Wireless ballot measure could connect Timnath

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Timnath could become the first town in the region to make wireless Internet access available to all its residents, if voters approve a measure on a packed April 4 ballot.

Electors also will decide whether Timnath should take greater control of its own affairs by converting to a home-rule form of government, determine whether the town should be authorized to collect a sales tax on groceries, and choose trustees to serve on the town board.

Wi-Fi

"I really see this as an opportunity to look at high-speed [wireless service] as a utility the town provides," Mayor Donna Benson explained.

If approved, Timnath would join the growing number of municipalities offering the so-called Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) service. While major metropolises now are jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon, Benson said that such systems increasingly are already in place in smaller communities. Those towns, she said, actually have an advantage because they can assure Wi-Fi is first in place before they start to grow.

"Our lack of infrastructure is really a blessing," Benson said, because the town can essentially start from scratch building in the Wi-Fi capability. "Now's the time to really think about this and plan."

She envisions that service would be provided via a mesh of repeaters placed atop street light poles. Residents and anyone within sight of those repeaters could tap into broadband signal to access the Internet.

While initially proposed only as a way of making Internet access available to residents, Benson said it is apparent that it offers other "almost limitless" opportunities for providing remote utility meter reading, instantaneous information to police and emergency service providers, and even a connection allowing doctors to monitor patients in their homes.

Further, she said, Wi-Fi would act as an economic development tool by making Timnath more attractive to businesses.

Although no cost estimates have yet been developed, Benson said the systems should be "fairly cheap" and may well be offset by other cost savings it creates. In Corpus Christi, Texas, for example, Benson maintained that savings from eliminating the cost of meter-reading paid for the Wi-Fi system.

Benson said the town would not directly provide the Wi-Fi service itself. If given the green light, she said a consultant would be hired to help the town prepare a request for proposals to identify potential providers.

Home rule

The home rule issue is somewhat abstract but could have lasting implications on how the 227 current residents of Timnath prepare for a projected 50-fold increase in population during the next 25 years.

Put simply, home rule gives municipalities more authority and flexibility in custom-tailoring their system of government to meet specific needs. In contrast, so-called statutory municipalities are limited to exercising only those powers explicitly granted to them by the state. According to the Colorado Municipal League, 91 of Colorado's 271 municipalities are home rule. Fort Collins, Loveland and Windsor are home rule; Wellington is not.

In Timnath, home rule has been advocated as a way to ensure sales taxes are more correctly and quickly collected. Some also believe it could help protect the interests and values of current residents by ensuring they retain representation as the town grows.

"This is an opportunity for residents to have a say in how the town is run in the future," said Benson.

Recently resigned trustee Tim Gaines, however, said he remains decidedly unenthusiastic about the issue. He said his support depends on whether the proposed charter gives the town the authority to tax groceries and condemn property outside town limits. "Condemnation is a heavy hand," Gaines said.

The home-rule issue is a two-part question. The first asks voters whether the town should pursue home-rule status. Regardless of how they vote on the first, all can also vote on the second to elect a nine-member charter commission. That commission then would develop a proposed charter for voter consideration in the Nov. 7 general election.

"I just don't see people banging down the door to get on the charter commission," said trustee Charlie Snider, who plans to seek election to the commission.

Indeed, it currently appears there will be no competition at all for the charter commission positions. Benson said it was her understanding that she, Snider, fellow trustees Bob Sanderson and Kim Speaker, planning commissioners Dick Weiderspon and Ray Wright, and Diane Fusaro, Del Miller and Susie Saunders were the only ones planning to run.

Grocery sales tax

In a related question, voters will decide whether the town should collect sales taxes on groceries, should a store be built in the town. The ballot issue asks voters for the authority to collect the 3 percent sales tax now allowed under state statutes. But, at the same time, it gives trustees the ability to reduce that tax to 2.25 percent, should the town achieve home-rule status.

Gaines cast the only dissenting vote when trustees on Feb. 1 agreed to refer the issue to the ballot.

"Generally, I do like taxes. That's how government raises money," Gaines later explained, while adding, "I don't like taxing things people need to have."

Trustees

Finally, with Gaines' sudden resignation, the entire four-member board of trustees will be up for election. Benson's four-year mayoral term continues for another two years.

A ski patroller and backcountry trail-builder, Gaines twice served as mayor in his nearly 22 years of service on the board. He insisted that his decision was a "spontaneous thing" without any particular provocation. "Something snapped," Gaines said. "I didn't think I was being useful and it certainly wasn't fun."

A 15-year Timnath resident and aquatic designer for a Denver architectural firm, Snider now is the only remaining trustee to have completed his full term. Speaker and Sanderson were appointed to fill vacancies. Snider said he would seek re-election. Sanderson said he had not yet decided whether to seek election to a full term. Speaker did not return a phone call to determine her plans.

Trustee candidates have until March 3 to submit nominating petitions bearing the names of 10 registered Timnath voters. The top two vote-getters will be elected to four-year terms and the next two to two-year terms.