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LOOK FOR REDSTONE REVIEW AT ISSUU.COM / SDCMC VOLUME 17, NUMBER 10
LYONS, COLORADO
RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50
NOVEMBER 16 / DECEMBER 14, 2016
B •R •I •E •F •S Holiday Parade of Lights LYONS – The bright glow of the holidays is once again coming to the Town of Lyons on Saturday December 3 with the Holiday Parade of Lights. The Holiday Parade of Lights will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be filled with illuminated, colorful floats, many of which will be decorated in the theme of this year’s parade “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Sign up today. The lineup for the parade will be at 5:15 p.m. Before the parade reindeer and Percheron draft horses will be in Sandstone Park. Also on Dec. 3, Lyons Lights will return this year to Sandstone Park. Be sure to come out and enjoy a colorful, exciting, dancing light display synchronized to music. Lyons Lights in Sandstone Park will be available for public viewing throughout the month of December. Beginning Saturday, December 3 through December 31. Lyons Lights in Sandstone Park will run every day from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Holiday Bazaar will be held on December 3, Saturday, and December 4, Sunday, at the Lyons Elementary School Gym. Don’t miss out on this large craft fair where many Christmas gifts are available. Be sure to catch live music and entertainment following the parade at approximately 7:15 p.m. in Sandstone Park on the Raul Vasquez Community Stage. Among those performing this year will be the Lyons High and Elementary Schools Show Choirs. At 7:40 p.m., there will be a wonderful fireworks display made possible by donations and grants received from the Lyons Community Foundation and other local supporters. Continue Briefs on Page 4
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MAYOR’S CORNER
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LOCAL
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ECOLOGY
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CONTEXT
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A&E
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FOUNDATION
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CREATE
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CONCEPTS
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Mountain goat kid cuddling mom, Mount Evans, Colorado. Photo by Fi Rust. Mount Evans is the best place in the United States to photograph mountain goats. Around mid-June, the nannies bring the new babies up to the road and you can get pretty close to them. The photographic challenge is in getting the kids to stay still long enough to make a great image. Fi Rust is an award-winning wildlife photographer who has won awards in all the top US nature photography contests, and her images have been published in numerous nature magazines, in books and calendars. She will have a booth selling her wildlife photography at the Mollie McGee Holiday Market November 19 and 20 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. Fi also has a 22-image exhibit at The Wildlife Experience in Parker, now part of the CU South Campus. An artist reception will be held Thursday, December 1 from 5 to 7 p.m.; http://southdenver.cu.edu/events/event/creatures-great-small/
Budget for 2017, unexpected expenses and finding a place for Public Works By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – It is budget season and the Lyons Town Board is hammering out the new budget for 2017. Logic might tell you that the town hall would be crowded with residents wanting to know how their tax money is going to be spent. But contrary to what might seem logical, no one ever shows up to the workshops or for the Board of Trustees’ regular meetings at budget time. The budget process is complicated and tedious and no one has the patience for it. The budget must be finalized in December when it is first sent to the county for approval, and then sent off to the state. All municipal budgets must be balanced by state law. A finance report was given to the board by Margi McDonald, an assistant to Finance Director Tony Cavalier. She went over the age-old problem of trying to wrestle the reimbursement funds from the state. Lyons has to pay for all its flood repair projects up front
then turn all the receipts and records for the project over to the state. The state then goes over all the projects with a fine-tooth comb, making sure that all the rules for reimbursement funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are followed to the letter. The BOT submits a request for reimbursement (RFP) to the state for each project when it is completed and the reimbursements can take 90 to 120 days to arrive, forcing the town into a cash-flow crunch. Bi-weekly phone meetings are held with the state and the state has loaned the town between $2 and $3 million to help with the cash-flow problem. This still leaves the town without money. “We have no cash flow right now to work on any projects,” said Mayor Connie Sullivan. The cash flow problem got worse as the night went on when Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the board that Michael Markel, the owner and contractor of the remaining land in Lyons Valley Park,
submitted his latest filing (#8) to develop that portion of the subdivision. Simonsen explained that somehow way back in 1975 or 1976 the town agreed to put in all the electrical infrastructure for the subdivision; she estimated the cost would be about $51,000. Needless to say the board was shocked to hear that news. “I have never heard this before,” said Mayor Connie Sullivan. The town attorney Kathie Guckenberger asked if the BOT put away funds to do this project. Obviously not. The BOT also learned from Public Works Director Kyle Miller that a new pump for the lift station for Eagle Canyon would cost about $5,000. In other news Lyons resident Benita Yoder spoke to the board about how much work Rosi Dennett had done for the town, how hard she worked and the recognition she deserves for her work with the flood residents in the confluence area. Dennett worked for the town coordinating all the 404 buyouts, the flood-damaged properties that the town bought from the homeowners who wanted to sell. The buyout properties then became park land owned and maintained by the town. Mayor Sullivan thanked Yoder for coming forward to praise Dennett. “I think Rosi has Continue Town on Page 14