RANGELY I Rangely’s Board of Trustees gathered on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 8 to conduct town business. Changes to the agenda included the addition of a presentation by Jeannie Caldwell regarding the east entrance to town. Town Manager Lisa Piering reported that department supervisors would be addressing the council at the second meeting of the month since their reports are due by the first monthly meeting.
Caldwell’s East End Project is officially titled the “Town of Rangely Highway 64 East Entrance Safety Improvements.” The current signage at the East End entrance has lived its life and is deteriorating. The railroad ties are starting to fail and the rocks have been slipping away. The site was built 35 years ago and Rangely has benefited from its existence for a long time. Caldwell, TREAD Executive Director, informed the board on the importance of a town’s civil infrastructure, particularly a gateway that sets the tone for residents and visitors as they enter town. Civil infrastructure not only serves visual presentation purposes but, as a highway town it communicates to travelers that they have entered a town and transitioned to a higher population, traffic dense area that requires reduced speeds and increased awareness. Caldwell highlighted the walking path and the OHV trail on the opposite side of the road. DOLA and the Colorado Center for Community Devlopment at the University of Denver partnered in 2019, visited Rangely and gave the Town of Rangely a $5,000 grant to assist with Main Street upgrades. This is called a UTA. The goal of a UTA is to assist with Main Street beautification and appearance upgrades. Several members of the current Town Council were present for the UTA tour, including trustees Alisa Granger, Tim Webber and Mayor Andy Schaffer.
When Rangely joined the Main Street program, Caldwell was asked which project in the UTA would be the most desirable to complete. The project has been in the engineering phase throughout 2021 and has five major goals. The north and south sides will be renovated to remove debris, vegetation, etc.; the OHV trail will be reestablished for improved drainage and surfaces; trees will be removed; and new retaining walls built. It is important to the town that they keep the frontier look, so the final goal of the project is to employ local landscaping architect Janet Miller to establish landscaping with low-maintenance native plants. She has a list of native plants that will be considered as options. The entrance sign will be lit with solar lights purchased by the town and Caldwell was careful to ensure that lighting will be modest as the town hopes to secure Dark Skies designation int the future. In addition, Caldwell informed the council that she is working on a tourism website that she hopes will launch in the coming months.
Additional new business included approval of the January check register, approval of the appointment of Lee Stanely to the Planning and Zoning Commision, renewal of Willis Rangely Enterprises LLC, DBA Rangely Liquor Store’s liquor license. The board approved Resolution 2022-01 to cancel the April 5, 2022, election and declare the mayoral candidate elected and approved an action for the Town of Rangely to join the Book Cliffs Highway Coalition which opposes the Book Cliffs Highway project. The Rangely Chamber Old West Steak and Shrimp Dinner is coming up on Feb. 19, 2022. The Department of Public Health provided updated COVID numbers with 39 active cases in Rangely, seven in the school district.
An application to the Northwest Colorado Development Council for a grant review by the Office of Just Tranisiton to fund a training certificate program at CNCC in the amount of $400,000 was approved by the board. The goal of this funding is to create a “CNCC Renewable Energy Technician Training Program Development” and work in conjunction with Cogency to develop specialized curriculum targeting Cogency’s solar/geothermal technology. The program would be designed to train potential manufacturing and site installation technician skills in photovoltaics/geo-thermal loop drilling/electrical and controls/mechanics for the purpose of employment with Cogency. The learning outcomes would be transferable to multiple employment environments. The Town of Rangely and CNCC believe that this captures the intent of the Just Transition program to create retraining opportunities for workers who will lose their employment in coal and other resource extraction jobs.
By KATIE KING | Special to The Herald Times
