All trustees were present for the Oct. 14 meeting which kicked off the budgeting process on the board level, with staff laboring diligently behind the scenes.
A quickly-approved consent agenda included: meeting minutes; accounts payable; a liquor license renewal for Phat Thai; special event permits for 5Point Film’s “SUCK with PaddyO” at the Crystal Theatre on Oct. 16 and the Crystal Theatre Alliance’s own “Rocky Horror Picture Show” fundraiser on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31; Nicole Rom’s joining the Environmental Board; a $2,700 contract with Colorado Concrete for an ADA-friendly concrete pad around a drinking fountain at Miners Park; a resolution reaffirming the Town of Carbondale support for protecting the Thompson Divide; a construction contract with All Around Property Maintenance Inc. for irrigation and landscaping work at the Thompson House for $28,100.
Lynn Kirchner stood during the general public comments portion to give an update about Carbondale Homeless Assistance, stating their goal this fall is to raise $10,000. She told the stories of longtime locals who have fallen on hard times and mentioned how much more expensive lodging people temporarily has become.
A Main Street resident living near the Tiny Pine restaurant said, “My neighbors and I have had routine issues with parking around this area,” describing driveways being blocked by restaurant patrons. Town Manager Ryan Hyland explained that when a contractor was striping spaces in that area, no-parking signs were removed by someone. He said the contractor will return by the end of the year.
The first action item was an extension for public improvements at the new ANB Bank site, currently under construction. While most improvements will be completed by the Oct. 31 deadline, the applicant requested until July 31 for landscaping and sidewalk work. This was unanimously granted.
Next, Roaring Fork School District (RFSD) Superintendent Dr. Anna Cole presented on the Town’s tobacco sales tax, requesting that the funds continue to bolster mental health support in RFSD schools in partnership with the Aspen Hope Center. She announced the district is ineligible to reapply for a state School Health Professionals grant which may require a reduction in the number of school-based mental/behavioral health staff overall. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk, a RFSD employee, recused himself from the discussion.
Trustees were then presented with paperwork for the combined purchase of the Aspen-Basalt and Mountain Valley mobile home parks with an intergovernmental agreement between Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Pitkin County, Eagle County and Snowmass Village. The West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC) is administering the funds between two resident co-ops. The Mountain Valley Co-op will receive $4 million while the Aspen-
Basalt Co-op will receive $12 million. This was approved unanimously. According to WMRHC Executive Director April Long, the price of the Aspen-Basalt park was “much higher,” $26.5 million compared with $15.5 million for the Mountain Valley park, and a larger subsidy was needed there to keep lot leases affordable. Fundraising is ongoing to keep lots rents at both parks as low as possible.
Trustees received their monthly Aquatics Center update from Wember, the owner’s rep on the project. As revealed during last month’s update, project completion is now anticipated for spring of 2026, which necessitates contract extensions for architect Land+Shelter and Wember, around $26,000 and $39,604 respectively. This will draw from the owner’s contingency which the trustees were assured remains strong.
“As long as the bottom line is the same and the contingency is accurate,” stated Bohmfalk. “Thank you for the update.”
The topic of a treatment plant project was complicated by an expansion in scope. Upgrading a programmable logic control blew the lowest bid nearly $400,000 above the engineer’s preliminary cost estimate of $530,000. Trustees were hesitant to approve a $922,901 contract with Excavation Services despite Assistant Public Works Director Scott Wenning suggesting staff could value engineer the cost down by about $300,000. In order to avoid stalling the project, Hyland was authorized to sign the contract after negotiations. Wenning assured, worst case scenario, there is sufficient budget in the reserves to cover the full cost.
Finally, trustees reviewed a preliminary 2026 budget. Bohmfalk applauded Hyland and Finance Director Ola Verploegh for getting up to speed with staff turnover, a gap between finance directors and a major software update. “It’s an incredible amount of work that we have before us,” he said.
Among the bigger items discussed: revenue is projected to be flat with the 2025 budget while expenses are currently $16,950,861, or 12.3% over 2025; payroll costs are increasing with a 3% cost of living adjustment and 11.3% increase in health care premiums; trustees expressed a preference for delaying Chacos Park renovations to spend that money elsewhere; discussions are underway with RFTA regarding the future of the Downtowner, WE-cycle and the Carbondale Circulator; Artspace will return before the end of the year to talk about Town Center; continued tactical urbanism experiments, rebranded as “community safety” by Trustee Colin Laird, are desired on more neighborhood streets.
Laird noted that if two local tax questions pass this November — Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District’s Ballot Issue 7D and Confluence Early Childhood Development Service District’s Ballot Issue 7A — that will bring sales tax up to 10% which may affect the Town’s odds for passing their own sales tax increase in a future election.