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It has been my pleasure to have served the City of Salida, its Mayor and Council and citizens as Interim City Administrator for the past four months. When I took this job in July, I never realized how special a place Salida is and how much the residents work at making it a great community. I have enjoyed my time as Interim Administrator, but part of my job was to help the Mayor and City Council find my replacement and hire a permanent City Administrator who will help lead the City for years to come.

We have narrowed the search for the City Administrator to six semi-finalists. We have asked these applicants to answer a series of questions posed to them and to have those answers on video. On Thursday November 20^th the Mayor and Council reviewed these videos and will make a decision as to the finalists for the position. The names of the finalists will be made public.

The City will invite the finalists to Salida on December 4^th to meet the City staff and to get a tour of the City and all of its facilities. That evening the City will host a “meet and greet” reception for the applicants. The social gathering will be open to the public and it will present a tremendous opportunity for all of the citizens of Salida to meet the City Administrator applicants and to let their Council members know their thoughts. The next morning the Mayor and City Council will have formal interviews with the administrator candidates. These interviews, as well as input from the City Staff and Salida citizens will form the basis for the selection of the new Salida City Administrator. This will be one of the most important decisions your mayor and Council members will make as it will determine the chief officer for the City for years to come. The new City Administrator should be on board and performing the duties of the office by early January.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mayor and City Council for giving me the tremendous opportunity to be the Interim City Administrator for Salida. I would further like to thank them, all City employees and mostly all of the citizens of Salida for their support and kindness.

With winter fast approaching, I thought I would take this time and explain some of the City’s snow removal policies.  The first one I would like to explain is the policy for clearing snow from sidewalks and footpaths.  The Municipal Code requires the tenant, occupant or owner of any real property to remove snow and ice from the sidewalks or footpaths adjacent to their property within four (4) hours of a snowfall.  If the snowfall is between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., then the Code requires the snow to be removed by 10:00 a.m.

Our community has many people that prefer to walk and bike so it really important for each of us to our part to keep the sidewalks safe for pedestrians.  Remember that many of our children walk to school too and I believe that all of us want them to be safe.  We at the Public Works are not exempt from this rule either as we are required to clear the snow from the sidewalks around the parks and city owned facilities.  We use help from the Department of Corrections to help clear the snow when available but many times we have to remove the snow with our own forces.  Unfortunately if the snowstorm is still producing snow or there were large amounts of snow our crew could still be clearing streets, as that is our first priority.

The second policy that I wanted to explain is our policy for snow removal on City Streets.  It is the Public Works Policy to start plowing snow once there is an accumulation of four (4) inches of snow.  We generally continue plowing until the snowfall has stopped and until every street in the City has been plowed.  We do not plow the alleys.

Then we turn our attention to physically removing the snow from the downtown area and continue around to the post office, library and at times the schools.  When we are clearing the snow we will close the block we are working on to traffic.  We will post a truck at each end of the block and direct people to detour.  We move fairly quickly and the blocks are usually opened back up within thirty minutes.

The last item I would like to discuss is our sanding policy. We use a mixture of salt and sand and start to sand as we plow snow.  On the snowfalls of less than four inches we also will sand.  We start in the downtown areas and school zones, then we branch out to the more high traffic areas and finally into the residential areas.  We continue to sand as needed.

If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Public Works at (719) 539-6257.

Ten or fifteen years ago the downtown was more of a ghost town than the vibrant focus of the community. Riverside Park, the SteamPlant and the whitewater park are helping to bring locals and visitors downtown, but it is the renewed interest in the historic buildings that is most exciting. Over the last few years many owners have invested in maintenance or rehabilitation of their buildings and the results are commendable.

An attractive and well-maintained downtown is a place where people feel safe and desire to spend time and money. It can be frustrating for owners who do maintain their buildings, that adjacent owners leave their building vacant or allow them to deteriorate. In addition, proper maintenance of structures reduces the risk of damage to buildings and the high cost of major repairs. It is for these reasons that the city adopted the 2006 Property Maintenance Code, effective January 1, 2008.

During the month of October 2008 the City’s code enforcement division conducted a sidewalk survey of all the multi-family and commercial structures in the historic downtown area. In the coming months the remaining multi-family and commercial structures in the city will be analyzed for compliance with the 2006 IPMC.

