April Westcliffe Town Meeting: Grants, Hiring,
New Officials Sworn in, Sheriff Q1 Report

Town of Westcliffe Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting
—April 18, 2022
by Becky Olson
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Town of Westcliffe convened as scheduled. in Patterson Hall. A quorum of Trustees was present and proceedings commenced after recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
After the consent agenda and Treasurer’s report were unanimously approved, discussion turned to the one item of old business, Bootlegger’s Mercantile restaurant’s application for additional outdoor seating. Mayor Wenke summarized discussion that took place in a separate workshop on this topic and reported they had determined it would “not be wise to lease or sell” the strip of property in question for the proposed additional seating. There was amotion to disapprove Bootlegger’s application, which was seconded and passed unanimously.
With no other items of old business, discussion turned to items of new business, starting with the swearing in of newly elected officials: Paul Wenke as Trustee and Mayor, and Trustees Gary Frickell, Art Nordyke, and George Mowry. Mayor Wenke announced his appointments for other positions, most of which were to retain individuals already in those positions. Bess Cole is the new Mayor Pro-Tem and the Wet Mountain Tribune was appointed as the town’s paper of record. Charley Ellison was appointed as the new Planning Commission chair.
All appointments were unanimously approved.
Up next was Sheriff Shannon Byerly with the Custer County Sheriff’s Office Q1 report highlights. Sheriff Byerly reports there were 70 traffic stops, a few oversized vehicle parking violations on Main Street, four sex assaults, and five thefts. Byerly clarified the term “sex assault” includes a broad spectrum of everything from sexting incidents all the way up to forcible rape and there were no rapes in the first quarter. Two of the four incidents reported are related to new victims of chiropractor Dr. Marquez coming forward and new charges being filed. Overall, three of the four reported incidents resulted in charges being filed. Byerly expressed CCSO believes charges should have been filed for the fourth incident, but that the District Attorney’s office has declined to pursue the case further. All five of the thefts were shoplifting incidents and Byerly confirms this is a slight uptick compared to the prior quarter. He then provided an update on the ongoing homicide case from January of this year, reporting that the inmate is being housed in Fremont County where bilingual deputies can assist with the suspect’s inability to speak English and due to both the suspect and victim having known ties to gangs in Jalisco, Mexico. Custer County is currently housing five inmates in our jail.
Sheriff Byerly went on to happily report that our new K-9 Deputy Zara is out and about and doing a fantastic job. He reports that she aced her obedience courses, is very smart and curious, and that CCSO is very happy with her. Deputy Kear is doing a great job as her handler, bravo! Byerly also reports that with the recent hiring of Deputy Daniel Kriegh, CCSO patrol is fully staffed at this time. He went on to let the Trustees know CCSO has switched from Microsoft to Google G Suite, and that there are some known current technical glitches with email and to please be patient and understanding while the office works through this transition. CCSO’s grant for the School Resource Officer is up for renewal and they will be seeking a letter of support from the town. Sheriff Byerly also reports that he is on the mend and now very busy catching up after a recent major surgery. He closed by giving some updates and details on the few recent wild fires around our county, clarifying that the Rusk farm fire was only about 100 acres, not 700 as has been stated elsewhere. Subsequent to presenting this report at this Board of Trustees meeting, Sheriff Byerly implemented a Stage 1 Fire Ban in Custer County effective April 22, 2022.
The next item of new business was a request by Courtney Miller of the Rotary Club for the town to approve installation of some benches along the Planet Walk route in Westcliffe. A motion to approve installation of all three benches requested was unanimously
approved. The Façade Improvement Grant Applications were the next item of discussion. Seven businesses applied and all were unanimously approved. There is a small amount of money left in this grant fund and there may be an ability to approve grants for one or two more businesses. Mayor Wenke noted the favorable return on investment of this grant program by noting the town incurred a cost of $25,000 in
return for a total of $70,000 worth of improvements by these seven businesses on Main Street.
A motion to make minor clean up changes to the Employee Handbook and a request for an overmatch letter from the town for a grant related to improvements at the school were both unanimously approved. The last item of new business was discussion around hiring a Public Relations con-sultant to help publicize how the town is using the new additional revenue from last year’s sales tax increase. An offer will be extended and the consultant will begin PR efforts in June.
In staff reports, Town Clerk, Kathy Reis, announced a $1.196 million grant has been applied to in support of many of the town’s Parks Master Plan’s top priorities and also that there will be a combined Clean Up Day on April 30th with the Town of Silver Cliff. Town Manager, Gabriel Shank, reports there were no new insurance claims, a grant for improvements to Memorial Park has been applied to and is working its way through some additional approval committees, and that he recently filled an open position. Shank also reports that RFP’s for chip sealing and paving activities this year will be forthcoming. With no further discussion or public comment, meeting was adjourned.