Legal advisers hired on lodging tax issue

Many of those that made comments also made comments in recent meetings when the subject of a hotel tax was presented to the Council.

Mayor Larry Fetzer opened the public comment portion of the meeting saying, “We are not here to rehash what we heard in the last meeting,” and requested those who had something new to say to speak before the group.

Although many of the pros and cons of the issue sounded familiar, there was new information presented as well as different concerns.

Speaking for the proposal were Alex Wright, Rich O’Connell, Kim Sellers and Brad Barton. Speaking against the proposal were Tara Barlean, Chris Vandemoer, Cindy Vandemoer, and Lana Hahn.

Wright, in speaking for those in favor of a hotel tax, answered many of the questions the council members had at the previous meeting and ended his presentation with the concern that some thought the group was against the current Tourist Information Center and this tax might take away from that. He assured those gathered that wasn’t true. He said he was not asking the council to enact the tax, but just to put it on the ballot.

The opposition comments began with Barlean, chairman of the Logan County Lodging Tax Board. She said their group had only had about three weeks to study the issue and come to conclusions as to the need for it. She said that everyone in the room wanted beautification for Sterling but her group would like more time to research the issue. She requested the council to postpone any action for six months to allow more study.

That timeline would put any consideration past the time for the issue to be on this year’s ballot and concern was raised that it would be another year and a half before anything more could be done.

Councilmember Rocky Joy said that the issue of the ballot proposal had been discussed and the need in this particular meeting was for the council to decide whether or not to work with Sherman and Howard.

“We know how to move forward and we have lots of new information,” Joy said.

City Attorney Kelly Barlean explained that the negotiation of the intergovernmental agreement would bring out the details of how much would go to tourism, beautification and marketing, etc.

“If we don’t have legal help how will we ever get to that point (IGA),” said Fetzer. “We need to move forward.”

Joy then moved to hire Sherman & Howard with a second by Heather Delgado-Diaz. The vote was four yes and three no, with council members Pat Lawson, Jerry Haynes and Mark Fuller voting against the motion.

In other business, the council approved a resolution approving an agreement with the RE-1 Valley School District and the Sterling Baseball Organization. The agreement defines and clarifies the liabilities and responsibilities of each party for the Little League and Legion youth baseball program in Sterling, operated by the Sterling Baseball Organization.

Also approved was a resolution approving consent to assignment of a lease with Elevation Outdoor Advertising, Inc. and Colorado Outdoor, Inc. Contact person for the city will remain the same.

A resolution for the mayor to execute an agreement for materials testing, inspection and observation services for the city of Sterling Water Treatment System Bid Package No. 2 and No. 3 was approved.

City Manager Joe Kiolbasa was given the consensus of council approval to replace and relocate playground equipment in Krull Park.

The council went into executive session at 9:25 p.m. for the purpose of meeting with their consultant relating to city council employees and negotiations.

Judy Debus: (970) 526-9281 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (970) 526-9281      end_of_the_skype_highlighting; jdebus@journal-advocate.com