Council hears clean-up concerns

Council hears clean-up concerns

Nov. 16, 2000

By Gail Binkly
Journal Managing Editor

CORTEZ PARKS and Recreation Director Chris Burkett displays a Dogi-Pot dispenser, one of 10 to be put up in city parks. The dispensers contain plastic bags for pet-owners to use in disposing of their dogs’ wastes.

Cleaning up Cortez turned out to be the unofficial theme of Tuesday’s city-council meeting, as the board heard from two citizens with complaints about trash, and from Parks and Recreation Director Chris Burkett about new "Dogi-Pot" dispensers to be placed in the city’s parks.

George Compton, who lives on North Madison Street, told the council he had been trying for years to get his neighborhood cleaned up.

Some of the homeowners in the area don’t pick up their trash or mow their weeds, he said, and he has tried in vain to obtain help from the police department or City Manager Hal Shepherd.

"Some people ignore their property completely," Compton said. "They don’t mow; their trash piles up."

Shepherd said the city’s property-maintenance ordinance is "pretty lax" compared to some other cities’, but that it is enforceable. City attorney Jim Hatter said the city normally gives 20 days’ notice to offenders and if they work to clean up their property, a citation is dropped.

If they don’t cooperate, he said, the city can clean up the property and bill the owner for the work. However, that is rarely done, he said.

Council member Jim Herrick thanked Compton for bringing the problem to the board’s attention.

"From time to time a member of the community comes and opens our eyes that an ordinance isn’t working as it should be," he said. "Let us give it a try and see what we can do on a staff level."

"It hasn’t worked in three years," said Compton, adding that he would be back in a month if nothing were done.

Another city resident, Debra Sheldon, had a complaint about a different neighborhood.

She read a letter addressed to the Re-1 school board and signed by 38 other residents expressing concerns about Montezuma-Cortez High School students littering in the vicinity of South Linden, Elm, Fifth and Maple streets near the school.

"Not only are we concerned about the trash, but also the foul language, loitering, parking in front of our residence without permission, smoking, and who knows what else, as well as the speeding vehicles along our streets and alleys," the letter stated.

It suggested that all openings in the fence bordering the north boundary of the campus should be closed off.
Sheldon said she frequently saw students leaving plastic soda bottles and other debris in their wake.

"I’ve asked them to pick it up. Some kids do; some don’t," she said. "I’ve caught kids in the alley in back of my house — I don’t know what they were smoking, but they were obviously smoking something."

Other area residents have had graffiti painted on their garage and sheds, she said.

Sheldon said she was seeking the council’s support in solving the problem. Shepherd said he would talk with Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson.

Later, Burkett showed the council a "Dogi-Pot" dispenser that he hopes will solve a different clean-up problem — that of dogs leaving droppings in city parks. The heavy metal dispensers will be filled with plastic bags for owners to use to pick up their dogs’ wastes, he explained.

The city has purchased 10 dispensers at $68 apiece and will be putting them on posts in Parque de Vida, Centennial Park, City Park, and Denny Lake, according to Burkett.

"How high on the pole do you put them so the dogs can get to them?" quipped Herrick.

"We’ll have different sizes for different dogs," Burkett replied.

In other business, the council:

Voted 5-0 to approve a conditional-use permit for a 6,000-square-foot medical clinic on the southwest corner of the intersection of Alamosa and North Dolores Road. The clinic will be operated by Dr. Hope Barkhurst.
Voted 4-0, with Herrick recusing himself, to approve a new hotel and restaurant liquor license for a Mexican restaurant, Tortilla’s, to be opened at 1740 E. Main.
Adopted an ordinance on first reading, also on a 5-0 vote, that sets the city’s 2001 budget.
A public hearing on the budget will take place Nov. 28, and copies of the budget are available from the city and the library.
"If anybody has a complaint about local government, this is the time to voice it," Herrick said, urging the citizenry to examine the budget and attend the hearing. "We’re not perfect and they might pick up on something that we don’t see."
Unanimously approved a three-year extension of development rights to Jim Kreutzer for the Southern Bluffs Addition, a 245-lot subdivision south of Cortez, and approved an amended plat for the subdivision.
The amended plat expands the right of way on Seventh Street, explained zoning inspector Jeff Reinhart. It also shows a shorter city street within the subdivision and improves an intersection at Seventh and Madison, he said.
Voted 5-0 to accept bids from U-Save Auto Rental and Enterprise Rent-a-Car to occupy the two counter spaces at the Cortez Municipal Airport. The companies were the highest bidders out of four bids received, explained assistant airport manager Russ Machen. U-Save is already at the airport, but Enterprise will be replacing Budget. The current contracts expire Dec. 31, Machen said.
Considered a draft ordinance renewing the city’s franchise agreement with Greeley Gas Company. The current franchise expires Jan. 28, 2001, Shepherd said. He recommended renewal for a 10-year period rather than the 20 years that Greeley would prefer.
Herrick asked whether Greeley, as part of the renewal process, would clean up, paint and landscape its regulator station on Montezuma Avenue. Greeley representative Kevin Kerrigan said the company was looking into that, but he didn’t believe the clean-up should be part of the ordinance.
The ordinance will now come before the council for a first reading.
Appointed MCHS seniors Josh Curtis and Daniel Puls to be student representatives on the city council, and seniors Jason Greene and Kenneth Pratt to be representatives on Planning and Zoning.