At the Oct. 28 meeting of the Nucla Town Board of Trustees, Emma Terrell was present. Terrell, who’s been working as deputy clerk, has been approved to do additional duties, since Town Manager Jessica Davis resigned. Davis’ position is open, and the board was set to discuss the job in a special meeting Nov. 5.
The Forum talked to Mayor Paula Brown Nov. 6, and she said the board will interview a few candidates later in November. As of press time, the position for Nucla Town Manager was still open, and nine resumes had been received.
Town board and staff are still trying to decide upon a time to open the time capsule from the cemetery. Trustee Penni Philbrick reminded the board that 2027 was approching; the time capsule instructions said the opening should be 2026. Trustee Brad Miller offered to make contact with representatives of the Nucla school, since the school has expressed interest in being part of the opening.
Citizen Rudi Barbee was on the agenda to continue to express his disdain for the code enforcement he’s been on the receiving end of. He distributed packets of evidence he’d assembled, pictures of other residences with as much or worse clutter than he has going on at his place at 880 Main St.
He told town board he’d be erecting a fence for privacy, but he’s felt the code enforcement officer has been unfair and has targeted him. Barbee said he wants the ordinances and enforcement of them to apply to everyone, not just him.
Trustee Darla Joseph asked Barbee to consider that perhaps other property owners were being cited or warned. Barbee said he’d spoken with many who’d not been contacted.
The mayor reminded Barbee that sometimes it’s been a cycle with Barbee cleaning up his property, then bringing back items that must be dealt with. He agreed that’s been an issue in the past.
Joseph asked Barbee for a bit of grace, so that the board, which is relatively new, could review ordinances and become more familiar.
“Let us have a little time,” she said.
Barbee suggested a community meeting to publicly discuss them; the mayor said the ordinances are on the town’s website for transparency.
Mayor Pro Tem Tim Pierce said Barbee was targeted for running a salvage yard on his lot. Barbee said many in the community ask him to deal with properties, haul items off and then take them to the appropriate places.
The board moved onto discussion of a building permit with a discrepancy of address that must be corrected. They also discussed the EMF testing of the cell tower close to the Nucla school. The mayor said it was important to move forward, and she worried about progress stagnating.
There were no updates on the Black Hills Energy franchise lease renewal, or the Vertical Bridge cell tower contract either. There were no new letters of intent for the available trustee seat.
The board approved a replat at the Shawn Lee subdivision.
They celebrated Doylene Garvey and Susan Kelley, for their work in the Proposition 123 work. The mayor said the ladies kept the West End in the program, and Elaine Demas, of the Telluride Foundation, submitted the data to the state. Now, the West End is eligible for affordable housing funding for the next three years. Nucla aims to build three units.
“We are finally moving forward,” Brown said.
Public Works Director Cory Barnett will attend the November town board meeting; the mayor would like the code enforcement, David Adams, officer to also join.
