An estimated 20 people attended Nucla’s Town Board of Trustees meeting on May 28, many of them still questioning the contract of a new cell tower in Nucla at the top of town. One mom, who lives in Paradox but has kids in the Nucla school, requested a moratorium on the tower. The woman, Mimi Johnson, said she’s conducting an investigation, needs at least 12 important questions answered and is ready to speak, or already has spoken, with the Attorney General.
Johnson said the town’s contract with Vertical Bridge, the tower owner, is “terrible” at 50 years and $800 monthly, even if 5G were safe. She said everyone deserves to know why the protections in the contract to cancel it or renegotiate it were canceled in the final draft.
Mayor Paula Brown in the meeting said the town already had a public hearing and is now trying to bring in Vertical Bridge to help answer questions. Brown said at this point, the town is legally bound to the contract and had legal counsel.
Town Manager Melissa Lampshire said the tower was on town agendas for two years.
Johnson said those agendas were not made public, however. She also said there was no public meeting prior to the town signing the cell tower contract either. She wants to know if the upcoming Vertical Bridge meeting will be public. She said Jane Thompson, who lives directly across from the tower site, has collected at least 107 signatures on a petition opposing the tower.
Carla Reams said she wanted trustees to know there’s a school in Missouri with a cell tower close by, and that school is seeing teachers getting cancers. She also said while people were allowed to comment at the last cell tower meeting in April, the community is waiting for responses one whether the town can back out of the contract and at what cost.
Again, the mayor said they’re waiting for Vertical Bridge to respond.
Trustee Tim Pierce said town looked at several spots as an option, but Mustang Water had a dip in the terrain, making for bad service. He said they looked at the brush dump, but didn’t want the tower to be used for target practice. Additionally, he said those on the ridge could be exposed to the effects of the tower.
Johnson questioned why trustees would express concern for those by the brush dump, but not school children.
Chaos in the meeting then ensued, until the mayor called for order.
Allie Sutherland said in her work with children, there have been barriers to accessing the internet. She said those at poverty level don’t have have service, something to consider.
Pierce said NNTC already has a tower at the new tower site, and at some point NNTC would go to 5G.
The discussion was tabled.
Johnson spoke with the Forum after the meeting. She’s got two students in the Nucla school, and she said she will pull them out, as will other moms she’s spoken with. The Johnsons commute from Paradox, and for them the next school is at least 50 miles away. She said there’s talk of starting a community school.
Johnson has worked in Big Pharma, and in public relations. She told the Forum she’s quite proficient in working with contracts.
She’s got Colorado Open Records Requests working right now. She said there’s a lack of transparency with the Town of Nucla. She also said the West End needs to hire someone to pay attention to technology, review contracts and more.
“It’s not going to end after this tower,” she said. “We need to be proactive.”
Mayor Paula Brown said on Monday she felt like the board tried to answer Johnson’s questions, but that she had to stop the discussion and proceed with the meeting agenda. As of press time, the mayor said the board had not received Johnson’s 12 questions, though the mayor said she had seen them on social media.
The mayor said the current correspondence from Vertical Bridge indicated cell tower officials would be meeting this week and the town would hear about either a phone call or possible public meeting.
Brown said cell tower updates are on the agenda for every meeting at this point.
