The Cortez Historic Preservation Board wrapped up 2017 on Wednesday by approving a grant application, swearing in a new member and making other plans for next year.
Holly Tatnall, of the Cortez Cultural Center, was sworn in to replace former member Dale Davidson after she was appointed by the City Council in October. In one of her first voting decisions, she helped to approve a grant application that board chairwoman Linda Towle hopes to use for the podcast recordings the city plans to create next year. The board also unveiled a new Historic Preservation Day sign that will hang over Main Street next year.
Tatnall is the president of the Cultural Center’s board of directors and showed interest in joining the preservation board shortly after Davidson’s resignation in August.
The board’s biggest project next year will likely be the creation of a podcast series that will give tourists a historical guide to Cortez. Towle said she talked to the Mesa Verde Country staff and contractors who put together the Ancient Voices podcast earlier this year to find out how much it would cost to create such a series. After hearing their input, she estimated the total cost for the city to record, upload and advertise the podcast would be $6,715. To pay for the project, Towle plans to apply for a grant through Colorado’s Certified Local Governments program.
“There’s nothing like coming into the 21st century,” she said.
The board voted unanimously, with Tery McCabe and Janet Weeth absent, to recommend the city council approve the grant application at its Dec. 12 meeting. The application’s deadline is Jan. 15.
In other year-end business, the board voted to donate the remaining money in its 2017 budget to the Montezuma County Historical Society’s museum fund. Board members also unfurled a new Main Street sign they plan to use to advertise next year’s Historic Preservation Day. The 2018 event could be a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Cortez’s first hospital opening, Towle said, but the board is still brainstorming.
Towle also reminded the board of the upcoming election of a new chairperson, scheduled for January.