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Moffat County LMD takes care in constructing bylaws

Moffat County LMD constructs bylaws, looks for community input

Patrick Kelly
Craig City Council members John Ponikvar, Tony Bohrer, Ray Beck, Kent Nielson and Joe Bird; Moffat County Commissioner Frank Moe and county attorney Rebecca Tyree; and Dinosaur Town Council members Toby Cortez Richard Blakely and David Heinrich gather to discuss the Moffat County Local Marketing District.
Patrick Kelly

The initial board of the Moffat County Local Marketing District gathered Tuesday to refine bylaws, discuss its mission statement and review its budget and strategy.

Voters approved the taxing district in November by a vote of 1,678 in favor to 1,553 opposed — passing it by a 3.8 percent margin.

Since then, the board, which consists of 17 members combined from the Board of Moffat County Commissioners, Craig City Council and Dinosaur Town Council, has been working to relieve the communities’ anxiety about LMD’s composition and direction.



A draft set of bylaws has been published, and Moffat County Attorney Rebecca Tyree led the initial board — as well as an audience of a half-dozen residents — through the document at the meeting.

Representing the initial board were Moffat County Commissioners Frank Moe, who led the meeting, and John Kinkaid; Craig City Council members John Ponikvar, Tony Bohrer, Kent Nielson, Joe Bird, Derek Duran and Ray Beck, mayor; and Dinosaur Town Council members Toby Cortez, David Heinrich and Richard Blakely, mayor.



At the meeting, Tyree fielded questions on the language of the bylaws from the board and audience.

Concerns raised included compensation of board members, structure of the board’s leadership, term limits, meeting locations and ensuring the bylaws are airtight to avoid future strife.

A quorum was reached, but the board resolved each issue by consensus rather than calling a vote. The majority of the questions raised by board members were marked for discussion at the next LMD meeting.

As emphasized by Moe and Beck, the initial board is still taking its time to finalize the rules for LMD, and the point of the meeting was to engage the public and board members to iron out wrinkles in LMD’s proposed operations.

“I was very proud of the progress we made, and you can see we’re being thoughtful, we’re being prudent and we are reaching out to the community,” Moe said. “You can see we are reaching out to the community, because, for this to work, it has to be community-driven.”

The next LMD meeting is at 6 p.m. April 25 at Craig City Hall and will incorporate Better City, the firm hired to do a comprehensive economic evaluation of the county.

After that, Beck said, the initial board may be ready to vote on final bylaws in May. In the meantime, he encouraged community involvement, as demonstrated at Tuesday’s meeting.

“This is a prime example of everybody coming together and working together with a goal and a mission that we can adapt and move forward on,” he said.

The LMD raised $9,300 in January, Moe said, but he is not sure if that figure represents all of the local lodging industry or just a reporting portion.

Contact Patrick Kelly at 970-875-1795 or Contact Patrick Kelly at 970-875-1795 or pkelly@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @M_PKelly.Contact Patrick Kelly at 970-875-1795 or pkelly@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @M_PKelly.


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