh, elected to the school board was , um, Steve Schultz, and I'll blame him for this. The superintendent at the time, he came up to me and said, Hey, Greg, you know , uh, the school district is thinking of selling the high school , uh, in Palisade, the old high school to the town. And I said, for how much? And he said, for a dollar. And I said, we are getting the best out of that <laugh> uh , knowing the state of that pa , you know, the uhhuh of that old
Speaker 2:Asbestos,
Speaker 3:I'm sure. And the building, everything and everything that was going on. It was interesting. 'cause my stepson , um, actually utilized that as a middle school at one point. He went to sixth grade. They, they had , they were so crowded in Mount Garfield Middle School, they had to find another location. So what they did is they had sixth graders going to the high school. Wow . And it was, yeah . Very interesting. He just had to go across the street to go , uh, go to school every day . Anyway, so, you know, we sell the , the high school to the town. The town a couple of years later invested close to a million dollars to renovate the gymnasium. Beautiful renovation. But of course, there was the other parts of the building that you just couldn't use. We had actually, it was walled off, so you couldn't even hardly access 'em . So when this came up with Chris, we looked at it what it would take, and it cost us like $1.8 million to tear down and remediate the asbestos of what we kind of called the 24 Wing and then the 48 wing. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . 'cause those parts of the, the original wing was built in 1924, and then in the thirties , um, part of the WPA and CCC programs, that's when they built the gymnasium. And then later on in , in 1948 is when they built the , the part of the high school that border , or that paralleled seventh Street. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we, you know, looked at it, and it did, it cost 1.8 million, but we fortunately we, to build the actual clinic , uh, we received , um, a million dollars from the , um, I guess it would be part of that build back better program. Um, Senator , uh, Bennett put that in as part of a , you know, the targeted spending or I can't remember the phrase they actually used. Yeah . And so Senator Bennett , um, was able to procure a million dollars for us for that, for the building. And then the county was able to , um, procure a million and a half . So we built it for two and a half , and then now we lease it to community hospital. And it's been a very, you know, it's, it's a , a productive use of a site that we just didn't know for years Yeah . We , we were ever gonna do with it. And so it , it has really turned out to be a great, great opportunity and a great, you know, benefit to the Town of Policy . And wonderful. Chris Thomas. Uh , he updates me every now and again on how things are going. And he says things are going great. Good. He loves having that clinic out there. And
Speaker 2:It's a good looking building. I haven't had the chance to go inside, but it sure looks nice.
Speaker 3:It does a very, it is very nice. In fact, I just had a doctor's appointment there recently. It's beautiful. Inside and out.
Speaker 2:Um, another great success , uh, under your tenure has been , uh, bringing fiber to Palisade. Correct.
Speaker 3:How
Speaker 2:Did you get that accomplished?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, we had two of our board members really, you know, kind of took the burden and really tried to run with it. And that was Ellen Turner. And Nicole Maxwell , uh, really wanted to kind of lead, you know, the efforts to do that. And so they were making contacts at the state level. They were going to , um, different conferences and meeting people and finding out, you know, what, what was available, how we could do it and , and what would be the best way to do it for the town of Palisade. And so we have, you know, through that, their efforts. Uh, we started a , a , a partnership with Region 10, and Region 10 does the fiber for Delta and Montrose counties. And so they're , you know, very, you know, efficient and, and proficient in the fiber business. We were able to procure some grants from dola, department of Local Affairs. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, we want to thank Dana for that one <laugh> . And so we were able to , to get the money and, and get the , uh, the , uh, efforts put together to install fiber throughout the community. Excuse me. Um, so with the grant money in Region 10, we were able to build our middle mile from the interstate , um, through to our , uh, what's they call a carrier neutral location. And , um, that isn't lit up yet. We're actually, so a deeply digital and clear network. So deeply Digital did the infrastructure of the Middle Mile and some of the other infrastructure. And then kind of their sister company, clear Networks finished the last mile of the fiber in town. Uh, right now they have a , uh, contract with a different entity providing the internet service. Uh , but once that , uh, fiber is lit up along the interstate and connects in at Exit 42, then we'll actually be using C Dots fiber for our internet services. Okay. And so it , it clear networks and , and deeply Digital did a great job and they put in that fiber and they did it in a hurry. And I've got it <laugh>.
