by Brian Orr
LA VETA- La Veta resident Mary Jean Fowler told the Town Board on Tuesday night about a plan she had come up with to show how much one dollar can do in La Veta. She purchased 100 one dollar gold coins, and she will place them with town merchants, with the express instructions for them to tell their customers, “spend this in La Veta!” The goal is to see how long the flashy gold dollars will stick around in the local economy. “There’s no way to really track it,” Fowler said afterwards, “but it will be good for everyone to see how even one dollar can circulate through our economy.”
Getting on with Town business, the Board re-appointed Al Drum as the Municipal Court Judge, and Nancy Culbreath as the Court Clerk.
Mike Sharlow of Alltel Communications asked the Board to lease his company space on the town water tanks, to install three flat antennas, which would provide much greater cell phone coverage in the Cuchara valley- providing you’re an Alltel customer.
The Board was concerned about security around the municipal ater supply, but Sharlow agreed that any maintenance would be on a scheduled basis, and the technician servicing the antenna site would undergo a background check. Alltel would pay La Veta $750 a month for the space. The Board asked for pictures of other Alltel sites on water tanks, and to see the full legal agreement.
The Board passed two items; Ordinance #243, which was the adoption of international Energy Conservation Code, which will affect energy systems for new construction or renovations.
The Board also passed Resolution 5-08, which dealt with Town records retention. Right now, ALL pieces of paper, no matter how trivial, has to be kept. With the passage, non-essential records need only be kept for six years. Clerk Nancy Culbreath told the Board, “We have a lot of stuff to get rid off.” Mayor Mickey Schmidt echoed the thought, muttering, “Boxes and boxes of junk.”
George French gave the Board two proposals for maintenance and repair of the Mining Museum; one for $2,530 and another for $4,300. The proposals were accepted. Mayor Schmidt asked French, “After this, the Mining Museum will be done?” “Yes,” French answered. “Well, accept for the gutters.” But, that’s another project…
Mayor Schmidt told the Board that he would like to open a dialogue concerning the governance of the Francisco Fort Museum with the Huerfano County Historical Society. “We’ll want to talk about all issues,” Schmidt said.
Mayor Schmidt also brought up that he would like to see a Spring Clean Up, at least along Main St. Specifically, all the gravel dumped on the streets needs to swept up. “Spruce up for the summer,” he said. “Let’s get some community pride going here.”
In other business, the Board will hold a workshop to discuss the parameters of hiring someone to clean the boxcar restrooms every day this summer.
