Chris Daniels went before Nucla’s town trustees at the regular meeting June 8 to remind them the Red Rock Rodders, the car club, will have a display July 4 for Water Days. Trustees also discussed letters of intent, which were due June 18, as they were working to fill the trustee seat vacated by Ailene Smith. Interviews were scheduled for June 23. Trustee Tim Pierce asked about establishing a public information officer for effectively disseminating information, in light of the county’s emergency preparedness meetings.
Joseph Hittinger, former town trustee, appeared before the board in person, since he was on the agenda seeking approval for vacating his proposed subdivision on Nucla’s Main Street. He said the financial numbers were off, and he aims to do something more commercial than residential.
“I don’t want to pay taxes on a subdivision that can’t move forward the way it is,” he said.
Trustee Aimee Tooker said it was a letdown, as she’s been excited about the possibility of additional housing. Yet, Hittinger said the current plat was not buildable. The motion for him to vacate was approved.
Mayor Paula Brown apologized for further delay with the Drought Water Resolution. That week it was back at Mustang Water Authority for review. The mayor reminded all that a June 24 workshop was in order for land use development code with the firm RPI.
In her report, Town Manager Jessica Davis explained the splash pad situation at Nucla Town Park; it’s not been functioning properly. The mayor said it’s a popular feature, and Nucla has a pattern of not maintaining things. She wants the town to do better at upkeep, and she asked about upgrades to it. The splash pad was up and running as of this week.
Additionally, Davis reported on trees cut down at 4th and Ash, admitting the process was over budget at $1,500 but also necessary.
The new library director started June 16. Davis said she’s a retired teacher and brings much needed energy into the library space. The new director has “lots of ideas” and will set up a booth at Water Days too.
Town trustees discussed extending the June 18 deadline for Public Works applications, because they wanted more responses.
Related to Public Works, trustees discussed a hefty fine the Town of Nucla was forced to pay, due to a failure to report statistics. Mayor Pro Tem Tim Pierce said it was a wastewater reporting fine that was supposed to be sent into the state online. It was due the 28th of every month and it wasn’t filed for approximately two years, 2022-24.
The fine was more than $16,000 and the operator in responsible charge (ORC) was supposed to handle it.
At the time, trustees said former Town Manager Melissa Lampshire looked into having insurance take care of it under their “errors and omissions” coverage, but the insurance carrier wouldn’t.
Trustee Darla Joseph asked if Davis was overseeing the deadlines to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. Davis said she was handling it. Joseph also asked about making the former ORC pay for their mistake. Pierce said it could waste money in the court system that the town may never recoup anyway.
Trustees discussed the idea of Pierce getting a license to handle small systems and do the wastewater discharge reporting. Currently, he’s licensed for larger systems and is the operator at Mustang Water Authority.
Trustees are now looking at what to do with the $5,000 grant from the state for creating their Source Water Protection Plan (SWPP) and holding the series of meetings last year to engage community and submit the docs. Naturita also received the $5,000 for establishing their SWPP plan.
