Congratulations to the City of Cortez on their new city hall south of the Cortez Recreation Center. Take a tour on Friday; you’ll be favorably impressed.

This is a success story. The City has affordably acquired and remodeled a building that will serve it well for many years to come. It has a convenient location near other city properties, effective security, ample parking and beautiful views. It has many large windows, energy-efficient lighting, and room for growth.

The location also benefits the public. No one wants to see a vacant building close to downtown, but the truth is that the former city hall had outlived its usefulness. The staff, along with the population and successive generations of remodeling, had done all that was possible to maintain the building’s usability. The council chambers were in a windowless basement room, with only awkward access for mobility-impaired constituents, and offices were up a short flight of stairs from the entryway. On-street parallel parking was inconvenient at best, especially as Main Street became busier. We hope the old building sells soon for an appropriate downtown use.

The city’s planning staff now will be housed in city hall, rather than at the service center in the industrial park north of town, not a tremendous distance away, but not nearly as convenient as the new location two blocks off Main.

Kudos to the city for maintaining a meeting room for civic organizations and other public functions. Although there are others in town, finding one that’s vacant when needed can be a challenge. Providing one at city hall will pull people into the building and perhaps make them more familiar with municipal government.

The city has repurposed a building that had already stood unused for too long. The new location housed the Cortez Journal for more than a decade, and it was a comfortable and happy workplace with plenty of natural light, close to the amenities of the parks and recreation center.

We hope the building will be a welcoming place for city staff and constituents alike, for many years into the future.