VILLAGE COUNCIL MEETING

MINUTES

EDELWEISS CONDOS CONFERENCE ROOM

TAOS SKI VALLEY, NEW MEXICO

I.        CALL TO ORDER & NOTICE OF MEETING

Mayor King called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.  The notice of the meeting was properly posted.

 

II.       ROLL CALL

Mayor King, Councilors Bennett, Wiard and Wittman were present. Councilor Stagg was absent. Staff members included Bruce Kelly, Vanessa Chisholm and Don Schieber.

 

III.          APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

MOTION:  To approve the agenda as submitted. 

Motion: Councilor Wiard   Second: Councilor Bennett  Passed: 3-0

 

IV.     APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 1 AND SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 COUNCIL MEETINGS.

MOTION:  To approve the minutes from the September 1 and September 15, 2009 Council Meeting. 

Motion: Councilor Wittman     Second: Councilor Wiard Passed: 3-0

 

V.        FINANCIAL REPORTS

Vanessa Chisholm presented the financial reports and reported on the ongoing project expenses.  The financial reports were accepted into the minutes.

 

VI.       COMMITTEE REPORTS

A.        Planning and Zoning Commission

Councilor Wittman reported the P&Z Commission met on October 5, 2009.  The Commission will being the revisions to the Subdivision Ordinance at the next meeting which is scheduled for November 2, 2009, at 1:00 p.m., at the Edelweiss. 

 

B.        Public Safety Committee 

Councilor Bennett said the committee met on September 24, 2009.  The recently passed Carbon Monoxide Detector Ordinance was discussed and information on purchasing these detectors will be in the water/sewer bills.  It is important to know that wherever propane, woodstoves, and/or fireplaces are used, a detector is needed.  The H1N1 Flu was discussed at length.  All Village volunteers (EMS and Fire) and Law Enforcement will receive the regular flu shot as well as the H1N1 flu shot when it becomes available at Mogul Medical.  Village Employees will be sent home immediately if they come to work sick.  Hand sanitizers in restaurants and various methods of prevention were discussed as well.  Councilor Bennett said a 25-page document was distributed to all hotels/condos, etc via the Chamber of Commerce.  The web site for this document is www.ahla.com. 

 

Councilor Bennett reported there have been three robberies and one breaking and entering in the Village during the last month.  Dave Wallace, Public Safety Director, has been working with State Police and the FBI.  The suspect has not been apprehended.  Many of the stolen articles have been found in Raton.   The fire department (VFD) welcomed four new volunteers.  Three of the VFD instructors and the new members recently attended the fire academy in Red River.  Seven members of the EMS volunteer department will attend the two-day EMS Conference in Red River.  The Public Safety Committee will meet again in November prior to the opening of the Ski Valley Resort.

 

C.        Public Works Committee

No report.

 

D.                Parks and Recreation Committee

No report.   Chisholm had received comments on how the disc golf could be improved by adding Ladies tees.  Mayor King stated he would make the suggestion to Maureen Sellars.

 

VII.           REGIONAL AND STATE REPORTS

Councilor Wiard reported that the IGC and Regional Landfill Board will tentatively meet on October 21, 2009. There will not be an Enchanted Circle Day at the Legislature this year.  Councilor Wiard spoke about the upcoming Legislative Session and Gross Receipts Taxes.  The State of New Mexico’s finances are not in good shape.  The Legislature will discuss capital improvements and money that is not used by municipalities.  Councilor Wiard urged the Council to notify our representatives to “not take anything away from any municipalities.”  Wiard commented about the Census 2010 and reminded everyone to respond.  The Census for is very short; 10 questions in 10 minutes. 

 

Wiard reported on other meetings she attended, specifically the NMML and expressed her pleasure at chairing her first NMML Board Meeting in Santa Fe as the NMML President.  Future meetings she will attend include the National League of Cities in San Antonio and the NMML and NM Association of Counties, Joint Executive Meeting in Santa Fe in November.

 

VIII.       MAYOR’S REPORT

Mayor King stated he led a group up Williams Lake for the full moon hike in October. The Mayor complimented the hard work of the Staff and said he was not needed, except to sign checks.

 

IX.                 STAFF REPORTS

Bruce Kelly, Village Administrator, presented Ray Keen’s Public Works progress report.  The wall on Twining Road has been completed.  The fire hydrant disabled last year at the bottom of Ernie Blake Rd has been replaced with a new hydrant and is active again.  There have been several water line outages since the water line project began and crews have been busy dealing with those issues as they happen.  The replacement building for the treatment plant has arrived and the foundation has been poured so a crew should begin construction this week and may have the building constructed within the next two weeks.  The treatment plant‘s UV disinfection system control panel has been shorting out.  The manufacturer is sending an engineer to diagnose the problem this week and hopefully will have a solution for us soon.  We will begin taking apart the belt press to make room for the new centrifuge.

