By Lyndsie Ferrell
SOUTH FORK— The Town of South Fork welcomed three new trustees during their monthly meeting on April 24.
Municipal Judge Don Allee stood before re-elected Mayor Rodney Reed and had him repeat the oath of office before moving on to re-elected Trustee Sarah Stephens and newly appointed Trustees Tyler Schmidt, Jim Patterson and Michele Cruse. The board appointed Tyler Schmidt to serve as the mayor pro-tem through a roll call vote with five in favor and one abstained.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, the board turned to regular business and jumped into the agenda for the night. Town Administrator Dan Hicks opened with an explanation of the financial reports, stating that overall for the month of March expenses were down and revenue was up in comparison to last year. “We are about four percent higher in revenue for the year, which is good,” said Hicks.
Hicks continued, stating that current Finance Manager Amanda Hill has turned in her resignation and that the town will be looking for her replacement. “Amanda’s last day will be May 18, and if any board members have recommendations for any qualified individuals, I would appreciate the help. In addition to Amanda, one of our deputies injured himself in an accident last year and is now being placed on leave per physician recommendation. We will also be looking for a part-time officer,” explained Hicks.
For the month of March, Hicks stated that the police reports showed that there was a total of 731 calls, 186 of those came from Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and 545 were answered in town hall. Hicks explained that the calls coming in from CSP were charged to the town, so town staff has been working to decrease the number of calls answered through their dispatch service in order to save on expenses.
In addition to the police reports that Police Chief Don McDonald began to compile at the beginning of the year, Hicks explained that he was also having the chief report the number of tickets and chargeable offenses that have fines attached to Administrative Assistant Melanie Hart so they can be tracked. “I want to make sure we are being paid for the offenses and that nothing is falling through the cracks,” stated Hicks.
Once operation highlights were complete, Hicks asked the board to entertain a motion for resolution 18-11, the re-appointment of the town administrator, interim town clerk and land use administrator, of which all tasks are performed by Hicks and Town Attorney Gene Farish. Hicks asked Mark Loy, the attorney filling in for Gene Farish to read the resolution into the minutes and proceeded to ask the board for a motion.
Trustee Vicki Phillips made the motion to approve the resolution and to re-appoint the officers to their positions, it was seconded and then the topic was opened for discussion. Newly appointed Trustee Jim Patterson spoke up stating that he did not feel comfortable passing a resolution appointing the town attorney. “I have never met him and I have not seen any contracts for his services. You are asking us to blindly appoint someone, and I do not feel comfortable doing that,” said Patterson.
Mayor Reed explained that the process was mainly housekeeping for the board, something that is done any time there is an election and the board can choose to look for a different attorney at any time. “Gene has been with us for a very long time and you can look at his contract or all contracts at any point,” said Reed. The motion required a roll call vote and passed with six in favor and Patterson opposed.