{"id":16158,"date":"2025-08-29T00:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T06:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/u-s-rep-hurds-visit-to-dolores-is-canceled-sparking-frustration\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:55:10","slug":"u-s-rep-hurds-visit-to-dolores-is-canceled-sparking-frustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/u-s-rep-hurds-visit-to-dolores-is-canceled-sparking-frustration\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Hurd\u2019s visit to Dolores is canceled, sparking frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"At
At the Dolores Community Center on Aug. 27, Montezuma County Commissioners hold an impromptu town hall with locals. Many of those who attended the meeting expressed frustration with U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd\u2019s last-minute cancellation attributed to a medical emergency. (Benjamin Rubin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A crowd of several dozen gathered at the Dolores Community Center on Wednesday evening for a meeting between U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd and the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners. But a last-minute cancellation turned the event into a spur-of-the-moment town hall, leaving locals frustrated by the congressman\u2019s sudden no-show.<\/p>\n

As the clock struck 6 p.m., Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria announced to the crowd that one of Hurd\u2019s aides had a sudden medical emergency. Candelaria said Hurd would not be coming.<\/p>\n

Attendees immediately questioned the sudden cancellation, asking whether Hurd\u2019s visit would be rescheduled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you going to stand up for the people of your community who clearly want this meeting to happen and require our representative to meet with you?\u201d one attendee asked the commissioner. The crowd applauded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are his constituents and he\u2019s blown us off once,\u201d said another attendee.<\/p>\n

Candelaria said the commissioners would do their best to urge Hurd to return for a town hall.<\/p>\n

Several attendees made their discontent known by wearing large yellow stickers that read \u201cPROTECT PUBLIC LANDS.\u201d Others held signs reading \u201cWhen do we get a TOWN HALL?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurd has been criticized by locals for his stance on numerous issues, chief among them his willingness to open up public lands to industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A public notice for Hurd\u2019s visit with the commissioners was initially announced on Monday. However, an additional notice posted on Facebook Wednesday morning<\/a> clarified that \u201cthe public is welcome to attend, but there will not be an opportunity for public comment or questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurd\u2019s offices<\/a> did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Journal <\/em>about the cancellation.<\/p>\n

For about an hour, the commissioners listened and responded as attendees voiced concerns, including issues they wanted relayed to the congressman.<\/p>\n

\"Attendees
Attendees made sure their disapproval of U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd\u2019s policies were known and called for a town hall with the elected official. (Benjamin Rubin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Hurd attracted some negative attention in February when his regional director, Naomi Dobbs, did not show up to a public meeting at the Dolores Public Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hurd did meet in January with the Disabled American Veterans at Project Outreach in Cortez<\/a>, in addition to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes.<\/p>\n

As recently as April, after about 100 days in office, he attended a Montezuma County commissioners meeting<\/a> with a reportedly low turnout. He then visited the La Plata County commissioners and engaged with a crowd of protesters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to have a town hall before long,\u201d Hurd told The Durango Herald <\/em>at the time. \u201cI think we just need to make sure that it\u2019s the right time and place and that it\u2019s going to be something that allows for a dialogue and back-and-forth, rather than just shouting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Displayed
Displayed around Montezuma County, a poster criticizes U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, describing his lack of engagement with constituents. Seen in downtown Cortez. (Benjamin Rubin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"U.S.
U.S. Congressman Jeff Hurd (second from the left) visited with the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners previously in Cortez the afternoon of Tuesday, April 22. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
An impromptu town hall with commissioners<\/div>\n

As the hour went on, the commissioners took time to answer questions and hear out several attendees.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Candelaria said that the planned meeting with Rep. Hurd was intended to be an open-ended discussion, meant to address such issues as on the National Conservation Area designation for the Upper Dolores.<\/p>\n

Much of the conversation turned to how changes made in the federal government reach the local level, impacting the people of Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange is coming at us like a fire hose,\u201d said one attendee. \u201cThe level of changes we\u2019re being asked to absorb are completely overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some brought up access to health care and food security in the county. Passed in early July, the One Big Beatiful Bill Act, which Hurd voted on in Congress<\/a>, includes cuts to both federal health care and food aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At times, the commissioners pointed out the challenges shared by everyone in the County, whether as elected officials or residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in distress too,\u201d said Commissioner Kent Lindsay. \u201cWe\u2019re short of money. We\u2019ve got 27 departments to feed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay said that the biggest budget priorities are law enforcement and roadways. But coming up with the money to pay for everything remains a challenge, he said.<\/p>\n

While the hour wrapped up, tensions appeared to ease. Some people left. Others attendees expressed gratitude to the commissioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks again for spending time for all our questions and creating space for us,\u201d one person said, emphasizing the PROTECT PUBLIC LANDS sticker worn by many present.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like you guys know well about the value of public lands to our community, our culture, our identity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impromptu town hall with county commissioners replaces meeting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20048,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16158\/revisions\/20048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16158"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}