Though admittedly not the most romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day, Basalt Town Council convened on the evening of Feb. 14 to discuss a series of minor ordinances. Notably, Mayor Bill Kane was absent, and instead the meeting was presided over by Town Councilor David Knight. As might be expected on Valentine’s Day, the meeting proceeded with little public participation.
Knight in his opening remarks thanked Billy Grange and Pitkin County Open Space for the experimental cross country skiing trail west of the Grace Shehi Bike Park. The trail is not a permanent fixture, and is in place to test how the soil and the snowpack will react to continued use.
A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to Town Manager Ryan Mahoney’s report. To begin, Mahoney presented a letter to council in response to Governor Polis’s recent State of the State address, in which he criticized local government regulations for exacerbating Colorado’s affordable housing crisis. Some of Polis’s proposals in the address included state preemptions over local zoning policies and ordinances specific to affordable housing.
The letter stressed that the town has already placed consistent focus on the housing crisis, and that the best support for local resolution of the crisis would be providing financial resources, not overriding control. The letter also argued that if the state took control over local development, the values outlined in Basalt’s Master Plan would likely be endangered.
“These things for us are ones that we want to take seriously, have a seat at the table in the conversation, and make sure that if things are coming that they’re well thought out and the legislature isn’t just making broad brush strokes that have serious consequences,” Mahoney said. The letter was informally approved by the council to be sent to Polis.
Mahoney also announced that sewer line construction will begin around the Midland Avenue bridge next week. The project, led by the Sanitation District, will take place from Feb. 20 to April 5 — 6 weeks of construction in total. The construction on the sewer line will close the section of Midland Avenue between the Basalt Regional Library and Two Rivers Road from 7am to 5 pm on weekdays. Outside of this time frame, the section of road will be restricted to one lane of light-controlled traffic. Though disruptive, the project is time-sensitive as it anticipates the larger-scale development that will occur on Midland Avenue later this year.
The first official motion from the council was the interviewing and unanimous appointment of longtime Basalt-area resident Ligia Bonilla to the position of Parks, Open Space, and Trails (POST) commissioner. Bonilla is currently involved with the Roaring Fork Leadership Academy and spoke to her dedication to being a voice for the Latino community in POST. Congratulations to Bonilla on her new position!
Up next was the second reading of an ordinance that would approve a subdivision of a property on East Sopris Drive into three different lots. The ordinance also included provisions to improve the driveway into the properties, and just as it was in the previous meeting, the application was approved unanimously.
The last order of business was to repeal and replace the town’s Personnel Code and Employee Handbook. One notable change was the removal of the term “unlawful” in the sections previously titled “Unlawful Harassment”, as the town wants to make it clear that no harassment is to take place of any kind. Next, the town eliminated the voluntary annual sick leave buy back program, instead replacing it with a total reimbursement of all unused sick time upon termination of employment. With this new policy, every four hours of unused sick time will yield one hour of pay. Additionally, paid vacation time was updated, both shortening the brackets on how many years of service yielded what level of vacation time accumulation, and increasing vacation time in all brackets by a minor degree.
The biggest new item added to the handbook was the Spanish Proficiency Stipend, adding to the pay of any town employees who aren’t required to speak Spanish, but might be asked for assistance with translation on the job. Most other changes to the document were generally minor, many being date and page updates. These new updates passed unanimously.
Though perhaps not a record time, the meeting was very brief, ending in just about an hour. With any luck, all council members made it home in time for candlelit dinners.