MEEKER | A familiar local face will replace Town Administrator Mandi Etheridge this spring. Margie Joy, former administrator at Pioneers Medical Center and currently the community relationship manager for the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, has been approved by the board of trustees to assume the duties of the town administrator beginning in March.
“I’m excited, coming back home after serving the region and hopefully bringing that experience. I’m humbled by the offer,” Joy said.
Rhawnie McGruder, Rio Blanco County dispatch supervisor, presented the annual 911 Board update and budget to the town’s trustees. McGruder said residents can expect the usual increase in cell phone surcharges starting in February. The increase will generate approximately $2,000 a year for the Eastern 911 board.
On the budget, McGruder said they are anticipating replacing the phones at dispatch, which are five years old and “due for a refresh.” The board has chosen a cloud-based phone system with redundancies, that is significantly less expensive. McGruder said the cloud-based system will allow dispatch to take the phones with them if they have to evacuate, something they realized could be a need during the fires last summer.
“It’s a great improvement. The phones will work anywhere there’s internet,” McGruder said. The step will make Rio Blanco County Communications one of the first entities in Colorado to go cloud-based.
In staff updates, Public Works Superintendent Jak Kilduff said the water department pumped 9.7M gallons of water in December, did some work around the water loadout to help with noise control and complaints from neighbors, decommissioned an old police car, attended some trainings, and is organizing and preparing for upcoming parks duties.
Police Chief Ed Thompson said the police department had 257 calls, six arrests, and 13 citations in December. They are still awaiting delivery on a new police vehicle ordered last year, with the most recent update having the vehicle in a parking lot in Detroit.
Carly Thomson, Community Planning and Development, said she has been working on a draft of the land use code to be discussed later this month and completing some 2025 projects.
Town Clerk Lisa Cook said the town is converting its water accounting software to a cloud-based system this week. Customers shouldn’t notice any difference beyond having more online payment options. For the spring municipal election, all incumbents have picked up a packet. Packets for interested candidates are available at Town Hall and have to be returned by Jan. 26.
In new business, trustees:
• Approved the Ute Park permit for the Meeker Classic
• Approved the Ute Park permit for Smith Ranches
• Held additional discussion regarding water fluoridation, concluding that any changes to the most recently voter-approved plan for fluoridation would need to come from a citizen-led initiative as opposed to being board-driven. A recent sample of Meeker water without the fluoridation equipment in operation (awaiting programming from the state), has fluoride at 0.01 per milliliter The recommended concentration is 0.7 per milliliter.
• Approved the police department adopting comparative pricing options for fleet purchasing