This week the Manitou Springs City Council voted to accept a land donation of four parcels of land adjacent to Burns Road and received an update on the Colorado Energy Office’s performance contract audit.
Council first considered the proposed Burns Road land donation during an Aug. 6 meeting. Due to concerns over liability issues over runoff from the parcels and the steep, rocky terrain, the council voted unanimously to send the proposal to the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) for a recommendation. OSAC voted 6-1 against accepting the land during their meeting last month.
“OSAC held its monthly meeting last night and discussed the Hopper-Davis parcel donations on Burns Road,” wrote OSAC Chair Tim Beeson in a letter to the council. “The committee then voted 6 to 1 to recommend that City Council does not accept the land donation as open space property. The primary reasons for the vote were the water runoff problems, rock slide problems and city road issues. These problems that are not in OSAC’s charter to deal with and taking them on would be an excessive financial burden.”
Mayor John Graham agreed with OSAC’s recommendation, calling it a “bad move for the City” to accept the “isolated dead-end piece of property” that he described as “geologically active.”
Councilor Nancy Fortuin also sided with Graham, but Councilors John Shada, Julie Wolfe, and Judith Chandler spoke out in favor of accepting the donation to preserve the view corridor.
“I just think it’s important for us to have this view corridor – some open area where there’s no buildings,” said Wolfe. “We have benefit of that now, but it won’t stay that way forever, especially if someone decided to purchase a number of those parcels together. They could go ahead and build something up there, and I think it’s so wonderful that we just have some raw land and open space.”
Shada noted that the concerns about runoff were comparable to existing City properties. “Had we gone down this pike, we would have essentially never have touched Red Mountain or Iron Mountain as open space,” he said. “Those are just red like crazy in the debris flow [analysis]. We would never Mickey Mouse around with the Ute Trail – that is a huge debris flow. We would never Micky Mouse around with the Incline or Barr Trail – that is in a huge debris flow area.”
Council voted 4-2 to accept the donation, with Councilor Natalie Johnson absent due to illness.
Water meters
Council also received an update on the Colorado Energy Office’s performance contract audit and the replacement of water meters across the city.
“The biggest portion of the project is the water meters, as they’re coming up to the [end of their] useful life and also with the estimated water loss between 30-40%, this is kind of a big portion of the project,” said Tyler DiLalla with Schneider Electric.
Denise Howell, the Manitou Springs city administrator, noted that the meters currently in use are 15 to 18 years-old, and many provide faulty or inaccurate readings. According to Schneider Electric’s presentation, 16% of meters show a zero reading during minimum and intermediate water usage, which impacts water billing.
“We do go ahead and bill [customers], but we will do estimates,” said Howell. “It may not be accurate, so if we get a zero reading it doesn’t mean that we don’t bill, we do an estimate. I will tell you right now we’ve done an audit of all the accounts and, preliminary, we’re over 80 meters that we can’t get a read on.”
Howell noted that these estimates generally work in the consumer’s favor, but that could lead to sudden changes in billing once the city determines accurate water usage. “In a year they could get a very high bill because we finally get a final read,” she said. “These meters are 15 to 18 years-old, they’re at the end of their life, and they’re going to continue to quit reading. That just happens with these meters.”
The City currently experiences a 30-40% loss in billable water usage due to faulty meters as well as water lost to leakage. The estimated cost for replacing and updating 2,200 Manitou Springs water meters is $3.4 million dollars but would generate an additional $141,300 in annual revenue.
Total recall: By the numbers
Manitou Springs Mayor John Graham could face a recall election before the end of the year. According to Colorado statute, any elected official can be recalled by any voter for any reason.
“Every elected officer of this state or any political subdivision thereof is subject to recall from office at any time by the eligible electors entitled to vote for a successor to the incumbent,” reads Colorado Revised Statute 1-12-101.
While Graham has not been officially censured or charged with any crime, his efforts to attempt to broker a land deal with the Jenkins and Walton family have raised the ire of local community activists. The deal involved Norwood developers Chris and David Jenkins efforts to get Graham and the Manitou Springs City Council to accept a donation of 15 acres of privately-owned land. In exchange, the City would create a Ruxton Avenue access road and potentially a parking lot. Residents raised concerns over increased traffic, pollution and fire evacuation times.
During a July 22 Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) meeting, Linda Morlan announced plans to launch a recall campaign.
Holding a recall election would cost the city between $20,000 to $25,000, according to an unofficial estimate from the Manitou Springs City Clerk, Elena Krebs.
“Today I started with the City the process of recalling Mayor John Graham because he has been working behind this community’s back for years,” said Morlan. “We have proof of it. We’re going to recall him.”
The recall petition was approved on Aug. 1. If 485 signatures – equal in number to 25% of the entire vote cast at the last preceding election for all candidates – are gathered by Sept. 30, the City will be required to hold a special election.
Holding a recall election would cost the City between $20,000 to $25,000, according to an unofficial estimate from the Manitou Springs City Clerk, Elena Krebs. That estimate includes the printing vendor, election judges, staffing and other costs that go into holding a special election.