Council places term limits on fall ballot

RANGELY — Rangely Town Council voted to place a measure on the fall ballot that would repeal term limits for elected town officials. The council felt this measure was necessitated by the lack of participants in the previous election.
In other business, Police Chief Wilczek addressed the council and introduced new officer Chris Clayton to the body.
Officer Clayton comes from Yuma, Colo., and has extensive training and expertise in forgery detection and prevention, and has received awards for his efforts in combating the increases in DUI violations in communities in which he served.
Wilczek said another officer has accepted employment and will be relocating from Alaska at the end of September. He asked the council to appoint or hire a full-time code enforcement person to free up officers to tend to the needs of our growing town.
Because of the departure of utility manager Jack Osburn, a new individual from the front range had been slated to be hired. This person backed out at the last minute, so the council approved the promotion of crew leader Alden VandenBrink to fill the manager’s position and began the search for a new crew leader.
VandenBrink reported that last week approximately 20-25 gallons of solvent or other petrochemical product had been flushed through the sewer system from an unknown source and had destroyed the aerobic action of the town’s main treatment lagoon. It takes a great deal of time and expense to reactivate this system and such dumping is extremely hazardous since fumes can cause explosions in the system. One crew member was briefly sickened by the vapors.
The water line replacement project in the northwest corner of town is now about 25 percent complete and street repaving should commence after Labor Day.
Curb and gutter work on the Main Street extension and Sagewood connector street should commence this week and paving at the Ridgeview subdivision is complete. Meetings with the residents of Steele Street will try to resolve drainage and runoff problems. Roof repairs on the town hall are proceeding in preparation for the installation of the new air conditioning system.