City Council formally accepts resignation of Councilor Johnson

MONTE VISTA — The Monte Vista City Council formally accepted the resignation of Councilor Gary Johnson during Thursday’s meeting, May 20.

During the meeting, Monte Vista Police Department Chief George Dingfelder swore-in Officer Twila Martinez. Martinez recently graduated from Trinidad State Junior College’s Law enforcement training academy.

Chief Dingfelder, who is the director of the academy, said Monte Vista was only place Martinez applied to work because she wanted to be in Monte Vista. Martinez, who is from Alamosa, said that she was excited to be serving the City of Monte Vista as a police officer.

During the scheduled appearances section of the meeting, resident Cynthia Baird said she was concerned with the lack of fencing ordinances in the City. She said that they have a neighbor with a privacy fence between their yards that due to its height blocks visibility for anyone exiting their driveway.

Baird said they were particularly concerned with safety due to the many children in their neighborhood who might get hit due to the lack visibility. She said that other cities, including Del Norte have many more requirements when it comes to fence building. City staff agreed that it was unusual for the city to not have more codes on fence building.

Discussion followed and it was decided that City staff would work on code amendments and present drafts to the City Council at their next meeting.

The City Council also voted to award the contract for the Bronk Street improvements to Asphalt Constructors Inc. (ACI) in Alamosa for $165,317. Public Works Director Rob Vance said they are looking to start this project June 14.

Monte Vista City Clerk Unita Vance also provided information on the large food distribution on Tuesday in Monte Vista.

“The USDA Food box program teamed up with the City of Monte Vista on Tuesday to bring families of Monte Vista food. They delivered 2,592 boxes of food and 1,360 gallons of milk,” Vance said. “We gave three boxes of food and two gallons of milk to each family. We estimated that we served over 1,081 families in the Monte Vista area.”