Holly Trustees Discuss 2013 Budget, Street Lighting and City Improvements

The Town of Holly Trustee’s Board considered the 2013 budget and some infrastructure improvements during their monthly meeting, Wednesday, October 3.

Marsha Willhite, Town Administrator said the trustees would receive preliminary budget information by mid month for their consideration. She added that several RFP’s, requests for proposals will be sent out for town improvement projects such as replacement of several water mains near the Miles Court Motel. She added that the project should be completed without having to cut into the highway. Other RFP’s included replacement of several manhole covers, improvements at the town landfill and overhauling the town’s EMD and Detroit power generators. Holly’s ARPA generator meets the EPA specifications from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the town is reclassifying the other generators under an “emergency only operation” to meet state emissions requirements. Willhite said the city’s record keeping system along with Lamar Light and Power is in good shape pending a future inspection from CDPHE.

Town lighting was also discussed. Next Step Energy Solutions provides LED lighting for municipalities and the new modules can be retro-fitted into older, existing poles for additional savings. Willhite said ARPA members are looking at pooling their costs for the service and several towns, such as Trinidad, will probably roll over their electricity savings into the future purchase of new LED lighting modules for additional street lights.

Joel Kalma informed the board that an unnoticed burst water line in his mother’s house on WEst Park Street that caused some flooding, as well as a water bill that went from $58 in June, to $156 in July and $436 in August for about 170,000 gallons of water. Kalma explained that a pressure coupler connected to the water meter may have blown out of the fitting when the town was working on water lines in the community this past summer. Kalma suggested that as no one was living in the house to open a faucet when water was restored, he suspects airlock pressure caused the fitting to open. Kalma did not ask for any direct financial consideration, but wanted to bring the matter to the Trustee’s attention to see if they would take action on the matter. Mayor Brad Simon said the board will discuss the situation, but believed that because the north well in the city was not operational at the time, the board’s options, if any, may be limited.

Wilhite reminded the Trustees that information has been available to the voters of Holly regarding the sales tax increase question that will appear on the November General Election ballot. She said an information booth was set up to distribute material during the recent fair.

Keith Dennis, Holly Field Services Supervisor, gave a brief review of repairs in town including repairs and replacement of water mains between 7th and 8th Streets as well as repairs on the 3rd Street main. Several power outages occured for various reasons. The first was September 18, the next on the 20th and the third and longest due to a pole that caught on fire in Bristol.

by Russ Baldwin