Public comment during Wednesday’s Rifle City Council meeting focused on a proposal discussed during a Feb. 11 meeting between councilors and Garfield County commissioners that could redirect some library funding toward public transportation.

Currently, the Roaring Fork Transport Authority runs one bus out to Silt and Rifle from Glenwood Springs, the Hogback line, which operates daily. The route recently added an increased number of stops. 

Rifle City Council has previously heard presentations about regional transit options. RFTA presented to the council in November, and before that, in October from the Western Colorado Alliance and the town of Parachute about the Parachute Area Transit System.

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Garfield County commissioners had previously removed funding for the Hogback line but later reinstated $250,000 for 2026 after local mayors appealed to Commissioner Mike Samson during a mayoral meeting. Commissioners have since stated that they wouldn’t fund the Hogback line in 2027. 

During the Feb. 11 meeting in Rifle, Samson asked Silt Town Manager Jim Mann to present an idea on shifting funds from the Garfield County Libraries to fund transportation. 

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The shift would include ballot measures on whether to re-up a mill levy supporting the libraries and is scheduled to sunset in 2027 and a reallocation of funds from a countywide sales tax that partially funds the library district.

Garfield County Libraries officials say they hadn’t been involved in the discussion before the idea was publicly introduced.

During Rifle’s regular meeting on Wednesday, March 4 Garfield County Libraries Executive Director Jamie LaRue spoke about the libraries and the impact this proposed ballot measure would have if it was passed. 

“We recently conducted a survey of almost 800 voters and what we learned from that was that 80% of our voters approve of the library, only 6% do not,” LaRue said. “67% support a mill levy extension, without which we would lose $1 million annually.”

LaRue said that they have a clear message from the voters about being in favor of their current level of services to the public and they’d like to maintain them.

“Jim Mann, town manager of Silt, has proposed that the county put the countywide sales tax and redirect $2 million from that revenue to fund mass transit between Rifle and New Castle,” LaRue said. “He talked to the council about that, this council, before he talked to us.”

LaRue said he considers the proposal “highway robbery.”

“If the Silt measure were to pass, we have two outcomes: if our own mill levy passes, we’ll still lose $400,000 a year,” LaRue said. “If the Silt measure passes and ours fails, we would lose $3 million a year. That’s almost 28% of our income.”

LaRue said he knows the voters don’t want that. 

“I have to say, it doesn’t make sense to use countywide library funds for bus service, libraries and transit are separate and their funding is separate,” LaRue said. “Silt and Rifle voters rejected paying for this bus service a long time ago.”

About 20 years ago, voters in Rifle and Silt rejected ballot measures that would have allowed the municipalities to join RFTA.

“It doesn’t make sense to cut funding from the entire county to provide a service that you’ve rejected,” LaRue said. “I want to make it clear that the library does not have extra money to start funding public transit services.”

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the proposal, LaRue said he plans to recommend the library board pause two planned capital projects.

“We’ve managed our funds to keep our books collection and technology up to date, keep our buildings safe, clean, and well maintained to attract and retain enough qualified librarians to support our community and keep the libraries open for our communities,” LaRue said. “My feeling is that until this whole issue is resolved, I’m going to recommend to our board that we suspend two of the capital projects that have been budgeted for this year.”

The two capital projects, estimated at about $1 million each, involve building refreshes at the Rifle and Silt branch libraries.

“The library invests in economic development in our communities and it doesn’t make sense to suspend that, but if we lose that money, $2-3 million, we’re dipping into our reserves just to pay for operating,” LaRue said. “The library has about 130,000 visitors a year in Silt and Rifle, 89,000 in Rifle alone.”

LaRue finished his statements by urging the Rifle City Council to reject the idea. 

Deb Grizzle, a Rifle resident and part of the Western Colorado Alliance, also spoke during public comment and expressed support for public transit while opposing the idea of using library funding.

“I like progress, I love that people have better job opportunities in our area and I love that there is more opportunity coming,” Grizzle said. “With opportunity comes drivers. Bus travel must also be a part of the valley’s future.”

