City Council adopts City of Lamar Comprehensive Plan at June 9 meeting

All council members were present for the June 9 Lamar City Council meeting.  Mayor Kirk Crespin wanted to remind the community that Lamar is currently in a Stage I water restriction which prohibits lawn watering between 11 am and 6 pm.  It does not, however, limit watering to specific days.  The restriction is in place to help conserve water for later use during the hotter part of the summer, hopefully to avoid a higher level of restriction at that time.  Speaking during the Public Comment portion of the meeting was Ron Clausen representing Post 71 of the American Legion.  He wanted further clarification for the planned placement of crosses on the graves of veterans in the local cemeteries.  He said he had been told that the crosses could not be placed unless surviving family members approved it but feels that the oath service members make “For God and Country” should supersede that and allow the placement.  Clausen, in a June 2024 City Council meeting, showed a prototype of the metal crosses they plan to place at the gravesites and would like to proceed with the project.  It was decided to put the issue on the agenda for the next Council meeting (June 23).

City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz told Council that the TAP Grant was approved and she is working on the EPA grant.  City Clerk Linda Williams presented the May Sales and Use Tax (which will be presented here in a separate article to follow).  She also had a reminder regarding chicken licenses.  It read: “Currently, we have 34 active licenses and to my understanding have not had any problems with the established licensees.  However, in the last 4-6 weeks we have had some issues with new license requests and building their coops and runs prior to knowing what the requirements are.  This is a reminder to citizens that would like to have chickens, to call or stop by the City Clerk’s office to pick up a copy of the ordinance and application.  The ordinance has all the required information needed for where you can place your coop, how big the coop needs to be, how many hens you may have, etc.  If you call, we would be happy to email the information to you.  We are also in the process of getting the information on the (city’s) website as well.  If anyone would have any questions, the building and codes department or one of the ACO’s who do the actual inspection would be happy to talk about this”.

The City Administrator’s report was presented by Co-Interim Administrator Mayor Crespin.  Due to adverse weather, the Community Social was rescheduled for Friday, July 11^th.  Friday with the Force will be Friday, June 20 from 5:30 to 9 pm.  The Lamar Fire Department, along with Prowers Medical Center, helped with the recent Prowers County Youth Council’s academy, where cadets were provided with a specialized trauma training session, observed medical staff employ life-saving techniques, met the Flight for Life crew, and learned about patient preparation for  transportation to another facility. The Fire Department has two employment openings: a Fire Engineer and a Fire Captain.  See the City website for information.  The Lamar Library’s Summer Reading Program is in full swing and has perhaps the largest number of participants in its history.  Public Works is installing a sidewalk and floating dock at Gateway Park.  Construction of the new archery range should begin within the next 2 weeks.  Common Grounds continues on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 am in the Cultural Events Center.  The public is encouraged to attend the free event to speak with council members in an informal setting.  Two council members had reports for the evening.  Gerry Jenkins, a member of the Safety Board, said they are working with CDOT to make potential improvements to the lights in front of the middle school.  Drivers are reminded that when the lights are flashing, they are to stop – Jenkins says people have been observed driving through the crossing area even while the lights are flashing.  CDOT will look into raising the height of the lights so they are more visible to truck traffic.  Brent Bates said Main Street Lamar met last week.  Lamar merchandise (shirts, hats, stickers etc) is available at Home and Season as well as The Brew.  The Corporate Cup, July 30-August 2, has openings for one or two more teams and is still looking for corporate sponsors.  Teams are comprised of 15 members. Local businesses with less than 15 employees/spouses who want to participate can team up with another local business to get to the 15-member requirement.  Mayor Crespin reported that he recently met with Karen Bryant, CEO of Prowers Medical Center.  The new CT scanner is in place and working well.  The hospital welcomed a new general surgeon, Dr. Scott Clarke.  PMC’s health fair will be starting again, every Wednesday morning, offering discounts on routing testing.  Contact PMC to schedule.

Dustin Campbell of Lamar spoke to Council regarding property he has owned for several years on West Oak Street.  There are trailer homes on the property which are in disrepair and have debris around them.  Campbell wishes to clean up his property but cannot remove these trailers as the owners continue to pay property taxes on them.  He asked Council what they could do to help him as he has been trying for years to resolve the issue with no luck.  The owners/residents of the trailers have not paid him any rental fees, so it was suggested to him that he could place liens on them as well as hiring an eviction attorney.  The City is willing to help Campbell clean up the property once he owns the trailers or the trailer owners remove them on their own.

Council voted to approve the Resolution Adopting Lamar’s Comprehensive Plan.  A member of Ayres Associates, the consultant firm who helped the city formulate the plan, will be in Lamar in July to help the city pick 5 or 6 items on the plan to begin working on.  Council approved application for an About F.A.C.E grant which would be used to provide free youth access to the Community Building as well as help with registration fees for sports to youth who need financial help.  It is a $5,000 grant with no matching funds.  Chief Burkhart with the Lamar Fire Department presented a plan for realignment of pay grades within the department based on certification and experience.  It will allow the department to become more competitive with wages in hopes of attracting and retaining employees.  Public Works Director Pat Mason asked Council to approve an agreement amendment with JVA for additional design services regarding design of a waterline replacement project in Willow Valley.  A 70-year-old water main runs through portions of the area.  The design amendment calls for 6 exploratory borings to help reduce construction costs.  It is planned to utilize horizontal drilling for water service lines to avoid destroying property owners’ yards/gardens.  Doing the exploratory borings will help avoid inflated bids on unknown soil conditions when the constructing bidding begins.

Council approved the use of off duty Lamar Police officers to provide security for the June 28^th SECO PRIDEFEST event.  Security will be provided from 12-5 pm at a rate of $45 per hour per officer.  Interim Chief Kevin Ridder said the event has had no issues in the past 3 years.  Discussion was held concerning the issue with yard sales in both commercial and residential zoned areas of the city.  Chief Ridder said they receive multiple complaints concerning people having sales in the same location, week after week as well as “yard sales” occurring on commercial properties.  Another issue is people posting signs for same on other people’s property or not removing signs placed elsewhere.  Council decided to change the wording on the current statute and present it at the next meeting for a first reading. A public hearing was set for June 23, 2025 (next Council meeting) at 7 pm for a Special Events Permit for the Sand and Sage Round-Up’s beer garden during the 2025 Sand and Sage Fair.  The permit would be for August 7, 8 and 9 from 5 pm to midnight each day.

The next meeting for Lamar City Council is 7 pm on June 23, 2025.

By: Barbara Crimond