Speaker 2:Wonderful.
Speaker 3:And it's, I think we're the only one of two small communities in Western Colorado that's an eagle are the only ones who have fiber. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So we're, we love it.
Speaker 2:That's
Speaker 3:Great. Great for business, and it's just great for the citizens. Yes. It's interesting running for mayor for my second term. You know , when I ran the first term, that's when Covid was there. So I couldn't really get out and canvas and do the election nearing the way I would like to. But this time around I was able to get out, knock on doors. I think I knocked on , on just about every door in Palisade running for reelection. And I, you know, got to talk to people and learn what you know, you know, and it's always nice to do that to , to get a , a better idea of how the community is going. And it was interesting how many people actually were working out of their homes. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and really enjoyed, or really more appreciative of that fiber coming in. 'cause with our, you know, our economy today is so dependent upon communication and being able to interface, you know, over vast di uh , distances and fiber helps out a ton.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Amazing. Great job. So Greg, right now you're working on improving the , um, bike ability if , if that's a word of palisade and improving some bike lanes and things like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Uh, again, one of the things that came out of the comprehensive plan was, you know, to have more multimodal, you know, opportunities, pedestrian bike. Um, so right now we're in the process of acquiring the properties or the, you know, the, the , that necessary to have a , uh, continuous sidewalk multimodal , um, stretch on Highway six from the high school to the river. And so right now we have, it's completed up to around Lincoln or Logan. And then once we get this last aspect, then we'll be able to complete it, you know , so we'll have it, you know, all the way up to the high school. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , uh, we're also working on , um, doing, you know, more a , a nice multimodal , uh, pathways from Exit 42 all the way down to the highway along Alberta. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And that'll be actually be on both sides. So it'll be, it's a , you know, it's a , it's a big project. It's about a million dollars, but it's well worth it to, to, you know, give those opportunities. Again, that's one of the main functions of a municipality. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> is that type of infrastructure.
Speaker 2:And , um, any other projects that you're working on right now on the , you've got two years left in your term, is that right? Four. Oh, you just started That's
Speaker 3:Right. I just got it reelected here.
Speaker 2:That's right. 24.
Speaker 3:So three and a half, we'll say three and a half . Um, you know , the , the , the big thing that we're, we're working on, and this has been, you know, a project that I was introduced to , uh, uh, coming in as a board member in 2018, and that was our , uh, wastewater hookup with Clifton Sanitation District. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> due to , uh, C-D-P-H-E, you know, requirements and restrictions and , and regulations. Our open lagoon system is no longer viable for treating wastewater. So we, you know, I came in in 2020 and I think that's really about the only true agenda item I had in 2020 is we have to find a solution for our wastewater treatment. We knew that we would have to decommission 'em by 2027 the best. And really the only viable option for us was to create this pipeline of about five and a half miles going from the town of Palisade into Clifton Sanitation District. It's a big project. We're in the process there of design. I think we're about 30 or 40% of design. We are acquiring the easements and right of ways that we need Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and I myself hope that by fall of 2025, we will actually start construction on it and complete, depending on which engineer you talk to, <laugh> somewhere late 2026, early 2027.
