Holly Trustees Okay Loader Lease, Review Shooting Range Grant

Members of the Holly Trustees board expressed their appreciation at the voter turnout during the general election that favored the city’s 2% sale tax increase.  The vote was 155 in favor to 116 opposed.  Out of 300 registered voters, the turnout was 90% in the Holly community. 

Town administrator, Marsha Willhite, informed board members that the Colorado Department of Health and Environment assessed their landfill with a positive rating with no deficiencies and the landfill financial assurance review was also positive.  Regarding disposal of waste materials, Joyce Smith discussed the need to clean up refuse and debris near the Holly Cemetery entrance.  She provided pictures showing a mound of debris that had been taken from the Buffalo Ditch Canal on CR 35.  Prowers County Commissioner, Joe Marble, who attended the Holly Trustee meeting with Commissioner Henry Schnabel and commissioner-elect, Wendy Buxton-Andrade, said the county can get the County Road and Bridge Department to handle that, so long as the debris is not on private land.  Trustee Larry Sitts volunteered to discuss the matter with the canal company personnel.   

Local businessman Kirk Osban of R & R Automotive, voiced a complaint to the Trustees, stating his business had been unfairly publicly criticized by a Trustee for allegedly installing used auto parts in a town owned pick up truck.  Osban said that had not been the case and he had even gone so far as to not charge the town for some aspects of the repairs.  Osban said he wanted a public apology from the Trustee or if that would not occur, he asked to have the Trustees remove the individual from the Board.  He said he is ready to take legal action in the matter.  Mayor Brad Simon replied that the Trustees would discuss his complaint and Osban would hear from them. 

Administrator Willhite recapped utility oriented information discussed during a training course she and Town Clerk Mary Rushton attended last month in Nebraska.  Willhite said the information on financial planning for public power will be useful regarding a utility rate structure study for Holly.   

FEMA received the town’s request for a study review on the hydraulic study done on the new Highway 89 Bridge east of town.  Willhite said the study’s findings should receive the report in mid January.  She said the report will show if water flow improvements are to the point that improvements to the town’s levee system will not be required.  She added that the town is entering its fourth year of involvement with the flood plain mapping project with a January 14, 2014 deadline for the adoption of the plan, and it has been in place for quite a while now. 

Willhite outlined some of the highlights of the final draft of the Emergency Succession Plan for the board if she is not able to act as town administrator for a short or long term period.  She said it outlines her role as administrator for the Trustee’s consideration and provides guidelines for any unplanned absences on her part.  Willhite said the City Clerk should serve as acting administrator for any short or mid-term absences.  It also provides guidelines for a permanent absence as well as Willhite’s job description.  Some personnel policies were discussed including altering the half day Christmas Eve day into a full day holiday.  Willhite said past experience has shown a half day holiday turns out to be basically non-productive, so the best results for the town would be turning the half day into a full day holiday. 

The Trustees were given copies of ordinances pertaining to the use of motorized neighborhood electric vehicles or golf carts on town roadways to review.  Administrator Willhite distributed ordinances from Georgetown, Colorado and from Granada as a guideline for future discussion on their use in Holly.  The Trustees, after considerable review, decided in favor of a lease-purchase agreement at $1,499.39 a month from Case Implement Company for a new loader for the town.  Requests for bids were submitted from Case, Caterpillar and John Deere.  Every two years, the town requests contract proposals for a loader.   There was substantial discussion on whether to de-obligate $12,721 in funding from the Division of Parks and Wildlife.  The town received the funds as a grant to upgrade the Shooting Range, but no action had been taken on the project.  Once committed, the town must maintain the property for twenty years, mostly through in-kind projects under the grant contract.  The Trustees decided to table the matter and review their commitment until next month board meeting, December 5. 

Keith Dennis, Town Field Services Supervisor recapped repairs and upgrades performed in the past month, including:  completing the town’s lagoon clean up and diverted the flow to the west pond, installed a culvert at Hughes Court for a new residence as well as installing new street lights in the Court, replaced the airport’s wind sock and built new steps and repaired the floor at the water dock.

By Russ Baldwin