Montrose details its city manager’s exit as a council seat opens. Grand Junction faces a $6 million budget gap and votes to repeal tree-preservation rules. Mesa County advances drainage plans, while Palisade weighs a tax increase and Glenwood Springs revisits bear-related trash enforcement.
Montrose is navigating two leadership departures, with a council seat vacant and the city manager’s separation agreement headed for ratification. Grand Junction faces a projected $6 million operating gap as it prepares next year’s budget, while a divided council has voted to remove tree-preservation requirements.
On Orchard Mesa, commissioners approved a new drainage agreement tied to road improvements. Elsewhere, Palisade voters will weigh a sales-tax increase, and Glenwood Springs continues its debate over bears and trash enforcement.
The proposed agreement ending Bill Bell’s 15 years as Montrose city manager provides nine months of base salary, retirement contributions and health coverage, according to documents included in the Sept. 15 council meeting packet.
Council accepted Bell’s proposed separation unanimously on Sept. 1 and appointed Deputy City Manager Ann Morgenthaler as interim manager. Both agreements return Tuesday for ratification, a formal vote confirming the arrangements.
Bell’s package includes nine months of the city’s 8 percent retirement contribution and health, vision and dental premiums at the COBRA rate. He would also receive payment for 100 hours of unused sick leave and his unused vacation balance. The packet does not state his base salary, so it does not establish the package’s total dollar value.
The agreement includes mutual releases of claims and a commitment by both parties not to disparage one another. Bell also agrees to cooperate in litigation arising from his tenure.
A memo from City Attorney Chris Dowsey says the separation agreement “was not explicitly noticed” on the Sept. 1 agenda. He describes Tuesday’s ratification as a step to address any alleged open-meetings violation.
Morgenthaler’s interim agreement would add approximately $1,479 a month to her deputy manager salary, a 10 percent increase. The additional compensation would come from the General Fund and was not included in the 2026 budget. The arrangement lasts until a permanent manager starts and allows her to return to the deputy position afterward.
Councilor Dave Frank resigned effective Sept. 7, less than a week after Bell’s departure. First elected in April 2020, Frank represented District IV and served twice as mayor.
In a statement published by the city, Frank cited the strain of council service on public and personal life. The Montrose Daily Press reported that he also described a “circus-like” atmosphere.
His departure follows disagreements over four proposed charter amendments. According to draft minutes in the September meeting packet, council voted 3-2 on each measure Sept. 1, with Mayor Michael Badagliacco and councilors Ed Ulibarri and Adam Wooden in favor. Frank and J. David Reed opposed them.
The proposals would move municipal elections from April to November of even-numbered years, establish an eight-year lifetime limit on council service, and give council approval authority over the city manager’s hiring and firing of the police chief and city clerk.
The election change would extend sitting councilors’ terms by seven months, according to Dowsey’s explanation recorded in the minutes. The term-limit proposal includes an exemption for sitting members’ current terms.
Badagliacco and Reed have since issued a joint statement committing to seek a citizens’ charter review commission after the November election.
Under the city charter, the remaining councilors must appoint a qualified replacement for Frank by majority vote within 30 days.
Council’s work session is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 14, at 10 a.m. The regular meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Elks Civic Building, 107 S. Cascade Ave.
Grand Junction faces a projected $6 million operating shortfall in 2027 before adding new positions or one-time spending requests, according to The Business Times’ reporting on the Aug. 31 budget workshop.
Funding all additional requests would bring the combined gap to approximately $20.9 million, although council can defer or reject those proposals. Ongoing revenues increased about 30 percent between 2021 and 2026, while ongoing expenses increased 53 percent.
The imbalance is what officials call a structural deficit: recurring income does not cover recurring expenses. A staff memo for the workshop says earlier budgets relied on one-time funding and postponed spending, including vehicle replacements, without resolving that mismatch.
