Holly Trustees Replace Old Bucket Truck, Nix Golf Carts on Streets

The Holly Board of Trustees approved replacing the aging city bucket truck with a used 2001 model from Lamar Light and Power for $4,500.  The current 1990 Ford F350 has a 1989 Versalift device which is aging and has a safety issue with the position of the controls relative to the operator.  The 2001 model has a 1995 lift which features control bars positioned more safely for the operator.  The old truck will be used for general services and tree trimming.  A $100 donation was approved for the May 11-12 Little Britches Rodeo at the Holly Fairgrounds.  Becky Kalma was hired as the manager of the municipal pool for the season, as well as Kala Neill as assistant manager and Richard Hernandez, Abby Hopper, Bailey Kennedy and Kenzi Tefertiller as lifeguards.  The Trustees declined the proposal from TWT Enterprises to take ownership of Hughes Court for $5,000, as they felt other streets in the community have a higher priority for future repairs.  Three students, Kensie Simon, Keenan Davis and Kayla Hammell, were awarded scholarships for $500 apiece with the one donation contributed by Arkansas River Power Authority and $1,000 from the Town of Holly for the other two students. 

The Trustees decided against allowing golf carts on city roads for public transportation.  Most of the issues dealt with the need to upgrade safety equipment on a cart to be almost equivalent to that of a car, as well as required licensing and proper insurance.  Even with the upgrades, the Colorado State Patrol would not allow them to be used on state roads.  The board also discussed, but took no action, on a proposal from a commercial business to collect and recycle waste cardboard in the town.  The logistics of establishing collection points throughout the community and a means of transporting the cardboard to a baler that would compress and bale the cardboard involved additional costs on the town budget.   

Discussion also focused on employing a firm to take an accurate count of the town’s utility poles.    Holly Town Administrator, Marsha Willhite, stated that the count, at $2 per pole, would provide an accurate number of poles in the community, as well as help reinforce the costs to the city in an ongoing bankruptcy filing with a cable company that has been out of business for some time.  Willhite stated that the city cannot remove the unused cables due to bankruptcy litigation, but must still provide maintenance upkeep for them.  She felt those incurred costs, documented by the count, would help position the city’s claim against the cable company. 

Municipal repairs for this past April included replacing three electric transformers due to leaks or a deficient rating, installation of a sewer tap and water meter at 106 South 10 Street, leaks were repaired in the sprinkler system and south well and two water meters in the RV Park were replaced with a touch read system.  Crews also worked on the bathrooms at the ballpark and Gateway.  The status report for the city’s wells shows the East Well at 107 feet and ‘static’ for March and a depth of 125 and ‘running’ for April.  The South and North wells were both ‘static’ for March and April with 90 feet both months for the South Well and 110 and 114 feet respectively for the North Well for those two months.  The trustees approved a free day at the landfill in place of a city-wide clean-up day this spring.  It was felt the low turn out of debris didn’t off-set the cost of equipment used during the last clean up day.  No date has been set for the landfill free day at this time.

By Russ Baldwin