Speaker 2:That would be great. I mean, obviously that's , um, it's not the the shiny thing, but it's one of the most important things, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah . And again, it's , it's about service . It's , it's about, it's providing the basic services that citizens need within a municipality. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> water, sewer streets . Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Well , uh, I think anybody that lives in the Grand Valley feels an affinity for Palisade, whether you live out there or not. I, my, both my kids went to Palisade High School. Oh . And I kind of feel like I, you know, I'm a resident there in a way. I , I loved going out there all the time. And it's just a beautiful place to live. And I love , um, the collaboration that the three communities in our valley you're having. I think , uh, you all have spoken about that a lot. How you, you all have different personalities, but you all collaborate so that everyone's successful.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, one of the things that I'm actually kind of been trying to promote again in terms of economic development is I think we need to look at it as a whole and not as the parts . Um, you know, you have Fruita , you have Grand Junction, you have Palisade, you have unincorporated Mesa County. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you've got four elements here within the Grand Valley. And so if we look at that as all like a cohesive community and how something that benefits Fruita also benefits Palisade. Yeah . What benefits, Palisade benefits Grand Junction, what benefits, grand Junction benefits, Mesa County , all of it, we're all intertwined. We all kind of work here together. And so I I, in some ways I don't, like , I almost prefer the phrase as opposed to Palisade or <inaudible> or I almost prefer to use the phrase Grand Valley and that we are a part of the Grand Valley community. And it's, it's also gets to that idea of economic development. And, you know, when we look at where some of our economic development occurs within the Grand Valley, I think it's almost becoming a little too centralized. And if we aren't careful about how that works, at some point, that perimeter around that centralized, you know, economic development Yeah . Is going to start to , um, suffer some detrimental effects to its infrastructures. And so, again, we have to realize that a lot of the, like just the tourism alone, and if you talk to anybody involved with, you know, economic development and economic wellbeing of this, the Grand Valley, we'll tell you that tourism is a big part of that more and more all the time, more and more all the time. And that means Fruita and Palisade quite extensively. You know, fruit has got the great bike, you know, mountain biking out there. Um, Palisade has got the fruit, the wine, you know, we all have, you know, the , the river for all intents and purposes begins outside of Palisade and ends well near Loma Uhhuh <affirmative> , we'll go to Loma <laugh> , we'll say that before it , you know, hurries off to, to Utah. So, you know, when you look at it, we are all part of that. And if the infrastructure of that perimeter Fruita or Palisade or you know, more outlying areas of unincorporated Mesa County, if the , the infrastructure of those, those parts of our overall community start to deteriorate at that point, it's going to start affecting tourism. Because I, and I'll put it sometimes a little more colorfully than I'll do here. Nobody wants to visit a crap heap. I put it a different way. <laugh> , I'll let you fill in that blank. Nobody wants to visit a crap heap. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So with that in mind, I think we need to all look together and, and work together in terms of economic development. So that it's the whole, in terms of how our infrastructure looks for the citizens and for those coming into this valley,
Speaker 2:None of the communities is an island.
Speaker 3:No, no. I , I , you know, this, that's the other fascinating thing about the , the Grand Valley. I mean, again, I, you know, I , I compare it to where I grew up in , uh, Southern Minnesota. You had the little, my little town of Wells, Minnesota, 2,500 people. And I grew up in a , um, county called Faribault County. And you had a lot of little, you know, communities, farm communities around it , Brion , blue Earth, keister, interesting little town , keister, Minnesota. Um , actually it was in a hemorrhoid commercial <laugh> , the town was actually <laugh> highlighted in a hemorrhoid commercial. Perfect. And we were all very separate, even though we, I mean, geographically we're all fairly close to each other, but we all, we're all very set , you know, separate entities. Blue Earth was no further away from my hometown of wells in Palisade is from Grand Junction, or Fruita , in fact, in some ways was even closer. And yet there was not this cooperation effort or thinking in terms of working together collaboratively. You know, so the Grand Valley is a community unto itself of 150,000 people. It's a metropolitan area when you take in and , and encompassed what encompasses all of this. And so, again, I, I think we, we all need to work together to make sure that as economic , uh, uh, development occurs and economic opportunities present themselves, that it reaches, moves , reaches throughout the Grand Valley. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And it doesn't become so centralized that it's really only helping or affecting, because at that point, you'll start getting that weird decay that can occur on the perimeters. Hmm .
Speaker 2:Interesting. Thank you for that perspective, Greg. Appreciate it. Well , yeah,
Speaker 3:We'll see if actually anybody listens to that one, <laugh>.
Speaker 2:I think they will. I'm always pleasantly surprised how many people tell me they're listening and watching, so, oh, good. Um , really happy to have you here today and talk about Palisade. It's a great place to live. Great place to visit, great place for dinner, shopping, everything. Love going out there. And um, thanks for your leadership.
Speaker 3:Alright , thank you Christie , for having me here today. You
Speaker 2:Bet. Thanks to Greg Mlai , mayor of Palisade, Colorado. This is Kristy Reese and we'll see you next time on the Full Circle podcast. Thanks for listening. This is Kristy Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.