Saturday, February 21, 2009

January Town Board Minutes

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Town of La Jara was called to order by Mayor Austin Valdez at 7:05 pm. The roll was called. Present: Earl Haslett, Paula Medina, Tiffanie Polkowske, Henry Schimpf, and Mayor Austin Valdez. Absent: Patrick Montoya and Larry Zaragoza. Also present: Maintenance Supervisor Keith Martinez, Chief of Police Richard Pena, Town Clerk Priscilla Schimpf, Building Inspector Joseph Trottner, Town Attorney Ray Valdez and Town Manager Bill Yohey. Guests: Frank Valdez, Anna Mondragon, Ruby Nissley and Jack Hoogendoorn. Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Guests:
Frank Valdez – Bresnan Cable Representative. He explained their sale to Ken Swinheart, Owner of Amigo.net. Closing on sale will be February 15, 2009 which will be turned over to Ken at that time. It was asked if Bresnan is up to date on their franchise fees. It was stated that they are. Phone # to contact Frank with any questions or concerns is 480-0539. Mr. Valdez left at 7:15 pm.

Anna Mondragon – Grapes & Grains Liquor on Main. She was here to ask the Town Board’s permission to expand her storage/inventory area. She wants to be prepared for the bigger summer sales. She passed around a blueprint that she drew up of what she wants to do. She then explained it and answered questions from the Board. She informed them that there is no alarm system there at the liquor store right now but working on it. The one that was originally installed is not in working condition. Austin stated that if the Board approves then the State Liquor Investigator may come down and state to her that she can not do. Anna stated that she spoke with Dan Gunther, Executive Director of the Liquor Enforcement Division and he told her that all he is concerned with is the legality of the business. The Town is the ones to be concerned with the rest of it, security and such. A motion to approve the expansion for storage/inventory area for Grapes & Grains Liquor on Main was made by Tiffanie and seconded by Earl. Motion Carried. Priscilla will mail application and fee to Liquor Enforcement Division tomorrow January 9th. Ms. Mondragon left at 7:35 pm.

Reports:

Town Manager
: Bill explained a report from Xcel Energy that he had passed around of the outages that have occurred in La Jara in 2008. There was some discussion on this.
The Historical Grant Promotion for bids was run in the Valley Courier. We will begin construction in spring of 2009.
He mentioned that he was asked to be a representative of the Interstate Compact Committee for the Rio Grande Compact. They cover water issues, surface water rights. Bill and Ray explained what this committee is involved with. Ray suggested for us to have a representative on this committee. Ray stated that they will not shut down our wells but we may be forced to buy surface water rights. Bill was quoted $30,000 for 1 acre foot. Earl asked if dormant wells will be shut off first. Ray stated not necessarily because it would have to be determined abandoned and would be hard to prove it has not been used. Keith asked Ray if the Town would have to purchase more water. Ray stated we might if we are short of providing the
correct amount of water.
The School/Town project came up for discussion. Tiffanie asked who owns the north drop at the school where Jill Lucero was anticipating putting the walking path. It was stated that we would have to investigate and find out who owns the easement. Tiffanie stated we need to find out so that we can get that 25 year agreement between the Town and the school.
Bill stated that we were thinking of sending out a quarterly report so that the Town of La Jara residence can be informed of Town issues. Tiffanie suggested having a blog. Tiffanie then asked for an explanation of the legality of minutes. She wanted to know how they are issued to the public and why does it have to wait to be approved before giving out to public. Ruby Nissley then stated she had asked for minutes to be mailed monthly with the water bills. Bill then informed the Board that that is why we were seeing about sending out a quarterly report. The Board then asked Tiffanie to look into creating a blog. The report was accepted upon a motion by Paula and a second by Henry. Motion Carried.

Building Inspector: He reviewed his written report with the Board. Earl asked if he checked with the digging at Jim Quirco’s at 635 Main and he stated he did and it was sewer problems no new construction. The report was accepted upon a motion by Henry and a second by Paula. Motion Carried.

