MONTE VISTA — The City of Monte Vista's request for proposal period for the Vali 3 Theater closes at the end of business on Oct. 26, according to City Manager Gigi Dennis.

The next steps in the process were outlined by Dennis during an Oct. 20 City Council meeting.

“The Vali 3 bid proposals are due to the office by close of business on Oct. 26,” Dennis said. “(City Clerk) Unita (Vance) will get those copies all out to council members. The public presentations of anyone that submits a proposal are due back, and that will be part of the Nov. 3 regular council meeting.”

The City of Monte Vista owns the Vali 3 Theater. It has been run by the Friends of the Vali 3, a volunteer group, for years with some financial support from the city.

During previous city council meetings, the council decided it would be in the best interest of the city to get out from under the theater and opened a request for proposal period. The only stipulation the council put on proposals was that it remain an entertainment venue.

Dennis also spoke of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, a bill that was passed in 2021 and part of which was going into effect in January 2023. Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 21-1162, into law in July of 2021.

Under the new law, single-use plastic bags and containers made from polystyrene — commonly known as Styrofoam — will be banned at large retail stores and restaurants beginning in 2024.

Stores will also be required to implement a 10-cent bag fee for both paper and plastic bags beginning in 2023. The bill exempts stores that operate three or fewer locations in Colorado and are not part of a national chain from the plastic bag ban, but not the Styrofoam ban.

Pharmacies and dry cleaners can continue to use plastic bags, according to the bill. The bags can also be used to wrap frozen foods, meat, seafood, plants and bulk goods that would otherwise be contaminated.

A store is required to remit, on a quarterly basis beginning April 1, 2024, 60% of the carryout bag fee revenues to the municipality or county within which the store is located and may retain the remaining 40% of the carryout bag fee revenues. A municipality or county may use its portion of the carryout bag fee revenues to pay for its administrative and enforcement costs and any recycling, composting, or other waste diversion programs or related outreach or education activities.

Local governments will be in charge of enforcing the bans, though the state recommends fines for subsequent violations.

Dennis said the Colorado Municipal League is doing a workshop via Zoom on the bill from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 2. The city would make the workshop available in a conference room.

“We can do Zoom now in our conference room here on the screen, then they can learn all about it,” Dennis said. “I want our business owners to come in and listen, as well as the press, so we can get the word out on this, because it's going to kick in, in January.”

At the same council meeting Monte Vista Police Department Chief George Dingfelder spoke up about a memorandum of understanding between the Monte Vista Police Department and the Rio Grande County Sheriff’s Office.

“All this MOU does is solidify a cooperative of us because everybody is shorthanded,” he said.

Dingfelder spoke of a conference that he attended in Dallas recently, the International Association of Chief of Police Conference.

“In talking to people from Canada and other places, the law enforcement shortage is literally worldwide. All this is, is an agreement between the sheriff’s office and the PD that solidifies that we will cooperate and work hand-in-hand to provide services. One of the things this does is allow us to go outside of city limits. We put a limit of up to 6 miles outside of city limits to help the Sheriff’s office, on like domestics and stuff like that.”

Dingfelder said as part of the MOU, the sheriff’s office is going to start helping MVPD with transports, “so we don’t have to make the run to Del Norte. We can have better use of our resources so we can support what we need to do.”

The MOU was approved unanimously by the council.

Monte Vista City Attorney Eugene Farish also advised the council of some revisions to a request by the Rio Grande County Museum to display the Barlow and Sanderson Stagecoach. At a previous council meeting, the museum had made the request and was waiting for the city to finalize it.

Farish spoke about the revisions, “Gigi had a few changes, basically if they are going to take the Stagecoach, we want to retain ownership. We want them to transport it back to us when we have events like Stampede, if we request it, and Stampede usually will. Those are the provisions that we have inserted in there. In addition to the museum doing renovations on the Stagecoach, that’s where that is right now.”

The next city council meeting will be held on Nov. 3.