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Redstone Review stands behind the United States Constitution VOLUME 26, NUMBER 8
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SEPTEMBER 19 / OCTOBER 16, 2025
B •R •I •E •F •S Towntitle Brief seeks input on budget priorities LYONS – text
LYONS – The town’s annual Brief budgettitleprocess is underway, LYONS text a strategic workstarting –with shop in early September where the Board of Trustees discussed priorities and provided guidance to the staff. This process involves balancing limited revenues with the costs of core services and addressing increasing demands for capital improvements. To ensure community input, the board has directed staff to distribute a brief survey to town residents. We invite you to share your feedback and budget priorities by completing the survey, which takes approximately 5–10 minutes. Thank you for your participation. For information on the survey go to the Lyons Town website or call Lyons Town Hall at 303-823-6622. Human Touch Health and Wellness opens
LYONS – Eric Harker MD, an internal medicine doctor and longtime Lyons resident, will be opening a primary care practice called Human Touch Health for adult patients on September 2. He will initially be sharing space with Lyons Physical Therapy and Lyons Health and Wellness, at 435 High St. Dr. Harker’s practice will focus on optimizing health and wellness, as well as the prevention and management of chronic illness. He has practiced in Boulder County and the surrounding areas for over 20 years, and is a national leader in preventive medicine. His new practice will be a blend of modern technology with the human touch of a smalltown doctor’s office. Offering in person care in the clinic, as well as telemedicine and home visits for those that have a hard time traveling. Dr. Harker accepts Medicaid, Medicare, commercial insurance, and offers reasonable self-pay and sliding scale prices. He can be reached at humantouchhealth.org. Wildfire mitigation rebate for wildfire mitigation efforts
LYONS – Residents of the Town of Lyons may be eligible for a match of up to $500 towards wildfire mitigation activities via a rebate. The Lyons program Continue Briefs on Page 2
issuu.com/sdcmc Like us on Facebook I •N •D •E •X LYONS MAYOR’S CORNER OPTIONS CONTRAST LOOKING UP INSIGHT VIEWPOINT SHOWCASE WHAT’S COOKIN’ VOICES ARE HEARD CHOICES
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The Corn Moon rose on Sunday, September 7, 2025 — named for the traditional corn harvest in North America. Because it came just before the Autumnal Equinox, the ‘Harvest Moon’ title shifts to October’s full moon this year. Some lucky sky-watchers also witnessed a total lunar eclipse, turning it into a stunning ‘Blood Moon.’ PHOTO BY TANYA DATY
Town board discusses fire mitigation, Wildfire Urban Interface code and a new sheriff dept. Sgt. By Susan de Castro Gierach Redstone Review Editor LYONS – The town board heard early on in the evening that town staff participated in a recent interview with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office candidate for the Lyons position. Sgt. Sharon McKim will be recommended to become Lyons’ next sergeant starting in January 2026. She has spent over 25 years in law enforcement, serving in numerous capacities, and has most recently been the night shift sergeant in Boulder County for the past six years. She will be replacing Sgt Bill Crist, who has been the temporary sergeant stationed at the Lyons Substation from the Boulder County Sheriff’s office. The board held a workshop early in the evening before the regular meeting, where they discussed the recently adopted State of Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (WRC) and some additional suggestions made by the Lyons Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Task Force. The Town of Lyons is a statutory town. As a statutory town, Lyons falls under the state code but is allowed to make local changes. All of Lyons falls within an area defined as the Wildland Urban Interface. The WUI is where wildlands meet development and where structures are highly susceptible to wildfires. The state WUI code applies only to new construction, which in Lyons’ case has very little
effect since there are only 8-10 vacant lots in town. The Board and staff will then consider some code modifications that could apply to existing structures. These might include a 5-foot defensible space around structures, landscaping with fire-resistant plantings and removal of highly flammable junipers, and other regulations. Aaron Caplan, Director of Utilities, told the board that it would make sense to have the landscaping code as part of WUI. They could recommend plants and other materials that do not burn easily. None of these regulations would be enacted without public hearings and discussion. The board talked about what types of things could be included in the WUI and they mentioned things like building materials, landscaping and other things that would go along with fire mitigation. The board discussed the possibility of making WUI codes retroactive. In the end, the board decided that it would be best to gather more citizen input at the next quarterly town hall meeting and work with the Fire Protection District and wait to make any decisions until the district releases their new Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). After hearing from many members of the public during Audience Business, the Board voted unanimously to let the current Boulder County Land Use IGA expire, and not to pursue creating a new one at this time. The
discussion leading to this decision included an analysis of what benefits Lyons would get from having a Land Use IGA that did not include specific partnerships and agreements concerning transportation, environmental, and other issues. In other news, Lyons Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen said in her notes that the town received 15 proposals from vendors throughout the United States that are interested in scanning all stored documents at town hall. The bids range from $ 67,000 to $ 125,000 and from 12 weeks to 15 months of time needed. A committee is currently reviewing the bid packages and will be recommending the award of the contract in October. The board then moved on to discuss three ordinances. The first two, Ordinance 1196 to annex property located at 4497 Ute Highway and Ordinance 1197 concerning zoning, were both continued (for a second time) to a date certain of October 20. The staff said that they did not have all the information they needed from the applicant. The third item, Ordinance 1198 to amend the municipal code for the classification and use of E-bikes passed with a vote of 6 to 1 with Trustee Mark Browning voting against it only because he said that this issue was covered in the state laws and that it was redundant to pass it again here.