On July 9, the Cortez Sanitation District’s board of directors named a new member, filling one of two empty positions.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Leroy Roberts, a Cortez retiree, as a director. He fills a seat left empty by David Marlman in February, but leaves one more position to be filled on the six-member board. The board also unveiled its first new camera van in about five years.
Director Jim Candelaria, who filled in for the absent board president Ryan Griglak, gave Roberts his oath of office and presented him with a name plate for his seat on the board.
“Congratulations – now you get to step right into it,” he said.
Roberts wasn’t called upon to vote during the brief meeting, since his appointment was the only action item on the agenda. District Manager Jan Nelson asked him to disclose any potential conflict of interest, and he said he had none since he is retired and doesn’t do contracting work.
After the meeting, Collection System Supervisor Jim Webb showed off the camera van.
The vehicle, which cost about $183,000, arrived on June 14, but the last of its computer equipment arrived just a few days before the meeting. A small camera in the back of the van is lowered into sewer systems and sends live images to computers in the vehicle, allowing sanitation staff to check for cracks and blockages.
Webb and Nelson said the last time it bought new camera equipment was in 2013.
