Rifle City Council met on Wednesday, Sept. 17 and discussed the veteran’s memorial, the Parachute Area Transit System and a grant application among the items on the agenda. 

During the work session, the council went over the budget for 2026, which changed since they approved the new salaries for city employees at the last meeting on Sept. 3. The budget isn’t finalized yet, but the rough drafts are available online.

Veteran’s Memorial

The city is partnering with the American Legion to renovate the West Garfield County Veterans Memorial at Deerfield Park. The project is intended to enhance the site and improve accessibility.

Design Concepts of Lafayette was awarded the $35,000 design contract by unanimous vote.

“This is a long-time project that the council, many moons ago, promised to complete,” Councilor Joe Carpenter said. “It’s a very important project to the veterans’ community.”

Public Works Director Brian Prunty said the design will not remove any existing features of the memorial but will highlight them and make the site easier to access.

Traffic signal updates

Council approved spending just under $50,000 to replace outdated traffic signal controllers at Railroad Avenue’s intersections with 14th and 16th streets.

Civil Engineer Craig Spaulding said the upgrades will improve traffic flow at two of the city’s busiest intersections. The 14th Street signal serves City Market traffic, while the 16th Street signal manages traffic near Metro Park, the pool and nearby businesses.

The equipment, including spare cabinets in case of damage, will be supplied by TS & L LLC, which already provides other traffic control systems in Rifle.

Support for Parachute Area Transit System

Council also voted unanimously to provide a letter of support for the Parachute Area Transit System, or PATS. The service, funded by Rifle and Garfield County, connects Parachute with communities up-valley.

The town of Parachute is exploring privatization and expansion of the system to improve access and allow riders to schedule trips through an app.

“Parachute’s done a great job running PATS,” Rifle City Manager Patrick Waller said. “However, it’s not their expertise, running a transit system.”

A pilot study on expanding PATS is expected to begin in January.

Grant Application Change

City staff revisited a grant request to the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) Local IMPACT Accelerator Grant Program for the development of pre-approved ADU plans. 

The code amendment that was submitted to CEO received feedback that it wasn’t a strong enough reason to warrant grant funding, which included additional public transport options that would complement PATS. 

To get this service off the ground, the city could submit a request for funding to the Local IMPACT accelerator program, which would fund one or two years of a “downtowner” service, to collect data on ridership and need. With the data acquired, the city could then submit requests for more grants to continue the services. 

The city staff are asking for direction from the city council on whether they should drop this service from the request or to strengthen the request for funding in another way. 

“We know transportation has to change, it has to improve,” Mayor Sean Strode said. “What it comes down to is, is this the vehicle for it?”

The item was approved unanimously by the council to change the request to include more on transportation.