Many of the violations to the code that have been documented are cosmetic or require minor repairs to decorative cornices, masonry walls or windows. Where violations of the code have been identified, property owners will be notified beginning in mid-November.  Due to the nature of the repairs, many of which will require paint and other weather-dependent repairs, property owners will be given 6 months from the first notice of the offense to come into compliance and make proper repairs.

For someone who is unfamiliar with maintenance of historic structures, it can be intimidating to get a notice that maintenance work must be done.  The city is dedicated to working with property owners to bring their property into compliance.  If painting or repairs are going to be made, they should be done properly so that the work is long lasting and done in a way that honors the building. Too often in our culture, we turn to the quick and cheap solution, but our buildings downtown were built to last and can stand for another 100 years if maintenance is done properly.

Historic Salida, Inc and the City are planning workshops for this winter that will provide education for both owners and tradespeople about the proper techniques for maintenance of buildings in the historic downtown. These workshops will be free and open to the public.  Since owners will have 6 months to plan for repairs, we hope they, local tradespeople and interested citizens will take advantage of these workshops to learn the skills to do proper repairs that will last.

More information about the workshops sponsored by Historic Salida, Inc will be available in the coming months. If you would like to be included in updates on the scheduling of these workshops please contact City Hall and we will be sure to keep you informed. Together we can ensure that our downtown continues to thrive.

At their last meeting, the City Council set November 17th as the date for a public hearing on the 2009 City budget. In the meantime, City staff and council will hold a number of work sessions to review and refine the preliminary budget numbers. We’ll be discussing the underlying estimates and assumptions in an effort to ensure the most important activities and critical projects receive funding. With current financial resources, some tough decisions need to be made over the next several weeks to bring the budget into balance for the next fiscal year.

For a little background information, the City is required to follow rules set by the state in the Colorado Revised Statutes regarding budget deadlines and a public hearing process. Council must be presented with a budget by October 15. They are required to set a public hearing date, publish specific information and then ultimately approve the budget before the end of the current fiscal year.

We welcome the participation and input from other residents regarding the use of budget funds, sources of revenue, planning assumptions, prioritization criteria and other considerations that determine the City’s budget.

Planning assumptions will include the rate of expected inflation for goods and services purchased by the City, the increase or decrease in sales tax revenue, volume of the demand for municipal services that users must pay to receive, future interest rates, etc. Based upon these assumptions and the level of fixed costs in the budget, staff will make recommendations to council about the variable or discretionary areas of spending. Priorities are based on a number of factors – public safety, benefits to the community, avoidance of future capital spending and future cost savings to name a few.

This year, the future seems to have more uncertainties than usual. Volatility in the capital markets and economic uncertainties make the budgeting process difficult. For example, will the economy adversely affect Salida’s sales tax revenue or will current trends continue? In the General Fund, the most significant single source of City funds is sales tax revenue, 44% of which is used for capital projects, expenditures, and related debt payments. The remaining sales tax revenue helps to support basic government activities including public safety services provided by the police and fire departments, operations of the municipal court system, maintenance of streets and other public works activities, planning / community development, recreation offerings, and administration. The outcome of ballot question 2A will also significantly affect the final budget for basic infrastructure needs just as 2B will affect future spending levels for various recreation attractions and amenities. (If you are not familiar with the tax measures on the ballot, please call City Hall at 539-4555 or visit the City’s website for facts to evaluate before casting your vote.)

Every year, the City receives requests from members of the public and local organizations to fund various projects. We hear lots of great ideas. Unfortunately, there are more good uses for public funds than the money to go around.

The upcoming council work sessions are open to the public. Dates and times will be posted at City Hall and published in the paper. The public hearing is the officially required forum required by statute to receive input. However, residents can also call City Hall or email staff anytime.

Expenditures approved in the budget should reflect the values and priorities of the community. That is why we want to hear your voice about what is important to you. It is our goal to use all resources for the greatest long-term good of the community.

The move to a new location from City Hall to the Old Hospital is an opportunity for the Planning Department to offer a higher quality level of customer service for many reasons. We are excited to have a new location to house our growing department. We have three staff members in the planning department working in very tight quarters. Our department has run out of room for the storage of our property and project files. We have been lucky to have to cooperation of other departments to allow us to store files in other buildings. Unfortunately our lack of space does not allow us to conduct private meetings with land owners within our office. We currently make due by having meetings at our crowded office desks. Lastly, the current council chambers, which is used for City Council, Planning Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, Board of Adjustments, and Municipal Court, does not allow for enough space to allow for needed public participation in community matters. The over crowding, lack of space, and outdated building are not sufficient for our growing community.

