Lone Tree

The Lone Tree City Council met on Tuesday, Jan. 2, for their first meeting of the new year.

Here, the council filled a vacancy that was created with the departure of Ryan Ronan. Their two choices were Nicholas Gluba and Richard Finley. Both were on the November ballot.

After hearing from both candidates, the council appointed Gluba to the vacant seat. The council did not give reason for their choice but were likely swayed by Gluba’s appearance at the September meeting when Lone Tree filled a different council vacancy.

With Gluba’s appointment, four of the five seats are set to expire at the end of 2025. Mayor Josh Spilman’s seat also expires in 2025. The final council seat, held by Jerry Ford, will expire at the end of 2027.

Council action

The council appointed roles for the new year. Spilman elected Matt Zadow to be Mayor Pro Tem. This is an important function for the city council if the mayor misses a meeting.

The council also assigned liaisons for different city meetings and functions. The liaisons are meant to be contacted by the public if they have questions, comments or concerns. Then, the liaison can come to the next meeting with public insight.

Zadow was assigned housing/business development; Ford, parks/cemetery; Cathie Conzemius, streets/sidewalks and buildings/senior dining; Gluba, police/fire; and Poeschel library/cable TV and school/wellness center.

After the council sorted out their roles, they voted to increase city employee wages by 3% following a 2% increase in June 2023. Wages are re-evaluated every six months for the six official city employees.

Lone Tree CSD 4-day calendar

At this meeting, Lone Tree Superintendent Tyler Hotz spoke about a potential change for the school, a 4-day week.

In a recent school update video, Hotz shared the favorability of the change. Of 165 parents/guardians surveyed, 64.2% somewhat/strongly agree with a 4-day calendar. Of 180 students, 78.9% support the move and of 39 employees asked, 82.1% agree with a change as well.

All three groups questioned agreed that it would help attract and retain staff.

Mayor Josh Spilman stated, “I think like how Waco did, the parents are going to figure it out. You guys are going to do what you think is best for the school. We're all interested to see what happens and then we'll move forward with it, one way or the other.”

Hotz stated the school board is working to approve a calendar by March 2024.

Work session

At the end of the regular meeting, the council called to order a work session to discuss their budget’s timeline.

Afterwards, they discussed a request for proposal (RFP) for solar projects to be worked on at City Hall and the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

This project is important for the city as they look for a project on which to spend the rest of their allotted American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds. The rest of the money needs to be assigned to a project by the end of this October, otherwise Lone Tree will lose access to the funds.

The council decided to keep working on this solar project and will have updates in the future.

Next council meeting: The Lone Tree City Council will next meet on Monday, Feb. 5, in City Hall at 5:30 p.m.