The Cortez City Council approved the $225,000 sale of a city-owned building to Montezuma County on Oct. 22.
The 4 Corners Office Building, at 25306 County Road L, will be used as an evidence room for the Sheriff’s Office. Because the approval was part of an emergency ordinance, it involved one reading and a public hearing.
The ordinance was needed because Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin wanted to remove evidence from the basement of the Children’s Kiva Montessori School as soon as possible.
“So time is of the essence,” City Attorney Mike Green said.
Councilors approved the sale in a 6-0 vote. Councilor Mike Lavey was absent.
Nowlin told The Journal his office had been seeking a new site for a long-term evidence building. The Kiva school was the site of the Montezuma County Justice Building until the county sold it to Kiva in July 2018.
When the county found out that the 4 Corners Office Building was on the market, it approached the city about purchasing it.
“The coroner will have a section in there also for our cadaver coolers, and autopsies will be done there,” Nowlin said. “It’s a good thing for the community; it really is.”
City Manager John Dougherty was absent Tuesday night, but in his staff report he recommended council approval, writing that the price minus closing costs and commission would be “a very healthy shot in the fiscal arm.”
The approval stipulated that funds earned from the sale be earmarked for development of Industrial Park.
“As a sign of good faith, I would suggest that once the land-use code is adopted, that the city begin as soon as possible to place the landscaping buffer required in the new code,” Dougherty wrote.
County Commissioner Jim Candelaria attended and spoke at the Tuesday night meeting.
“Thank you from the county to the city for being able to find a structure like this and repurpose it,” he said. “It will serve our needs well. I think it benefits both of us, the city and the county, we serve the same constituency.”
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