The new office location will allow the Planning Department to have a great space for each of its staff members. Our Department will be able to be self containing with our project, property, and mapping files. The new space will have a conference room which will be utilized by our department to provide the best possible customer service to community members on planning and development matters. The new larger council chamber will be a fantastic asset to our department and the community because it will allow for larger community turnouts and greater community involvement in community matters. Lastly, our department is excited to be housed under one roof with other City of Salida departments and Chaffee County.

Kathy Davis-Peter, Utilities / Vital Statistics

As a city employee I am very pleased and excited that the employees of city hall and the police department are able to combine together and obtain more space.  It is such an exciting time for the city, knowing that we are going to be able to serve the community in a much more effective manner.

One aspect of my job is to issue birth and death certificates. The state has specific requirements about confidentiality and security around the on-line system we use and it’s difficult to comply with those requirements in our current setting. I also hope to have a work environment where it’s possible, when needed, to have some separation from all the other activity going on around the office. For example, I could be more efficient when I print out utility bills, process payments and update accounting spreadsheets with a better work layout in the new building.

On a personal note, I am very pleased to know that the city can utilize such a beautiful building and maintain its character.

Janella Martinez, City Clerk

We have outgrown our space.  When we first remodeled the facility that City Hall currently occupies (now nearly six years ago) a conference room was included.  Due to lack of space, the conference room has been turned into the City Administrator’s office. The City Clerk has meetings that can contain personal and confidential information.  The space that I currently occupy is not private so the other employees and any citizen who might be up front can hear those confidential conversations.

The clerk’s space is located next to the city employee and City Council mailbox, which can sometimes be a gathering spot for conversations.  This lack of privacy makes it difficult to accomplish the detailed work required by the position.

Designated off street parking will really be great!  Due to the lack of off street parking at our current location, I have personally received several parking tickets. It isn’t always possible to get a parking spot on the right side of the street, and I can assure you that the two-hour limit does apply to City employees who didn’t take the time, or just forget to move their cars because they are too busy working.

Mike Copp, Interim City Administrator

The main advantage to moving into the Hospital Building is that we will have much needed space for employees and storage. It is important to the employee that they not have to be in tight surroundings and for their own mental health, be able to have room for themselves.

It will be good to have the Police department in the same building as the rest of city Hall as well as the City council Chambers.

We will be able to have adequate meeting spaces which will improve efficiencies.

Sue Mick, Municipal Court Clerk

From the Municipal Court’s perspective, moving to the Old Hospital offers an opportunity to enjoy more space:

1. Parking for defendants when we have court, or when they come to the office with payments or questions about their court cases.

2. One location to direct defendants to whether appearing in court or seeing the court clerk on non-court days.  Currently the courtroom and the clerk’s office are 2 blocks apart.

3. Privacy: while crimes committed against the community are a matter of public record, the vast majority of defendants are people who have made a mistake and are mad, or embarrassed, or just plain uninformed about how the judicial system works.  Public record or not, most defendants deserve privacy if they wish when discussing their cases.

4. The Court would share the space with City Council, and should accommodate a larger number of people.  Our docket is growing right along with the City’s population.

5. The Judge would actually have a place for pre-trial conferences, and not have to take over the Chief of Police’s office, or…

6. The City Prosecutor would actually have a place to meet with defendants or witnesses outside of a courtroom full of other defendants.

7. Jury trials would not have to be scheduled according to when we could have access to a County Courtroom.  Currently, jury trials have to be held at the County Judicial Building because the City’s Council Chambers/Courtroom doesn’t have a jury deliberation room, or room for even a temporary jury box.

Debra Graves, Accounts Payable & Payroll

Being a native of Salida, I have seen a lot of changes over the years. I think acquiring the old hospital property and historical building will be a real enhancement for the municipal offices that are planning to move. In addition to having a real parking lot and parking spaces for employees and customers, having additional office space will afford a better work environment.

Hopefully with the new offices, there will be less interruptions from other departments which will allow for better time management.

