This week's headlines

Snowpack on Grand Mesa was gauged at 47 percent of average prior to the December storms, the Cedaredge trustees were told at their December meeting. Since the report, snow depth at Park Reservoir has increased from 37 inches on Dec. 12 to 45 inches on the day after Christmas, according to NRCS data.

In addition, water storage reservoirs on Grand Mesa in the Surface Creek drainage have retained an estimated 15 percent-of-capacity carryover into the coming water year as of early December, reported the town public works department.

The public works report, delivered to the Cedaredge Town Board on Dec. 13, compared that 15 percent figure with a 44 percent "basin-wide" average at this same time last year. Late December storms are improving the situation on the Grand Mesa. According to the NRCS data as of Dec. 28, the basin-wide average had improved to 67 percent of average.

The Surface Creek drainage is still better off than some others, according to the report. Specifically, Young's Creek is estimated to have a 7 percent carryover, the report stated. Data comes in part from state water officials.

In other business at their Dec. 13 meeting, the Cedaredge trustees dealt with the following matters:

• The trustees appointed members to serve on the town tree board.

Chairman will be Jim Leser. Vice-chair will be Mike Meskel. Ann Knutson will serve as secretary/treasurer.
Other members to the board will be Sara Knutson, Steve Grewe, Rae-Ann Simmons, and Dayton Myers representing the town trustees.

• The town's sales tax receipts may be indicating an uptick in local inflation this year. Receipts are up 5.6 percent compared with the same period last year, a report to the town board on Dec. 13 stated. The 5.6 percent increase figure, still far lower than actual percent increases being seen on many food items and other essentials, is considered a good economic indication by many.

• Reporting on a project the town planning commission has undertaken, trustee Ray Hanson reported there are some 45 known ditches that pass through the town's "area of interest."

In some cases, ownership of the ditches and even their exact course and location are not known or clearly mapped.

The planning commission, working with the public works department and the town administration, is in the process of developing a database of the ditches.

• Trustees answered a constituent question at their Dec. 13 meeting. They were asked why the town isn't considering construction of a new wastewater treatment plant on the site of the current lagoons.

Trustees replied that the town is being prohibited by state and federal officials from discharging its sewer effluent into the Hart's Basin drainage. That is because of the negative effects being caused to Fruitgrowers Reservoir.

The town's right even to discharge into the Alfalfa Ditch has also been questioned, a town official has said.
New sites for the wastewater plant will have to be evaluated on the basis of their access to Surface Creek to be the recipient of plant discharge.

The state and the EPA want Cedaredge out of the Hart's Basin drainage: "This goes back 15 years," said trustee Ray Hanson.

Mayor Pat Means explained that the town board has been struggling for two years with issues like the one raised. She promised a community forum on the treatment plant issues that would take place after the first of the year, possibly as early as February.

• Cedaredge Area Chamber of Commerce administrator Carol Peterson recently issued a notice that CACC, "After consideration has decided not to do business on an ad promotion with (a company called) 'Totes-to-Go.'"

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