Lamar City Council meeting of April 22, 2024

The April 22, 2024 City Council meeting had several New Business items to discuss and vote on.  The only council member not in attendance was Joe Gonzales.  Council approved meeting minutes from the 4/8/24 meeting, as well as minutes from the Lamar Utilities Board meeting of 3/25/24 and the Variance Board from 9/7/23.  No audience members spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Rob Evans, City Administrator, had several announcements.  The next Coffee with Rob will be held April 24 at 7 am at the truck stop.  The Lamar Elks Lodge will be the site of a cornhole tournament Saturday, April 27 at 11:00 am.  The Third Annual Glow Golf Night tournament will be held Saturday, June 8, at 4 pm at Spreading Antlers Golf Course.  Because of the Memorial Day holiday, there will be no City Council meeting on May 27.  The Police Department is now utilizing the 3 Durango vehicles.  He gave thanks to both the Lamar Fire Department for its prompt response to a recent shed fire and to the Public Works Department for their continued hard work.

The first new business item was a correction to the March 25, 2024 Council Minutes.  Next up was a discussion to hold a public hearing for a new Retail Fermented Malt Beverage and Wine Liquor License for the Family Dollar store in Lamar, store #24291.  A May 13, 2024 public hearing was set.  Lamar Fire Chief Jeremy Burkhart said the department has received a Display and Services agreement for the 4^th of July display as well as the August 10 Rodeo display from Tri-State Fireworks.  It outlines the purchase of $12,000 and $3,000 fireworks shows respectively, to be delivered by Tri-State and displayed by the Lamar Fire Department.  He stressed that the displays will be held based on weather conditions on the dates of the events.  Council voted to allow Mayor Crespin to sign the agreement to proceed.

Anthony LaTour, Parks & Recreation Director, asked Council to approve the appointment of Kelli Gaines  and Gabriel Benadides to three-year terms expiring Feb. 1, 2027.  Council voted unanimously to approve.  Patrick Mason from the Public Works department asked Council to approve a renewal of a current 1-year lease agreement with Cody Allen of Allen Aviation to lease space at the Southeast Colorado Regional Airport to operate his Part 145 Repair Station for Aviation Electronics and Services.  It was approved unanimously.   Council then approved an application for a SECOG Technical Assistance grant in the amount of $5,000 to help with expense of sod and a sprinkler system for the dog park at North Gateway Park.  Cost of the project is $16,273, with a balance of $11,273 coming from inkind labor, previous fencing purchase and Conservation Trust Fund monies.

Also approved was the acceptance of a GOCO grant for $155,000 to be used to hire a consultant to prepare the recreation master plan.  Kristin Schwartz, City Treasurer, asked Council to accept a bid and allow the mayor to sign a monitoring agreement with Great Plains Security, LLC for monitoring fire alarms at the Community Building.  The current monitoring company has been absent and no one was receiving notices of alarms.  Council voted to accept the bid with addendums to the contract suggested by city attorney Lance Clark.  Also requested by Ms. Schwartz was an approval for the mayor to sign a participation agreement with HGACBuy, a website that allows the city to have more access to vendors for vehicles and equipment that the city may need to purchase.  It expands the resources available to the city, as the State bid site has lacked vendors.  It was approved unanimously.

Tabled was a decision of accepting a bid from Tyler Technologies for new financial software for the city.  A work session immediately prior to this council meeting raised some questions that needed further discussion, prompting tabling the measure.   Anthony LaTour again approached Council asking for approval of a contract with USDA -APHIS-WS to translocate two colonies of beavers (estimated at 6-12 beavers in total) from Willow Creek to the Smokey Rim Ranch in Las Animas County, providing a humane solution to a problem that poses a flooding issue.  The beavers will be live-trapped and transported to the ranch, which has expressed a need for beavers at its location.  Mr. LaTour then asked Council to approve a bid by 3-SG in Granada for the 2024 concessions at the ballfields.  3-SG also supplied concessions last year and he said there were no issues but that they did have lots of good feedback concerning the quality of the food.  The city will receive 13% of sales.  Council voted to award a financing bid for a new Caterpillar Motor Grader to Community State Bank.  Mayor Crespin abstained, as he is an employee of the bank.

The meeting was then adjourned so that Council could go into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters.   The next meeting will be Monday, May 13, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

By Barbara Crimond