From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):
Council members approved a resolution certifying that the current project to bring water from a new source into town is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars, as well as an emergency ordinance establishing the Town of Wiggins Water Enterprise. This is part of the effort to complete a set of conditions created by the USDA for receiving a loan and a grant to pay for the project. Since the money for the project comes from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding, governments that receive such funding must certify that their projects are appropriate ways to spend the money, said Wiggins Town Attorney Sam Light. That was one of the conditions for the loan and grant. In order to create bonds to sell to pay off the loan, an attorney who specializes in that kind of work said it is best to officially name the Wiggins water system an “enterprise,” although that is already the way it has been run, Light said. As an enterprise, the water system is exempt from Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) requirements to have voters approve any increases in costs, he said. Basically, this amounts to renaming the water fund to the water revenue fund, Light said.
The town is also working on the other conditions for the loan and grant, Rogers said. The town has gathered documentation of some of the right of way easements required for running a pipeline from a well northwest of Wiggins into the town, but is still working on it, Holbrook said. A title company is working on certifying that those easements do not have any liens or other encumbrances on them, Rogers said. The town’s auditor has said that he is sending a letter to document the town’s financial condition, but that has not come in yet, he said.
The USDA will be coming to Wiggins to present an official check on Monday, Rogers said.