by Brian Orr
WALSENBURG- Mmmm, pie. Everybody likes pie, or at least pie charts. At Tuesday evening’s Walsenburg City Council meeting, Councilman Bruce Quintana, with the promise of providing beautiful pie charts, was awarded a $1,000 laptop computer to use in his position as Chairman of the Pool Committee. This action was taken just seconds after Finance Committee Chairman Larry Patrick recommended holding off on making any decisions to purchase computers for Council members. “You’re opening Pandora’s box, here” Patrick warned, stating that if the Council bought a computer for one member, they would have to buy a computer for any Committee Chairperson. “I don’t have a computer at home,” Quintana responded. When it was noted he could use City computers at City Hall, he stated he wanted to be able to work from home and be with his family.
In other City business, the Council approved the contract with Plan Tools for $65,000. They will work with Walsenburg on developing it’s comprehensive plan, to get the City’s endeavors for years to come. Walsenburg citizen Jeff Weinstein came before the Council to complain about the latest utility bills, stating his rose over 500 percent. Police Chief Larry Baldonado asked the Council to pass Ordinance 968, prohibiting carrying deadly weapons on City property. He said he wanted to be proactive, citing the recent shootings at the Missouri City City Council shootings. Mayor Edi Sheldon asked Baldonado if he thought the ordinance would help if someone really wanted to bring in a gun. “Not very much,” was Baldonado’s reply. The Council asked if the City had ever considered buying a metal detector to put at City Hall’s entrance. Baldonado said not really, as they cost around three to four thousand dollars. “Or about the cost of three or four laptops for city council,”someone quipped. “Maybe Bruce could use his laptop as a shield,” someone else added. The Council did pass the Ordinance, with exceptions for people with permits, or as part of their job.
