By Carl Young

Communication with PAWSD can be difficult. Unlike the San Juan Water Conservancy (SJWC), Town of Pagosa Springs and the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners, ratepayers have no public way to directly contact PAWSD Board members. All communication runs through PAWSD staff.

Unfortunately, this follows the PAWSD pattern of providing the minimum legal compliance for public communication.

I would encourage concerned ratepayers to ask the PAWSD Board to follow the examples of SJWC, the town and county and give ratepayers a way to directly contact board members.

Board members may have objections. The objections and responses:

Objection: I don’t want my PAWSD email made public.
Answer: Use a secure web form like the county and town.
Objection: I don’t want my personal phone number published.
Answer: Buy cheap phones and plans from your $56 million budget, or sign up for a free service like Google Voice.
Objection: I don’t want to handle service requests.
Answer: Neither do town council members nor county commissioners. Refer service issues to the service department. Hearing complaints first-hand might be useful when making spending and staffing decisions.

Change Doesn’t Happen without Engagement

How can this change come about?

• Attend Board meetings and speak up. Come prepared because you only have three minutes to make your case.
• Call the main number (970) 731-2691 and leave messages for the PAWSD Board.
• Write letters to the editor at the Pagosa SUN and Pagosa Daily Post.
• Comment on this post.
• Share this post on your social networks such as Facebook and Next Door.