Also, we have a real need for more filing space, for better organization.

Jan Schmidt, Finance & Administrative Services Director

My primary goal for the new facility is to design a better environment to serve the public and to increase the productivity of city workers. This will be achieved through the following:
•    Adequate space to accommodate public meetings
•    Parking for visitors and employees, including accessible spaces
•    Better office layout and flow that will direct visitors more quickly to the right person who can take care of business needs (eg. to apply for liquor licenses, special permits, meet with the city planners, pay fines, etc.)
•    Dedicated work spaces to allow employees to focus on work tasks without constant interruptions from employees and visitors to other departments
•    Increased efficiency by locating various city departments in one building versus three and having “one stop shopping” for people in the community who use services from the various government agencies that will be housed under one roof
•    Opportunity to “start fresh” with a computer network to facilitate sharing of centralized files, scheduling meetings, and overall increased efficiencies through up-to-date technology systems
•    Space for future expansion as the community continues to grow

As the person responsible for information technology, insurance/risk management, human resources, benefits administration, and facilities, I see needs in a number of different areas of our day-to-day work requirements. We simply lack adequate meeting and work space and IT systems to efficiently carry out the various services we provide to the community. Although Salida is a small town, it is rapidly changing and city staff members work with many different people and issues each day. The current work environment lacks the space to accommodate meetings or to actually have an uninterrupted period of time to concentrate on detail work. Working with the public is one of the most essential and important aspects of our jobs; we need space for the people who come in to work with city staff on various projects and requests. We also need some space and time for desk work, such as preparing reports, analyzing numbers, writing correspondence, etc.

Parking is also a real problem. City employees who drive to work take up the spaces of residents who live across the street from city hall or from visitors to our city trying to find a spot close to the restaurants and shops downtown. By moving to the new facility, we’ll have a parking lot for both employees and visitors to the government offices. We’ll also free up the Code Enforcement Officer’s time from writing parking tickets to City Hall employees!

In addition to the real “work” needs of city per0

First, Randy Sack has asked me to let everyone know that biosolids are now available at the wastewater plant.  The best time to pick up this free fertilizer is between 7:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

On the real topic of my column, the cost of housing is rising in our community and the city is exploring ways that we can help ensure there is adequate housing available for residents who may need assistance.  Earlier this year the city adopted the City of Salida Strategic Housing Plan which is available for review on the city website.  We are now beginning to consider ways to implement the action items recommended in that plan.

At their meeting on June 23rd, the planning commission began considering changes that can be implemented quickly to help address the concerns about rising housing costs.  The changes being considered initially include reducing the minimum lot sizes to more easily permit duplex and townhome ownership in addition to condominiums.  The commission may also recommend allowing modular homes to be placed in any residential zone.  Currently they are only permitted in the R-4 zone.  Annexations are new additions to the municipality and the city may require that any annexations which include residential units incorporate housing dedicated for affordable ownership.

Additional recommendations were made in the Strategic Housing Plan about actions the city can consider to address the problem of rising housing costs.  Some of these require more research or are items that we must educate ourselves on so that we understand any possible ramifications of implementation.  To assist with educating staff, planning commission and the city council, the Chaffee Housing Trust has organized an education session on Tuesday which everyone is welcome to attend.

The Chaffee Housing Trust is a new organization in the community that is committed to promoting responsible community development by providing affordable and sustainable home ownership to qualifying residents.  They have arranged for Aaron Miripol of the Urban Land Conservancy to speak at the Senior Citizens Center, 300 F Street, on Tuesday, August 5th at 6:00 p.m.

Miripol will provide information to the community on how to achieve affordable workforce housing.  He will specifically address changes to the zoning code that the city can consider which can facilitate creation of affordable housing opportunities in our community.  Both city council and members of the planning commission have been invited to attend and the presentation is open to the public.

The rising cost of housing affects everyone in the community including working families, senior citizens, employers and young adults just getting started.  I hope you will join us as the city council and planning commission consider ways that the city government can help to alleviate this growing problem in our community.

One of the services offered to the public at Salida City Hall is the issuance of certified birth and death certificates.  As the local registrar I have the responsibility to see that all the rules and regulations from the state are followed, so that we can continue to qualify for the right to issue the certificates.

