Tuesday’s trustee meeting, Oct. 28, was sparsely attended with the main focus being next year’s budget. All trustees were present with Jess Robison joining via Zoom. The consent agenda included meeting minutes, accounts payable and a special event permit for KDNK and Thunder River Theatre Company’s Halloween party — for which Chris Hassig, a KDNK employee, abstained.
During trustee updates, Erica Sparhawk floated the idea of contributing funds to Lift-Up with the looming possibility of federal food assistance ending this weekend. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk said he will speak with Lift-Up to get a sense of their needs. Christina Montemayor has participated with a coalition advising the City of Aspen and Pitkin County regarding upvalley transportation. She said they have four meetings left “to take it somewhere” and are looking at options like allowing cars to share the bus lanes for a price.
With no public comments, trustees then heard from Lyn Williams with YouthZone giving an update about that nonprofit’s work, offering counseling and restorative justice for Valley youth. Williams requested $15,000 from the Town’s general fund to support their operations, anticipating less money from Garfield County in 2026. “We’re supporting Carbondale a lot,” he said, “and we love to do it.” He emphasized that the annual cost to taxpayers of detention for one individual is $137,000, so diversion programs like YouthZone are “just a really awesome return on investment.”
YouthZone and Stepping Stones, along with Family Resource Center, have previously received a share of the tobacco tax revenue. For 2026, each had applied for a community grant from the Town, capped at $7,000. Bohmfalk suggested looking at funding these organizations again at a higher level from the tobacco tax fund (projected at $225,000 for 2026) and removing them from the community grants program.
Next, trustees discussed again applying for the Colorado Energy Office’s Local IMPACT Accelerator grant, awarding approximately $200,000 toward new policy adoption and $1.8 million for implementation. Lauren Suhrbier with Clean Energy Economy for the Region has been formulating a proposal with town staff. The application suggests 25 categories for proposals, narrowing options. A letter of intent is being drafted that could tie in long-term funding for Garfield Clean Energy, which would involve the support of other local governments. Bohmfalk requested not drawing overly on staff time unless strategically aligned with Carbondale’s goals and projects.
The 2026 budget discussion kicked off with Police Chief Kirk Wilson presenting his department’s requests. A detailed memo highlighted changes from 2025. He noted the cost of tasers and radios both increased substantially and new equipment will be phased in to offset that increase. The budget also requests more money ($25,000) for training and conferences because Colorado Mountain College has not been running its police academy lately, though it seeks to revive that this spring. Wilson asked if the Town would donate a decommissioned police vehicle “with well over 100,000 miles” to the training program.
He also gave an update about the construction of electric vehicle charging stations at Town Hall. This includes 10 designated chargers for the police department and six for public use. The police fleet will add three new all-electric cruisers this year (due next month) and three more next year for an additional $254,755. Wilson noted that electric vehicles are more expensive to upfit for police purposes given the delicate electronics. Nonetheless, these upgrades are staying under budget, he said. The Town will maintain a few gas-fueled vehicles in case a “we face a horrific winter storm that cuts power for a week,” Wilson said, or some other disaster.
Lastly, Wilson was proud to announce that School Resource Officer Arthur Fields is teaching a popular cooking class at Bridges High School. The police department budget proposal requests $1,000 for Fields to purchase ingredients to continue the program for another two semesters.
Moving on to a more general budget discussion, Chacos Park topped the list. There was disagreement among the Board on how to proceed. Consensus was that undergrounding the power lines with designated Xcel Energy funds is “a no-brainer,” in the words of Robison. Town Manager Ryan Hyland explained that fund has about $290,000 with the opportunity to borrow three years’ worth of future funds, around $45,000 per year. However, it will take a long time to replenish for a similar project.
Disagreement surrounded $500,000 budgeted for additional improvements at Chacos Park. Colin Laird said, “I don’t know why we’d start another big project” when the Parks and Recreation Department’s reserve fund is already down to around 26%. “Why not wait a year, do our capital plan, understand what other things we have to do other than upgrading a park that’s already a park?” A Town policy requires the Rec Department’s reserves be replenished back to 80% within three budget cycles. The 2026 budget draft also calls for a $500,000 transfer toward that purpose, which trustees asked be spread over three years.
“There are so many other priorities,” Ross Kribbs agreed, “not least of which is the pool.” He suggested focusing on pool operations before taking on another big project, stating “prudence does not equal failure.”
Other budget topics were adding an additional driver for the Downtowner service to cut wait times during peak hours. The total cost of WE-cycle and Downtowner for 2026 is $947,049 with Roaring Fork Transportation Authority grants covering $366,714. Laird advocated for transferring more money into the affordable housing fund, which took a $1.1 million hit to help purchase the trailer parks this year and now sits at $248,829. The draft designated $200,000, which he asked be brought to $500,000. Hyland said staff would come back with something in between.
Hyland also requested a $10,000 increase for Carbondale Arts for economic development and $20,000 for wayfinding for tourism. The Carbondale Homeless Assistance’s request for $4,000 was heard, with the trustees’ proposal to instead bring their historic amount of $1,500 up to $2,000 and transfer more mid-year if necessary.
The trustees’ next regular meeting falls on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. They will not meet then and instead make the Nov. 18 work session a regular meeting.