From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

This is so exciting! I’ve come up with a name for the reality show that is the Silt Board of Trustees Meeting(s). Wait for it …

SiltBOTs

Get it? SiltBoardOfTrustees. Oh. I am so clever.

And, as the title says, Tuesday night’s meeting was rich in irony. See if you can spot the juicy morsels.

The show was not on the TV since Monday fell on a Tuesday this week – on account of Memorial Day – and Paul the video wizard doesn’t do Tuesdays. Of course that meant I had to go to the meeting if I wanted to see what’s going on – and bring you the highlights. Tod didn’t get home from Grand Junction until 6:45 and the meeting was at 7:00 so we had to rush off and leave behind a messy kitchen with 2 dogs in the house listening to Spa73 on Sirius – it’s their favorite.

Mayor claims conflict of interest on information item ??

Mayor Moore started off the show by saying he would recuse himself from the Habitat for Humanity presentation because he had dinner with those guys.

For god’s sake, how many times do I have to repeat myself?

Silt HRC: Section 1-17. Conflict of Interest. Neither the Mayor nor any Trustee shall vote or participate in discussion or deliberation on any question in which he or she has a substantial personal or financial interest, direct or indirect, including an interest held through a spouse or family member, other than the common public interest, or on any question concerning his or her own conduct.

Town Attorney Duran said since it was just a presentation the Mayor did not have conflict of interest but he could choose to err on the conservative side.

I’d call it erring on the side of error. But what-ever.

Approval of the Minutiae

Oops. I mean Minutes – of the last meeting. You remember. Check your civil rights at the door. The one where the SiltBOTs ganged up on Tod cuz of My Blog.

Anyway, they were in the process of approving those minutes when Bobby Hayes said he wanted included in the minutes that he said Tod should not vote on recusal because of his conflict of interest. Or at least I think that’s what he was getting at. Quite honestly I was there PLUS I watched the video and I don’t remember Bobby saying that. How odd.

So Bobby said he was concerned because by letting Tod vote, he said, the Board violated a Town Ordinance. Which technically they didn’t because Tod did not and does not have a conflict of interest with either the Mayor’s campaign cash reimbursement ordinance or the Autumn Ridge Project. So it’s a moot point. But rather than get into all that, Tod said that if what Bobby said is included in the minutes, then the entire discussion should be included, especially what he (Tod) said. Town Attorney Duran and the Staff said they would review the tape and revise the minutes.

Confused much? The whole discussion was a waste of 20 minutes.

BTW, many, many, MANY people have expressed their concern at what happened to us at the May 12 meeting. We appreciate all the support. I know you all are wondering what’s going on with that little As My Blog Churns soap opera. All I want to say at this time is – go ahead and read between the lines now – I’m right, about EVERYTHING, and everyone else is wrong, wrong, WRONG. So there. Just remember these key phrases: common public interest and freedom of speech. And all shall be revealethed at the proper time. Have faith.

HPV/Autumn Ridge continued to July 14

Yup, you read that right. The SiltBOTs continued the HPV/Autumn Ridge PUD to July 14.

The Mayor did recuse himself from that discussion and left Nicky in charge of the SiltBOTs (the least experienced SiltBOT) because Mayor Pro-Tem Robinson was absent. (BTW, there was a real nice article in The Paper about Meredith’s hubby Al.)

I have no clue whether HPV/Autumn Ridge will be a Public Hearing on 7/14, or not. Staff mentioned something about public notice, but in the last episode you remember, HPV/Autumn Ridge was noticed as a Public Hearing but not listed on the Agenda as such. Evidently whether or not a Public Hearing will be held on the Autumn Ridge PUD is a BIG SECRET.

Here’s what the Silt Municipal Code says:

16.12.070 Procedure–Board review and action–Hearing and notice.

A. The board shall review and act on all PUD applications referred to it by the planning and zoning commission.

B. Each PUD application shall be reviewed and approved, disapproved, or conditionally approved by the board within ninety days of its initial acceptance for filing by the town administrator.

