At its second electronic meeting during the COVID-19 era, the Mancos Town Board on April 8 swore in its new board, reappointed town staff members and approved a new on-call contractor system.
The coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders have disrupted normal meeting operations, but Mancos trustees and staff proceeded according to agenda – although some “thumbs up” voting was used, in light of Zoom audio issues.
One new board member and three incumbent members were sworn in on the board.
Janice Bryan is the new trustee, Ed Hallam and Cindy Simpson were re-sworn in as board members, and Queenie Barz again was sworn in as mayor.
Afterward, the board voted for Fred Brooks to remain as mayor pro tem.
The board also recognized Craig Benally, whose term expired this spring, but who decided not to seek reelection. Last Wednesday was Benally’s last meeting.
“Craig Benally has served with honor and integrity the town of Mancos and its citizens for four years as a Trustee of the Board,” said Mayor Queenie Barz, reading aloud from a proclamation recognizing Benally.
The board unanimously approved on-call contracts with Circle Z Construction Inc. and Ramco Developments LLC for general contractor on-call services.
This item was first broached at the March 11 meeting. Town Administrator Heather Alvarez said that having on-call contractors would allow for unexpected or small projects or repairs to be completed in a speedier manner.
“Currently, our purchasing policies require any project more than $1,000 and not an emergency, to receive three written bids,” Alvarez wrote in a staff report. “Many times, despite repeated publications or phone calls, we are unable to obtain even one bid. In the past two years, we’ve had this problem with street paving/repairs and sidewalk construction/repairs, for example.”
The town solicited proposals from general contractors to perform on-call services, and received three bids. Staff selected Circle Z and Ramco for the jobs, as they are both Montezuma County contractors who employ local labor and have completed projects for Mancos in the past, Alvarez said.
Board members will still be notified about these projects at their bimonthly meetings. And both contracts are on a one-year basis.
“Per statute, each contract will not exceed a total of $50,000 no matter how many projects are performed,” Alvarez wrote in her report.
Trustees were all on-board with the idea.
”I think it’s a grand idea,” said Trustee Ed Hallam.
The Town Board reappointed four staff members to their positions.
Alvarez was reappointed as town administrator/clerk/treasurer and Justen Goodall as town marshal.
David Liberman was reappointed as town attorney at a rate of $165 per hour, and James Shaner as municipal court judge at a rate of $250 per month.
ealvero@the-journal.com
