Durango City Council held a hearing Wednesday night on a Community Relations Commission request to provide free menstrual products in city facilities with public access as well as exempting those products from city sales taxes. After a lengthy discussion, council asked staff to obtain more information from the Community Relations Commission on their intentions and to explore possible revisions to the existing city sales tax rebate program, as opposed to a general sales tax exemption.
Councilors also heard a report from the transit department and heard about bus service returning to the west side of Durango and along Highway 160 west. The new bus route, which started on March 1, serves the Westside Mobile Home Park and Best Western Hotel, the tech Center and Manna Soup Kitchen with stops along Roosa, El Paso, Forest and Pinon Heights.
COVID relief funding helped make the service possible, in part by offering retention and sign-on bonuses to new drivers.
The council also approved seven ordinances adopting the 2018 International Building Codes.
Several upcoming community meetings were discussed by councilors:
- The Durango Fire Protection District will host an in-person forum on the Downtown Fire Station and Administration Building Project, Thursday March 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the 9R Administration Building. There will be a presentation on the Fire District’s plans and moderated questions and answers. Questions must be pre-submitted by March 8 by going to DurangoFire.org and clicking on the New Downtown Fire Station link. You will also find preliminary plans there.
- The deadline to provide feedback on the Downtown Main Avenue Design Concepts Survey has been extended to March 18.
- The deadline to provide feedback on the Community Development’s Accessory Dwelling Unit survey will be March 18.
The next City Council study session will be Tuesday, March 15 at 2:15 p.m., followed by the next regular council meeting at 5:30 p.m. Find meeting agendas at DurangoGov.org/Meetings
View meeting highlights in the latest episode of Council Connection or view the entire meeting on our YouTube channel.
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