City Council approves special events permit for Chamber’s Cinco de Mayo beer garden

Lamar City Council had a large number of agenda items for its regularly-scheduled meeting on April 14, 2025.  Mayor Kirk Crespin welcomed everyone in person and those watching online to the meeting, saying that as many people knew, previous City Administrator Rob Evans’ last day was the prior week and that staff had held a potluck lunch to say goodbye to him.  For the past two weeks, Crespin and mayor pro tem Manual Tamez have stepped up to share the role of interim administrator.  As such, they have met daily with various city department heads and Crespin wanted to publicly thank them all saying they don’t always get credit for all the work they do, both for the city as well as the community as a whole.

During the public comment period of the meeting, Lori Hammer and Coleen Tinnes addressed Council, wanting to invite everyone to the upcoming Christian concert on May 3 at the Community Building.  The concert starts at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6 pm.  This concert is one of several that their “Greater Than Events” group has sponsored.  All concerts are free, but the two women said that to date, more than ¾ of the costs associated with the concert have been covered by donations at the door and wanted to thank those who have been generous with their donations.

City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz told Council that the city’s grant application for the Water Smart grant for Escondido Park was not approved.  The on-site 8-day audit was recently completed.  City Clerk Linda Williams presented the March Sales and Use Tax report which we will publish separately.  Year-to-date collections are up 5.34%.  Mayor Crespin and Councilman Tamez gave the administrator’s report which included notice that a ribbon cutting for SBDC’s new location at LCC will be April 15^th at 11 am.  SDS is hosting a movie night on April 17^th at 6 pm.  The Harlem Wizards game will be at LCC on April 24^th at 7 pm.  KLMR is hosting several “Teen Nights” at the LaMar, the first of which is April 25^th at 7 pm.  The Lamar Lions Club flag project is having a fundraiser April 19^th at the Welcome Center from 9-1.  The city’s Community Development department moves to its new location in the Senior Center on May 1.  The Lamar Police Department has a new K-9 officer named “Taco”.  Taco is a German Shepherd Dog specially trained for narcotics, suspect apprehension and more and is handled by Sgt. Peck.  The LPD is partnering with the FBI to focus on internet crimes against children with Detective Sanger leading the program.

Council reports included Joe Gonzales reporting that the golf course has had 3 recent tournaments with a scramble scheduled for Memorial Day.  Gerri Jenkins said the recent Christian walk had a turnout of approximately 100 people, with 3 new baptisms at the event.  She also gave a shoutout to Amanda Duffy and the Lamar Fire Department’s Auxiliary who raised $1,350 at their recent bake sale which will be used to purchase equipment for the department.  Mayor Crespin said that he spoke with Karen Bryant, CEO of Prowers Medical Center recently and that the hospital will be getting a new surgeon soon.  There are 3 openings on the Hospital District Board, with 4 persons running for offices.  Brent Bates reported that he recently attended the national Main Street Now convention and learned some great things.  He said the city’s new Main Street board members are “re-energized” and have lots of good things planned.

A public hearing was held for the Lamar Chamber’s Special Events Permit for the Cinco de May event’s beer garden on May 3 for the hours of 11 am to 8 pm.  Kolby Brubacher, Chamber President, told Council that there are no changes to the map of the beer garden or to security from last year with the exception of possibly adding one more security officer. All Chamber members who will be serving beer are TIPS certified.  Hillary Perales, Chamber Director, said new events this year will include a chihuahua race, a salsa contest (the food, not the dance, she clarified with a laugh), and quite a few local bands.  Councilman Joe Gonzales remarked that last year he saw several persons buying beer who were not wearing wristbands designating them to be of age to drink and asked that they make more effort this year to ensure that all persons purchasing beer were of age to do so.  The permit was approved.

