New trustee named in Erie
Colin Towner to fill vacancy left by Callahan
By Ryan Want
Colorado Hometown Newspapers
Mayor Andrew Moore enjoyed a snack-sized bag of potato chips as he waited for the 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 11, meeting to start.
Trustee Harry Pink arrived at Erie Town Hall after the roll was called.
And, Trustee Tom Van Lone, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt after working at his job as a contractor, finished a sub sandwich and cracked open a soda under the table as the first Town of Erie trustee candidate made his opening remarks.
Resumes aside, the Erie Board of Trustees wanted to ensure that whomever they selected was keenly aware of the time commitment involved as a trustee.
The board received nine applications for the open trustee position vacated by David Callahan, who resigned from the board in September after moving to Denver to be closer to his job. The nine applicants were narrowed down to three candidates for interviews.
After much thought and deliberation, the trustees last week appointed six-year Erie resident Colin Towner by a vote of 4-2.
The 44-year-old Towner’s resume included experience as a civil-engineer, U.S. Navy submarine designer, work at a water utility and extensive time spent as a consultant at Ernst & Young.
Towner also has been a small-business owner in Erie for thee years, operating the pet bathing and grooming store, Tidy Paws.
Towner’s experience dealing with the unique economic challenges facing retail owners in Erie, experience on the Erie Economic Development ad-hoc committee and his vision for the town impressed the board.
“I don’t know if it’s five years out or 50 years out, but a lot of people think of Erie as a bedroom community for other places,” Towner said. “I’d like other places to be a bedroom community for Erie.”
The other two votes went to Chris Jensen, a commercial real estate broker in Boulder and a member of the Erie Economic Development ad-hoc committee.
A major concern for the board was the number of potential conflicts of interest and times Jensen would have to recuse himself from voting since his company has several projects in the Erie area.
The third candidate the board interviewed was Robert Paradine who was on a business trip and conducted the interview via teleconference.
Near the end of Towner’s interview, he asked what should be carried on in the spirit of Trustee Callahan. Overwhelmingly, the board said that Callahan was irreplaceable.
Though, they were more than willing to offer up advice for success on the board.
“Early on, there’s a learning curve,” Trustee Pink said. “It takes some time to get up to speed. Spending the time to really understand the background and putting in that extra bit of effort when you’d rather be doing something else is what it’s all about.”
Towner will serve the remainder of Callahan’s term that is set to expire in April 2008.
Mystery surrounds sale of Sun campus
Old StorageTek property acquired for $55.6 million
By Ryan Want
Colorado Hometown Newspapers
Last week, Sun Microsystems sold off its 432-acre campus that was formerly home to StorageTek.
However, the party on the purchasing end of the $55.6 million transaction remains a mystery.
“It's my sense that they're doing their due diligence,” said Louisville Mayor Chuck Sisk. “The ultimate purchaser will show up. People have a right to do their investigation; when it's necessary we'll all know who it is. When you have a transaction of this size, certainly it will have impacts on many other people. I don't know what the reasons for the secrecy, but I respect them.”
Sisk said that he would like to see a retail component combined with a corporate campus along with open space and trails on the property.
If a retail component is added, Sisk said sorting out transportation and access issues to the campus would be a priority.
As part of the sale agreement, Sun will lease back a portion of the campus during 2008 while they transition the approximately 700 employees over to its Broomfield location.
“I think one of the things Sun will tell you is that we did all we could to keep them there,” Sisk said. “We did not want Sun to leave, but once they make the decision, you go to ‘plan B.’ Now that it's closed, I think it’s a very positive step for Louisville. The purchaser invested a significant amount of money to bring something to Louisville.”
Sisk also talked about the transition of the campus from StorageTek’s “heyday” when it had over 3,000 employee to its current point and acknowledged losing any company of Sun’s size would have a significant impact.
“We've had a gradual transition, probably sense it less, less of a jolt, not as though they pulled all people out at once,” Sisk said. “We've been able to absorb it and absorb it pretty well.”
Over the past year, Sun had contemplated keeping a presence in Louisville, which Sisk would have liked, but he also said that other corporations he spoke to over the past year felt it was better if a single company could have control over decisions made on the campus.
“It will be a very pivotal moment for Louisville,” Sisk said, “but keeping in mind that we have stressed anyone coming in needs to understand the environment of Louisville.”
