Hurd meets Trinidad leaders to boost safety, jobs, and growth

Rep. Jeff Hurd met with Trinidad City Manager Tara Marshall and Police Chief Tracy Roles in Trinidad to talk about the most immediate pressure points in Las Animas County: public safety resources, light-manufacturing investment, rising costs for local governments and families, and how to turn the city’s rail-and-trail history into economic growth.

The conversation landed in a city where the bills are already climbing. Trinidad adopted its 2026 budget on Dec. 16, 2025, after months of debate over utility-rate increases and aging water and sewer systems. City and county leaders have been trying to keep basic services afloat while also making the case that better infrastructure could draw private investment, create jobs and ease household costs over time.

Hurd, a Republican who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, took office Jan. 3, 2025 and sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He has made domestic manufacturing a public priority, including the bipartisan Made in America Jobs Act, which cleared the committee on Feb. 19, 2026. In Trinidad, that broader agenda met a local pitch for concrete federal backing.

At the center of that pitch is Perry Stokes Airport, about 10 to 11 miles northeast of Trinidad. Las Animas County owns and operates the airport, which has two 5,500-foot runways and is being positioned as a future economic engine for the region. Hurd’s congressional office lists a $1,084,500 Community Project Funding request for a Perry Stokes transient apron and helicopter parking pad, a project tied directly to the county’s airport development plans. County officials are also pursuing Economic Development Administration grants and other federal funding to modernize the airport, starting with water and sewer upgrades they say are necessary before private investment can follow.

The airport effort matters because Trinidad and the county are trying to compete for businesses that need reliable transportation, lower operating costs and room to grow. Las Animas County’s economic-development case is built on infrastructure first, then jobs. Trinidad State College remains a key workforce pipeline, and the city’s historic downtown, its National Historic Landmark District, and its place on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail give officials a tourism and heritage angle as well.

Hurd has already shown up in Southern Colorado in more than one way. His regional staff held mobile office hours in Trinidad on Sept. 9 at Ft. Wootton, and his office has also engaged tribal leaders in the region. For Trinidad, the measure of the meeting will not be the photo opportunity but whether it produces a funding decision, an agency commitment and a timeline that residents can feel in safer streets, steadier jobs and lower pressure on local budgets.