Hotchkiss’s Free Garage Water Tap Ordinance Debated Further – Water Fund Loaning to the Sewer Fund

Hotchkiss’s Free Garage Water Tap Ordinance Debated Further

  Water Fund Loaning to the Sewer Fund

Hotchkiss Town Council

February 12, 2014

Present: Mayor pro-tem – Carrie Wingfield, Dustyn Foster, Jim Roberts, Larry Jakubiak

and Tom Wills (this reporter). Absent: Lindee Cantrell and Mayor Wendell Koontz. 

On the agenda for the Hotchkiss Town Council February 12 meeting was an item entitled: Ordinance 2015-2 Possible Adoption – Water and Sewer Ordinance Amendment.  In fact the ordinance distributed to the trustees for consideration concerned only allowing the expansion of residential tap use to include garages and other accessory buildings. There was no mention of sewer service in the ordinance although by Town ordinance and health regulations sewer would need to also be extended to dispose of waste from bathrooms and sinks. Out of town expanded use would need to be, at a minimum, connected to a septic system.

Trustee Tom Wills (this reporter) pointed out that the water ordinance revision was very vague; setting no limits on the number of fixture that could be installed in an accessory building, and referred to the expansion as a “tap” possibly causing confusion in the future. He noted that while the Town of Cedaredge allowed plumbing expansion of an existing tap to garage that is used to house vehicles (the language used in the Hotchkiss draft), the Town of Paonia allows an accessory building to have water as long as it doesn’t have a kitchen, the presence of which is frequently used to define a “living unit.”  Each living unit within the Town is required to have a separate paid water and sewer tap. He suggested that kitchens be specifically precluded in allowing the free expansion of water use to an accessory building.

Trustee Larry Jakubiak said that he would never vote for a version that didn’t allow kitchens. Wills pointed out that a kitchen, plus water and sewer, would equal a living unit and thus would require a paid water and sewer tap.  The intention of the ordinance was to allow those with a garage or workshop to have a place to wash up or use the bathroom without going to their homes, and to install such basics without having to purchase a separate water tap.  One drawback of allowing such expansion would be that it could be facilitating the underground conversion of garages to living units at some time in the future

Jakubiak said that he would vote for the draft version.  Wills said that he saw no need to change the present ordinance since the only issues that had come up about accessory water use had come from out-of-town users, including a retiring coal mine official, Doug Nolte, who is currently building a very large shop at his home on West Maple about a quarter mile from town. The ordinance was instigated by Mayor Wendell Koontz, who is also employed in the local coal industry, as is trustee Dustyn Foster. Nolte previously offered to purchase a $10,000 water tap for his new shop but objected to running a new dedicated water line at least a half mile to the main. Wills has suggested that the latter could be dealt with through a variance allowing a connection to the existing line. Jakubiak and Wills were both of the opinion that allowing service extension to accessory buildings should be a right extended only to in-town residents.

The Council will look again at the ordinance and hopefully a matching proposal regarding sewer, at the March Council meeting.  Members were urged to get their comments in to the Town as soon as possible.

Financing for Sewer Line Project Moves Ahead

The Trustees approved to motions related to the financing for the $2 million sewer project. Town Attorney Bo Nerlin said there had been discussion among staff and the auditor about a 2003 Bank of the West loan related to the sewer plant with a balance of $425,000 and an interest rate of 4.9%. That rate was supposed to have been adjusted this year but was not, Nerlin said. Nerlin’s office contacted Bank of the West and has gotten the rate reduced to 4.115% including a credit of about $1,800.  Nerlin and the Town auditor, Pete Blair, recommended that the Town’s water fund loan the sewer fund the amount of the balance of the outstanding loan in order to pay it off. The sewer fund would then pay back the water fund with interest.

Then in relation to the proposed Colorado Water and Power Authority loan the Trustees approved a letter of engagement for the hiring of bond counsel.

Official motions related to both paying off the Bank of the West loan and the items regarding the CWRP loan (between $900,000 and $1 million) will be considered at the March meeting.  CWRP is offering a grant (debt forgiveness) of some $450, 761 according to Nerlin and Town Engineer Joann Fagan.

The trustees also approved the drafting of an ordinance authorizing the intra-fund loan from water to sewer.  Thus the financing for the sewer line project would consist of $400,000 plus from the sewer fund, $450,761 in a CWRP grant and a CWRP loan of up to $1 million.

Other discussion and actions:

The Trustees approve the mayor sending a letter in support of the SGI Bull Mountain project with all due diligence, oversight and federal regulation with special extra diligence being paid to requiring redundant measures to prevent the contents of a breach waste produced water pond from proceeding into the drainage leading to the Paonia Reservoir and local irrigation water.

The Trustees donated $150 to the Hotchkiss Grad Night Party, an annual all-night affair intended to allow graduating seniors to celebrate while avoiding negative consequences.

The Trustees approved a special events liquor license for a Valentines event at the Hotchkiss Elks.  According to Elks representative Bob Kapus the event included a dinner, candy auction and a raffle of a “really nice” Browning rifle and a “38 Special just fine for concealed carry.”

Mary Simmons of the North Fork Creative Coalition (NFCC) and the Hotchkiss Downtown Improvement Committee reported that the flower planting planning for the 2015 is moving ahead. The NFCC will adopt one of the larger downtown planters.