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July 10, 2012 – Southeastern Colorado/CDOT Region 2 – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) begins a three-bridge improvement project on U.S. 160 next week, east and west of Pritchett.

CDOT is replacing the bridges with concrete box culverts at North Fork Sand Arroyo (built 1935), 11 miles west of Pritchett and at Lone Rock Draw (built 1936), four miles west of Pritchett.   The bridge at Cat Creek (built 1939), about three miles west of U.S. 287, will be rehabilitated.

Work gets underway on Monday, July 16.  Project hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with potential work taking place at night and weekends.  Occasional traffic stops up to 10 minutes are possible during working hours.  The speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph through each work zone and vehicles wider than 12 feet will not be allowed to travel through the area since the highway shoulders will be closed during construction.

Two lanes of traffic will continue on the Cat Creek Bridge (picture attached), with the exception of one week of paving and guard rail installation, requiring flaggers to alternate single lane traffic over the bridge.  At Lone Rock Draw, signals will alternate traffic over ½ of the bridge; at North Fork Sand Arroyo, a one-lane detour will be built, with signals alternating eastbound and westbound traffic.

“All three structures are rated in poor condition and don’t meet current highway standards,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Paul Westhoff.  “We’re rehabilitating the Cat Creek Bridge by relining the arch underneath the structure and widening the deck.  The other two bridges are being replaced with culverts since it’s more cost-effective.  When it’s finished, safety will be enhanced since all three locations will have wider shoulders, giving vehicles a sufficient area to pull-off the highway, providing a buffer from on-coming traffic that doesn’t exist now.”

American Civil Constructors, Inc. of Littleton, Colo. is the project’s prime contractor.

FASTER – Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery – is fully funding the $2.2 million project.  Financed by vehicle registration fees, FASTER established a Statewide Bridge Enterprise, funding the maintenance and repair of Colorado’s most urgent structurally-deficient and functionally-obsolete bridges.  More information is available at: www.coloradodot.info/programs/BridgeEnterprise

Conley was selected as the most recent winner of The Prowers Journal Alert contest. Alert registrants are randomly selected as prize winners from participating sponsors and Robinson Printing in Lamar. Several similar contests are held throughout the year.

To receive Alert email messages for late-breaking, local news, just  go to our website and scroll down a little ways and on the right hand side you will find a section titled The Journal Alert, click on the link and fill out the form and you will be emailed a confirmation email. You can also just email your request to theprowersjournal@gmail.com.  We will need your First and Last Name and your email address. Your information will be kept private.

The Lamar City Council is hosting a public meet-n-greet this Thursday, July 12, for the remaining five City Administrator candidates.  Interim administrator, Steven Rabe, reminded the council and those attending the July 9 council meeting, the event will be held at the Multi-purpose room at the Lamar Community Building from 5pm to 7pm.  A light meal and refreshments will be provided.

There were 19 candidates applying for the position originally, and those were narrowed to seven who were given phone interviews in mid June by Rabe.  Five finalist candidates were selected from the seven.  They are: Carlo Pilgrim of Boothbay, Maine, Fred Ventresco of Wilmington, Vermont, Eric Strahl of Menominee, Michigan, John Sutherland of Santa Fe, New Mexico and David Varley of Delta, Colorado.

The five are meeting with City of Lamar Department Heads Thursday afternoon, and following the meet-n-greet, each candidate has individual interviews scheduled with the city council on Friday morning.  Rabe said usually a city the size of Lamar can count on receiving up to 30 applications for an administrator’s position, but because of the stringent requirements set at the outset of the search, the list was shortened.  He also remarked at an earlier council meeting that each of the candidates appears to be very well informed regarding the City of Lamar.  At the beginning of the search, Rabe told the council he expected to have a selection made by August.  A replacement search was begun shortly after the resignation of former administrator, Bill Pfeilsticker.  Rabe was brought in by the council to fill the gap while the search was being conducted.

By Russ Baldwin

Lamar LIght and Power Plant

The Lamar Utility Board reported that Year to Date electric sales through May of this year were 4.2% lower than the same time last year.  Residential, commercial and industrial customer sales were off 5% and irrigation loads were down approximately 16% compared to the same time last year.  Total operating revenues for 2012 are $4,426,444 and total operating costs are $3,414,759.  Net income for the Lamar Light Plant is at $715,961, Year to Date.  Compared to April 2011, retail revenue sales are up 10%, approximately $390,240 and operating expenses dropped by 7%.

