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VOLUME 21, NUMBER 10
LYONS, COLORADO
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NOVEMBER 18 / DECEMBER 16, 2020
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Election results in Colorado LYONS – Colorado, with nine electoral votes, went Blue again in the 2020 election which made the majority of Colorado voters very happy. Democratic strategist Craig Hughes and Republican strategist Josh Penry spoke on Colorado Public Radio on November 16 and Hughes said, “Trump was just toxic in Colorado from his first year in office with people in the suburbs, white women, Hispanics, Black people and other groups.” The polls were correct in Colorado. Trump’s disapproval ratings were always above 50 percent. The state has voted Blue in the last four elections. Colorado voters voted twice for Barack Obama, once for Hillary Clinton, and once for Joe Biden. The race was called for Biden right after the polls closed because Colorado counts the mail-in ballots weeks before the election and all eligible voters receive a mail-in ballot. • Joe Biden (D) won 55.4 percent of the vote to Trump’s (R) 41.9 percent of the vote; 3,256,062 people’s votes have been counted so far. About 21 candidates for president were on the Colorado ballot including Kanye West who won just over 8,000 votes. • Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) won the Senate race over incumbent Cory Gardner (R). Gardner was closely tied to Trump and was unable to gain much ground especially after he voted against the Affordable Care Act. • U.S. Representative incumbent Joe Neguse (D) won re-election in District 2 and Marta Loachamin (D) won a Boulder County Commissioner seat in District 2 by 74.3 to 25.6 percent. • Amendment 73 to clarify that only a citizen can vote won, passed by 68 to 32 percent. • Amendment B, which dealt with the Gallagher Amendment, passed by 58 to 43 percent. Colorado voted to repeal the part of Continue Election Briefs on Page 7
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Great Horned Owl. Photograph by Deanna Gubler Beutler.
Town discuses revenues, CARES grants for businesses, copper limits in water, and other issues By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the town board members at the board meeting in mid- November that there are 36 COVID cases in Lyons that have tested positive, and that does not count the people who use PO boxes as their main address. “There are likely more than that number that are positive in Lyons,” she said. Simonsen added that those who tested positive with PO boxes are listed in a different grouping and she was not sure where they were listed, possibly in some county grouping. There are now only 10 ICU beds available in Boulder County and cases in long-term care facilities are on the rise. Testing is now available in Lyons on Fridays in the parking lot at 200 2nd Ave. from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Boulder County Public Health, in partnership with Boulder Community Health, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, are doing the testing. In the financial news, Finance Director Jill Johnson reported that sales taxes were lower in September than last month (October). There was a 25 percent reduction in sales tax revenues in October and 25 percent projected reduction for December with a 10 percent projected reduction for November from the amount budgeted, but Johnson said that the town is looking at a 1 percent reduction in
sales tax revenues over all for the year over the budgeted amount, which Johnson said, “Is pretty spectacular I think.” In other news, Utilities Director Aaron Caplan gave an update on the wastewater treatment facility. Mayor Nick Angelo said, “I see we exceeded our allowable limit on copper again in October. Are you saying that we were out of compliance for five or six months?” Caplan said, “Right. We got our side streaming program started in May, so we were out of compliance for June, July, August, September and in October it started to go down again. I’ve learned that it can take time to clear it out of the system if there is one big batch (that comes into the system).” Mayor Angelo asked Caplan why, now that the plant has a new general permit, the levels of copper were allowed to be higher than they were under the old permit. Caplan said. “It’s not the general permit, it is moving the outfall to a new location, which we have done, and that new location allows for (more) copper. We have new levels of stream that each give you an outfall limit on how much copper can be released into the stream.” There was some good news for Lyons. Administrator Simonsen said that Boulder County has received $27 million from the CARES Act and is going to shoot about $150,000 over to Lyons to help with grants for local businesses. The money has
to be spent by the end of the year. Main Street manager Brianna Hoyt has agreed to work extra hours to help local business fill out forms for the grants. This CARES Act funding can be used for business revenue losses. Simonsen said there was more good news; the 4th Avenue Pedestrian Bridge has been fully funded. The Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief grant that the town has for $125,000 can be used as matching funds to build the bridge and now the town will not need to take the funding out of the General Fund. The money must be spent prior to July 2021. This means that Lyons will have a new pedestrian bridge next summer. Members of the town board unanimously voted down Ordinance 1088 on second reading to repeal and replace sections of the ordinance concerning vehicle impoundment, parking, abandoned vehicles, etc. The Town Board voted to pass ordinance 1090, and to grant the developer Paul Tamburello his request for an extension to apply for a PUD outlined in his contract to buy / sell real estate with the Town of Lyons. Tamburello said that due to the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the need to submit a map revision he needed more time. Tamburello purchased the properties 4651 and 4652 Ute Hwy. to develop in the Eastern Corridor.