Silver Cliff to Buy Road Grader,
Tax Talk, Viscount a Late-Pay,
Trustees Candidate Deadlines

Town of Silver Cliff
Board Meeting
—January 6, 2020
by Lisa Frank
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. All Trustees were present as well as Staff and Council.
There was one amendment to the Published Agenda; item e. Consideration of approval to purchase a grader from RDO Equipment.
The attendees introduced themselves and the meeting began.
The Consent Agenda was passed without amendment, unanimously.
New Business
a. Public Hearing on Ordinance 08-2019 Sales Tax Increase Ballot Issue – Mayor Laswell closed the Board Meeting and opened up the Public Hearing for comment from the audience. There was only one comment and that was from this reporter. I suggested that what the Town of Westcliffe is doing by inserting a sunset clause to the STI ballot issue, whereby the increase would ‘sunset’ or cease to exist four years after the increase if the itemized goals established by the Town Board were not met, is an intelligent way to approach the tax increase. There was no comment from the Board or audience and the Public Hearing portion of the meeting ended.
b. Ordinance 08-2019 Sales Tax Increase Ballot Issue was passed unanimously.
c. Resolution 01-2020 regarding posting places for the Town of Silver Cliff was passed unanimously. d. Consideration of 2020 Appointments and Committees passed unanimously with a side note that Roger Camper, Building and Zoning Officer, will remain in this position and not retire in 2020. Glad to have you stay on Roger!
e. Consideration of approval to purchase a grader from RDO Equipment– Regarding the purchase of, and the terms of purchase therewith, was discussed at length with Roger Squire, Town Maintenance Manager-in-waiting. This will be an expensive purchase for Silver Cliff but the Board has managed available money well and RDO Equipment is offering the Town a solid, good deal on a fine road grader that is sorely needed to care for Silver Cliff’s roads.
Reporter’s note: As anyone who drives the roads in Silver Cliff knows, they are in poor shape and have been ill-maintained because of a lack of money and talent to do the right job. The town is preparing for a two-pronged approach to current and future roads. The right equipment, the right man to manage this important infrastructure for any small town, and the sales tax increase of 1% to be on the ballot in April. That money would be designated for roads and is much needed. Knowing citizens’ resistance to any tax increases, Silver Cliff is planning to educate the voters about the need for the increase. It seems both Westcliffe and Silver Cliff believe increasing Sales Tax instead of a property tax increase can be sold to the citizens if properly understood. A sales tax increase would affect everyone who purchases goods and services in the two towns; thus tourists, people passing though and service entities traveling to the Valley to do business, would all pay the increase. Small towns have little access to grants or funds to take on the future if they cannot provide the matching monies needed to
acquire them, and this is the dilemma of small-town municipalities. People continue to travel down the mountain to do their shopping without considering the sales taxes they are paying to support cities other than their own. It is a catch-22 situation because any increase in sales tax is voted on by very few people and easily defeated. The purchase of the road grader was passed unanimously with both options of paying for it with or without the sales tax increase in place and viable.
Old Business
a. Senior Center Update not available.
b. Silver Cliff Pit contract is in and signed for the next round.
c. Viscount Update – Viscount still has not paid the town what is owed and a letter from the town’s Attorney is ready to be mailed. The town has leverage over Viscount and is preparing to meet their pie-in-sky runaround with good humor.
Staff Reports were given. Of special note; Roger Camper noted that 800 ton of rhyolite was donated by Bill Tezak for the roads in Silver Cliff Ranch and Silver Cliff Town. This is an extravagant donation by Mr. Tezak and everyone has benefitted from his generosity. If you see Bill, say “Thank you”.
Also of note; packets are now ready and may be picked up from the Silver Cliff Clerk by anyone interested in running for the position of Trustee on the Town Board.
Committee Reports were given.
There was no Public Comment.
There was no Open Discussion by Trustees.
The meeting adjourned at 6:43 p.m.