Lamar City Council meeting of March 10, 2025

Lamar City Council met for a regular meeting on March 10, 2025.  Council member David Zavala was not present for the meeting.  Mayor Kirk Crespin opened the meeting by reminding the public of all the many opportunities to become involved in the community.  Volunteers are needed for Lamar Days, the Tri-State 911 parade, etc, as well as for several boards within the city.  No persons were present wishing to speak during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.

City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz told council that she recently participated in a webinar regarding funding in light of the federal monetary freezes enacted by the current administration.  No Brownfields grant monies have been forthcoming and she stated that no one really knows what will happen with federal grant money at the current time.  She also reported that the conversion to the new Tyler software is moving along well.  City Clerk Linda Williams advised Council of the most recent Sales and Use Tax report, which we will detail in a separate article.  City Administrator Rob Evans said that the next Coffee with Rob will be March 19 at Brew unto Others.  Going forward, meetings will be held at the same location for a month at a time as it has been confusing to some as to where the meetings are.  The Lamar Elks Lodge will host a Saint Patrick’s Casino Night on March 15^th from -11 pm at the Lodge with dinner, music, casino games, prizes, and drink specials.  The Tri-State 911 fundraising auction will be March 22 from 6-9 pm at the Cow Palace.  The city held a walkthrough of the future Public Safety Building.  Security for the building will begin now to keep it safe from vandalism during the planning and remodeling process.

Reports from council members included Joe Gonzales announcing that the golf board was meeting the following day and that the annual meeting would be held March 22. On March 29, the golf course will host the Ice Breaker Tournament.  Shalah Mata wanted to thank the Light and Power department for their work getting power restored after the recent high wind storm.  Brent Bates said that there would soon be new light pole banners throughout town and that the upcoming Corporate Cup is still taking registrations from teams.  Teams consist of 15 members each – smaller businesses can combine with others to make up a team.  Mayor Crespin said that he recently visited with Cub Scout Pack 223 to speak about what being a mayor entails and that he received a thank-you note from them afterwards.  Also, in his absence, Rob Evans met with Karen Bryant, CEO of Prowers Medical Center.  Ms. Bryant wanted to encourage expectant parents to utilize PMC’s New Beginnings Birth Center, particularly in light of the recent closing of Arkansas Valley Regioinal Medical Center’s OB department.  PMC now has two full-time general surgeons on staff and has doubled the number of days orthopedic surgeons will operate.

The meeting had 9 items on its agenda for the evening.  First was a request from the Sand & Sage Round-Up on behalf of the Wild West BBQ Cookoff, asking for approval for overnight camping for the cookoff teams in the park April 24-26.  Council voted unanimously to approve same. The original date of the cookoff was May 9-11 but a decision was made to move it to the April dates due to the large number of other events occurring locally in May.  Council voted to allow the mayor to sign letters of support to Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and Representative Boebert regarding updating the environmental study (last done in 2013) for the proposed Lamar Reliever Route.  A public hearing was scheduled for April 14, 2025 for a special event permit for the Lamar Chamber of Commerce’s Cinco de Mayo event for their beer garden.  Earl Hawkins was appointed as an alternate member to the Adjustment and Appeals Board.  George Gott was re-appointed to a second 5-year term to the Library Advisory Board, expiring February 1, 2030.

Council then voted to approve a resolution to accept a CDOT Aeronautics Grant Agreement in the amount of $300,000 for pavement maintenance for Runway 18/36 and Taxiway A.  The city is responsible for a $33,334 cash match, which has already been budgeted for.  Also approved was authorization for the mayor to sign a grant application for an additional $91,000 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation funding to make up for the shortfall in funding for the Taxiway A project this year.  The grant requires a local match of $5,056 from the City and a $5,055 match from CDOT Aeronautics, bringing the total grant amount to $101,111.  An amendment to an agreement with the State of Colorado Department of Labor and Unemployment in regard to currently leased office space for the Workforce Center was approved.  The State no longer needs the entire 2315 square feet of space in the current lease and only requires 3 of the available offices (360 square feet).  The remainder of the space will be utilized by the City of Lamar as it has a need for more space.  The agreement will take effect April 1.

Last on the list of agenda items was approval of Resolution 2025-03-01, “A Resolution of the City Council of Lamar, Colorado, Expressing Opposition to Federal Agencies Intentions to Acquire State, Local and Private Land Unilaterally without Local Government Collaboration or Use of Established Processes”.  This resolution mirrors the recent resolution signed by the Prowers County Board of Commissioners regarding the proposed NIETC Corridor project.  Both the City of Lamar and Prowers County are opposed to the project, as it poses a threat to local farmers and ranchers who could lose large amounts of land via eminent domain by the Federal Government for the proposed project.  The deadline for public comments has been extended to April 15, and citizens are encouraged to register their thoughts regarding this before the deadline.  This can be done by emailing NIETC@hq.doe.gov.

Lamar City Council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, March 24, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.

By: Barbara Crimond