With the increased concerns over identity theft and terrorism, the State of Colorado has been revising the regulations related to the maintenance of birth and death records, and the issuance of certificates.  For instance, registrars are required to make a copy of the photo-identification used by the applicant for the certificate, no matter how well they know the applicant.

The State office has been working on converting the birth records to a secure online database for a couple of years, and completed the conversion in April 2008.  In June they held a training workshop and we had three registrars attend so that we would be able to issue state wide birth certificates as soon as possible.  They wanted us to practice with the new system for a couple of weeks before we went live on July 14th.

The good news about all the changes is that we will not only have access to birth certificates faster for newborn babies that were born in Colorado, but we will be able to issue birth certificates for anyone born anywhere in Colorado.  Until now, we only issued birth certificates to those born in Salida.  We ask that people who are requesting birth certificates have patience with us while we start using this new system.

Effective July 1, 2008 the fee for a certified birth certificate is $17.75 for the first certified copy and $10.00 for each additional certified copy of the same record.  The fee for a certified death certificate is $17.00 for the first certified copy and $10.00 for each additional certified copy of the same record.

The issuance of death certificates will remain the same for now but in the future the State office will be converting the death records.  At this time we can only issue death certificates for anyone who died in Salida.

The City of Salida is the only office in Chaffee County that issues state wide birth certificates.  The birth certificate and death certificate application forms are available at City Hall, 124 E Street, or on our website at cityofsalida.com/forms.

Now that the transition is complete I am stepping down as the Local Registrar and will become a Deputy Registrar, as of August 1st.  Any questions regarding birth certificates or death certificates can be directed to Kathy Davis-Peter, (719) 539-2311 or utilities@cityofsalida.com.  Kathy will be the Local Registrar for the Chaffee County/Salida office.

Early summer in Salida is a wonderful time of year.  The trees have leaves once again and many gardens are coming into bloom.  During the FIBArk festival and other summer events yet to come, many of us, locals and visitors alike, will travel along F Street between Highway 50 and our historic downtown.  This is a great time of year to travel those 11 blocks and enjoy the outstanding collection of historic homes.

In recent weeks the F Street corridor and adjacent E and G Streets have made the news regularly as the city reviewed proposals to create a new historic district on the F Street corridor and rezone a larger area from R-2 to R-1.  These applications were submitted by property owners in the neighborhood in the spirit of trying to maintain the character that we all enjoy today.

Here at city hall we heard a lot of opinions about the applications both in support and against.  We also answered a lot of questions about what the proposed changes would mean for individual properties and the neighborhood as a whole.  Of the people who spoke during the formal public hearings there was seemingly equal support for both sides of the discussion.

People in the west are passionate about property rights, especially when their home is affected.  In the case of these applications, it was often a debate over an individual’s right to do as they wished with their own property versus what expectation they should have for what could be done on neighboring properties.  These are both legitimate concerns.

We all desire the freedom to express ourselves including through the design of our homes and landscapes.  At the same time, we want some assurance that the investment in our homes is protected from inappropriate development in the surrounding area.  Planning and historic preservation are often challenged with finding the right balance for the community between these sometimes competing goals.

In the case of the F Street applications the process was working.  The neighborhood was engaged in a lively dialogue that will likely continue into the future as we see more changes in our neighborhood.  Unfortunately, at some point some of our neighbors opposed to the applications chose to verbally assault and even threaten the applicants.  As a result, the applications were withdrawn.

My husband and I live on F Street and when I ride my bike to work every morning I admire the pride that is displayed in the fine homes and the well maintained yards of my neighborhood.  I was gratified with the calls and attendance by my neighbors at meetings while the community discussed these applications.  But I was disgusted and dismayed when I heard that some had sunk to the level of verbal assaults and even threats over the issue.

I encourage each of you to take the opportunity during this lovely season to travel around this neighborhood and be reminded that those applications were submitted in the spirit of protecting the splendid character of what you see.  Whether you agree that they had proposed the best method or not, those who proposed to create a new historic district and rezone the area were acting with the best intentions and the support of many neighbors and they deserve to be treated with respect.

I was impressed by the numbers of concerned property owners who attended the numerous meetings held to discuss the present and future of this neighborhood.  It is a testament to our community that so many of you chose to participate in this discussion.  I hope that in the future as this dialogue continues that every opinion will be respected and that each participant will be treated with the deference that we all deserve.