MINERAL COUNTY — Mineral County officials recently announced that Clint Leggitt was hired as the new Mineral County Emergency Manager. He is ready to hit the road running, packing his schedule with training, coordination and partnership meetings and is looking forward to hearing from the public on what they want to see in Mineral County emergency management.

Having grown up for a short period of time in the Creede area and then coming back to settle down with his family, Leggitt is familiar with the area and the ins and outs of the region in the San Luis Valley, but he is also beginning his new career with a goal to learn as much as he can moving forward.

“My parents owned Cottonwood Cove Cabins for a while in the 80s and I started school here in Creede before we moved on to Wichita, Kansas,” explained Leggitt.

In the time that he was away from Creede, Leggitt focused his attentions on building several businesses and managing companies while overseeing large projects which gives him a great managerial foundation from which he plans to build for his term as emergency manager.

“I am starting with a clean slate. We wanted to get out of Texas and moved back to Creede about four years ago. I have known Terry Wetherill for many years and when the job came open, I wanted to give it a try,” said Leggitt.

For the past three weeks, Leggitt has continued to work with the Creede School District on school safety and for the time being, plans to focus much of his training and education around the safety of children in the area.

“I am learning a lot and most of the efforts of emergency managers around the region is on school safety. We have been attending Life Spot classes, active shooter seminars and working with the school to ensure the continued safety of our district and our community. My main concern if the safety of our youth in the area,” he said.

Leggitt is also the new owner of the Creede Dental Clinic, which he recently purchased with his wife Lesley. Mineral County sold the clinic to the Leggitt family last year with the intent to keep dental services in the Creede and Mineral County area.

“We love it up here and we love being a part of this wonderful community in several ways,” he said.

Beyond his new role as Emergency Manager and his new venture with the dental clinic, Leggitt also owns and operates the Long Ridge Outfitters located near Freemon’s Guest Ranch. Through his work as an outfitter, Leggitt has helped on several Mineral County Search and Rescue calls and hopes to continue his work with the SAR group, learning as much as he can so that he can aid in their missions when needed.

“I am a lifetime learner and have gone on a few search and rescue missions and participated recently in training with the group. We recently did a snowmobile training and we are getting ready to work with avalanche specialists to learn more about avalanche response and conditions. I am all about learning what I can as much as I can right now,” he said.

Leggitt also believes in an open-door policy with the Mineral County community and encourages anyone seeking information, has questions or just wants to introduce themselves to reach out to him at any time. For more information, contact Leggitt at [email protected] or call 719-849-3874.