City council seeks to fill vacancy
At their Oct. 5 meeting, Holyoke City Council members discussed the vacancy created when Steve Moore resigned from the council last month.
Mayor Orville Tonsing asked council members if they had anyone in mind to fill the vacancy or if anybody had approached them and expressed interest. No names were forthcoming.
He then asked City Clerk/Treasurer Kathy Olofson if anyone had approached her with interest in the position, and she said one person has.
City Attorney Al Wall said the way the council has filled vacancies in the past is by inviting interested people to apply and then voting to appoint someone to fill the vacancy after reviewing applications.
The council decided to stay with that method and voted to place a notice in this week’s Enterprise so it can act on applications at its Oct. 19 meeting.
Council discusses policies for pool manager, employees
Council members decided that City Superintendent Mark Brown and the city pool committee will continue to come up with ideas and discuss the issue, but it was the consensus of the council that written job descriptions are needed for the pool manager and employees.
This comes after parents have visited recent council meetings to express their concerns about safety at the pool.
Brown said he may have boilerplate job descriptions from the Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency from the early 1990s that they can use as templates when writing job descriptions for pool personnel.
The council also discussed requiring pool employees to be certified lifeguards through the Red Cross. Brown noted that the state also requires a pool manager to be a certified pool operator.
Council member John Schneider pointed out that the council needs to determine how long of a time frame the council will allow for employees to get certified.
Wall said they need to make sure it’s a reasonable time frame for certification since courses vary on how frequently and where they’re offered.
Airport to participate in weather camera program
Brown told council members that the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration are installing weather cameras at Colorado airports. Each of the four cameras points at the sky in a different direction so people can view weather conditions. The cameras report information to the National Weather Service.
The current automated weather observation system at the airport also reports data to NWS, but it’s just radar and not images of the sky.
Brown said the city will only have to find locations at the airport to install the cameras and pay for the power to run them. Everything else will be paid for.
The council voted to allow Tonsing to sign the memorandum of understanding between the city and the state to begin the process of the airport’s participation in the program.
Council hears reports
Brown reported details about the golf well, named for its location near the golf course, that went down temporarily due to mechanical failure.
Sargent Irrigation out of Broken Bow, Nebraska, reviewed the well, which will need a new line shaft, new line shaft bearings and a new column for the bottom 35 feet. The well bowls also need to be repaired.
He noted that the electric motor has already been fixed. As of Friday, Oct. 8, members of the Sargent Irrigation team had completed everything but the bowls. The earliest that Sargent Irrigation personnel can be in Holyoke with the new and repaired parts to start fixing the well is Thursday, Oct. 14, if everything goes according to plan on their end.
He informed council members that the coin-operated water fill station by the old generation shop in the 100 block of North Baxter Avenue is out of service because the water main leading up to it ruptured under the building. He recommended that it be moved to a new location.
Brown said Armstrong Consultants will be in Holyoke on Wednesday, Oct. 20, for the airport master plan alternative meeting. He added that the airport lighting project has been postponed to begin between Oct. 11-18 due to supply issues.
Wall said he received approximately 80 pages in documentation about the opioid settlement from the attorney general. The city will have to file a claim to get money from the settlement.
Wall recommended that he himself, Tonsing and a council member go over the documents and submit a claim by Monday, Nov. 1. Schneider volunteered to read the documentation.
Olofson reported that the city has received the first installment of $20,000 for the new fire shed from Holyoke Fire Protection District, which pledged to pay that amount each year for five years.
Olofson also presented the first draft of the 2022 budget, a presentation that must be done before Oct. 15 each year. She noted that once the September books are done, she will have the information needed to begin the process with greater detail. The council accepted the proposed budget.
Recreation director Victoria Dunker reported that she had met with a Great Outdoors Colorado representative regarding the requirements to apply for a GOCO grant and what the process is.
She said she also met with the Recreation Advisory Committee and decided to make some changes to the parks master plan from Ripley Design to gear it toward having a better chance of getting a GOCO grant. Once those updated plans are completed, she will present them to the council.
Dunker also reported that flag football is over and that a father/daughter dance is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 28, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Phillips County Event Center.
Holyoke Police Chief Doug Bergstrom reported that HPD handled or generated 61 calls for service from Sept. 17-29, including four municipal code violations under code enforcement.
Other business
In other business at the Oct. 5 meeting, council members approved a bid from Weathercraft Companies for removal and replacement of the city hall roof at the cost of $155,132.