MEEKER | The Town of Meeker’s Board of Trustees were taken aback during a joint work session with the Eastern Rio Blanco Metropolitan Recreation and Park District (ERBM) Board of Directors when ERBM Board President Kent Walter read a prepared statement that ERBM wants to end the lease agreement with the Town to provide maintenance for Town parks, and wants the Town to convey ownership to ERBM via a vote of the citizens in the next municipal election in April 2026.
The workshop was held to discuss terms of the park lease agreement between the two entities, initiated by ERBM, that has been in place since 2011, and followed a meeting the previous week with Mayor Travis Day and Town Administrator Mandi Etheridge.
The terms of the lease give either party the right to give six months notice if the terms of the lease are no longer acceptable. The lease agreement, which has been amended several times since 2011, provides that ERBM will maintain the multiple parks in town (not including Ute Park). Over the last five years maintenance expenses — park labor, supplies, equipment, security, cybersecurity, insurance, etc. — has cost ERBM approximately $350K per year, not including capital investments.
“The main issue for us is our mill levy and our operating plan associated with that doesn’t allow us — there’s some gray area there — to be fiscally responsible to our mill levy. Those monies from our mill levy need to go to ERBM-owned properties,” Walter said.
The ERBM board had reviewed multiple options and having the park property conveyed to the rec district was their preferred solution. “None of the other ones, we felt, really met our needs.”
Mayor Travis Day expressed disappointment that ERBM had moved so far along in their internal discussion process without talking to the town. “We’ve got to come up with all the other alternatives,” Day said. “Partnerships in a small community are better for everybody. You can get better grants, better collaboration when it’s a joint venture.”
Town trustees had several questions for their rec district counterparts.
Trustee Jeff Madison asked, “Why was this a good deal before and now it’s not? What changed?”
Walter said expenses, the language of the mill levy language and the cost of maintaining district-owned facilities.
Trustee Amanda Smith asked when the mill levy changed, or if something changed with the terms, to which Walter said the current mill levy passed in 2006, adding that the proposed change would “be more consistent with our mill levy.”
ERBM Executive Director Josh Embery said although the lease agreement was passed in 2011, their legal team “would not allow this now.”
Asked if the problem is funding, Walter and Embery stated their issue is with the lease agreement. “It’s not the expenditure of funds, it’s the appropriate expenditure of funds, that’s the issue, consistent with our mill levy,” Walter said.
When the original agreement was signed back in 2011, former ERBM executive director Michael Weinbrecht said, “Entering into this lease has allowed the recreation district to significantly increase the amount of park acreage available for programming and recreational improvements, without utilizing tax payer funds for land acquisition.” The benefit for the Town of Meeker was reduced expenses for park maintenance. The town budgeted $50,513 for parks in 2011. The proposed budget for parks in 2012 was $18,910, a savings of $31,603 for the town.
Mayor Day asked to schedule a time for the board to consult with their attorney and discuss, and Walter said the ERBM board would “try to come up with another alternative that’s palatable to us.”
The two entities agreed to hold another work session on Sept. 23 at 6 p.m.
REGULAR MEETING
During the regular meeting of the Town Board of Trustees, Mark Rogers addressed the board and staff. Citing 36 years of experience as a firefighter, Rogers urged the board to take a close look at the events of the last two weeks related to the wildfires.
“I hope that individuals, neighborhoods, the town, the county will look at what happened during those two weeks and what your policies, rules, ordinances, whatever you have that guides this place, and see if there are improvements to be made. I know there are. And some of them will not necessarily be in line with the political atmosphere that we have here. I believe there are things the town needs to seriously look at in terms of fire preparedness.”
“There will be another one. And another one after that. We were within three or four embers going across Hwy. 13 to the north to have fire coming over China Wall raining live embers [in town] instead of ash.” Rogers said he would be happy to help foster discussion.
Mayor Day agreed, stating, “These last two weeks brought out a lot of stuff that needs to be done.”
Public Works Superintendent Jak Kilduff updated the board on the Garfield Street water line project, and talked about the town’s water supply during the fire.
“I woke up the morning after the pre-evac with the Seventh St. water tanks half empty. It took about 30 hours to get them back to full,” he said. “About 400,000 gallons were dumped on the ground that night.”
That prompted the Town to issue a notice to conserve water, which Day said had “phenomenal” results. The tanks have since been refilled.
Police Chief Eddy Thompson thanked the mayor, Etheridge, Kilduff, and staff for all their help during the fire evacuation. “That was not fun at all,” he said. “Mark [Rogers] has some valid concerns.”
Etheridge said the water department has been working on making sure all water customers have been notified about the rate increase coming in September and will be sending letters to all customers.
In Mayor’s remarks, Day thanked Etheridge, Kilduff, and Thompson for the time they put in during the fires and spoke about the town’s emergency plan.
“We really need to start working on one. Team 3 walked us through evac plans, all the stuff you don’t think of.”