Lamar City Council approves Special Event Permit for Chamber of Commerce’s Cinco de Mayo Event

City Council met on March 25, 2024.   Kristin Schwartz, City Treasurer, gave the evening’s first report, telling Council that the city is receiving $155,000 from a GOCO grant for its Recreation Master Plan.  The money will go towards hiring a consultant.  Also granted to the city is $1.8 million from the Congressional Directed Spending Grant.  This money will be applied towards design and environmental work for the wastewater treatment plant.  Mayor Kirk Crespin stated that this money is “just a scratch on the surface of what the entire project will be” but that every grant the city receives will help to lower costs to consumers and that the city is trying its best to find sources of funding to lessen the burden on the public.

City Administrator Rob Evans reported that plans for the dog park are moving along.  He also thanked the Public Works department for their good work as the department recently passed a sanitation inspection. The next Coffee with Rob will be March 27 at 7 a.m. at Brew Unto Others.  He mentioned that if any listed location happens to be closed on posted dates, the Hickory House is the backup location.  There is a new speed warning sign on Oak St. and there are more to come.  The Fire Auxiliary is promoting Mental Health Awareness by selling t-shirts.  $5 from every shirt will be donated to Valley-Wide Support Services to assist with mental health in our area.  Contact Amanda Duffey at 719-691-1687 to order.  Anne-Marie Crampton, Community Development Director, wanted to let the public know that there will be a flyer in upcoming utility bills that will outline how to participate in an online survey regarding the Comprehensive Plan.

In New Business, Council voted unanimously to approve the Special Event Permit for the Chamber of Commerce’s Beer Garden as part of its May 4 Cinco de Mayo celebration.  The event will be held from 11 AM to 8 PM, with last call at 7:30.  As of now, 6-8 vendors have been secured with several more expected very soon.  All persons serving beer are TIPS certified, temporary fencing will be installed and security has been hired. There will be food trucks, kids’ games, performers and more for the celebration.

Also approved by Council were overnight parking permits in Willow Creek Park for vendors for the May 9-11 Sand & Sage Roundup Wild West BBQ Cook-Off.  Diane Pool told Council that this is the 20^th year for the event and wanted to remind the community that there will be a People’s Choice award.  Also as part of this event, Council approved the security contract with the City of Lamar in the amount of $360, which will compensate an off-duty police officer from 11 p.m. May 10 – 7:00 a.m. May 11.

Council voted to accept an $11,000 Colorado Pet Overpopulation grant to be used for animal care and spay/neuter surgeries for animals in the shelter’s care who are awaiting adoption.   Police Chief Kyle Miller received approval to apply for a Colorado POST grant for $8,952.69 which is for equipment and training subscriptions for the department to comply with training mandates.   Also accepted was a $63,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environmental Water Quality Control Division to proceed with the lead service identification project.  The City was approved to authorize applying for a Title III-B grant through Lower Arkansas Valley Area Agency on Aging to hire both a full-time manager and full-time custodian for the Senior Center.

Approved were bids for financing of a 2024 Ford F-150 pickup for Animal Control and a 2024 Ford F-150 Command Vehicle for the Fire Department.  Both winning bids were from GN Bank, which had the lowest interest rate.  The mayor was authorized to sign an agreement with Dr. Mandrell of SoCO Medical Direction for Lamar’s ambulance service.  Lamar’s Main Street light poles, wooden benches and trash cans will be painted from money remaining in the Main Street mini-grant.  Variances were approved for two separate re-platting requests for apartment to townhome conversions requested by LAI Design group working for Grover Management, along with Doug Thrall.

Discussion was held concerning an in-kind agreement between the city and the RE-2 school district for the city providing paving work at the new stadium in exchange for the school district helping financially with improvements to 14^th St. in the future once the needs are known. The school district will pay for all materials related to the project with the city providing the labor.  Superintendent Krug addressed the board during this discussion, stating that the new stadium will have “a large amount of on-facility parking” and that on-street parking will need further discussion with Council as to how best it can be utilized, perhaps for buses or ambulance parking.  It was decided to pursue this agreement, with decisions regarding necessary street improvements occurring once the stadium is completed.

Kolby Brubacher, director of the recent SECO Senior All-Star games told Council the event, in its inaugural year, was able to award $3,000 in scholarships to 4 student athletes.   Between 500-600 people attended and 50 athletes, representing 13 invited school participated.  He wanted to thank all the volunteers, the Chamber of Commerce and the referees, scorekeeper, announcer and everyone else who helped make the event a success and that they hope to make it even bigger and better next year.  Council then adjourned for executive sessions.   The next meeting will be held at 7 pm on Monday, April 8, 2024.

By Barbara Crimond