From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

Yip-pee!

Ya-hoo!

And once more just for good measure – 

Nyah-nyah nyah-nyah nyah!

The Board of Trustees and Garfield County are in a pissing contest and River Park is caught in the middle.

Yesterday – February 26 – the Trustees received the following letter from Fred Jarman, Director of Garfield County Building and Planning Dept:

“Garfield County received a copy of Resolution No. 7, Series of 2007 regarding the proposed River Park Annexation from the Town of Silt (the Town) on January 29th, 2007. Colorado Revised Statute § 31-12-108.5 requires municipalities to submit an annexation impact report or formally request that the Board of County Commissioners waive the requirement for all annexations greater than ten acres in size.

“Garfield County did not receive an annexation impact report or a request to waive this requirement. This report is required by state statute to be completed by the municipality at least twenty-five days before the public hearing. The municipality shall also file one copy with the Board of County Commissioners within five days thereafter. Not fulfilling this requirement of the Colorado Revised Statute has resulted in the inability of Garfield County staff to review the required report in order to determine possible impacts of the proposed annexation.

“The proposed annexation is not in compliance with Colorado Revised Statue § 31-12-108.5. The absence of the required impact report or a formal request from the Town to waive this requirement has resulted in what the County finds as an incomplete annexation petition. If approved, the non-compliant annexation will not be recognized by Garfield County.”

What does this mean?

The Town has to formally request a waiver or file the required impact report. Therefore the annexation is on hold until that report is either waived or filed with the County, which could take anywhere from 2-6 weeks. Then the annexation process must start all over.

Remember, the Town is suing Garfield County over road maintenance and Stillwater annexation. I don’t necessarily know what this something has to do with anything. I’m just saying while in and of itself the lawsuit probably creates some friction between the two, this month The Mayor aired his grievances with the County publicly in The Paper and in a letter to County Commissioners. Perhaps some people didn’t take too kindly to his complaints. So it’s pretty clear Hizzonor did step in the goo of his own making.

It’s all so ironic. Because now his blatherings work to my advantage, allowing my petition more time, and to the River Park Peeps, because any delay favors our cause.

Mwah-ha-ha ha-ha …

The lesson for the day is local governments are supposed to work together to solve problems. Process. Negotiation. Cooperation. Not in court. Or The Paper. Or unilaterally by one individual.

We all need each other at some point.

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