Mancos trustees on Wednesday approved an agreement with the Mancos Days Association that gives the group funds and authority to run the annual Mancos Days festival through 2019.
According to the agreement, the town will give the association $7,500 to organize, promote and run the festival in 2017, and $5,000 in 2018 and 2019. No money is budgeted after 2019.
The town will provide free use of Boyle Park and the Mancos Community Center for the festival and hand over equipment that is used for the July event. The association plans to hold a meeting Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Mancos Community Center.
The town previously ran the festival, but decided last year to turn it over to a volunteer group. Trustees asked that the association provide documentation on how the town’s money is being spent after the festival.
“Thanks for stepping up and doing this,” Mayor Pro Tem Fred Brooks told Mancos Days Association President Daria Morelli at the meeting.
Trustees discuss plans for 2017Also Wednesday, trustees discussed the town’s 2017 work plans for various departments. Major projects for the town administrative department include constructing a pedestrian crossing at Beech Street and U.S. Highway 160, which is scheduled to be completed in the summer. Other projects include working on a housing needs study, implementing a townwide fiber installation plan, improving security measures at Mancos Town Hall and adopting an updated access control plan for the U.S. 160 corridor through town.
For the parks department, major projects include building maintenance at Boyle Park and the Mancos Community Center, as well as trail work at Cottonwood Park. The department also is working on a plan with the Mancos Trails Group to build trails at the Aqueduct property northwest of town.In Marshal Jason Spruell’s office, one priority will be to determine a townwide speed limit and eliminate stop signs where they can be removed. The public works department will continue working on the raw water project and sewer backflow prevention systems. The streets department will be investigating options for paved road maintenance and new paving or chip sealing.Trustees also discussed the possible vacation of a portion of East Second Street, but did not take a vote on the issue. The stretch of road is east of Aztec Street and is a dead-end. Two people who live on that portion of road spoke at the meeting in favor of its vacation, saying it would make that area of town safer.Trustees OK developers fee
Trustees on Wednesday approved a resolution setting a fee in lieu of dedicated land for subdivisions. Developers are required to dedicate at least 10 percent of land within a subdivision to the town, which can be used for parks, open space, schools or other town facilities. They may pay a fee of $10,000 per acre instead of donating land to the town. The fee is reviewed every year.
Trustees also discussed the town’s snow removal plan. Spruell said the town needs to communicate with the Colorado Department of Transportation about snow removal on Grand Ave. CDOT has signs about snow removal put up on the street, but some need to be replaced, he said. He suggested an odd/even system of parking during the winter for snow removal. If there is snowfall on an odd-numbered day of the week, people would park cars on the side of Grand Ave. with odd-numbered addresses. He also suggested people in town sign up for Nixle, an emergency alert system, to keep updated. People can go to www.nixle.com to sign up.