C. To be effective and legal, a PUD application must receive the approval of the board.

D. Before announcing its decision, the board shall schedule and hold a public hearing, public notice of which shall be given in the manner prescribed by Colorado law for the amendment of zoning ordinances, at which hearing the applicant, town officials and all interested parties shall be afforded the reasonable opportunity of being heard. Written notice of the public hearing shall be delivered or mailed, first class postage prepaid, to adjoining landowners at least fifteen days prior to the public hearing. (Ord. 4-80 § 25(4))

But who pays any attention to that nonsense anymore, anyway?

Mark Rinehart approved as new P&Z Commissioner

Two-year resident Mark Rinehart was interviewed and approved by the SiltBOTs to be a Commissioner on P&Z. I think they still need one more Commissioner, so if you’re interested, please contact Sheila McIntyre at the Silt Town Hall.

Habitat for Humanity presentation raises some questions

Before the Habitat for Humanity presentation, The Mayor put Nicky Leigh in charge again and left the room Then after the presentation, Bobby Hayes asked if he could ask a question of the Habitat guys relating to an upcoming project before the Town. Duran said no he couldn’t. But the rest of us were left wondering …

What “upcoming project” was Bobby talking about?

Does Habitat for Humanity somehow figure into the HPV/Autumn Ridge project?

Is that why Moore recused himself from the presentation?

And if so, how come Bobby knows about it?

Are some of the SiltBOTs having secret meetings?

A-gain?

Stillwater = Deadwater

Or Stillwater goes down the drain. Or Stillwater never flows.

Oo – sorry. I guess that’s not very nice of me. But, as everybody now knows, I am not a nice person. And I’ve never been a big fan of Stillwater. So you see Tod and I don’t ALWAYS agree on EVERYTHING. And it’s kinda ir – er – funny how I posted stuff on My Blog about Stillwater awhile back but Mayor Moore didn’t make any big fuss about My Blog being a conflict of interest for Tod back then. Huh. That’s weird.

Anyway, Dennis Carruth spoke on behalf of Stillwater Development (SWD) and said that because of the declining economy, they were not able to secure financing and the development will not be happening, which wasn’t all that surprising. But The Mayor acted stunned and talked for a long time about how speechless he was over the whole thing.

Then he made a big production out of shaking Carruth’s hand.

Once they leased the mineral rights and the gas wells went in I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to build a half million dollar home next to a gas field – but that’s just me.

Tod applauded Stillwater for their input with helping the Town negotiate with Antero some of the strictest rules possible regarding gas well drilling monitoring and impacts within the city limits and stuff.

Mike Sawyer, the attorney for Dixon Farms (partnered with SWD) said he will negotiate with the Staff regarding the August annexation deadline and stuff.

During the discussion, and because I’ve known about Stillwater practically since the day I moved to Silt, I reflected on the history of the project. Through lo, these many years, there have been numerous Public Hearings and Stillwater has always been held to a very high standard when it came to Silt Municipal Code. As a P&Z Commissioner, then Trustee, then Mayor, Dave Moore insisted on it. I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t harping about Stillwater this and Stillwater that. He even sent out emails demanding the other SiltBOTs vote against Stillwater Special District. Plus he showed a Power Point presentation against Stillwater Special District at the Public Hearing and didn’t recuse himself from voting on the issue.

How ironic that same high standard apparently does not apply to his Autumn Ridge project.

Oops – I guess I gave that one away.

BLM Building Project approved

A Public Hearing was held on the Resolution for the Special Use Permit for the BLM building project at the corner of River Frontage Road and Cty Road 311. I left after the hearing – I still had a mess to clean up in my kitchen – but both the Special Use Permit and site plan were approved.

While cleaning up my kitchen at 10 pm, I thought about that whole BLM project and how there were two resolutions presented, plus the project meets Silt Municipal Codes, they weren’t asking for any variance or zoning change, and yet there was a Public Hearing.

Caught up in the web of double standards and swirling in irony, I nearly passed out.

So I went to bed cuz I knew I had to get up at o-dark-thirty to get Tod off to Grand Junction for a 6:30 am flight. Ugh.

Stay tuned for the next episode of SiltBOTs – now with more double standards AND rich in irony! – on June 9.

Click here to add From the Styx to your RSS reader.