DEL NORTE— According to Del Norte Town Administrator Bernadette Martinez, work on the new sewage collection system is at a standstill until the town can get a final approval through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

“We are waiting on an approval of our lift station that would transfer sewage from the first collection tank to the other, before moving it to the leech ponds,” said Martinez.

The project began two years ago when the town placed cameras in the sewage lines throughout town, \ finding that the lines were collapsed or clogged in some areas. “It was really bad, we knew that we needed to do something about it and soon,” explained Martinez. The total amount for the project was going to be about $9 million by the time it was finished. “We are going to start with the collection system first before we decide if there is anything else we need to do.”

The town received funding for the project from both the USDA and Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to help with the cost of the project. “We received about $2 million from DOLA, a loan of about $4 million from the USDA and the rest from a grant through the USDA,” said Martinez. “We hope to have the project to go out for bid in August of this year.”

In addition to the sewage project, plans to repurpose the old co-op building are also at a standstill for the time being. Martinez explained that the town received a quote from Helmstetler Architects for the repair of the building, and the cost of replacing the roof alone was going to be astronomical. “They quoted us $1.6 million for just the roof, shell repairs and drainage work. That was way more than what we anticipated and unfortunately, we will have to re-evaluate the entire project in order to determine what to do next,” said Martinez.

The town purchased the building in 2010 in hopes of repurposing it to house the town hall and possible other organizations. A hemp processing company out of the Valley was interested in using a portion of the building to process hemp in the area but will now have to wait until the town decides what to do with the building. “We looked at the portion that they wanted to use and decided we couldn’t let someone in there until the roof and shell of the building could be fixed. Honestly, it turned into a bigger project than we anticipated. Now, we have to decide what the town wants to do from here and what will be the most cost-effective way to achieve that,” said Martinez.

She finished, explaining that the town plans to focus on the sewage and co-op project until they can be completed before moving forward with any other projects, like paving town streets. “We know the people want us to open up all of these projects and get started, but what we need to do is focus on the ones we have started and see them through to completion before jumping into any other ones,” said Martinez.

The town is also currently beginning the planning phase of a downtown revitalization project that will be added to the list of ongoing projects.