DURANGO, Colo. - One month on the job, and new Durango City Manager Ron LeBlanc is just beginning to learn the complexities of this unique mountain town.

LeBlanc was hired formally on Oct. 23, 2007, to fill the shoes of Robert Ledger, who retired following nearly 25 years of service to the community. LeBlanc’s professional positions have taken him across the United States and back again, but now at 54 years of age, that cumulative experience finds him settling in Durango in the position that he notes will take him into retirement.

Originally from New England and a graduate of Boston College, he attended graduate school at CU Boulder, where he attests he excelled at “accent removal school.” Indeed, no trace of his Boston accent colored the interview with DurangoDowntown.com.

How are you finding Durango?

I love it. It’s a great community. I’ve made an effort to go out and meet as many people as I can, and others have introduced themselves to me as I’ve been out getting coffee or in the supermarket or wherever. It’s been a good experience.

And it’s a good community. There’s a lot going on. I’ve met with the college president, Dr. Bartel… Fort Lewis gives Durango a much different complexity than most other communities, especially mountain communities… And there’s a lot of history here, which I enjoy.

From a professional manager perspective, Colorado is a really good state. The Colorado constitution lays out powers to cities that you don’t typically find across the country. Home Rule here is a very strong Home Rule. When you meet people in Durango for the first time, you understand that they’ve go strong opinions and they’re not going to take orders from Denver or anywhere. They want to have a say here on things that matter. I think you’ll find that in most Colorado communities.

The City of Durango is structured like a corporation, and you are the head of the corporation. How are you working with City Council?

I work for the council, and I think it’s important to note that the council acts as a body… My role is to manage the day to day operations of the city, all the city departments – police, water, sewer – and to look to the council for policy direction. Do they want to pursue aggressive acquisition of open space? How do they want to approach a community park? What are we going to do about traffic issues? So I look to them for that big policy discussion. Once that is determined, I execute that policy.

What do you see as your biggest challenges here?

First of all, I have to understand the history of the community in terms of the issues that are coming across my desk.

Relationships with the county, the hospital, the school district, the college – I have to establish those and establish myself, my credibility and my professionalism so we can work productively.

I’m following someone who is well-respected and has done a great job for the last 25 years, so I have big shoes to fill. We have a staff… it is fantastic that they have stayed together as a team. Some of them have been here 25 years… They’ve been a great resource.

I think I bring a lot to the table in terms of my experience. The challenges of balancing a budget, operating the various departments, dealing with real sensitive issues that come up from time to time, as well as growth versus no growth or managed growth versus uncontrolled growth.

Affordable housing?

Affordable housing is a huge issue. Everywhere. And at least in my experience there is no silver bullet with affordable housing. I don’t know how we’re going to resolve it here. I haven’t had opportunity to get into it yet.

There are essential positions you need in a community – nurses, school teachers, policemen, firemen. And if you look at what is the salary of a nurse, for example, and how much can that salary support in terms of mortgage, and then what’s the average price for a house? How do you solve that gap?

What is your philosophy of managing a city?

Well, my style is to be open and conduct the public’s business in a transparent fashion so they can see how we arrive at a decision and what we based it on. We need to be responsive to the community, but also be responsible. The difference is, responsible is spending the money that is allocated in a wise fashion. Responsive is meeting the needs of an immediate situation, like plowing the snow, floods, the real things that come up from time to time. I think the staff here is really conscientious about that. If you call City Hall, you’re going to get an answer, and people are going to make an effort to resolve an issue and do it in a professional manner. I’ve been happy to see that in action.

Long term there are a lot of issues on the horizon. The big one is oil and gas production. When that disappears, how are we going to make up for that revenue? And not only the revenue we get in terms of compensation from that extraction, but all the people who are here in the community – those are good jobs.

Are you then a proponent of economic development?

In a reasonable way. I’m not going to go out and try to attract a smelter or a coal plant, but I think Durango is going to be attractive to a lot of small businesses, and it’s also an attraction for people who are retiring early in their careers, who set up consultancies, and may locate here.

I think we also have an opportunity for outdoor related products to be developed here or manufactured here – anything related to the outdoors – because those employees who make those goods also like to be in an area where they can go out and enjoy them.

There are those who say it’s difficult to open a business in Durango.

I need to find out what the commonality is on the complaints. We do have high standards. For the most part it is an attractive community. I need to find out what the issues are. It could be a variety of things, or there could be a theme.

What is your position on the “greening” of Durango?

The City Council has set some policies in terms of sustainability, so we are going to pursue those. The city has to be a leader in our operations, to evaluate when we’re buying equipment or building.

And the retrofits of the existing buildings. I just received an email from La Plata Electric giving us a breakdown of the buildings where we can reduce the (electricity) demand load.

Our role is to be a leader, and if we can demonstrate sustainability programs and make smart choices on what we buy… and we also have an obligation to educate and inform the community. So if we can be a partner with LPEA or the college or whoever and promote that type of thinking and support that action, we’ll do that.

What kind of challenges are ahead for you as a city manager?

I think you have to have thick skin, and you have to understand that any criticism that’s levied toward the city is not personal. I’ve heard from people upset with the city, but they’re not upset with a person, rather the way something’s happening.  

I think the community has its own character. Main Avenue is really a jewel. I talked to Bob Ledger, and it wasn’t that way when he got here. I’ve seen some pictures. It was dated, it wasn’t functional, it wasn’t friendly.

There has been discussion about reincorporating the river corridor into the downtown, do you have any plans?

We do have plans to acquire more land to connect the river trail. We have some missing pieces in the trail system. Our hope is to have it complete from north to south.

And as to the current snow, you brought it with you from your most recent position in Ketchum, Idaho?

I did. I get blamed for that. So, if I’m going to get blamed for it, I’m going to also take credit for the good rafting season this summer.

Contact LeBlanc at 970.375.5005.

indiana@durangodowntown.com

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