Bushnell community news

If you’d like to buy raffle tickets ($1 apiece or 6 for $5) for a chance to win a $200 gift certificate to the Texas Trail Market in Pine Bluffs, please get ahold of me. Proceeds go to the Texas Trail Museum. The drawing will be held before Christmas.

I am going to start doing freelance web design and social media management. Please contact me if you need to set up a website or a business Facebook or Pinterest page.

The annual Bushnell Christmas potluck dinner is in the community center at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. Join your neighbors to celebrate the season.

Last week’s board meeting was well attended. Cody Halligan acted as chair since Tim Nolting was out of town.

Cody asked for corrections to the minutes, so they will be amended and presented for approval at next month’s meeting.

The new sound system is hooked up, which made it easier for the audience to hear what the board members discussed during the meeting.

Marci Biesheuvel gave a presentation on her feral cat program, which most of us found very interesting and informative. She asked for approval from the board to allow her to trap feral cats in town, which they granted. She will take any cats she traps (or that residents trap — she would like to have help with the task) to Fort Collins to be sterilized and vaccinated and bring them back to Bushnell. A few local residents have been setting out food for these cats, so they are being cared for — we just need to control the population. She has some funding to help offset costs, but would like to receive $5 per cat from the village. If anyone is interested in helping with a fundraiser, please contact me, Lori Apala, or the village office.

A representative from M.C. Schaff gave us an update on the sewer project and said he would submit the application for funding to the state, so we should know what support they can give us by next month’s meeting.

An announcement was made that the recall petition had received enough signatures to submit to the courthouse for review. Cody thought the board should go ahead and proceed with a discussion on how to pay for a special election, since it seems likely. He talked to the clerk’s office earlier that day, and they didn’t have a timeframe or cost estimate yet. The board says that their only real source of income is water and sewer payments, so residents will likely see an increase in their monthly bills to help offset the cost of the election. Since an increase in water/sewer rates has been discussed for at least the last year, people shouldn’t be too surprised. It was bound to happen soon, anyway.

But instead of going towards repairing and maintaining the sewer system and water tower, any extra income from the monthly bills will have to go towards the election costs until they are paid off, which will stall all hoped-for village improvements. There is a water pump emergency fund that they can draw from if the election needs to be paid off in a lump sum instead of making payments, but they will have to build that back up again as quickly as possible in case of problems with the water tower and/or pumps. Lea checked with the village’s insurance company and verified that their liability insurance will not cover the cost of a special election. In the end, no motions were made on the issue of raising water/sewer rates as the board decided to wait to see the results of the sewer project potential funding from the state because that may affect the amount of increase needed.

The board approved the purchase of new tires for the maintenance vehicle since the current ones are 9 years old and have no tread left. They will be ordered from Rod’s Fix-a-Flat.

And the board would like to issue a reminder to everyone to pay for your dog licenses. A list of owners who registered dogs last year but not this year will be sent to the sheriff’s office so that if the dogs in question are impounded, the owners will have to pay their licensing fee before the dogs are released. If you no longer have the dog(s) you registered last year, please let the village clerk know.

The bookstore’s hours for the rest of the winter are Wednesdays, Saturday, and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You’re also welcome to make an appointment to visit at another time, provided we can arrange for someone to be here.

If you have news, announcements, meeting times/dates, information about events happening nearby, or anything else you’d like to share, please contact me at [email protected] or 308-230-0683.