December 2023 Year in Review

 

Lamar Police Chief Kyle Miller

City of Lamar Begins Search for New Police Chief

Lamar Police Chief, Kyle Miller, is ending his position with the City of Lamar and as such, the council awarded the bid for recruitment services to KRW Associates, LLC which provided the lowest overall cost and had the desired staff and qualifications as requested by the City of Lamar.

The city’s Water Master Plan for 2023 has been completed and several capital projects were identified and approved by the council.  City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz and staff will conduct a comprehensive grant search for funding for each project and Schwartz will apprise the council on each grant application as it is completed.  Just under two dozen areas have been identified for capital improvement running through to the year 2032 for the city.  The estimated cost of all projects, incorporating a 7.9% rate of inflation, is just over $55 million.

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Train and Windmill at Lamar Chamber Office

 

Lamar Chamber Elects New Officers

Four board members were elected to offices for the Lamar Chamber of Commerce during the member’s holiday dinner at the MAX Chophouse on Tuesday, December 19th.

Melonee Marcum was re-elected as President with Tanisha Graham as Vice-President, Hillary Perales as Secretary and Abbie Campbell as Treasurer.

Marcum and chamber office manager, Valerie Baldwin, both thanked board members for their past participation in various chamber events through the year including the Parade of Lights, Farmer’s Market, Lamar Days and Oktoberfest as well as two nationally sponsored cross-country motor races that passed through Lamar this past summer and fall.

The annual Lamar Chamber of Commerce banquet and community awards presentation is tentatively scheduled for January 29th.
By Russ Baldwin

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Lamar Unidos Receives Community Trailblazer Award

Prowers County announced Lamar Unidos received the Community Trailblazer Award in the nonprofit-award category recently.

The county commissioners recognized the award, stating, “Please join us in congratulating Lamar Unidos for receiving the 2024 Community Trailblazer Award from Community Resource Center America in the non-profit category! See below for details.  Thank you, Lamar Unidos, for all that you do for the residents of Lamar and Prowers County!”

Recipients of the Community Trailblazer Award will be recognized during the 2024 State of the Sector on Thursday, January 25, 2024.

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Pipeyard Suppliers are Open for Business

 

Friends, relatives, employees and various elected officials were on hand for the ribbon cutting at the new Pipeyard enterprise on Highway 50 just west of Granada this past Friday, December 8th.  Partners Mark Carrigan and Brad Johnson hosted the ceremonies marking the expansion of their operation in this portion of southeast Colorado.

Carrigan expressed thanks for himself and on behalf of Brad Johnson for all the support and well-wishes they have received since starting their new business venture, supplying pipe and pipe fitting needs primarily to the agricultural segment of southeast Colorado.  Three years ago, Carrigan and Johnson purchased the Caldwell pipefitters operation of fifty years in Rocky Ford and began planning to expand into Prowers County.  Johnson had worked for that business for almost 20 years before taking it over with Carrigan.

“We’re still struggling to find more people.  We’re on the hunt, we’re looking, because we’re not slowing down,” he remarked.  “Right now, we could use about another ten more.  We work up and down the valley and it made sense to us to expand the service into this section of the state,” adding that, “the people who work here are second to none in providing service.”
By Russ Baldwin

 

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