The Business Times identified pressures including Dos Rios infrastructure debt, the cost of providing fire service outside city limits, and rising personnel and health-insurance expenses. The city ended 2025 with approximately $48.5 million in its General Fund balance, but reserves cannot cover an annual shortfall indefinitely.
No cuts or revenue measures were adopted at the workshop. Staff are expected to present a proposed budget in October.
In a separate decision, council voted 4-3 on Sept. 2 to repeal significant-tree preservation requirements from the zoning code.
The Housing Affordability Code Task Force requested the change. Its representative, Kevin Bray, addressed the requirements’ effects on development, and 12 people spoke at the hearing.
Councilmembers Jason Nguyen, Anna Stout and Scott Beilfuss voted against repeal. Council then directed staff to develop an incentive program encouraging preservation in place of the requirement.
Wednesday’s agenda includes a hearing on the Housing Action Plan and proposed agreements for 48 homes at the city-owned Salt Flats property at 450 28 Road.
Under the proposal, Grand Junction Homes, LLC, an affiliate of Rural Homes, would receive approximately 3.3 acres at no purchase cost. The city would also provide up to $156,330 for roads and utilities and $593,340 in water and sewer fee waivers. Staff describe those contributions as previously budgeted.
The developer would build single-family and duplex homes for buyers earning no more than 100 percent of area median income. Deed restrictions would govern affordability and eligibility. The proposal calls for modular construction with Fading West and no homeowners association, with completion expected by winter 2027.
Before that meeting, Monday’s workshop will include discussion of a temporary data-center moratorium, water-supply planning and a local-preference policy for city purchasing.
The workshop is Monday, Sept. 14, at 5:30 p.m. in the Fire Department Training Room, 625 Ute Ave. The regular meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Auditorium, 250 N. 5th St. Meeting materials are available online.
An agreement dating to 2008 called for Housing Resources of Western Colorado to develop housing and a stormwater detention facility on property near 32½ Road and the Grand Valley Canal. Neither was built.
Commissioners have now approved revised terms assigning responsibility for the drainage work.
The county plans to build the approximately 2.3-acre facility as part of its 32½ Road Phase II improvement project. Housing Resources would retain ownership and operate and maintain the facility at its expense.
If Housing Resources needs the facility sooner, it can build it with county approval and seek reimbursement for eligible, documented costs up to $200,000. The design is complete, but commissioners must consider a separate construction contract. The agreement itself appropriated no new money.
Public Works also announced a proposed reconstruction project covering two miles of B½ Road between 30 and 32 roads.
Staff initially considered approximately $300,000 in short-term repairs east of 31 Road. The broader proposal would spend an estimated $2 million on structural repairs, wider shoulders and an overlay across the full corridor.
The project is included in a recommended six-year capital plan that commissioners will consider later this year. If approved, design would begin in 2027, followed by construction in 2028.
Fire restrictions also eased from Stage 2 to Stage 1 on Sept. 4 for private land and BLM-managed lands within the Grand Junction Field Office boundaries.
Palisade voters will decide in November whether to increase the town sales tax from 2 percent to 3 percent. The Daily Sentinel reported that trustees referred the measure unanimously Aug. 25. The increase would last eight years and generate an estimated $600,000 in its first year for streets, parks, the pool and emergency services. Voters rejected a larger proposed increase in 2024.
Montrose County has a new commissioner. Former Delta County schools superintendent Caryn Gibson was appointed Sept. 3 to the District 2 seat vacated by Sue Hansen’s retirement, the Montrose Daily Press reported. Gibson serves through the end of the year and is unopposed for the seat in November.
Glenwood Springs will revisit trash rules and hauling fees Sept. 17 following a debate over bear encounters and enforcement. The Sopris Sun reported that a wildlife officer estimated around 16 bears could be in town on a given day. Property managers challenged $1,000 trash fines, while councilors discussed purchasing bear-resistant containers and recovering the cost through hauling fees.