 

Don Schieber reported on the Kit Carson Electric Coop 3-phase power being installed throughout the Village.  Darwin Electric has completed about 3 years of work in one season.  Schieber discussed the autumn as being the busiest season for construction.  People are still coming in to get a building permit and some are attempting to construct without a permit.  Schieber updated the Council on the construction progress of the St. Moritz Condos, Bavarian Condos, Ghormley, and Bender’s residences. 

 

Bruce Kelly, Village Administrator, presented his monthly report and said they have started putting the water pipe on the ski trail and around the resort center.  The water tank will be built next summer under the return trail.  The Village is photographing and using a GPS to document all work being placed in the ground.  A variety of pipe was discovered that no one seemed to know ahead of time, was in the ground.  For the unknown pipe, some we have had to repair and some we just capped and left in the ground.  The parts for the PRV’s have not all come in and since the cold weather has hit us, we don’t think that we will start the PRV’s until the spring.  The replacement building at the treatment plant is underway and a change is a $4200 upgrade, to be paid out of existing insurance funds. 

 

The latest from the Forest Service is that the overhead power line can be moved when they can supply an archeologist on site while we dig the trench in the roadway.  This will not happen until spring.  Schieber and Dave Mount (Darwin Electric) are meeting with Kit Carson concerning extensions and hooking people up to the three phase. 

 

Last month the auditors were in the Village reviewing our books.  Thanks to Vanessa’s great work, we passed with flying colors, without any findings.  Kelly has submitted a draft of some changes to the subdivision ordinance to the P&Z Commission and they will all be working on it for the next several months.  The H1N1 flu was discussed at the NMML meeting in Albuquerque, as preparation for the possibility of a flu outbreak.  Staff has put notices in the water/sewer bills and are in the process of distributing them throughout the Village and will request that all Village employees get the H1N1 flu shots.  

 

X.           OLD BUSINESS - None

 

XI.                 NEW BUSINESS

 

A.                 Introduction of Ordinance 10-30: Amendment to Ordinance No. 07-30, Adopting Zoning Regulations in the Village of Taos Ski Valley

 

Kelly stated the revised zoning ordinance includes many changes that the P&Z Commission has discussed over a period of many months.  Items formerly in separate documents or ordinances have been included into the zoning ordinance to make this one ordinance more comprehensive.  This should make the building, development, and land use process easier and clearer for the resident or builder, and more straightforward for the Village Staff.  The items of significant change include the use of a hearing officer for hearing variance and conditional use requests, the ability of the Planning Officer to make decisions on minor variances, the institution of a requirement for a certificate of compatibility for all development, the inclusion of an industrial zone in the Village, and stricter requirements for terrain management.  A Public Hearing will be scheduled for the November 3, 2009 Council Meeting.

 

Kelly expressed his many, many thanks to the P&Z Commission for all their hard work.  He said the document is now on the Village website, which allows thirty days review from now to the Public Hearing in November.  Councilor Wittman thanked the Staff including Kelly and Schieber, as they did all the hard work.  Discussion was held regarding the Planning Officer and Hearing Officer.  The Mayor thanked everyone for their hard work.

 

XII.           MISCELLANEOUS

Councilor Bennett inquired as to the money awarded to the Village by the State several years ago that was supposed to go towards the building of a new Village Office.  Discussion was held as to the fact we had no land to erect the building; no land was ever decided upon by the Village Staff at that time and the Council.  It was stated that the Village lost this money. 

 

Kelly said he would attend the Pueblo Regional Planning Meeting in Chama being held tomorrow, if Council approved.  He would also like to attend a conference regarding Infrastructure at the end of the month.  Council approved of Kelly attending both these meetings.  Also, Chisholm and Ann Wooldridge will attend the NMML Election School in November.          

 

XIII.        CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION: Pending Litigation

MOTION: To go to executive session.

Motion: Councilor Wittman                 Second: Councilor Wiard                     Passed: 3-0

MOTION: To close the executive session and return to the regular meeting.  No motions or decision were made in the executive session.

MOTION:      Councilor Wiard           Second: Councilor Wittman                 Passed: 3-0

 

It was stated in the Open Meeting that staff will request that Judith Naumburg appear at the next Village Council meeting to discuss for water and sewer fixed rates.

 

XIII.    ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE OF THE NEXT MEETING OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL.

The next meeting of the Village Council will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at 2:00 p.m., at the Edelweiss conference center.

XIV.    ADJOURNMENT

Motion:  To adjourn the meeting.

Motion:   Councilor Wittman   Second:   Councilor Wiard                   Passed:  3-0.

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________         ____________________________________

Neal King, Mayor                                            Vanessa Chisholm, Village Clerk