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Civic participation

Commissioner visits students who fought for their library
La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff visits Sunnyside Elementary fourth-grade students Monday to thank them for becoming civically involved in saving the satellite Durango Public Library branch housed at their school.

The participation of first-, third- and fourth-graders at Sunnyside Elementary School in the government process resulted in a school visit Monday morning by La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff.

The youngsters gathered signatures and attended public meetings to lobby commissioners to keep satellite libraries at Sunnyside and Fort Lewis Mesa elementary schools open when it appeared the county might have to close them because of a tight budget for 2015.

It turned out there was $108,724 – the same amount as the year before – to keep both libraries open.

Westendorff’s visit coincided with the students’ study of government by Julia Kitchen’s fourth-graders, Carrie Harper’s third-graders and Bri Dilley’s first-graders.

Westendorff congratulated the students on their civic-mindedness and explained where they fit in the network of government.

She described the roles of federal, state, county and city government and how, while independent entities, they mesh in the broad spectrum.

A county budget has to balance, Westendorff said. Deficit spending – such as seen in the federal government – isn’t allowed at the county level.

The possibility of closing the Sunnyside and Fort Lewis Mesa libraries to balance the budget arose early on, Westendorff said.

After all, she said, there were new libraries in Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio to take up the slack.

“We didn’t realize how many people used the libraries at the two schools,” Westendorff said. “We didn’t know how important they were, but you let us know.”

daler@durangoherald.com



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