Lamar City Council meeting of January 26

All Council members were present for the January 26, 2026 meeting.  Mayor Crespin welcomed attendees and online viewers to the meeting, saying that 2026 is starting “with a bang”, continuing the momentum from 2025.  He recently attended the annual Mayors Summit and reports that he had productive interactions with mayors from all over Colorado.

The Consent Agenda was unanimously approved, which included minutes from the January 12, 2026 meeting, the Lamar Utilities Board minutes of the December 9, 2025 meeting, and the renewal of a hotel/motel license for Malkan LLC dba Blue Spruce Motel, 1801 S. Main Street.

No persons were present wishing to speak to Council.  City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz’s report included news that the Lamar Public Library was the recipient of a $10,000 gift from the Carnegie Corporation, in honor of this year’s 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  The money can be used by the library for anything it feels will benefit the community.  She also said the Tyler software conversion is continuing, focusing currently on utility billings.  Staff training also continues for the new software.  City Clerk Linda Williams had no report for Council.

City Administrator Mitch Hammes reported that he will be visiting a wastewater treatment facility in Meade to learn more about what Lamar’s proposed facility will look like.  He said the Building Department will be moving to the Community Resource Center on E. Olive Street and that the move will make it easier for people needing to get building permits due to the easily accessible building and available parking.  The City will have a Facebook post about the move when it is completed.  He also announced that the City has made an offer to an individual to fill the new position of Public Relations Specialist and will be making an official announcement soon.  This new employee will begin duties on February 2, 2026.  The Lamar Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Banquet will be held Friday, January 30 at the Historic Cow Palace Inn with social hour beginning at 5:00 followed by the banquet at 6:00 pm.  The High Plains Snow Goose Festival will be held February 5-8, 2026.

Lamar Police Chief Kevin Ridder was present at the meeting to announce the promotion of Chad Miller to Commander of Support Services.  As such, he will oversee the Investigations Division, Professional Standards to include Internal Affairs and Administrative Staff.  Commander Miller has 19 years of experience, serving 11 of those as a Sargeant.  He has experience in tactical operations, SWAT, firearms instructor, and as a Field Training Officer and is a US Army veteran, serving 4-1/2 years including a one-year combat tour in Iraq.

Commander of Support Services Chad Miller with family members

In Council Reports, Council member Mark Headlee said that Main Street Lamar will be sponsoring a drone show in May at the fairgrounds (The Prowers Journal will be doing a feature article on this event in the near future as we are awaiting an interview date with the company who will be putting the show on).  Two vacant businesses have recently been purchased and announcements will be forthcoming concerning the proposed retail and residential uses of these.  Council member Gerry Jenkins said the Public Safety Board will be holding an informational meeting on February 19 for persons interested in a Neighborhood Watch program.  Contact her for more information at 719-690-2456.   Council member Brad Johnson reported that the golf course is renovating the driving range and has begun installation of new garage doors for the cart shed.  Also, he said that Prowers Economic Prosperity held its monthly meeting and announced that its annual banquet is scheduled for March 26 in Wiley with the specific location yet to be announced.  Council member Brent Bates said that he will be unable to continue as a member of the Parks and Recreation board due to a conflict with another commitment and that the meeting dates were incorrectly stated when he originally signed up to be on this board.  Council member Joe Gonzales will be joining that board as a result.  Bates also announced that 2026’s SECCI “Fight Night” for cancer awareness will be held at the fairgrounds so that it can still be held in inclement weather.  The 2025 event at the Pocket Park had to be abruptly canceled due to heavy rain so moving it to the pavilion at the fairgrounds will prevent this from happening again.  The Prowers County Board of Commissioners needs to approve use of the pavilion for the selected dates. Mayor Crespin spoke a bit more about the recent mayors summit he attended, saying that items discussed included economic development, business retention, public relations/marketing, open meeting laws in Colorado, and more.  Crespin also said that he would be on KLMR the following morning to discuss tonight’s meeting and asked for volunteers to do the same with KVAY.  He asked council members to volunteer for these radio spots on a rotating basis, saying more members need to step up for this and that he would ask this again at the next council meeting.

Under New Business, Council unanimously approved the appointment of Stephanie Gonzales to the Historic Preservation Board.  Also approved was a lease agreement with the Department of the Navy, which was initiated by Police Chief Ridder.  Ridder explained that the lease agreement allows his department to lease optics including night vision and thermal for $1500 per year, a significant savings compared to the approximate $14,000 it would cost to purchase these.  The lease items are nearly-new and the lease program can be renewed yearly.  Council also awarded three city bids at the night’s meeting.  Bid 45-014 for annual fertilizer for the city’s parks was awarded to Van Diest Supply Company.  Bid 45-016 for construction of the Willow Valley water distribution improvements was awarded to Carrigan Excavating.  Bid 45-009 was a request for qualifications for the EPA Brownfield Cleanup Grant.  The grant ($660,759) has already been awarded to the city for clean-up of the Main Café project.  This bid was awarded to Ayres Associates to allow the company to provide technical assistance and oversight of the project.  Agenda Item 6 in New Business was an information one initiated by City Administrator Hammes.  Flixbus, an interstate transportation provider, is seeking to establish a “through stop” in Lamar in which busses will stop briefly twice daily to load/unload passengers on their Dallas to Denver route.  The proposed stop will be located on the south side of Beech, east of Main Street, near the Colorado Welcome Center. Flixbus will provide signage for the stops.

Council then went into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters for annual evaluations of the City Administrator, City Clerk, City Treasurer, Municipal Judge, and City Attorney.  The next meeting for City Council is Monday, February 9, 2026 at 7:00 pm.

By: Barbara Crimond