This topic of moving, or not, the sewer plant is of major importance. We will have to live with the decision the rest of our lives.

At the Sept. 1 council meeting, one person spoke against moving the plant but most of the rest wanted it moved so our premier park – Santa Rita Park – the gateway to Durango, could be expanded. Our river should be developed, beautified and enjoyed in every way possible.

Although all councilors say that they are for moving the plant, it appears that minor issues are seen as major obstacles.

One example is the $150,000 Great Outdoors Colorado grant at one site that we would have to pay back. To gain Santa Rita land, the ½-cent sales tax could easily do that. Another example is to remove a park from the park system would need a vote of the public and it’s never been done. If need be, let’s have a vote. Definitely not show stoppers.

Also, none of the evaluations have considered using the ½-cent sales tax money to reduce costs in areas such as: acquiring land for green space; demolition costs of the current plant so the land could be used as green space, etc. Again, obstacles but not insurmountable ones. Perhaps there are other ways to reduce costs.

I encourage our City Council, our leaders, to see these obstacles as issues to overcome, not as obstacles to stop them from doing something that most people would love to have for decades to come.

I don’t think the leaders will regret the additional effort and time required to make a move work, especially when the community will say for decades to come “these leaders made a great decision and made it happen!”

Let’s support our councilors in this process and encourage them to continue their work in making this important decision.

James Mueller

Durango