{"id":18431,"date":"2025-07-31T23:04:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-cleanup-in-dolores-but-not-for-everyone\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:04:40","slug":"a-cleanup-in-dolores-but-not-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-cleanup-in-dolores-but-not-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"A cleanup in Dolores, but not for everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=b66fd49d-81d2-5953-b6fa-17cec4f1e8e9&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"800\" height=\"525\" alt=\"Bird\u2019s eye view of Dolores. (The Journal file photo)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Bird\u2019s eye view of Dolores. (The Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Some Dolores residents with refuse on their properties also downright <em id=\"emphasis-e5a2142a6ae12aa240505908013953c9\">refuse<\/em> to deal with it, even when the town steps in.<\/p>\n<p>The Dolores Board of Trustees on Monday discussed the issue of waste-filled yards, deemed \u201cpublic nuisances,\u201d saying that three unresponsive properties have been issued summons and fines, after the town contacted them to offer extra time for cleaning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not calling, they\u2019re not writing, they\u2019re not cleaning up,\u201d Town Manager Leigh Reeves said during the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not asking for help,\u201d said Mayor Chris Holkestad. \u201cThey\u2019re not accepting help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the town\u2019s case, \u201cpublic nuisance\u201d is a formal, yet broad phrase to describe the objects found on some properties, typically thought of as \u201cclutter,\u201d \u201cdebris,\u201d \u201cjunk\u201d or \u201ctrash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During Monday\u2019s meeting, Mayor Holkestad described homes with trash, as well as random items like jet skis and television sets.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/library.municode.com\/co\/dolores\/ordinances\/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1301121\" id=\"link-97af0adfd637b883e4e2d8fb4feaf209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Town codes forbid<\/a> such public nuisances from lingering. If need be, the issue can be brought before court and from there could result in a daily fine of $500, according to the town\u2019s ordinance.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reeves, 12 people were given summons notifying them of such public nuisances on their properties.<\/p>\n<p>All except three people have responded, she said. Some of those have thoroughly cleaned up their yards already, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you\u2019re real comfortable with fining people $500 a day for noncompliance?\u201d asked Trustee Sheila Wheeler.<\/p>\n<p>Reeves said that people had been notified in advance of a town cleanup and just had to start a dialogue with Dolores officials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll they have to do is contact us back and we will work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who make contact can be given extra time to tidy up their properties if need be, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea in court as the town prosecutor is not to be punitive. The idea is to get compliance,\u201d said Jon Kelly, the town\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n<p>A town cleanup day is slated for Oct. 6-7, said Reeves.<\/p>\n<p>Reeves declined to comment to an inquiry made by <em id=\"emphasis-3d25a7f19afeee1306df4ff98670e887\">The Journal <\/em>for more details on the three cases mentioned during the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dolores asks some properties to clean up yards but resorts to summons and fines when homes go silent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18432,"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-18431","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\/18431","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=18431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20585,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18431\/revisions\/20585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18431"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=18431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}