Court: The Board reviewed the Municipal Judge report. Ray stated that Judge Ogborn entered into an order to dismiss Vicente Valdez’s case. Ray explained the details of the case. The report was accepted as presented upon a motion by Earl and a second by Henry. Motion Carried.

Police: Richard reviewed his Comparison of Fine Schedule Report with the Board. A motion to continue on our higher fees and change to the new higher fees was made by Earl and seconded by Henry. A roll call vote was taken: Paula, yes; Tiffanie, no; Henry, yes; Earl, yes and Austin, yes. MotBoldion Carried.

Richard then presented a bid from Leonard Espinoza for his partition of his office for the amount of $1,550. He also presented a bid for the electrical from Valley Electric for the amount of $608.17. A motion to accept the bids for Richards’s partition of his office was made by Earl and seconded by Tiffanie. Motion Carried. Ray will draw up a contract with the contractors for Richard. The police report was accepted upon a motion by Paula and a second by Henry. Motion Carried.

Maintenance: Keith reported that there were two sewer lines plugged up by Family Dollar.
Earl brought up that there should be no digging in the winter months due to tearing up the equipment. He suggested setting up a deadline date to do digging.
Keith met with Kelsey Baertschi from the State Health Department to discuss the water quality and he inspected the Town records. He brought up how Keith thought the Town residence would react to chlorinating the water. He also stressed putting an emergency plan in place.
Keith stated the importance to pass an ordinance to push the snow off their sidewalks to prevent falling on the ice. The maintenance report was accepted upon a motion by Earl and a second by Paula. Motion Carried.

Trustees:
Paula – She mentioned giving the new restaurant, Main Street Fine Dining a bouquet of flowers. Priscilla will arrange tomorrow, January 9, 2009. She also asked about the Rios Building. It was stated that nothing has been done and he also did not sign the confirming letter yet. Ray will follow up this. Paula mentioned that the Boys & Girls Club may still be available here in La Jara. Bill is also checking more into it.
Tiffanie – She asked if we have an objective or goal for 2009. Austin stated that the blog would be a plus. Paula also stated that Revitalization is another objective/goal. Bill mentioned that another goal is updating/revising the Personnel Policies. Tiffanie had a concern of what the sales use tax was used for – revenue or making the town look better. Priscilla stated that it goes into the General Fund for operating.
Henry – Had nothing to report.
Earl – Had nothing to report.
Austin – Had nothing to report.

Attorney: Had nothing to report.

Clerk: The Board reviewed her written report. The report was accepted as presented upon a motion by Henry and a second by Earl. Motion Carried.

Approval of Minutes:
Regular Meeting December 11, 2008 – Motion by Henry, 2nd by Paula. Motion Carried.

Follow-Up of Minutes:
None

Approval of Bills:
The bills were approved for payment upon a motion by Henry and a second by Earl. Motion Carried.

Other Business:
Keith and Richard asked the Board for the money put into the 2009 budget for their basketball programs. It was budgeted for $400 each program. A motion to donate the $400 budgeted for Keith’s La Jara All Stars Program was made by Paula and seconded by Henry. Motion Carried. A motion to donate the $400 budgeted for Richard’s La Jara Youth Basketball Program was made by Paula and seconded by Earl. Motion Carried.

Tiffanie suggested in having a sign in sheet for the meetings to give the public a chance to present a comment at the end of the meetings. It was discussed and agreed to do so but with a time limit for each presenter.

A motion to go into executive session to discuss pending litigation was made by Henry and seconded by Paula. Motion Carried. The Board adjourned to the executive session at 9:50 pm.

At 10:50 pm the meeting was reconvened by Mayor Austin Valdez. No action was taken.

A motion to agree to a continuation to the lawsuit was made by Henry and a second by Paula. A roll call vote was taken: Paula, yes; Tiffanie, yes; Henry, yes; Earl, yes and Austin, yes. Motion Carried.

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