Utility Board members approved the low bid of $69,766 from Western United Ermco for the purchase of pole mount and pad mount transformers.  The board also approved a 6,000 foot line extension to a water well for May Valley Water.  The fee for the line extension will be 2% of the actual cost of the extension, or $208.68 a month for a standard five year agreement.

Three area youths have been hired by the light plant for the Summer Youth Employee program through the Colorado Work Force Center.  This is the sixth year of the program which has hired for 2012, Braxton Warn in the Wind Turbine department, Travis Hoots in General Maintenance and Tyler Shy for Plant Maintenance.

Several area students received renewals of their LUB/ARPA scholarships as part of plan approved by the board.  Pending grade performance, the board awards $500 to each student who applies.  Additional scholarships were given to Taylor Wilson and Jared Smartt.  Wilson is working towards a PhD in physical therapy at the University of Colorado and Smartt is attending CSU and has helped establish Chi Alpha, a student ministry focused on helping others.

The board adjourned into executive session to discuss possible ARPA litigation after their brief, general meeting this past Tuesday.

By Russ Baldwin

May 2012 sales tax collections are up another month for the City of Lamar.  City sales tax is up 7.33% over the same period last year and total sales and collections show a gain of 7.72% for a gain of $19,523.06.  Total city sales tax collections for May are $256,618.54.

Year to Date figures show city sales tax collections up 4.60 for a gain of $68,345.84.  Total tax and Use Tax collections are up 5.66% for an improvement over last year of $91,048.12.  Year to Date collections are $1,699,216.52 compared to last year at this time of $1,608,168.40.

Only Furniture/Electronics and Other Retail categories showed a decrease for June collections from this year to last.  The following are Year to Date collection figures in the 12 retail categories established by the city.

2010                       2011                       2012

Auto Parts                                     63,355.90             65,088.80              73,424.81
Building Materials                        46,946.35             43,688.30              53,732.07
Clothing                                       16,176.71              16,043.59             17,569.00
C Stores/Gas                               41,498.50              49,325.48             50,551.00
Department Stores                     539,840.29           540,537.65           561,406.71
Furniture/Electronics                 15,253.91              15,290.21              14,554.65
Grocery Stores                          128,826.45           148,429.19            137,171.33
Motels                                          48,524.98              52,879.63              68,764.00
Liquor Sales                               46,214.00              47,288.00              53,393.00
Manufacturing                            1,314.29                 4,091.38                5,711.63
Other Retail                                22,527.47              23,710.75              23,666.40
Restaurants                               154,022.30            156,384.37            164,858.59

May 2012 sales tax collections are up another month for the City of Lamar.  City sales tax is up 7.33% over the same period last year and total sales and collections show a gain of 7.72% for a gain of $19,523.06.  Total city sales tax collections for May are $256,618.54.

Year to Date figures show city sales tax collections up 4.60 for a gain of $68,345.84.  Total tax and Use Tax collections are up 5.66% for an improvement over last year of $91,048.12.  Year to Date collections are $1,699,216.52 compared to last year at this time of $1,608,168.40.

Only Furniture/Electronics and Other Retail categories showed a decrease for June collections from this year to last.  The following are Year to Date collection figures in the 12 retail categories established by the city.

2010                       2011                       2012

Auto Parts                             63,355.90             65,088.80             73,424.81
Building Materials                46,946.35             43,688.30             53,732.07
Clothing                                16,176.71              16,043.59             17,569.00
C Stores/Gas                        41,498.50              49,325.48             50,551.00
Department Stores              539,840.29            540,537.65           561,406.71
Furniture/Electronics            15,253.91              15,290.21              14,554.65
Grocery Stores                     128,826.45           148,429.19            137,171.33
Motels                                   48,524.98              52,879.63              68,764.00
Liquor Sales                          46,214.00              47,288.00              53,393.00
Manufacturing                       1,314.29                 4,091.38                5,711.63
Other Retail                          22,527.47              23,710.75              23,666.40
Restaurants                        154,022.30            156,384.37            164,858.59

Lamar voters should decide this November to approve a proposed lodgers or pillow tax on motel room rentals.   As outlined during the city council work session on Monday, July 9, by Shawna Hodge, Lamar Main Street Director, and Pat Palmer, President of the Prowers Lodging Tax Panel, the proposed tax will levy a simple $2 fee on each motel or Bed & Breakfast room rented in the City of Lamar.   The fee, Hodge explained, will earn approximately $210,000 a year based on a consistent 50% occupancy rate.  The funds will provide for salaries, tourism related capital expenditures and help promote and develop downtown businesses, attract conventions, sporting events and large group meetings to come to Lamar.  The fees will be collected by the Lamar City Clerk.  If the initiative is approved by the council, it will appear on the November general election ballot.

