MONTE VISTA— Kathleen Ellithorpe was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Monte Vista City Council at the Thursday, Jan. 18 regular meeting.
Ellithorpe fills the seat left vacant by the resignation of previous Mayor Pro Tem Carol Schroeder. Ellithorpe was appointed by a majority vote of councilors who took their vote by ballot. Ellithorpe thanked the city councilors for their votes of confidence in her ability to serve.

After the appointment, the newly-full council moved onto the next order of business, the appointment of city council representation to boards and commissions. Traditionally, these board appointments are city councilors who represent the city council at various meetings and are liaisons between councilors and different boards and commissions. The new city council took a different approach and allowed community members to represent the city council during these meetings and will report back to city council.

Petition for street light
Public Works Director Rob Vance presented a petition for a street light in an alley that he had received from residents of Faraday Street. “The residents in the area feel it is dark and have witnessed several people in the area doing things that should not be done, such as peeping through windows, public urination, etc. This is the second time a request has been made in this area— the first time in form of a petition,” said Vance.
“We have an agreement with Xcel Energy that they install and maintain all the street lights in Monte Vista with the exception of those along Adams and Highway 160. We pay Xcel each month for these services. As we are a customer of Xcel we would have to submit an application and pay the fees associated with the installation of a new street light. We also charge our customers a street light fee that shows as part of their utility bill. Unfortunately, a new street light was not in the adopted budget for 2018. Estimated cost to install a new street light would be $2,000-$5,000 depending on what needs to be done and if a pole needs to be added…” he said.
Vance said that having have lived in the area himself, the alley area is dark and a street light is justified. He said that approving the request also opens the doors for similar requests from throughout the town to be made and would have to look at requests as they came in.

Vance recommended that the request be approved and the budget amended to accommodate the request. The city council requested a more formal request and more formal information be presented at the Thursday, Feb. 1 meeting for consideration.