Cortez sanitation board postpones replacing manager

Previous manager Krebs died May 20
Assistant city engineer Kathryn Phillips explains the construction plans for Paradise Village in 2015.

Cortez Sanitation District board members on Monday postponed a decision on filling the district manager position until their meeting on July 11, district superintendent Phil Starks said.

Previous manager Tim Krebs died May 20 at the age of 46. Krebs had worked as Cortez Sanitation District manager for 13 years. The board entered executive session to discuss the district manager position after Monday’s public session, but decided to postpone a decision, Starks said.

Starks will serve as interim district manager until the board’s July meeting.

The board voted to hold a special meeting Monday, June 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sanitation District offices to discuss the 2015 district audit. Board members voted to table a vote on the audit until after that special meeting.

Also Monday, the board approved a tenth payment to Red Point Contracting in the amount of $14,059 for work at the Paradise Village subdivision. Board member Jim Candelaria recused himself from the vote because his company, Candelaria Construction, is subcontracted on the project.

The board also voted to vacate a sewer tap at 210 W. Coronado Ave. A property there previously had been two separate units, but had since been combined into one unit per the city’s requirements, the property owner, Karen Kristen, said.

Kristen also asked for a refund on sewer tap fees for one unit at the property, which had been unoccupied since August 2015. Kristen said city officials did not tell her she needed to combine the units at the property until about three months ago, so she requested reimbursement for the time in between.

Candelaria said similar issues had previously come before the board. Issuing a refund would go against the Sanitation District’s bylaws and would not be fair to other district customers, he said.

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