Time is a factor.  The council needs to approve the ordinance initiative on its first reading by the July 23 council meeting to meet the July 27 certification deadline to have it placed on the November ballot.  Cost is a factor.  Approximately $24,000 will be required to have the question put on the ballot for City of Lamar voters.  Because it’s a presidential election and a mail-in vote, said interim City Administrator, Steven Rabe, the cost is almost double that paid out when the Lodging Panel Tax question went before the voters.

“Once this goes through, the fees won’t be touched until January 2014,” explained Hodge.  “We’ll let the fund increase before we start to use them, and we’ll be able to pay back the cost of the ballot to the city,” she added.  The city council will have to front the funds to the group to cover election costs, win or lose.

Hodge added that the fees will provide for the current Lamar Main Street program to aid the city to remain a Colorado Main Street community.  It will also serve to provide funding for the Lamar Partnership group, now supported by the city, which will see its funding end in 2013.  Hodge said the current funding, “doesn’t give enough flexibility in our budget to do anything with it.  We can do little things, but it’s not enough to make any sort of impact.”

Council member Anne Marie Crampton suggested seeking a different term for the fee.  “Lodger’s tax may not be the best choice because of the association with the lodging tax already in place,” she said.  It took two tries before the Lodging Tax was approved by voters, due mostly to confusion on who pays.  “No one pays the $2 unless you’re renting a room, no matter how many persons are staying in one,” explained Pat Palmer.  He added, “This is similar to the La Junta tax, and for several years now, they’ve been able to pay for an events coordinator to help build their economy.”

With regard to who decides how the fees are spent, and on what, Hodge said, “We haven’t really made those decisions yet.  There’ll be an advisory council, and we’re hoping that council could be the Lamar Partnership advisory board.  We haven’t worked out all the fine tuning yet.”  Palmer added, “We’d like someone from the city council and perhaps two motel owners on it and it needs to be tied to people who are on Main Street, whether through their business or a property owner.”  Hodge said the funds can be set up by percentages, with 20% used for convention recruitment, or another 20% can be used for Main Street improvements, for example.  She added that a volunteer group will be circulating a petition to present to the council and will be speaking with local motel owners to explain how the $2 fee will be applied.

Prowers County Fair Board members, Diane Pool and Cindy Bennett asked the council for a financial commitment to help defray the purchase of meat costs for the annual Sand and Sage BBQ.  Bennett said, “Depending on donations, we might pay only $800 to $900 in a year, but when we don’t the costs do go up, sometimes to $2,900 for the yearly event.”  She added that now that there are no local pork producers who can contribute, the meals for both nights are all beef that has to be paid for.  Pool said there aren’t complete records of who shares the cost of the food.  Usually it’s been split between the county and the city over the years.  The council voted to authorize up to $3,000 in contributions from the annual budget for future reference.

Trevor Choat, County E911 Supervisor addressed the council on an expanded Code Red alert call system and how it will impact the community.  Test calls were made to subscribers on Monday, July 9, which advised residents who opt in for the warnings, to re-register to fine tune the type of warnings they wish to receive.  He explained that in the past, ‘all calls’ would run slower because of the volume of calls being placed through the county.  National Weather Service calls for future alerts could be made more geographically specific so they would tailor a call for only a certain section of the county.  He said this would speed the calls because there wouldn’t be so many made at one time.  The cost for the Code Red Weather Warning will be an additional $4,000 a year and the first year has been paid by the county.  He said the future breakdown would reflect the percentages now paid out by the county, the city and the E911 Authority Board.  Residents can upgrade their alert status through the city or county website, plus the one in Holly, or simply call the local dispatch center’s non-emergency line.

Lamar Fire Chief, Marshall Cook introduced the department’s newest engineer,  James Threadgill from Fountain, Colorado.  Cook said Threadgill offers 21 years of experience, ten of which was spent with the Department of Defense.  Threadgill said he served for one year on Cheyenne Mountain in, “the cave”, referring to the underground national defense system, and remarked that it was a very different experience for him.  He began his duties with the city, today, July 10.