Council increases 2008 budget
$34,000 allocated for Shop Louisville program
By Ryan Want
Colorado Hometown Newspapers
The Louisville City Council approved a resolution Tuesday, Jan. 15, increasing the general fund budget by $34,000 to continue the Shop Louisville program it started in July, 2007.
Shop Louisville is an organized effort to raise awareness about the positive impact Louisville residents have on the city when they shop locally.
The city’s hope is that the program will increase sales tax revenue, thus providing more funding for services and events.
The success of the program is going to be monitored through the number of merchants that sign up for the program, citizen awareness and merchant willingness to fund the program in following years.
“We’re planting seeds,” said Mayor Chuck Sisk. “We’re not going to be able to cultivate this immediately.”
Other council members also acknowledged that it will be tough to measure the effectiveness of the program.
“We don’t anticipate that this program is going to increase sales tax revenue in a way that we can actually measure by the end of this year,” said council member Hank Dalton. “We need to make sure that folks understand this program isn’t necessarily going to pay for itself. That’s a hope, but we’re going into it with the idea that it will make people aware of the choices they can make in spending their retail dollars, so that when given the opportunity to go out of town or spend the dollar here, they spend it here.”
Some council members were less sure of the program than Sisk and Dalton, but did warm up to the idea.
“I think it’s hard to look at a $34,000 increase in the budget when there are other things we had to cut out,” said council member Frost Yarnell. “It was a very difficult decision to come to this place of support. I do support this program and think it’s very important.”
Sisk said that some community members have asked him how they could make a $34,000 expenditure when other items were cut or not considered. Sisk maintains that it is important to send the right message to people in “the business community and people looking to do business here.”
Though the city’s sales tax revenue has increased during the past six months — since Shop Louisville’s inception — Dalton tempered his excitement.
“There’s no silver bullet with regards to raising sales tax revenue in this town,” Dalton said. “This is one piece of a number of things we’re trying to do to improve the business climate in Louisville.”
Revenue sharing report analyzed
Trustees doubtful about implementation
By Ryan Want
Colorado Hometown Newspapers
In November, consultants working on a way to share sales tax revenue within Boulder County presented municipal officials with four preliminary plans of action.
At the Superior Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Jan. 14, Mayor Pro-tem Karen Imbierowicz reported back to the board with the latest developments.
The group of municipalities include Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior and Erie. Each government contributed $7,000 toward the $49,000 study, with Boulder County making up the difference.
The first approach involves looking at allocation of incremental sales taxes based on populations of those communities in the revenue sharing pool.
Another plan would focus on the economic spending power of the communities.
A third approach that consultants looked at was based on a consumer leakage-adjustment rate. For that approach, consultants would determine what percentage of sales tax is “leaking” out of a community due to residents spending money in other municipalities.
A final idea and the one favored by trustees was regional land banking, which involves a contribution of future retail development sites from each participating community. The community would then receive a portion of the sales tax generated on those sites, based on the percentage of land contributed.
The main problem Imbierowicz had with the study up to this point is that it was only modeled on taking one-percent of sales tax from each municipality.
“They felt that it was the safest amount they could take from each town and it resulted in a really small amount of sales tax, something like $500,000, which is too small to motivate anyone to do anything differently,” Imbierowicz said.
Before the next revenue sharing meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24, Imbierowicz hoped to determine what amount of money would make revenue sharing an interesting prospect for the town.
Trustee Jeff Chu speculated that “20 percent of operating costs is probably where it becomes interesting for us.”
With the 1-percent sales tax revenue sharing figure being so far away from a number that would interest the town, Mayor Andrew Muckle wasn’t optimistic about the plan being implemented.
“My take-home message from this is that nothing is going to happen,” said Mayor Andrew Muckle. “We're talking miniscule dollars that aren't going to affect planning at all.”
He said that land banking would make the most sense, but that Boulder is essentially built-out, and a town like Erie that still has considerable development potential would be unlikely to sign onto any plan sharing the revenue of future development.
Muckle said that it might be possible for Superior and Louisville to work together on a similar revenue sharing effort, but that this wasn’t a regional solution.
“I've been a big proponent of revenue sharing because of the issues it brings up, unfortunately this is not going to solve that,” Muckle said. “This is a state problem that requires a state solution.”
