The mayor of Monument has been calling for changes to the makeup of a board that makes funding decisions on projects to protect the Pikes Peak region’s most important watershed.

“I’m personally convinced that it’s very appropriate for Monument to have representation,” Mayor Mitch LaKind said at a meeting of the board in November.

The Fountain Creek Watershed District is governed by an eight-person Board of Directors, primarily made up of local government leaders. The board makes decisions on how to allocate funds from multiple sources to preserve the Fountain Creek watershed.

Fountain Creek runs more than 70 miles from Teller County to Pueblo. The affected watershed covers more than 900 square miles and is an important artery in regional water infrastructure.

The district has managed millions of dollars in projects, including creek restoration near Fountain along Highway 47 and in Pueblo.

The board of directors has mandatory representatives from Colorado Springs, the city and county of Pueblo, and the city of Fountain. Smaller municipalities like Monument only get one representative among them, who must be confirmed by the Colorado Springs City Council and the El Paso County Board of Commissioners.

LaKind argues that Monument, with a population of about 11,000, should have a guaranteed spot. He said that the town north of Colorado Springs had outgrown its original standing.

“It seems like a logical next step here,” said LaKind.

Others on the board were more reticent about pursuing changes to the district’s bylaws, which have to be approved by the state legislature. Board chair Terry Hart, a former Pueblo County Commissioner, said that a new member in El Paso County could mean less representation for Pueblo.

“You’re altering a very fragile political balance,” he said at the November meeting.

‘Politically motivated’

The request from LaKind follows what he perceives as a political slight against Monument.

Until this spring, the town had its own representative on the district board. Monument councilman Jim Romanello held the small municipality’s seat until his death in an April motorcycle accident.

Monument nominated Romanello’s appointed town council replacement, Chad Smith, to take over his role at the watershed district. While the Colorado Springs City Council approved Smith, the El Paso County commissioners did not.

Commissioner Bill Wysong, who represents the county on the watershed district board, said the vote came during an informal meeting of the commissioners. While Wysong voted for Smith, the Monument nominee could not get approval from a majority.

“They could not approve Chad because they didn’t know enough about him,” said Wysong.

LaKind said he felt the decision was unfair since Smith was the only nominated candidate put forth by the small municipalities. In a joint letter from October, the Monument town council outlined Smith’s qualifications and admonished the commissioners’ decision.

“Given this record, the decision to deny councilmember Smith’s appointment appears politically motivated rather than merit-based, a troubling departure from sound public policy and intergovernmental cooperation,” read the letter.

In December, the watershed district decided to table discussions about changing its makeup. The board chose alternate Jay Kita, a Green Mountain Falls resident, to fill in until the seat could be formally appointed.

Funding stream drying

The squabble comes at a turning point for the Fountain Creek Watershed District, which is running out of a $50 million funding allotment from the construction of the Southern Delivery System to mitigate the watershed effects of the water supply infrastructure.

Wysong said that the district is down to about $9 million, but is finding ways to make that amount stretch.

“They’re making their money go further,” he said.

The district finished two major projects along the Fountain Creek corridor this year, aimed at mitigating erosion caused by upstream development. Factors like an increasing volume of water flowing through the watershed can contribute to erosion, including in the city of Fountain, where the crumbling bank of the creek threatened private buildings and a road.

One of the projects finished this year sought to address that bank and help save Southmoor Drive. The Southmoor Drive project cost about $7 million and wrapped up in July. Further south, the district has also completed a similar restoration project on Fountain Creek along Highway 47, stabilizing the channel to the tune of $4.4 million.

Schuch said a 2026 project will test a cost-saving design feature that might reduce erosion without multi-million dollar construction efforts. At Frost Ranch south of Fountain, the district will be trying out something called a “bendway weir”: strategically buried large rocks that angle water flow back towards the center of the stream and encourage sediment to settle.

“It’s a much more cost-effective solution,” said Schuch.

She said there remains about $1 billion in potential projects along the full 70-mile-plus stretch of waterway needed to help stave off erosion and prevent dangerous flooding events. Finding a way to fund those projects is a problem with an approaching time limit as the Southern Delivery System money dwindles.

“Sustainable funding has been on our list since the day the district was established,” Schuch said.