Category Archives: meeting

blizzard, Boy scouts, meeting, mom

Catching Up

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As you may have noted, I have been remiss in writing much for the last few days. It has been an interesting week here abouts. Some of the things keeping me occupied include a spring blizzard, judging a contest, getting the notes for a committee to form an ambulance district done and …

Tuesday was my last post and I was still a bit rushed. So here is where the time for the rest of the week went.

On Wednesday I did the radio show in the morning and then took care of some things between meetings. I still had the meeting notes from the preliminary meeting Monday of the EMS ambulance district campaign and finance group to put together and get distributed. (We are looking at forming a county wide EMS district. That effects us all and it in particular is something I can’t be too involved with. The problem is that ambulance service is a responsibility of the county under the IGA’s (Inter Governmental Agreements) between the city and the county. The county has been subsidizing a private ambulance service for years. The private service cannot survive on what the county can/will subsidize, so we need to form a county wide district that is a taxing entity to make sure we have the service.) The problem is that the county commissioners cannot be involved since they have to approve the operational plan before the ballot issue can even be considered for inclusion. Since the county would no longer be fulfilling a part of the IGAs, that drags the city in since we will have to set up new terms in the IGAs. Thus I have a secondary conflict of interest and cannot be heavily involved in the effort. So I agreed to chair the introductory meeting and then turn it over to whom ever was selected as chairperson.. That meeting was Monday night and I just today finally got through putting out the meeting notes and turning it all over to the new chairperson. (One item off the must do list.) And I also had to do some grocery shopping for Mom as well.

It turned cold and blowy here late Wednesday, and then went on to be a full scale blizzard Thursday. In fact it was a full scale spring blizzard that closed schools and roads throughout the region.  It snowed and blew for most of the day, so i didn’t have to go out and shovel snow until Friday morning. It looked like this in the middle of the day (around noon) during the storm:

 

Needless to say, the days of 80 degrees we enjoyed less than a week prior were but a memory. It continued all day. Mom called and said don’t bother coming over to bring in her paper and mail, just stay in out of he wind and snow. Another view out onto the back patio before we go:

At least it meant we got some much needed moisture at long last.

Friday I got up early and started shovelling the snow. I did our house, MIL’s house, and Mom’s house, then hurried home an got cleaned up for some more meetings. One meeting was with the parson from Prison Ministries because I am a panelist and speaker at their fund raising diner in April. He wanted to go over the questions that will be posed to the panelists so we can have our acts together. It should be an interesting panel since it will have the sheriff, the chief of police, the associate warden of the prison, myself, and a couple of ex-offenders. Maybe I’ll post the questions here after the event. Then I had a meeting with our tax accountant to get our information turned over so it can be totalled. Along the way, I ran into the auditor doing the annual city audit and that took up a bit of time since the audit report is almost done and will be presented at a ouncil meeting in the next month. (I also had to tell him how cute his daughter was at the Girl Scout proclamation presentation from here. He reported that his daughter wanted to stay for the whole meeting and that they had come to the areement that his daughter could attend with him when he presents the audit report. We’ll see if she finds it as interesting after sitting through the whole shebang. {*grin*})

In the mean time, I have been trying to get all the essays for the “If I Were Mayor” essay contest read. The Colorado Municipal League sponsors a statewide contest and we sponsor a local one with the winners going on to the state contest. Last year one of our students was a winner. We select the winner by panel. The panel consists of me, the city manager, and my writer friend. It is going slower for me this year since I don’t perceive the same quality of writing that I saw last year. (You can read a bit more about our local version here.) Only about ten more essays  to go before we start comparing notes to home in on the winners. (BTW, the topic this year is:

Many youth are not aware of the valuable services that their municipalities (cities and towns) provide: bike paths, recreation centers, police officers, street lights,and crosswalks are all provided by municipal governement. If you were mayor, how would you explain the importance of municipal government to kids in your community?

The contest is for 7th graders and we have great participation here.)

So today I have been reading and pondering. I had to be tracked down by the Boy Scout Troop so I could issue the re-charter check. (I am on the committee and the treasurer.) Once that was handled, it was time to get cleaned up and head over to Mom’s for supper and a round of “Can you get …?” and “Can you move …?” and … Mom is feeling good and doing well – I have my doubts about how cantankerous she might be by the time she gets to go out in the world, but for right now it is going pretty well.