“Despite the heat, the city’s well system has been holding its own,” according to City Water Supervisor, Chris Sandoval.  “The recent rains have helped recharge the system, and even today, we’ve seen little water use in the community.”  Sandoval said he would conduct a study of the amount of water consumed in the community and offer recommendations to the council for any action on future water restrictions.  The city has a six stage, water restriction policy, the first of which is simple voluntary curtailment of excessive water use for residences.

A public meet-n-greet for the five city administrator candidates will be held on Thursday, July 12 from 5pm to 7pm at the Lamar Community Building, multi-purpose room and final interviews will be conducted with the council on Friday.  The finalists are:  Carlo Pilgrim of Boothbay, Maine, Fred Ventresco of Wilmington, Vermont, Eric Strahl of Menominee, Michigan, John Sutherland of Santa Fe, New Mexico and David Varley of Delta, Colorado.

National Coatings, Inc. from Denver, Colorado was the low bidder out of three submitted to recoat the wet well at the city’s new wastewater lift station.  Chemical erosion had begun to damage an interior wall at the station.  The 1,000 square foot section will be rehabilitated and recoated at a cost of $30,000, considerably lower than the next two bids received.  Water Supervisor Sandoval estimated it would take three months to complete the project with no interruption to water services to the city.  The council approved a resolution appointing Sandoval as the authorized signatory for the City of Lamar ARRA loan agreements with the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority.

The Lamar City Council will hold their monthly informal breakfast session on Wednesday, July 11 from 7am to 8am at the Rancher’s Restaurant.  Councilman Ruedeman reminded the public of the need for host families for an August baseball tournament for 14 year olds.  If any family can provide accommodation, meals and transportation during the tournament, to contact the Lamar Chamber of Commerce at 336-4379.

By Russ Baldwin

Lincoln Elementary School

Lincoln Elementary School, vacant for the past year, will host the students from Project HOPE from the Lamar Teen Center beginning next month. The two story building on East Elm Street sees about 75 to 90 young students each day after school, according to HOPE director, Lori Hammer. She said she’s, “very excited and a little nervous,” about making the transition to the new facilities in just four to five weeks from now. The Lamar School Board voted unanimously during their July 9 meeting to open the school to Project HOPE Teen Center activities.

Lincoln Elementary School was closed by a vote of the Lamar School Board due to economic cutbacks in the school district budget. The tightened economy was also one of the driving factors when school board members voted for a four day school week for Lamar students earlier this year. Where to accommodate the Teen Center Students and how to deal with younger students on the free Fridays might be answered with opening the doors to Lincoln School again. Classes for Lamar students begin August 16.

Hammer said she’s not sure just how much of the school will be needed for the Center students. “We’re going to take a look at the facilities this week to get an idea of how much space will be needed,” she explained. Hammer said additional meetings will be held with various organizations to generate ideas on how to provide activities for students on Friday. “We don’t want to duplicate our activities, so we’re having a group meeting to explore and coordinate our options,” Hammer said. Representatives from the Lamar Library, LiveWell, Parks and Recreation, First Christian Church and some school groups are meeting to offer some alternatives to kids having nothing to do and no where to go on Fridays.

By Russ Baldwin

Bottom L to R: Brendan Burns, Derek Schroeder, Kodiak Ratzlaff, Casey Fassiotto, Kelby Fassiotto, Payden Breneman, Jamin Tate, Jordan Jara
Top: L to R: Chaz Hebberd, Tanner Barth, Tylor Jara, Bryan Gonzalez, Brandon Reed, Isiah Martinez, Zach Ramsay, Coach – Bart Cruikshank
Not Pictured: Saul Pizzaro

The Lamar Merchants 18 & Under host team took only one loss during the three day Babe Ruth State Tournament this past Friday through Sunday at Merchants Park and won, defeating Limon in the extra game.

Four teams had been scheduled for the double elimination tournament, but because Burlington dropped out at the last minute, the schedule was revised to accommodate the remaining three: Lamar, Limon and Kiowa.

Lamar, coached by Bart Cruikshank, claimed the first victory Friday afternoon, dropping Limon 11 to 7, and the team came back on Saturday morning to defeat Kiowa 8 to 2. Kiowa lost to Limon in the second game of the day, 11 to 1.

The first Sunday game went to Limon, 7 to 5 and that brought the second game to be played at 11am. Lamar just squeaked by Limon for the championship, 1 to 0.

By Russ Baldwin