All members of the Carbondale Board of Trustees were present for Tuesday’s meeting with the exception of Ross Kribbs.
Following the recognition of the students of the month, the board passed the consent agenda, which included a special event permit for an upcoming student art show at Colorado Mountain College’s Carbondale campus, a liquor license renewal for Ming’s Cafe, appointing Lesia Rehl to the Public Arts Commission and accounts payable.
Mayor Ben Bohmfalk suggested a special work session with the Colorado Department of Transportation in early February to discuss Highway 133 improvements; and Mayor Pro Tem Erica Sparhawk shouted out the Roaring Fork girls basketball team for winning the annual Brenda Patch tournament.
Christina Montemayor gave an update on the newly-formed Latino Advisory Board, which convened on Monday, Dec. 9 for a training session where four of the five members were present. Montemayor said the advisory board discussed the upcoming meeting in January, where it plans to nominate a president and vice president. The meetings are conducted in Spanish, which Montemayor said is “really neat.” The advisory board plans to meet once a month to start out.
Town Manager Lauren Gister added that the training aspect, filling members in on how local government works — from agendas to motions — really pays off. The next advisory board meeting is on Jan. 13 at 6:30pm at the Rec Center.
Gister added that the Town’s newsletter has “really started to grow” in popularity, with over 450 subscribers. She also reminded the board that the Town is hosting the Chamber’s Business After Hours event at Alpine Bank on Dec. 18 to talk about the pool.
Then came the time for outgoing Town Clerk Jessica Markham to swear in her successor, Patrick Thibault. That came with the passing of a coveted trucker’s hat branded “Town Clerk,” which Markham quipped “has gotten me into some trouble, and also gotten me out of trouble.”
Markham has been with the Town since February of 2023, but Gister said it’s like she’s been there forever. “She jumped in, stepped up, made connections [and] brought a fresh sense of humor to the office,” said the town manager. “She’s always willing to step in and help wherever needed … She will be very missed.”
Aquatics Center
From there, the board went into its first action item of the evening: budgeting for the new Aquatics Center. While the conversation got a little murky with numbers being conflated with a Town policy, the board did reach a funding decision regarding the new pool.
The board agreed that they’d like to see all of the add alternates (detailed in the previous Carbondale Report) included, which could amount to $563,089 out of the Town’s pocket. However, that number from the Town budget does not account for the capital campaign and projected grant funds that will offset the cost.
Parks and Rec Director Eric Brendlinger conceded that much of the information the Town’s finance director, Greg Hansen, had to work with had only reached his desk recently and Brendlinger commended his efforts.
“He’s helped me kind of tackle how to fund the pool as designed. I mean that’s the goal here, right?“ said Brendlinger. “To figure out a responsible way to fund the pool as we designed it, as the public told us that they wanted it.”
Back in November 2023, Andrea Korber with Land + Shelter, the contracted design firm, “came to the board with the unsurprising, but unfortunate, news that the pool was going to cost more than we anticipated and that $8 million was not going to be enough — the bond money,” Gister summarized. At the time, the board decided to transfer $1.6 million from the General Fund to the Recreation Sales and Use Tax Fund (RSUT) to help cover costs, while also balancing other needs, such as Chacos Park.
Staff’s recommendation was to transfer back half of the $1.6 million. Gister suggested that the board can then consider refunding the remainder in 2025, after fundraising numbers become more clear.
Town policy dictates that the RSUT balance should be at or above 80% of the budget at the end of the year, which is roughly $1.8 million. If the board decided to transfer back the $1.6 million to the General Fund, the projected year-end RSUT balance would be $1,164,846. Therefore, the board voted to transfer $800,000 back to the General Fund, which should result in a $1,964,846 RSUT balance at the end of 2025. The difference can be used to help fund all of the add alternates.
All were in favor, with the exception of trustees Jess Robison and Colin Laird.
Budget ruling delayed
“For the 2025 Budget, combined expenses for all funds total $41,003,082 and the estimated fund balance for all funds is $30,756,255,” a staff memo to the board detailed.
“When you look at this budget you can see most of our large increases are due to the results of our salary survey,” said Hansen. “Additionally, we have seen substantial increases in health insurance costs — about 13.5% this year and an additional 13% last year.” He continued, “We did add a 1% sales tax increase above the 2024 projection.”
Sparhawk suggested adding $20,000 to the Disposable Bag Fund for a grant program to reimburse events in town for waste-diversion costs. Bohmfalk added that that fund can also be used for other purposes, such as increasing hazardous waste-diversion days.
Laird said that he would like to see $100,000 in the Housing Fund go towards West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition’s Good Deeds buy-down program. He noted that two deed-restricted houses have been purchased in Carbondale as a result of that program.
Approval of the 2025 Budget was postponed, in order to incorporate those changes, to Thursday, Dec. 12 at 4pm over Zoom.
