Too Much Water Further Damages Paonia Water Tank – Marijuana Compliance Checks Being Performed

Too Much Water Further Damages Paonia Water Tank

Marijuana Compliance Checks Being Performed

By Thomas Wills

Paonia Town Council

August 11, 2015

Present:  Mayor Pro-tem Charles Stewart, Suzanne Watson, Eric Goold, Amber Kleinman, Dave Bradford and Ross King.  Absent: Mayor Neal Schwieterman.  Staff: Town Manager/Clerk – Jane Berry, Deputy Clerk – Corinne Ferguson, PWD- Travis Loberg, Finance Officer – Cindy Jones, Police – Neil Ferguson and Town Attorney – David Marek.

The August 11 Paonia Council meeting was, on the surface, a sedate affair with the only new business agenda items two actions related to approving the upcoming Mountain Harvest Festival and the setting of a future-visioning work session for the coming Saturday, August 15. That meeting/ workshop will be open to public but not to public comment or participation.  Former Delta County Administrator Susan Hansen will facilitate the workshop which will run from 8 a.m. until 12 noon.  Town Manager Berry asked the Council to “bring your imaginations,” and be prepared to thing big about future spending priorities.

Water Tank Water Damage

In an issue rife with irony it appears that the recently repaired 1 million gallon lower water tank would be able to be put on-line and filled for about three months according to Manager Berry.  To recap: When Berry arrived the Town had arranged to have a new steel roof placed on the tank to replace the old, collapsing, wooden one.  Berry immediately slowed the process and had an engineering assessment done of the tank itself.  It turned out that there were problems to the structure that needed fixed and the tank needed a sealed lining.  That was done and then new roof installed.

Then 2015 irrigation season and El Nino driven extra rainy season, possibly amplified by climate change, began. Seeping groundwater, apparently from nearby irrigation, augmented by the rain, began to damage the tank, which is partially inset into the ground. The new liner was damaged by water coming in behind it. According to Public Works Director Travis Loberg, the pressure of the ground water and swelling soils at one point pressed upward on the tank walls and in turn into the new roof structure, which in turn pressed inward resulting in additional wall/ support damage. According to Trustee Dave Bradford, who inspected the status with County Commission Mark Roeber; trenches have been dug to drain the offending water away and into German Creek but a permanent solution is still being figured out.

The end result is that too much water has resulted in a need to re-repair the tank, with significant extra costs, and has delayed its use leaving the Town with only one functioning storage tank, the 2 million gallon upper tank where the new water treatment plant is being installed.

In a related issue it was noted that, in a water conservation measure, the Town has not been using domestic water to irrigate Lee’s Court Park.

Audit to Cost Extra

Manager Berry informed the Council that the 2014 audit being performed by new firm Rubin Brown of Denver will cost about an additional $10,000 on top of the contract amount of $28,500.  A representative of Rubin-Brown will present the draft audit at a work session of the Council at 3 p.m. on Thursday, August 27.

Rubin-Brown was hired at the urging of Berry after she expressed no confidence in the previous auditor, Pete Blair and Associates, who has been doing the work for many years including during the period that former Town Finance Officer, Kristin Chesnik, was embezzling some half a million dollars from Town coffers.

Town Police Doing Marijuana Compliance Checks

Lead Officer, Neil Ferguson, of the Paonia Police Department reported that the department has been busy with incidents including performing marijuana growing compliance checks, mostly triggered by citizen complaints.  He said that during such checks the growers are informed of the law and, if need be, are given 10 days to come into compliance. He said that most people are cooperative. Compliance includes having no more than the legally allowed number of plants, which need to be enclosed in an area out of view of the public that can be locked and is fully enclosed including a covered top.  Ferguson said that State law is unclear about what the enclosure needs to be made of.  Many jurisdictions allow chain-link or something similar for outdoor marijuana enclosures.

The Town has a new part-time female police officer, Kathy Patterson, who is currently in a period of supervised training.

Other Discussion and actions:

The sidewalk project on 4^th Street is moving along quickly. Trustee Bradford noted that next year’s project will involve come conflict with existing older trees that have damaged the walks.  The options include tree removal or bridging or detouring around the roots.

The painting on the street in front of the elementary school will be done on the weekend of August 21-23.

The Trustees agreed to have the Town haul in a load of wood chips for the area in front of the gazebo to keep the dust down during the remaining Pickin’ in the Park performances and Mountain Harvest Festival.

The issue of the Hawk’s Haven road may be returning. It was reported that a letter sent by the Town to Hawk’s Haven LLC informing the homeowners association that the deadline for access road improvements to be made had passed, was returned to the Town unopened. Principles with Hawk’s Haven told the Town last year, after trying unsuccessfully to renegotiate an agreement to improve an access road, that Hawk’s Haven LLC no longer existed as a legal entity and thus the contract was unenforceable. The Town will consult with a land use attorney to determine their next step in the matter.

Hawk’s Haven is as out of town subdivision, north east of the town, which as part of their County subdivision process agreed to improve the upper portion of the in-town road through Creek Vista as a primary access rather than all traffic going through the Pan American subdivision. Developers said last year that they cannot afford to improve the road to the contract/Town standards.

Kathy Greer of 505 Box Elder asked the status of getting a neighbor to remove non-functioning vehicles and junk.  She was told that compliance actions are underway but take time.

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