East Prowers Cemetery District Board Chosen

Prowers County Courthouse

The Prowers County Commissioners decided on two new members to the East Prowers Cemetery District Board of Directors.  Rella Ann Steele and Joel Kalma have been appointed to fill the two vacant positions.  The third board member, Tammi Burns, has served in that capacity for 18 months and will complete her term.  Steele was appointed for a full, six year term and Kalma was appointed to serve a 14 month term for the position recently vacated by Jennie Marsden.  There had been some discussion regarding a residency ambiguity in the Colorado statutes as to whether board members had to live within the district of interest.  Both Steele and Kalma have Holly addresses.   

The board appointments should cap the controversy from earlier this fall regarding alleged lack of continuing maintenance at the Hartman Cemetery, proper record keeping practices and regularly scheduled meeting notices, meeting minutes and availability of district bylaws.  Concerned citizens from the Hartman area voiced their concerns to the county commissioners, requesting guidelines on how to improve the overall situation.  Since this past summer, some corrective measures were taken regarding the care and watering of the cemetery, but other issues, such as cemetery plot identification and equipment repairs still required attention.

In other action, the commissioners gave tentative approval to the annual contract between the Town of Holly and the Prowers County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services.  The contract needs to be signed for approval by the Holly Town Board and returned to the county for final action.  The Holly Town Board’s next regular meeting will be Wednesday, December 7.

By Russ Baldwin