Silt - Simply Irresistible Little Town

by: nicky

Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 12:14:31 PM MST

The article says Mayor Moore "treats his town's $1.7 million budget the same way he does the well-worn wallet he pulls from his jeans".  He is also quoted as saying the town was "over budget by $275,000".  First off, what is the budget figure.  $1.7M is the projected revenue but $2.0M was the projected expenditure.  Now Mayor Moore voted for this budget knowing we were going into the town's reserves.  This had been discussed at Board meetings from Sept thru final approval in Nov 2009.  In Colorado you must legally have a balanced budget and our budget is balanced by using our reserves.  If Mayor Moore objected to using the reserves, he had 3 months to state those objections and he could of voted against the Budget in November.

The article then says the personnel cuts ousted anyone who disagreed with Moore.  This is simplistic.  The quotes from the "opposition" all specify them not him.  Attorney Duran, Administrator Suerth and Community Planner Carmoney all had disagreements with at least 2 of the newly elected trustees or Mayor, and/or their families.  The Deputy Town Clerk had a run in with at least 1 of the newly elected trustees.  When it was suggested that since New Castle and Rifle have gone to contract labor with their Building Inspectors and we should eliminate that position also, the newly elected trustees didn't want to hear it.  In my opinion, he hasn't done anything to annoy them.

When is a sidewalk a bike trail?  We just voted to put in a bike trail between 3rd and 7th on Grand.  I believe this might be the sidewalk promised by SOS.  Now, I have no objection to putting in bike paths instead of sidewalks.  They are less expensive and accomplish the same purpose of getting the children off the streets.  But, we have to remember that the maintenance falls to the town and needs to be annually budgeted.

In the article, the Mayor touted the open space and conservation easement we are purchasing.  This is a great opportunity for river access, bird watching, nature trails, etc.  I'm glad that with the contractual vote recently taken the Mayor voted with the rest of the Board, because he had consistently voted against this acquisition including as recently as our April 26th meeting, when he was the sole nay vote on the Town's approval to spend the $40,000 cash match necessary for all the grants.  I would like to also point out that the previous trio of Suerth, Duran and Carmoney were the moving force behind the Town's getting involved with this opportunity.

Again, he talks about the grant for the Town's new solar panels without giving credit to the previous administration.  It was Administrator Suerth who attended the CLEER meetings and recommended the Town spend the $1,000 cash match for the grants.

I would enjoy an investigative reporter doing articles but I am tired of reporters reporting opinion for fact.  The minutes of our meetings are available online or at the Town Hall.  Without much digging a reporter could find out our budget is 2M not 1.7M, it is balanced by law, our hiring freeze did not effect the police department or the hiring of a 7th officer (in a quote five-officer department), we weren't heading for bankruptcy and we are not on track to having a balanced budget by not using our reserves.

I think we have a great town.  I think we have a lot of room for growth and I think if the residents and Board work together we can make sustainable growth happen.  We have tough times ahead but together we'll come out stronger and stay "irresistible"