Council defends ordinance during short meeting

Council defends ordinance during short meeting

Sept. 13, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

Members of Cortez City Council brought their regularly scheduled meeting to order with heavy hearts following a day of tragedy Tuesday.

The somber group, led by Mayor Joe Keck, paused for a moment of silence out of respect for the thousands of lives lost in the multiple airplane crashes in New York, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

In a 20-minute meeting, the council swiftly sailed through an abbreviated version of the original agenda, unanimously approving all items on the consent calendar, ordinances up for public hearings and resolutions before adjourning.

An earlier scheduled council workshop Tuesday was canceled, Keck said.

Two public hearings brought no discussion on either side regarding the adoption of a manufactured-housing installations ordinance and the addition of a .55 percent city sales-tax initiative to the November ballot to fund a proposed Cortez family recreation center.

Under new business, the council unanimously approved a resolution prohibiting the use of skateboards, in-line skates, roller skates, scooters and bicycles where prohibited by signs at the library, the city tennis courts and the visitors center.

The resolution stirred the only significant discussion throughout the course of the meeting when council member Cheryl Baker commented that she had read in the Journal’s court blotter that a skateboarder had been fined $268, plus several hours of community service, for skating on the Cortez Middle School tennis courts.

She compared the harsh penalty to that of a drunk driver who received a lesser fine.

Keck expressed some citizens’ concerns that a recently passed ordinance allowing the council to set policies on city property without conducting public hearings was giving the council too much power.

City attorney Jim Hatter came to the defense of the ordinance, saying that it was a "routine" practice and he was confident it would "withstand any kind of scrutiny."

The last order of business was a policy "set forth by the Government Finance Officers Association to account for capital-type items more efficiently and to better reflect the values of the City’s capital-type assets."

The policy passed unanimously and Keck adjourned the meeting following a round of comments and condolences for America’s tragic losses.

"I think it’s time to head to our homes to be with our families at this time," Keck said.