At their latest regular meeting on Oct. 9, the Mancos Board of Trustees discussed replacing the water plant’s operating system, the 2020 budget and agency contribution requests, among other items.
The Mancos Town Board approved a contract with Browns Hill Engineering and Controls to replace the operating system at the Mancos Water Plant, for an amount not to exceed $43,500.
Town officials have discussed replacing the outdated system at multiple times throughout the year, and had budgeted $50,000 in the 2019 budget to do so, said public works director Terry Jennings in a staff report.
Because Browns Hill installed the original system, representatives from their company visited the site to check on it. They recommended replacing the system as soon as possible, rather than waiting until 2020 to replace it as part of a larger project, as was originally planned.
Jennings said immediate replacement needs call for an expedited process.
“Staff is implementing emergency procurement procedures which do not require an RFQ be drafted, published, applicants interviewed and then sent to the Board for approval,” he wrote.
The project is expected to take at least a month, Jennings said – time for Browns Hill to build the necessary panels and install them at the water plant.
“When complete, this project will automate all aspects of the operating system at the water plant,” he wrote.
Town Administrator Heather Alvarez said software for the plant is so outdated it would be difficult to find a technician to repair the system should it fail – meaning a staff member would need to run the water plant manually until a new operating system could be installed.
“We are treating this as a maintenance item, rather than waiting for an emergency,” she said in an email.
A public hearing was held for the 2020 draft budget on Wednesday night, but no one from the community provided input, according to Alvarez.
The document shows a balanced operating budget for the General Fund, Water Fund and Sewer Fund; capital expenditures of $271,025 in the General Fund; and capital expenditures of $112,000 in Enterprise Funds.
The next budget workshop is Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. The final budget is set to be adopted at the Dec. 11 board meeting after a public hearing.
For the first round of agency contributions for 2020, trustees awarded $1,500 to Community Connections, according to Alvarez. Community Connections is a nonprofit that supports children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Montezuma County.
In its application, the organization said all of the town’s funding would be used for Mancos residents, unless otherwise directed by the board. They initially applied for $1,250 but were granted the maximum amount.
The School Community Youth Collaborative had also applied for this first round of agency contributions, in the amount of $1,000, but they did not receive the funds because no representatives attended the meeting, according to Alvarez.
The town budgets agency contribution funds “to support community organizations that preserve or enrich the health, education, welfare, and fitness of the community,” according to the application.
In 2019, the town spent a total of $11,000 for both rounds of contribution requests, and for 2020, the town has budgeted $12,000.
Depending on fund availability, the second cycle of applications are expected to be due April 15.
ealvero@the-journal.com