Grizzle commended past and present leaders, staff, and community in Garfield County for seeing those opportunities. 

“Thanks to voter approved county sales tax dedicated to our libraries, we have a variety of resources that many depend on, more than I have time to list.”

Grizzle then began to list some she could mention in the three minute time limit for public comment: study rooms in use from homeschoolers and other students, computer classes for seniors, STEM programs for youth, sensory storytime for autistic members of the community and others, sensory STEM club, early literacy programs, programs for immigrants and longtime community members meet one another, and free tax preparation for seniors by volunteers.

“Colorado Workforce is at the library every Wednesday helping our community with job applications and resumes,” Grizzle continued. “Librarians visit people in their homes, care centers, and assisted livings to deliver books and help clients gain access to audiobooks, movies, and other media through free apps such as Libby and Hoopla.”

Grizzle also noted that Lift-Up food bank operates services from the Rifle library and that Garfield County Health and Human Services conducts monthly mental health check-ins there.

“Only people who do not use the libraries think they are not a necessary part of our community,” Grizzle said. “It has been suggested by Silt’s town manager that the voter approved funding be shifted to transportation. I want my opposition to this proposal on the record. This is robbing Peter to pay Paul and it is a shortsighted financial move to shift resources instead of finding smart alternatives.”

Grizzle also wants public transportation to be part of the future, as it will impact public safety, traffic in Garfield County, wear and tear on highways, parking options, and air quality. 

“I want people to know it’s not just an issue for city council, but all of Garfield County,” Grizzle said. “Transportation and libraries are important.”

After public comment, Mayor Clint Hostettler took a moment to apologize to LaRue and Grizzle for how the proposal surfaced publicly. 

“I will make one comment and I don’t usually do this, in response to your public comments: the fact that the town of Silt ended up at our meeting with the commissioners and made that presentation was news to us when it happened,” Hostettler said. “I don’t think that’s how that news should’ve come out into the world, and I just want to say I’m sorry about all that.”

At the end of the meeting for councilor comments on events and news going on in Rifle, Councilor Alicia Gresley brought the transportation issue concerning the library back up. 

“This is something I think we’ve been talking about as a council, it was on our forum and something we discussed at our election last year, and what are the next steps on how we work towards this?” Gresley said. “The presentation from Jim Mann with the town of Silt, is that an official…? There’s a lot of misinformation out there and what is our role in it? I think it’s important for us to understand if there’s a decision we have to make as we get questions from the public.”

Gresley advocated for a larger discussion by Rifle City Council to address the issue. 

“This concept that’s been put out there is being perceived that it’s a partnership between Rifle and Silt,” Gresley said. 

Mayor Pro Tem Karen Roberts wanted to clarify what the proposal by Mann was. 

“It’s just an idea, it’s a proposal, it’s a thought, because we’ve all been working on this transportation situation and it was an idea,” Roberts said.

Hostettler added that Mann is the first to come up with an idea and present it to the leadership of Garfield County. 

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the answer,” Hostettler said. “As far as this city council is concerned, we weren’t the ones that came up with the idea, we didn’t know it was going to be presented at our meeting with the commissioners. We knew they were coming and I thought they were coming to see what we were talking about with the county as far as transportation went.”

Hostettler said he didn’t know Samson would ask Mann to give the presentation at the meeting.

“I’d seen that presentation a few weeks before at our mayor’s meeting, but I was shocked it happened that night and the library hadn’t been informed,” he said. “Maybe the procedure of his idea going out into the public was not done in the correct way.” 

Whether it was a good idea or not, Hostettler said it was nice that it was a start. 

“As far as Rifle is concerned, we haven’t made any decisions, it’s not our proposal… Right now we’re just Switzerland on this thing.”

Councilor Johnathan Rice said the proposal should be viewed as a starting point for broader conversations.

“I don’t think if Jim feels as if this is the answer,” Rice said. “It’s just an idea.”