The Mountain-Ear
The voice of the Peak to Peak
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| BOT receives complaints about town staff |
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| Written by administrator | |
| Friday, 13 November 2009 | |
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Lynn Hirshman NEDERLAND The November 3 meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees began with a lengthy protest on the part of Teresa Warren, owner of Off Her Rocker. She stressed her history in the town, the historic character of her building – it is “114 years old, so one of the oldest original commercial buildings in Nederland,” according to Warren – and her history as a good customer and prompt payer of bills. She had not, however, paid her water bill recently “because of the cold way [she had] been treated by some town staff” when she tried to make arrangements for partial payments during this time of economic struggle. Her other vendors, she said, “worked with me because I have been a good customer for over 20 years and they would rather let me pay on terms than lose my business altogether.” According to Warren, the Town was not interested in working with her, and issued a letter saying that her water would be turned off on November 6. She said that even worse, she received a letter from Town Administrator Jim Stevens on October 27, stating that the Town had “just now noticed” that there are three uses for her building, and that her water bills would now reflect those “new” uses. Further, there was talk about needing a certificate of occupancy and building permit when a building changes use, and that she would have to apply for these. She reiterated several times that the building has had the same uses since she occupied it, and the Town, with its headquarters less than a block away, could hardly have failed to notice this. In the letter regarding certificates of occupancy there is, she stated, a clause explaining “how none of these actions are required of historic properties.” She therefore requested the BOT declare her building an historic property. At this point, Mayor Cheshes cut her off for exceeding the time allotted for public comment, although she certainly had more to say. She addressed the Board briefly again at the end of the meeting, saying that she felt she had not been heard. Mud Lake Amendment, budget ordinances finally passed The Mud Lake Amendment (Fifth Amendment to the Mud Lake IGA) had finally been negotiated to a form agreeable to both the Town and the County. Mayor Pro tem Betty Porter moved approval of the Amendment, which passed unanimously. Ordinances 675 and 676, which cover the 2010 budget for the Town, were also passed unanimously. Clash over removal of sales tax service fee The next item of business, an ordinance removing the sales tax service fee, also drew heated discussion. Current regulation provides that vendors retain .0333% of the Nederland sales tax they collect as a service fee. The State had eliminated its similar service fee earlier in the year, and Town staff recommended doing the same, with a potential increase in revenue for the Town of $15,000-$20,000 in 2010. Teresa Warren spoke strongly against this proposal, noting that there was too little notice to the business community of this proposed ordinance, and that the Downtown Development Authority and Chamber of Commerce were concerned. She also suggested that if it were to be passed, the funds made available should be earmarked for business development in the DDA area. Treasurer Eva Forberger pointed out that the ordinance had to be passed by November 17 if it were to take effect in January; otherwise, the Town would have to wait until July. Trustee Dallas Masters called the ordinance “short-sighted,” since businesses find this 3.3% helpful in compensating them for having to deal with local taxes. He added his voice to Warren’s in recommending that, if the ordinance were to pass, the funds should go for business development. Trustee Roger Cornell suggested putting this off until the next meeting in order to gain more public input. Mayor Pro tem Porter agreed. Trustee Joe Gierlach disagreed with all the previous comments, stating that he’d like to Town to have flexibility in its spending, and would therefore not like to see any earmarks. He also wanted to approve the ordinance at this meeting, which would give the Town the ability to plan for 2010. A motion to table this item until the November 17 meeting was proposed by Masters and seconded by Porter, but failed to pass. A motion from Masters to approve the ordinance with the funds earmarked for business development did not receive a second. Gierlach moved to approve the ordinance, which then passed with one “no” vote from Masters. Lodging tax? A brief discussion followed regarding placing a lodging tax on the April ballot. Stevens noted that Nederland is “one of the few places that does not have a lodging tax.” There was general agreement that this should be addressed, and the matter was referred to staff for their recommendations. Public forum on Town website? There was a lively discussion as to whether there should continue to be a public forum on the Town website, and, if so, who should be moderating it. Town staff find it a burden, and felt they had not had enough training. Although there was general agreement that an electronic forum is a “good outlet for community comment,” and “when done right, an efficient tool,” at the end the Board voted to remove the open forum from the website, with Trustees Masters and Gierlach voting “no.” Handling “sensitive issues” Mayor Cheshes brought up the topic of how to handle complaints that go to one Trustee. He suggested that the Board establish a policy that these should be brought to the Mayor’s attention. Porter suggested that “it’s best to pick up the phone and call the person” rather than deal with an issue via e-mail. Masters added that if the entire Board is involved, it should go to the entire Board, and stressed that the Board needs policy and procedure as to how to deal with these issues. Town Attorney Carmen Beery offered to write these. The Board adjourned without taking any action on this matter. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 November 2009 ) |
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