Big Problems with Town Manager/Inspector Shank, Planning Commission Chair Kicked Off for No Reason, Bluffs Pond Has to Go

Town of Westcliffe
Board of Trustees Meeting
—July 18, 2022
by Becky Olson
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Town of Westcliffe convened as scheduled on Monday, July 18, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. in Patterson Hall. A quorum of Trustees was present and proceedings commenced after recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
After the consent agenda was unanimously approved, the board’s first item of old business was approving a motion allowing the Mayor to accept one of two bids for concrete work at Veterans Memorial Park upon his review and approval. The next item was a unanimous vote to opt out of the state’s new FAMLI Act which mandates paid time off and other leave policies for municipalities and businesses which opt in. This was the second time the Trustees unanimously voted to opt out of this program, the second vote being necessary to allow time for public comment that hadn’t taken place prior to the first vote. No public comment was received.
The Trustees then moved on to the first item of new business, consideration of a motion to determine the outcome of the town’s “Small Pond” off of Adams Boulevard in The Bluffs park. Water Commissioner, Mr. Jerry Livengood, was present to recap the background of this issue. In April 2021, the town received a formal letter with notification of the town’s violation of downstream water rights by intercepting groundwater with the Small Pond. The town does not hold water rights for this pond, so it was given a deadline of July 2022 to express its intent on how this issue will be rectified. Further discussion revealed costly augmentation to be the only option for the town to keep the pond, which is not part of the town’s water supply and would simply be an aesthetic component of the park. After additional discussion about the liability associated with keeping the pond and the additional costs versus the benefits to do so, the Trustees ultimately voted unanimously to eliminate the pond by filling it in at the town’s expense.
The next item of business was a unanimous vote to appoint Town Clerk, Kathy Reis, as the town’s formal representative on the board of High Country Recycling (HCR). HCR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which successfully secured a grant for the county to construct a recycling facility at the county landfill. The Trustees then briefly discussed the outcome of a workshop to determine whether the town would hire a PR consultant to publicize how the town is using revenue from the new higher sales tax rate approved by voters in 2020. The workshop concluded additional financial analysis was needed before the determination to hire such a consultant could be made.
Up next was the consideration of a motion to remove the town’s Planning Commission Chair, Charley Ellison, from his position as chair and member of that board. This issue arose in relation to ongoing conflicts between Town Manager, Gabriel Shank, and Mr. Ellison, in response to alleged threatening and unprofessional behavior on the part of Mr. Shank during building permit inspections. Mayor Wenke noted his agreement with Mr. Ellison that Mr. Shank’s behavior has been “bad” and a formal apology on behalf of Mr. Shank was issued by Mayor Wenke to Mr. Ellison prior to this Board of Trustees meeting. Nevertheless, Mayor Wenke expressed his desire to “remove the tension” from the Planning Commission in order o “just move forward” by entertaining a motion to vote to remove Mr. Ellison from the commission. Mr. Ellison politely expressed his disagreement with the potential decision to remove him when there is an admitted problem with the town manager’s behavior. It was also at this time a Westcliffe business owner, resident, and taxpayer, one Ms. Kari Maravi, attempted to speak up about the details of her ongoing conflicts with Mr. Shank and her agreement with Mr. Ellison that his removal from the Planning Commission is not the correct action at this time. Mayor Wenke briefly entertained Ms. Maravi’s comments before reminding her and the Trustees this was not the proper context to discuss any particular grievances against Mr. Shank.
A motion was made to vote to remove Mr. Ellison from the Planning Commission, which was seconded and ultimately passed with Trustee, Art Nordyke, as the only one to vote nay.
The Trustees next voted unanimously to move some money from one fund to another to cover costs for road repairs that will ultimately be reimbursed by CDOT, and also voted unanimously to apply for an incentive grant from Black Hills Energy to replace some energy inefficient lighting around town with LED’s.
With no staff reports, the next agenda item was public comment. Ms. Kari Maravi again attempted to seek answers to her questions regarding years-outstanding building permits and ongoing issues with Mr. Shank. Mayor Wenke requested she schedule a formal meeting with him to further discuss her concerns “offline”. Resident Elliot Jackson, in her capacity as a representative for the Westcliffe Center for Performing Arts (WCPA), next spoke and sought assurance from the Trustees that money previously awarded to WCPA could be re-allocated and used for a similar, but different purpose. The final public comment came from resident and business owner, Mr. Lucas Epp, who thanked the Trustees for the façade grant award which helped give a face lift to new Main Street business, Lollipop & Co. As his parting comments, he implored the Trustees to give consideration to one of the potential reasons for ongoing conflicts between business owners and residents and Mr. Shank, as the lack of communication from the town with regard to new ordinances.
The Trustees then made a formal motion to break into Executive Session to discuss confidential matters related to Town Manager, Gabriel Shank. The Trustees returned from Executive Session after approximately 45 minutes and voted unanimously to remove Mr. Shank’s suspension from performing building permit inspections until the next Board of Trustees meeting on August 15th. The Trustees noted one exception to this being inspections of a property on Fifth Street which are being performed by a third party.
With no further discussion or public comment, meeting was adjourned.