How the city can help save Casey’s Pond was the topic of discussion Tuesday night as Steamboat Springs City Council members heard a series of emotional public remarks from those who will be hurt by the senior and assisted-living facility’s pending closure.

“This has been a tough time for us, so I am so happy to be here and listen to you talk about it and be passionate,” said Monique Lingle, a social worker and transition coordinator at the Doak Walker Community. “One of the questions that really comes to mind to me, is who do we want to be as a community?”

The 124 residents at Casey’s Pond and their families received a letter July 2 stating the owners of the property, Colorado Senior Residences Inc., owed its bondholders $68.4 million and a Routt County Court judge had placed Casey’s Pond into receivership.

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The court-appointed receiver, Beliann Raile of Cordes & Company, has been providing weekly updates on the process since July 19.

In an Aug. 3 report, Raile reported the Doak Walker Community, which provides skilled-nursing care at Casey’s Pond, would close Oct. 27. The entire Casey’s Pond property, which employs roughly 100 people, will be sold at auction Oct. 29.

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“This difficult decision was made as the sales process discussed below was beginning,” the receiver stated. “After assessing the difficult economic situation of the skilled-nursing facility and consultation with our brokers, we determined that most prospective buyers are not interested in buying the facility with an operational skilled-nursing facility.”

Lingle explained how the skilled-nursing facility is not only a place for long-term care, but also for short-term care for senior citizens recovering from shoulder surgery or a hip replacement.

“Steamboat doesn’t know what life will be like without The Doak, and the poor family members who might have to travel to Vail or Grand Junction, or perhaps over to Craig or down to Denver, to see their families when they have to rehab may be in a big shock,” said Lingle.

Lingle’s testimony was matched by family members of those who will be affected by the closing of Casey’s Pond, and even those who came to the council meeting to deliver remarks unrelated to the receivership process.

Wendell Wallace said he has been married for 65 years to his wife, Lillian, 85, who has been at The Doak for six months as a result of injuries suffered after she fell at their home.

“She had to be hospitalized here, and then the hospital fortunately had a place to send her on to,” Wallace told City Council members. “You close this facility, where are you going to send your people? As I look in your eyes, I don’t see the enthusiasm that I think needs to be there.”

When John Bristol, executive director of the Routt County Economic Development Partnership, took to the podium, he held back tears before providing a regular update about the organization’s recent work and upcoming events.

“I have some notes here, but given my experience in the last year, I am struck by all the comments on Casey’s Pond,” said Bristol.

“For those of you who don’t know, I lost both of my parents this year. And they needed a memory care unit and it’s important,” he said. “So, I hear what a lot of folks are saying here, and I spent time at Casey’s Pond looking at the services they provide and it’s really important.”

The Yampa Valley Community Foundation sent a letter of intent July 26 announcing an ad-hoc committee of six partners asking for a 12-week extension in the receivership process while the group worked to raise $20 million to purchase the senior living facility.

The receiver ultimately rejected the offer because it didn’t meet court-ordered standards.

The six partners include the community foundation, the city of Steamboat Springs, Routt County, Yampa Valley Housing Authority, Northwest Colorado Health and Christian Living Communities, the parent entity of Cappella Living Solutions that manages Casey’s Pond.

Prior to the public comments at their meeting Tuesday, council members discussed the timeline for closing Casey’s Pond, weighing options including using revenue from the city’s short-term rental tax to help fund the effort or working quickly to produce a ballot question to provide funding to keep the senior living community’s doors open.

The city’s attorney, Dan Foote, explained the complexities for both options.

“The question of whether or not short-term rental funds can be used in some way in connection with an effort to preserve the Casey’s Pond depends on whether or not the plan fits with the ballot language,” he said.

Steamboat voters approved a 2022 ballot measure to use a 9% tax on short-term rental stays to fund affordable and attainable housing in the city.

“I think it is fair to say no one was really thinking about elder care when we put together the ballot question,” Foote said.

“That does not necessarily mean that the funds can’t be used for elder care purposes, but the ballot question wasn’t structured to address that kind of living situation. The ultimate answer to this question whether or not STR funds can be used depends on how the deal is structured,” he added.

The city attorney said there could be a path forward to use short-term rental tax funds to support employee housing at Casey’s Pond, but for low-income residents who are on Medicaid, the justification becomes murkier.

“There will be a whole host of federal regulations that govern how residents can be selected (for housing) and whether or not those regulations can interact with the ballot language is a major question in my mind,” said Foote.

“I see a path forward for employees; the residents is a much more complicated situation,” he added.

Foote said City Council could commit 2024 revenues to a receivership deal but to allocate money beyond Dec. 31 would require voter approval. To produce a ballot question, he said, that process would have to be completed quickly ahead of the November election.

“It is theoretically possible, but it’s tight,” Foote added.

Council members ultimately decided to direct Foote to explore both options and planned to revisit the matter at their work session next week, but some expressed hesitation over a ballot question.

“We have to have more knowledge for our citizens and voters to do that,” council member Michael Buccino said. “This just came on our radar a month ago. … It affects so many of our citizens that are affected by their housing.”

“Whoever’s been running this into the ground has been doing it without paying interest on a loan and it’s just business,” he said. “It’s disingenuous for us to use tax dollars.”

Council member Joella West disagreed.

Given the importance of Casey’s Pond to the local community, she said, council members should focus on “somehow conjuring up a pot of money” that will help satisfy the bondholders in a collaborative effort as part of the ad-hoc committee.

“There are certainly individuals, developers, ideas of other ways to operate it,” said West. “This intention of this ad hoc committee is to continue operating.”

“We are looking for tools and we have a very limited amount of time,” she added. “Normally you would say this is chaos, this is crazy, let’s slow it down and let’s have a much better process. We don’t have that option.”