New Designs, Old Designs, Designs Everywhere

Nominations for the Design & Development Awards are now open. Nominate outstanding projects in the community by February 1st. The City of Durango debuted a new website design last week. The transition between the San Juan Basin Public Health and La Plata County Public Health Department is ready to go, with only a slight interruption to services at the start of January. And although Christmas isn't over yet, the Christmas Tree Recycling Service at Santa Rita is ready to go. You're watching the Local News Roundup, brought to you by Tafoya Barrett and Associates, and Happy Pappy's Pizza-N-Wings. I'm Gillian Arnwine. If you've checked the City of Durango website recently, you've probably noticed a new look. The City has worked with its website host, Civic Plus, over the past couple of months to update the website appearance to a more modern design, which appeared December 12th. The new design aims to highlight Durango's mountain landscape with images from local parks and locations to create a more user-friendly navigation of the website. There is a dedicated section for ongoing city projects at the bottom of the page, and a new interactive way to view social media platforms. On January 1st, social media posts that tag the city will also have the chance to be considered for inclusion on the website. The new design comes alongside the planned domain change from a .org to a .gov domain in early 2024. Nominations for the 2023-24 Design & Development Awards are now open. The award program emphasizes how good design and development enhance quality of life, create a sense of place, and increase community, resiliency, and sustainability. The nomination categories include options like outstanding mural, outstanding historic preservation project, outstanding sign, outstanding community benefit, among others. Submit nominations online, February 1st, 2024. Winners will be announced at an award ceremony in April. On January 1st, the La Plata County Public Health Department will officially assume the responsibilities for providing public health services previously offered by San Juan Basin Public Health. To ensure the best transition, some of the services will experience a pause in the first couple of weeks of January. Emergency clinic services, vital records, water and wastewater operator compliance testing and health insurance assistance, will remain available throughout the transition period. Appointments and regular service will resume January 8th and appointments for regular sexual health and immunizations will resume January 23rd. Food licensing renewals will extend into 2024 to accommodate for the transition period. Do not send renewal checks to San Juan Basin Public Health. Wait until you receive a renewal notice from the La Plata County Public Health Department in January. Christmas tree recycling returns once more to Santa Rita Park. Make sure to remove all ornaments and tinsel before dropping them off. There is no curbside pickup for Christmas trees. The trees will be recycled into mulch. Drop off trees anytime between now and January 31st. Learn more about these and other stories online at durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I'm Gillian Arnwine.