Morning with the Mayor

Today was Coffee with the Mayor of Windsor, Kristie Melendez. If you want to find out what’s happening with Windsor, CO, in a pleasant, laid-back atmosphere, this is the place! I learned so much and I’ll share here.

We began with a question about Urgent Care, which is coming to the old Guadalajara restaurant building. As of yet, the Town does not know when it’s slated to open.

The Mill was brought up. Mayor Melendez explained how since the burning the Mill now has to go through the process for new construction. The developers are in the process but as of yet no date for opening or even what it will look like.

Rocky Mountain Sports Park was brought up. One citizen expressed his concern about many hotels opening up as well as sports fields. Mayor Melendez said the planning committee has not presented their proposal yet so she is unsure about if hotels are planned around the park.

One citizen asked about Raindance, which is the largest development in the queue in Windsor. There are slated to be 2000 homes built. The citizen expressed her concern about how she moved to Windsor for the small town with access to the amenities of larger towns. Mayor Melendez explained that Windsor is growing and her and the Board’s priorities is to keep the small town feel while dealing with growth. Windsor is expected to grow to 40-50k people in the next 20 years. She did say that fees have been increased on these developers for road development.

A citizen survey was recently completed that stated that safety is the number one priority for residents. The Chief of Police for Windsor, Richard A. Klimek, was in attendance and he addressed numerous questions on safety, drugs, burglaries, and traffic violations. He mentioned how Weld County School District now has a School Resource Officer working with kids in the schools, which is going very well. The Chief mentioned how don’t be afraid to call the police! They are available 24/7 to answer any concerns about person crimes, ordinance violations, or other quality of life issues. They strive for a 10 minute or less response time.

Traffic was brought up. The Town Board is doing all it can to figure out a solution for the big trucks going downtown. The Board is working with CDOT to see if 257 can be made straight. There is an impact study to see if Crossroads can be extended to O Street in Greeley. Working with the businesses themselves has led to some progress as some have agreed to try to use different routes for their heavy trucks.

Signage was brought up for crosswalks. It turns out these are more expensive than they appear, being about $10k/sign to install. Pedestrian responsibility was mentioned as well with regard to big trucks and their stopping time.

A new Town Manager should be in place by early April. The Town has hired a search committee firm to do a national search for the position and candidates and interviews should be held in March.

And water. A big topic since Windsor relies on the surrounding communities to provide us with water. NISP water storage project is still in the works but it could still be years out. A water treatment facility with surrounding communities is most likely in the future. However, water carries big price tags so it’s little steps at a time.

And that’s a wrap! This and more is what one can learn at these informal sessions. I would highly encourage all of you to come out when you get a chance and learn more about what’s happening in our incredible community. See familiar faces and new ones and get all your questions answered.

And, of course, there’s coffee!