City council hears staff, council reports

By Chelsea McNerney-Martinez
MONTE VISTA— On Thursday, June 7, the Monte Vista City Council listened to staff and council reports.
Staff reports
City Manager Forrest Neuerburg gave the city manager report, noting tasks on the strategic action plan will continue to be allotted to the appropriate staff. He also mentioned an issue in the alley west of Morris St, noting the traffic there is both too heavy and too fast for an alleyway and presents a safety issue, “That’s not a street, it’s an alley,” he stated before explaining there is a gate on the south end of the alley the city will be using soon to close it to traffic once all the residents adjacent to the alley are informed.  
Neuerburg praised the public works staff, thanking Bolt and Bob Abeyta for improving a corner of the roof on city hall on the morning of June 1 that had been peeled back to protect the roof from the rain that was predicted, and did occur, on June 3.
Neuerburg also remarked on the progress of the Urban Renewal Authority and answered Becker’s question regarding the submission of the Economic Development Grant Marianna King had been approved by council to apply for at the May 3 council meeting. Neuerburg told Becker the grant application had not been submitted and later clarified in an email, “During the course of working on the grant application it was determined that this particular EDA opportunity wouldn’t work for the program we were wanting to fund so the application wasn’t submitted. Ms. King had been paid $950 up front [the retainer in her $3,250 contract] which she agreed to return to the city.”
City Attorney Mike Trujillo reported on the positive progress he is seeing with both the streamlining process of setting a pre-trial hearing instead of scheduling a trial immediately after a defendant enters a plea of “not guilty.” Trujillo explained once involved in the court process the defendants are more inclined to look to resolve the case and it saves the time and expenses of sending out subpoenas, calling in police officers and other trial expenses. Trujillo explained all of the city court processes are being streamlined more efficiently and he has been seeing a lot of progress in Judge Barbara Zollar’s efforts to decriminalize most municipal offenses and sentence those who cannot afford fines to community service. City Clerk Unita Vance later confirmed the decriminalization and streamlined services are leading to considerably less expenses to the Rio Grande County Jail and an increase in fines being paid.
Hurtado reported the adult basketball and peewee soccer leagues have recently finished, and he is planning for basketball facilities for 2019, as scheduling was tight with the six teams who participated and more are showing interest for next year. Baseball and t-ball started recently with two t-ball teams with about 10 children participating on each. For the remainder of the youth teams, Hurtado explained he is utilizing a pitching machine, which encourages the children to swing and saves time at each game. The department also has two fast pitch teams and will likely combine the girls’ softball teams into one larger 16-girl team.
Hurtado explained he has been listening to community feedback regarding new sports and events like paintball, frisbee golf, flag football and adult fast-pitch softball and is exploring the expenses and insurance requirements for these. The department recently received a $2,000 donation from the Rio Grande Prevention Partners for the latter organization to show their thanks for the recreation department and staff support of their programs. He has also applied for and received a $2,500 grant from the Southern Colorado Community Foundation to repair the dugouts at the softball fields and address some security issues there and will be starting a fundraiser project to get two new scoreboards at an estimated expense of $2,500 each for the fields as well.
Vance gave a brief unscheduled staff report to introduce the new owners of Southwest Liquor, Michael and Tabitha Valdez, who she noted were fully in compliance with all requirements to take over the liquor license.

Council reports
Councilor Kathleen Ellithorpe used her council report time to thank Code Ordinance Officer Jeff Huff for his work and to thank the community for stepping up and donating food to Conour Animal Shelter when they most needed it, but reminded them food was a constant need, especially with a shelter at capacity with mostly large dogs being fed twice a day.
Councilor Gary Johnson updated council on a recent trip he took to Keystone at a Communities that Care forum, the grant program being utilized by the Rio Grande Prevention Partners. Johnson then mentioned he has been in initial talks with Neuerburg to explore RV parking in the city and to address some of the eyesores in the community, “One of the eyesores in town just happens to be city hall.” Johnson explained city hall is in poor shape and a community of citizens should come together “who are interested in beautifying this town” to explore options for its improvement.


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