Durango City Councilor Olivier Bosmans is questioning City Manager José Madrigal’s and City Attorney Mark Morgan’s move out of City Hall into offices leased by Visit Durango.
He also said Buell has a conflict of interest or an appearance of a conflict of interest for leasing office space from Visit Durango.
At a March 4 City Council meeting, Bosmans asked how many city staff in addition to Madrigal and Morgan moved into the Durango Welcome Center at 802 Main Ave.
“Normally, the city has to bring to council any new leases and purchases,” Bosmans told the The Durango Herald in an interview.
Madrigal said in an interview with the Herald he and the city attorney did not move into the Welcome Center.
He said Morgan, himself and seven staff moved into the former Visit Durango administrative offices leased by Visit Durango above Durango Treasures at 911 Main Ave. in late December and early January.
Madrigal said they moved into Visit Durango’s administrative offices to make more room for current and future staff at City Hall.
They did so with a memorandum of understanding allowing the city to use the office space until the city assumed Visit Durango’s lease of the property, he said.
City Council approved an ordinance establishing a Durango Prosperity Office and the divisions of Economic Opportunity, Housing Solutions and Destination Marketing Management earlier this month. The ordinance also details Durango’s absorption of Visit Durango’s leases, services and staff. That should be finalized by the end of the week, Madrigal said.
Visit Durango leased 6,528 square feet of office space at 911 Main Ave. at a rate of $5,665 per month, he said. The city uses about 3,264 square feet, or half the space, for nine employees.
He said City Hall has a footprint of 19,984 square feet, including Smith Council Chambers. Before Madrigal, Morgan and their staff relocated, 40 employees had their offices in City Hall. Now, 32 employees are stationed there with a 33rd employee soon relocating there.
Madrigal announced the move to the Visit Durango offices in an email to City Council on Dec. 12.
In the email, he said the move was planned because the city hired a second assistant city attorney, scheduled to start in January, but has no space to accommodate the position at City Hall.
He said the former historic high school at 201 E. 12th St. and the former Big Picture High School building next door were considered for new office space, but the city decided against it due to the costs of remodeling the spaces into usable offices.
In short, he said the Visit Durango offices were in close proximity to City Hall, the city could assume them after the proposed merger with Visit Durango, and they would take the least time to get ready for use.
He said the city clerk and the municipal court receive more foot traffic than either he or the city attorney, and the city’s Human Resources Department and City Clerk’s Office were sharing office space. Reserving a space for HR reduces the liability of personnel records and sensitive information being exposed to someone it shouldn’t be.
Bosmans questioned the relocation of the city manager’s and city attorney’s offices when an ordinance was introduced to transfer subleases held by Visit Durango to the city. The subleases are with Buell’s companies Lucky Services and Marketing Concepts Squared.
Griffith Properties leases the Welcome Center to the city of Durango, which subleases the Welcome Center to Visit Durango.
Bosmans said last week in a Facebook post that Buell had a conflict of interest by leasing space for her business Lucky Services LLC at the Welcome Center.
“Some people have walked in, asked for Lucky Services, Welcome Center staff provided information, pamphlets or brochures, for Lucky Services,” he said.
She said she started leasing her space at the Welcome Center about a year ago, and upon arriving at the location to see if it was a fit for her business, she immediately called Morgan to check if she had a conflict of interest.
Morgan said in January Buell doesn’t have a conflict because she is renting the space at a fair market rate, was not offered the space ahead of other prospective tenants and didn’t use her political position with the city to get the space.
In an April 26, 2024, email from Morgan to former Visit Durango Executive Director Rachel Brown, he said Buell’s lease must be documented “as to objective factors for leasing to one entity over another,” Buell should make full disclosures, and the lease rate must be at objectively documented to be at or above market rates.
Brown told Morgan in an April 29, 2024, email Buell found the office space through a public advertisement and would pay the advertised rental price, the same market rate Visit Durango was paying for the space.
She said nonprofits Local First and Durango Trails were previously interested in leasing the space, but they pulled out after deciding the space wasn’t the right fit.
Buell said she doesn’t use the Welcome Center staff for her businesses and she has no motivation to do so.
“If I have a meeting, I go down and grab them (a client) and meet them down there if they don't know where my office is. But that very rarely happens,” she said.
Bosmans and Buell will complete their first four-year terms on City Council in April. They are both seeking reelection and five candidates in total are vying for three seats on the council.
cburney@durangoherald.com