Mayor Crespin signed a proclamation declaring April 30, 2025 as Arbor Day and the week of April 26 through May 2 as Arbor Week.  Present was Kim VanHook and other members of the Lamar Tree Board to witness the signing. Ms. VanHook thanked city employees who have helped with the planting and maintenance of trees planted.  April 22 near the new dog park, the group will be planting 6 large trees from the Home Store, including a linden, two maples, a catalpa, boxelder and tulip tree.  Parkview 5^th graders will help plant 120 trees near the Hope Center on April 30.

Council voted unanimously to approve designating two homes to the Lamar Historic Register.  The first, the St. George Creaghe House, is located at 303 S. 1^st Street.  Built in 1899, the home is a Queen Anne Victorian and was owned by the Creaghe family for 60 years.  Ernest Monette is the current owner and is planning on continuing to make improvements and preservations to the  home.  The second to receive the designation is the D.C. Marker House, located at 405 W. Olive.  It, too, is a Queen Anne Victorian and has been carefully preserved.  Current owners are Justin and Jennifer Mortimeyer.  Jennifer is currently the Lamar Historic Preservation Board Chair and has done much of the research on these and other historic homes in the city.

Council voted to approve a contract agreement with Golf and Sport Solutions for the Escondido Soccer Field.  Lamar Community College is splitting costs of the repairs and upgrades since the LCC soccer team utilizes the field for its games.  Costs for the repairs have increased due to more dirt being needed than originally planned for but the city already has a very large investment in the park and the field and feels it prudent to invest additional dollars to keep the field in good shape.  The work will have a 3 year warranty and city and college officials will monitor the field to ensure it is kept in good condition. The city swimming pool is in need of repairs to the PVC liner.  There is one year remaining on the warranty for the liner, but it is felt that it will likely only cover the areas that are not adjacent to the jets, as the pressure from the jets causing the damage may not fall under the warranty.  It won’t be known if it is covered until inspected by the company, so Council had to approve having inspection and repairs done without knowing if additional costs will be incurred in order for the pool to be functional this summer.  Money was saved on the recent chlorine changeover which would likely cover most of any additional costs.

It was decided to increase and add fees for rental of the city’s Pocket Park downtown, due to several incidents which caused significant expenses to city.  Some past renters of the park have left large amounts of trash, decorations and many broken bottles strewn throughout the park and the parking lot. Council agreed to the fee schedule of $100 to reserve the park, $100 for a special use permit to allow consumption of alcohol (not sales) and $50 for extended park hour use.  It was decided against requiring large deposits as it entails a lot of paperwork and money transferring to be able to issue refunds.  The fees will be re-evaluated for next year after determining whether these fees help with the problems.  The city stresses that NO GLASS bottles are allowed in the park during rentals.   Council also decided upon a facilities use agreement for the Community Building to enable fitness instructors to work as independent contractors and pay the city a percentage of their class fees rather than a base rate so as not to punish instructors for weeks they may have low class turnouts.

Grants accepted are: $11,000 from the Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund to assist with veterinary costs for shelter dogs (spays/neuters/medical needs) and $19,578 from the Firefighter Safety and Disease Prevention to purchase a new extractor.  There is no match for either grant.  Approved was an application for a $57,133 grant from the Gary Sinese Foundation.  This grant is reserved for first responder departments and if received would go towards the purchase of new saws and jaws of life.  There is also no city match required for this grant.   Lastly, Council voted to hire SGR (Strategic Governmental Resources) to help with the search for both the new City Administrator position as well as for a Deputy of Public Works position, which has been advertised locally for nearly 3 years without any success.  Since the Deputy of Public Works position is highly specialized, it has been difficult to find anyone locally (or within the city’s own departments) with the qualifications, so the decision was made to broaden the search via SGR.  The city is getting a discount from SGR since they are being utilized for two positions.  Per Ms. Schwartz, the funds for this search are available within the city’s budget.

The next meeting for Lamar’s City Council will be Tuesday, May 27, since Memorial Day is on Monday the 26^th which would have been a normal meeting date.  The meeting will be at 7 pm as usual.

By: Barbara Crimond