Holly Trustees Make Appointments for 2013

Board and committee appointments occupied most of the regular business of the Holly Trustees during their first meeting of the New Year, this past Wednesday evening, January 9. 

The top four positions were maintained by unanimous vote with Marsha Willhite as Town Administrator, Darla Scranton-Specht as Town Attorney, Kim Verhoeff as Municipal Judge and Sheriff Jim Faull as town Marshall.  Appointments stayed much the same for other positions including: Finance Committee, Police Commissioner Board, Scholarship Committee and VALE Committee.  Trustee Marty Campbell will serve as an alternate representative to the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities and Carol Jones was voted to fill the unexpired term of Tammy Daskam on the Library Board.  Town Clerk, Mary Rushton, administered the oath of office to Claudia Parker as Deputy Clerk/Treasurer with Parker’s family  attending. 

Administrator Willhite provided an overview of the status of the town’s landfill with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.  Willhite explained the landfill is still in compliance with CDPHE regulations although some documentation of the landfill area will be needed as the state’s map shows the geography to be larger on paper than its current acreage.  Willhite expressed her concerns that the state health department will include some unnecessary regulations pertaining to paperwork for dumping PCB’s and asbestos in town landfills.  She added that the proposed record keeping regulations are not from the EPA, but the CDPHE.  She said with the Trustees approval, she will approach the Prowers County Commissioners to help intercede on the town’s behalf.  Willhite said the new stipulations were brought to her attention by a landfill engineering firm involved with several southeast Colorado counties facing the same problem.   

Willhite briefly discussed the need for the county to provide FEMA with necessary information regarding Holly’s status over its levee situation.  The administrator said that FEMA recently declined approval of a CDOT loan application made on behalf of Holly because the county had not provided the information in a timely manner.  A 90 day extension can be provided and during that interval, Holly residents with property in the flood plain area will be brought up to date on recent developments. 

Keith Dennis, Field Service Supervisor listed work down in the town including painting handicap zones on Main Street and curbing; the town’s radar trailer has been set up for operation; a new south well surge tank has been installed; Main Street and Highway 50 has been swept; the town trucks have been set up with plows and sanding equipment; a house at the corner of North 10^th and Vaughn Streets was leveled and removed and lights at the town’s flag pole were installed.  The trustees discussed sulpher and chlorine odors in the town’s tap water at some locations.  Administrator Willhite said this could be due to well water taken at a shallower than normal level in the water table.  Dennis said he’d check into the chlorine equipment in the town’s system.

By Russ Baldwin