I promise to try to be more regular in the coming days. Thank you all for your emails and calls of concern. It’s OK, I just had a bit too many things to do for a span there. I haven’t even had time to do the Sunday New York Times Crossword Puzzle yet!

hidden agenda, meeting

Hidden Agendas

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Have you ever had a meeting where the real agenda is hidden and you are trying to figure out what the heck is going on from the first words? I have and, to be blunt about it, it sucks.

I was in such a meeting recently. There was an ostensible agenda in place. The opening conversations actually seemed relevant to the stated purpose of the meeting, and then … it went to heck in a hand basket. Sensible suggestions were ignored and there were long winded cases of verbal diarrhea around every answer. After wasting an hour in inane volleys, I had somewhat figured out what the hidden topic of the meeting was and could put 2 and 2 together to figure out why it was not being brought up directly.

So being the blunt character I am, I flat out asked the question: “Why are we tap dancing around what seems to be a pink elephant sitting in the corner? Don’t we have to figure out how to handle A before we proceed further?” You would have thought I’d farted and the gas masks were in short supply.

Turns out that the people who had called the meeting (part of another political body) had cut an under the table deal with A and were now trying to get an alternative plan in place and then somehow leave it to me to handle the A issue and weasel them out of the under the table agreement. Which is interesting in and of itself since I have nothing officially to do with A.

I can’t disclose more about the topic at hand, but it makes me real unhappy when people try to use me like that. Why not be straightforward and honest? Admit you did something idiotic and that it will have to fixed before the long range plan can go forward. I am a lot more likely to try and help if I am not forced to delve into the slime of your mind and dealings with nothing more than a flashlight.

You ever have meetings like that?

meeting, potholing, trains, water

A Meeting Up the Road

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I just got back from a meeting of mayors and commissioners in a neighboring county, about 45 miles up the road from here. It was a first since the town hosting the meeting is the arch-rival of our own town with a long history of rivalry going back to the late 1800’s. The mayor of M (as I shall call the neighboring town), Jack, called and invited me to attend last week. You might remember Jack from this post where he arranged for me to be railroaded into the Presidency of District 1 of the Colorado Municipal League. It is kind of funny that Jack and I have developed a relationship to get things done in cooperation just as we are both term limited out of office. I’m gone in November and Jack is done in January.

So I grabbed the city manager and we journeyed up the road to attend the meeting. We weren’t sure what to expect, but expected it to be interesting none the less. We got there and were welcomed with open arms by Jack and the rest of the attendees. It turned out to be a useful meeting all around, as we got to hear what projects each of the towns and the other county were pursuing, what the biggest problems they were facing were, and how they were approaching these issues. And the interesting and unsurprising thing – they face the same problems and issues we face.

The biggest issue for all the attendees was water. Here in the water short American West, you would expect it to be the number one topic and it was. But it was like the old parable of the blind man and the elephant. Each of us had a different aspect of the water problem to consider and as a consequence it looked different but had a common theme. Some of the towns had been slow to recognize the importance of securing decreed water rights earlier and were now in the (expensive) process of acquiring some. Others had adopted long range transport of mountain water shares and were now dealing with the costs and distribution issues. Our city had the foresight to secure water rights, but we are now facing the changing regulations determining out treatment processes as discussed here. Many of the attending cities are very interested in our experience since we are the guinea pig for how to handle the new regulations. That’s because we are the largest city out here and thus get stuck going first through the regulatory maze.

Then there was discussion of nuts and bolts, things like budgets and revenue projections. Topics such as potholing and crack sealing and … One outcome was a chance to coordinate some projects to put together unified bids which might result in lower costs due to overall size. We already have one project underway between our city, M and M’s sister city. It is a project to determine what would be needed to have the various railroad crossings in our communities declared part of a quiet zone. We have ~30 coal trains (one mile long trains transporting coal) a day passing over the tracks that bisect our communities. That wasn’t too bad until the federal regulations on train horns changed a few years ago and they became 100dB+ annoyances at every crossing, even those controlled by gated arms and lights. But there are pathways to make such intersections controlled to a point where the train horn regulations can be abated. The problem is that a city like ours has 7 such intersections and a naive approach can cost more that $1 million per intersection to achieve quiet zone status. So the three cities pooled funds and grants to have an engineering study done to see if there weren’t cost effective methods to achieve quiet. This becomes a further quality of life issue since th number of coal trains will rise to 40-50 in the coming year and may hit 100 or more in a few more years. This is because all the trains are being routed out here rather than through the high population areas due to yet another changed federal regulation.

