Meeker trustees will serve on URA board

MEEKER | At the Jan. 17 town board meeting, trustees discussed the best way to put out a bid for a new police vehicle after trustees expressed concerns at the previous meeting about specifying a make or model.
Chief of Police Bob Hervey explained that there are very few makes and models of police-ready vehicles. The board agreed to change the language of the bid request to an inclusive request for a police model vehicle.
Town Manager Scott Meszaros and Mayor Regas Halandras attended the Sportsman’s Expo in Denver last weekend to promote Meeker and the planned Outdoor Adventure Center.
Mayor Halandras said he spoke with three or four longtime Front Range residents who “didn’t know where Meeker was.”
Meszaros said they spoke with a number of entities and organizations who expressed interest in the Center as potential investors or operators.
Part of the plan for the Center includes the creation of an Urban Renewal Authority (URA), and town attorney Melody Massih updated the board on a recent recommendation of Better City attorney Paul Benedetti as to the make-up of the URA board. Earlier recommendations suggested creating a 13-member board with only one of those members being from the board of trustees. The attorney’s new recommendation, based on a change in statutes that occurred this fall, after the original recommendation, is to “start out with the town board as the URA board. If that doesn’t work you can always switch, but you can’t go the other way,” Massih said. The board would be an 11-member board, with seven of those seats held by the current town board of trustees. After discussion, trustees agreed that they will all serve on the URA board until further notice.
In other business, board members and town staff discussed difficulties with snow removal on various properties, wherein property owners are either piling snow on sidewalks or piling snow around stop signs, creating a safety and/or traffic hazard for pedestrians and vehicle traffic. Town staff was directed to draft a letter to property owners officially requesting they change their snow removal habits.
The town board will host a joint workshop with the county commissioners on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall to “bring everybody up to speed” on the status of the Outdoor Adventure Center plan. Representatives from Better City will also attend to answer questions and address concerns. The workshop is open to the public to attend, but is not a public question and answer session.