Outdoor Spaces Preserved, Celebrated

The city of Durango and Durango School District 9-R have reached an agreement for the purchase of Buckley Park, cementing its future as a public park. El Pomar has opened applications for the 2024 Penrose Organizational and Professional Leadership Experience, or PeOPLE, Program. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the Colorado Department of Revenue have partnered to release a sales tax fundamentals course. Celebrate trees this month with the Arbor Day Art Exhibit featuring local artists at the Community Recreation Center. And a tree coloring contest at the Durango Public Library. You're watching the "Local News Roundup," brought to you by the payroll department and Happy Pappy's Pizza and Wings. I'm Sadie Smith. The city of Durango has reached an agreement in principle to purchase Buckley Park. The downtown park, currently owned by Durango School District 9-R, has been leased to the city for communal use for the past few years. Per the agreement, which still needs final approval from the City Council and School Board, the city will purchase the park for $3 million and be made a permanent public park. Funding from the purchase will come from the 2005 half cent sales tax, which has been used by the city as a critical revenue base to preserve, acquire, and enhance open space. The El Pomar Foundation's Penrose Organizational and Professional Leadership Experience Program, or PeOPLE, has opened its 2024 applications. PeOPLE partners with the Center for Creative Leadership to provide a four day workshop and training for Colorado's leaders. The training teaches how to build and sustain healthy relationships and how to grow leadership impact. The program is looking for senior leaders in Colorado, particularly from nonprofit and government sectors, with five to 10 years of senior management experience for the program. The workshop will take place at the Center for Creative Leadership's Colorado Spring Campus from September 24th to 27th. Applications are due May 24th. The Business Support Division of Oedit and the Colorado Department of Revenue have released a sales tax fundamentals online educational course. The 16-part course is free, self-paced, and takes about an hour to complete. It covers essential information for small business owners, such as general tax responsibilities and how to stay voluntarily tax compliant. The course is a part of Oedit's to establish learning track to help small business owners with establishing a business, developing and managing business accounting systems, developing basic digital marketing strategies, and more. The course is available online in both English and Spanish. With spring in the year, what better way to celebrate than by joining the Tree Decorating Contest at the Durango Public Library? Pick up your favorite tree image at the children's circulation desk and color the image however you'd like. Make sure to return the image by April 19th as winners will be picked at random from the categories on April 22nd. Submissions will be displayed as they are turned in. And after you've taken in the sights, take a trip down the Animus River Trail to the Community Recreation Center. It's All Things Trees Exhibit is on display until April 29th in honor of Arbor Day. And features a variety of artwork from local artists. Learn more about these and other stories at durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the "Local News Roundup." I'm Sadie Smith.