Kirk C. Watkins, Jamestown. The Jamestown Board of Trustees (BOT) held their monthly meeting on Monday, February 1, 2021. The meeting was convened at 7 p.m. and was called to order by Mayor Tara Schoedinger. The current agenda was approved by the board, and the minutes from the January 4 meetings were approved. 

Open forum: There was a question about accessing meeting notes on the town website.

Board Action Items: 

C1. Approval of Resolution 2-1, 2021: A Resolution approving a contract with ACE Engineering.

Proposal to approve a contract with ACE, and Jennifer Aieta, who has represented ACE in the past and helped to develop the current water plant design. 

“Task order basis” contract, puts limits on time and money for projects. Orders to be approved by the mayor and updates presented by water committee members. 

Aieta’s fees have increased since the flood, noting that the flood rates had been discounted. It was proposed to continue to use her services since she was the state’s leading expert on Slow Sand Filtration and had designed the town’s current system.

Recommended to pass resolution but to look for lower priced alternatives for future projects.

The motion to pass the resolution was passed unanimously. 

C2. Discussion and Approval of the Town Attorney’s response to LUHAC’s inquiry regarding the Town writing One Ordinance to remove criminal penalties and imprisonment language from Growth and Development Ordinances and other applicable ordinances. 

LUHAC shared a document summarizing conversation with the town attorney, from a question sent by BOT. Easy to draft ordinance which would cover all item changes. Specific fines could be decided on and implemented with different strategic approaches. Town attorney referred to “administrative citation procedure” which would include issuing a citation and allowing for due process in the case of a citizen’s appeal. 

Since there are no jail or police in town, the town could designate a town employee to enforce fines. If fine is not paid, fines can be sent to collections, or a lien can be filed on the property. 

Recommended to continue developing ordinance with the “criminal and imprisonment” language removed and replaced with “fine” language. Current fine level is $300 per day. Questions were raised about potential to modify and define fine limits. 

Agreed to draft one ordinance to designate enforcement through fines, and to track down older ordinances containing criminal and imprisonment language for removal or replacement of language. To be brought for approval in March.  

C3. Approval of Resolution 2-2, 2021: A Resolution appointing persons to serve on the Jamestown Wildfire Safety Steering Committee.

Seth Strickland will be introduced as a new member. Directs efforts towards wildfire safety efforts, both within the towns, such as Firewise Communities, Saws and Slaws, and Wildfire Partners, as well as wildfire safety issues with other agencies outside of town, such as Lefthand Fire and the State Forestry. Responsibility mainly to oversee collaboration. 

Motion to approve resolution passed unanimously.

C4. Approval of Resolution 2-3, 2021: A Resolution appointing persons to serve on the Jamestown Wildfire Safety Local Working Group Committee.

Jamestown representatives for wildfire safety needed for wildfire assessments of neighborhoods and labor parties for efforts. They will be meeting in February, Seth Strickland to lead efforts. 

Committees expected to present progress reports. 

Motion to approve resolution passed unanimously.

C5. Update on IGA with Boulder County for Floodplain Administration Support. Current IGA, or Intergovernmental Agreement, under development for board review. Boulder County will be floodplain administrator, along with a local floodplain administrator. Local administrator will be conduit to the local community as well as to board and county. Also, to report to the board, and work with the board and county in case of violations, and address enforcement issues. 

Responsible to ensure compliance with FEMA, to include education efforts regarding usage of floodplain. Boulder county will address planning in case of emergency along with the local administrator. Actual action taken by the administrator typically takes place in response to events, dealing with contracts and permits to rebuild, along with mapping processes in cooperation with the county.

Current fees for floodplain development permits are $200, while county permits are $700. Proposed to increase rates to $250 with annual increase of $50 until equal to county fee scale. County acknowledges discrepancy in fee scale and issues surrounding the difference. 

Conversation regarding increases in fees and friction between town and county fee scale. 

Recommended to advocate for best deal for town residents, with consideration for fair dealing with the county due to positive relationships in the past.

Termination of deal possible with no cause after set period, by either Jamestown or Boulder county. Potentially if Jamestown fails to appoint administrator (county terminates) or decides to administer floodplain locally (Jamestown terminates). 

Certification possible, town will pay for training, but not necessary for administrator to get certification. Voluntary except in case of inspection by FEMA, where the administrator is compensated for work completed to prepare for inspection, or in case of special projects that the county doesn’t provide funding for, and the town will pay hourly rate.

Draft available for review, and IGA to be tentatively presented at next meeting. 

C6. Update on 63/67 Ward Street Floodplain Development Permit and Plans.

Floodplain development permit already approved in 2019, only for electrical. Proposal to trench, with overhead lines that lead to a pole that is currently located on property owned by local residents. A transformer is currently placed on a pole, which property owners want removed. New pole was proposed to be located outside of the property. Current transformer will be placed on new poles, and electrical lines will be run through the trench from that point. New poles will be placed and lines will run across the creek. 

Jamestown does not have a “right of way” permit, but approval of the project requires project description and mayor’s approval, which has been completed. Needed now is proof of acknowledgement by all affected property owners, due to the requirement of access to property owned by residents. 

Also requested is an “emergency safety plan,” which is standard procedure in case steel plates need to be utilized to provide access in case of emergency.

Board Committee Reports: 

Land Use and Housing Advisory Committee (LUHAC): Report covered in section C-2. 

Looking at short-term rental licensing in neighboring communities.

Water Operations and Water Committee: Jon Ashton recently provided an overview of water board activities. Two new potential members, Carly Rixham and Jason Vogel, observed operations, to replace Mark and Colleen Williams. Working on SOP’s for treatment plan, to provide explanations for plant operations. Operators need annual training units, in three-year cycles. Implementing water plant training, members of the community to train on operations. Drought conditions affecting water access for the community, preparing for possible restrictions in summer. Suggested to start sending out information regarding ways to prepare for drought conditions and ways to plan. Will try to send monthly warnings and updates regarding drought preparations.

Jamestown Volunteer Fire & EMS: Vaccinations are being received by the majority of teams.

Jamestown Wildfire Safety: Team Rubicon project solid and moving forward.

Streets & Bridges: 16th Street project on hold due to weather. Boulder County installed signs in town and maybe asked to reinstall signs on lower Main.

Parks: New rules concerning fires in park being discussed. Possible restrictions discussed involving approval process, to include designating a responsible party to monitor whether fire is fully extinguished or isn’t being lit during red flag warnings or fire bans. 

Although the board hesitates to add regulations, it seems important to establish as was pointed out that the town’s insurance is liable for damage caused by fires.

Garden Committee: Irrigating periphery areas. Sprinklers previously used, will invest in irrigation to conserve water.

Meeting adjourned. 

Jamestown BOT meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month. The next meeting will take place On March 1, 2021, from 7 – 9 p.m. online. Links to the meeting can be found on the town website at http://jamestownco.org/board-of-trustees-meetings/.

(Originally published in the February 18, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)