A Public Observer

Topics of interest on local governance in Western Colorado

General Blogs

Can We Address Mental Health Together?

In recent years, courageous leaders in the high country have taken bold steps to address a crisis that impacts us each and all.  In 2022, NWCCOG will highlight those efforts and encourage action in other communities.  I’m talking about a Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 3 yearsJanuary 3, 2022 ago
General Blogs

Where Have All the Workers Gone?

Gone underground every one The past 18 months of COVID pandemic triggered structural changes to our workforce.  The mystery may have overtaken housing for what is top-of-mind among those in our region and across the country, which is saying something.  Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsNovember 10, 2021 ago
General Blogs

Fall Leaves, a Dummy Cop and the Thin Blue Line

It was a great weekend in Western Colorado.  Sunshine.  Crisp air.  Small towns.  Big mountains.  Public lands.  No rangers.  Narrow roads.  Few guardrails.  No cops.  In the first minutes of our trip on I-70, a state patrol pulled over someone Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsSeptember 28, 2021 ago
General Blogs

Public Partners — CDOT an Project THOR

Crisis in the Canyon – Project THOR team proud to Provide Public Safety fix in a pinch We may need to get used to re-routing our trips that involve the canyon because with burn scars and rainfall, we cannot rely Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsAugust 29, 2021 ago
General Blogs

Email is not a Job

If the past 18 months threw off your balance, and external uncertainty left a low-grade anxiety lingering across your organization, maybe you should re-consider your collective work habits.  I’m reading Cal Newport’s A World Without Email concurrently with a virtual Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsAugust 29, 2021 ago
Uncategorized

Slow and Fast Thinking on a Public Board

Were you on a Town Board that made decisions, hundreds or perhaps thousands of them including those many decisions-within-a-decision?  If you remained in town, have you encountered impacts from your decisions?   Some decisions I recollect vividly—that vote on the leash Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsApril 28, 2021 ago
Uncategorized

Grateful

(From March 2021 NWCCOG Newsletter — From the Director’s Desk) I’ve recently written letters to both of my children and read them aloud expressing how grateful I am to each for who they are and what they’ve brought to my Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsApril 28, 2021 ago
General Blogs

Protect this House, Our House from the Lies

The suffering from COVID entered our house, bringing a perspective to national issues along with it. My 21-year old son contracted COVID in late September with minimal impact.  Within a month a progressively severe outbreak of ulcerative colitis set in, Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsJanuary 27, 2021 ago
General Blogs

2020 is Done, What it Portends is Not.

I am not a big fan of celebrations, especially those which arbitrarily mark a beginning or end, but in this year the familiarity of a closure ritual, especially one that gives some kind of personal reboot, is absolutely vital to Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 4 yearsDecember 28, 2020 ago
General Blogs

A lottery for day hiking public lands–our future?

On a solo hiking trip in the desert the last week of October, I shared 5 hours in a middle school gym in Kanab, Utah with over 100 other COVID-masked travelers hoping to get permission to enter one hike on Read more…

By Jon Stavney, 5 yearsNovember 6, 2020 ago

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