Well, that should be enough rambling on topics of absolutely no interest to 99% of the readers of this blog.
For extra credit – did you know what potholing was before you read the link?

christmas, council, meeting, radio show

Christmas is almost here …

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… and I just got home from the last city council meeting of this year. We had to meet tonight to have the second readings and public hearings on a couple of items that needed to be signed and in force before the end of the year. Mostly contract related. We also allocated some remaining funds for projects that can be done with money from this year next year. One of them is an eagle scout project in one park, another is an expansion of the seating at the veterans memorial in another park, and the last is the minimal buildout of a curb cut on a state highway whose permit will expire if not built shortly. Pretty much standard end of the year stuff.

You know you live in a small town when … someone asks your mother if you are OK since you didn’t blog last night. Just to alleviate any concerns, I am fine. I was busy working on some computer stuff last night and it was too late to post by the time I finished up. But thanks for the concern. Mom called this afternoon to finalize plans for Christmas Eve and she mentioned that she had been asked about the absence of a blog post and was I OK? That is encouraging to me for several reasons, not the least of which is that there are actually people reading what I write. I always have the underlying fear that my blog bears a closer resemblance to post-nasal drip of the brain than a readable flood of interesting words. It is also nice to hear that people care!

I am waiting for my wife to get home from the mountains as I write this. It will be so nice to have her home for a few days. This time of the year can feel very lonely when you are batching it. But at least I got most of the cleaning done and tomorrow we can finish decorating the tree for the group gathering tomorrow night. Christmas will be pretty low key here at the homestead this year. The son is up in the mountains working over college break, so it will just be L, Molly, and me along with our moms and maybe a few other guests that would otherwise be alone over the holiday.

Tomorrow doesn’t look to be too busy. I’ll get up and walk down to the radio station for the radio show early in the morning. Speaking of which, I sometimes think that people care more about the radio show that about the city council actions it features. I can’t believe the number of people I run into that tell me that they heard the show and really look forward to it each week. That is amazing on several counts: 1) they actually listened to the show rather than turning that dial, 2) so many of them don’t live in this town,  3) the topics that they heard on the show prompts them to ask questions, and 4) they will at least listen to the radio show even if they don’t attend the council meetings. I was talking to the president of the local community college the other day and he was very complementary on my use of the radio show to keep the community informed. I found it kind of amusing. I do it because I like to hear myself talk! {*grin*}

After the radio show, I’ll walk back home and get some last minute wrapping done.  Then I need to start our traditional Christmas Eve oyster stew cooking so it can simmer and be ready to eat early. There is the church service for people to attend and then the gathering of people here to snack and talk and await Santa. Any more, the number of Santa unaware kids has shrunk to a few, so I doubt Santa will show up here at the house. He’ll catch them overnight at their own houses. On Christmas day we are migrating over to mom’s house for Christmas dinner. My MIL and mom worked it out amidst themselves so Thanksgiving was at MIL’s house and Christmas Day will be a mom’s house. (It pays to live in the same town as your mom and MIL – there is some else to cook!)

Well, Molly seems to think she hears a car so L must be here. Later.

cold, meeting, water

TGIF

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My cold finally quit running my nose like a faucet, but then morphed into the ache and shiver stage.

It didn’t help any to sit for five hours (we even had lunch in to keep on working) with several others all in various stages of recovery. But at least we won’t have to do this again for at least a month. The bad news is that now the project costs have escalated to ~$24 million and 15% of our water due to additional requirements from the the EPA and CDPHE. At least we have identified some possible funding sources. If I were even more cynical, I’d believe it is all part of the mandatory water conservation plan that we have to file with the project plan. After all, if the water costs the citizens too many $$$s, they will tend to use a lot less. Probably one of the more effective conservation plans.

Today was as warm as it is going to get for the next week or more. The cold front is supposed to blow into the state starting tomorrow and settle in for Christmas. When I talked to my wife up in the mountains, she said they were predicting winds in the 40 mph range coupled with sub-zero temperatures. So the skiers and snowboarders may find it a bit chilly with wind chills in the -50 degree range over the weekend. It shouldn’t be quite so bad down here on the plains.

Tomorrow starts the college football bowl season. On the down side, I need to clean the house  for Christmas, so it may cut into my viewing pleasure a bit. On the up side, it is early enough that it isn’t the most interesting games yet either. All in all about neutral.

Off to have some hot soup and call it an early evening.