MEEKER | The Meeker Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting last Tuesday night at the town hall, with all members in attendance.
The meeting began with the approval of the agenda, which had no changes or additions. The board also approved the minutes from their previous meeting and the monthly disbursements without questions.
The public works section, which is also referred to as the public comments portion of the meeting, saw no participation. The board moved on directly to the staff updates portion of the meeting.
Public Works Director Tobey Willey reported that they pumped 17,577,088 gallons in October. As of right now, Willey and his staff are currently preparing snowplows for the winter season. He also shared some good news regarding water lines.
“We no longer have any water lines crossing the highway for services. They are now coming off the full line over to the north side of the highway,” Willey stated.
The change stemmed from an agreement between the companies Dollar General and Ace Hardware.
“Travis Adams moved it to the north side of the main on the north side of the highway and abandoned the one that came off the flow line. Then they used that sleeve that goes underneath the existing one, so things worked out really well out there,” Willey explained.
The Meeker Police Department reported 266 park services, six citations, and 335 post-cases for the month of October. The department also held its annual Elk Bugling contest at Meeker Elementary School, with 34 students participating this year which has been the highest attendance rate in two years.
Chief Eddie Thompson highlighted staff training achievements.
“All six of us are now Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified,” Thompson said.
The board discussed the town’s 2025 draft budget. The primary change was in the police department’s general fund line item 5076, where a $60,000 grant expense was added to offset grant revenue. The board will finalize the budget on Dec. 12, 2024.
The board also considered Ordinance 07-2022, which would adopt the 2024 Colorado Department of Transportation Model Traffic Code. The police department has been working to achieve this since Police Chief Eddie Thompson has been in the town of Meeker. It would update the town’s municipal code within Chapter 10 it would officially adopt the Colorado Department Transportation model traffic code. The updates would include a municipality modifying the code for certain circumstances it would eliminating the right of a jury trial for non-criminal traffic infractions, and it would lower the residential speed limit to 25mph which is what is posted currently. Police Chief Eddie Thompson gave some explanations on some of these changes.
“Some of the stuff is the same; there’s just a lot of new stuff that goes with the updates,” Thompson stated.
The board reviewed the Circle Park Riverfront Project contract. The total project budget is $2.1 million, with an initial contractor estimate of $1.6 million. Town Attorney Melody Massih explained the revised numbers.
“He did shoot out a cost of $1.6 [million] with his first kind of scope of values before a couple of things changed, so that gave us $46,000, which we did not make the payment to GEI yet. It gives us a little over $300,000 somewhere around 15%,” Massih said.
The board decided to approve the contract, but not to exceed $1.7 million.
The meeting adjourned, and the board entered an executive session pursuant to Section 24-6-402(4)(f) to discuss personnel matters.
By JARED HENDERSON
