Liquor and food

The Medicine Bow Town Council had their monthly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. on May 13 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall. All council members and mayor were present.

There was a public hearing on the liquor licenses of the Virginian, C. Spear Bar and Restaurant and Old West Bar. No person from the public objected to the renewing licenses for all three establishments. All three licenses were renewed.

An agenda addition was approved for town resident Jeannette Fisher to speak about two topics: hiring a recreation director and inviting a vehicle crusher/scrapper to come to Medicine Bow.

After the agenda was approved, the minutes from the regular meeting of April 8, and special meeting on April 29, were ratified along with the financials.

Fischer said she would like the council to think about hiring a recreation director. She said that individual could be in charge of the Frisbee and baseball equipment and organize a Frisbee tournament. Fischer also suggested the council consider bringing a vehicle crusher to town. She said it could be an opportunity for people to get rid of some junk and there could be a sign up sheet. She said a few years back someone had come up from Greeley and had bought a lot of scrap metal and hauled it off.

Resident Kenda Colman said she had seen an excellent phone book when she was at the Elk Mountain Senior Center. The center had published the phone book because most people don't have landlines. She said the seniors in Medicine Bow would like to create a phone book for the town and do it as a fundraiser. She asked if they could put a form in the utility bills that people could use to get into the phone book. The council approved the form.

Council member Karla Denzin said Sister Marie Martin had come to the last town council meeting and posed questions about the food truck. She said the Council had suggested that Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath call the sponsor of the truck, Mary Tippman, and speak to her about it. This resulted in the Food Bank of the Rockies representative calling and then generating an email regarding the truck. It had been said there were a lot of problems with the truck, and she had spoken to the town employees, the Fire Department, and the people using the truck.

According to representative there had been a verbal agreement between Martin and the Fire Department that the truck could use two bays, but without asking, the program had expanded into all the bays. While the food truck was there, damage had been done to the quick attack truck and some tables had flipped over and hit a vehicle.

The food truck has gone to Hanna. Denzin said they couldn't blame the people of Hanna. She said Martin was at fault, because she took over the truck from Vernon Scott and Sharon Kahl who ran a successful operation. Fischer said it was in the council minutes of Hanna that the food truck was going there permanently. She thought everyone connected with it did a great job, but felt Medicine Bow should still be included as a town of distribution. Resident Cindy Chace said when the truck first came, there were plenty of volunteers but that had changed under Martin. Denzin said another problem with the truck was leftover product. Fire Chief Peter Andrews said when the food truck first moved to the fire department building, everything went well, but then it started expanding into other spaces. The fire department personnel weren't supposed to be there, but had to station a person there to move trucks. He said there was no supervision and the department has had to deal with the leftovers. Mayor Kevin Colman said there were two options. One was to keep it in Medicine Bow, but to satisfy insurance requirements, a town employee or fire department member had to move the trucks. The other option was to send the truck to Hanna. Council member Sharon Biamon was approved to talk with the food bank representatives about the situation.

Ordinance 2-2019B's second reading was approved. The ordinance is the annual appropriations ordinance for Medicine Bow for Fiscal Year 2019-20.

Repairing the flooring for the entire town hall building using impact funds from Chokecherry project was approved. The council approved spending the impact from the Boswell wind projects. $250,000 was appropriated on a fire tender. $50,000 on street surveys, $20,000 for a back up generator and $400,000 for a loader and Bobcat.

The council approved pursuing a grant to fix windows in the town hall using Cowboy Glass and using Chokecherry impact money for the cash match.

Public Works director Charlie George said there were several spots in town that needed better drainage, such as at Elm and Pine, and Oak and Pine. He said there was money coming for streets. Town employee Frank Fisher is continuing to pursue his water and wastewater certifications. Denzin thanked public works for fixing the broken glass on the display board at the post office.

Andrews said he was working on training fire personnel and had received new applications. He was going to put out bids on the fire tender.

Chairman Jim Colman from the planning and zoning board requested a fire hydrant for south of the railroad tracks. The council approved the fire hydrant using impact funds from Chokecherry project.

Medicine Bow Librarian Bonnie Culver said a free book exchange box had been built.

The next scheduled meeting is at 7 p.m. on June 10 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall.