The town of Mancos plans to stick with its traditional form of spraying as a form of weed treatment at Boyle Park for the coming year instead of pursuing organic methods.

The board voiced support for this option at a budget workshop before its regular meeting Aug. 14. While trustees appreciated the value of chemical-free treatment, they and staff members said more community support for alternative treatments was needed for it to work.

Boyle Park’s weed management has been a contested topic for several years, as some community members have asked for the town to go completely organic, citing concerns about chemicals.

For about two years, the town did so, but last year the board decided to revert to traditional spraying methods – the weeds were out of control, staff members said, causing the Montezuma County Noxious Weed Department to notify the town that it was out of compliance with state and county standards.

Several community members, though, have wanted the town to return to organic treatments again. Town officials have been in talks with Bee Happy Lands, a Durango-based organic weed management company, and the town received a bid from the organization for just under $7,000.

“This would be a quote for weed maintenance, not turf maintenance,” Alvarez said. Public works director Terry Jennings would still be doing all the aerating, overseeding, and fertilizing, she said.

The Bee Happy Lands treatment methods involve mechanically pulling weeds, and then applying compost and fertilizer, rather than applying a substance to kill the weeds, she said. Currently, Bee Happy is responsible for Cottonwood Park’s weed management – but that is just for weed management, not turf management.

Part of the issue is that the quote is largely based on community support, Alvarez said, which had dwindled during the previous stint when the town employed the organic treatment.

“I would love to be 100% organic, trust me,” she said. “But I feel that we have to consider everything.”

Trustees agreed.

Trustee Craig Benally said the board had put a lot of effort into examining organic treatment options, and that the community needed to step up to help pull weeds if they wanted it to happen.

“They haven’t,” he said. “I think it’s a huge liability for us to bank on that.”

In other park news, the board decided to put synthetic turf at the new north side park in the Creekside subdivision.

Trustees approved a contract with Synthetic Turf Consulting for a cost not to exceed $63,250.

Staff cited the value of limited maintenance. According to Alvarez, the conversion will allow the town to make up for the upfront costs in about three years.

“We can make up the difference in the original design versus synthetic turf in three years,” she said. “And then we can save, conservatively, $7,000 or $8,000 a year in maintenance, after those three years.”

Synthetic Turf Consulting is the same company that installed the new football field and practice field turf for the Mancos School District Re-6. The vote was unanimous.

“To me, the long-term maintenance on it is well-worth the upfront expense,” said Trustee Ed Hallam.

The board looked over a new draft of encroachment permits, which has been discussed over the past few months. Encroachment permits are issued by the town to allow another property owner to “encroach” on the town’s right of way.The draft ordinance was based on the town of Ouray’s, with some adjustments based on past board discussions.

In the current draft, staff added some items around fiber utilities and small cellphone towers, and discussed what qualified as “minimal interference” in the case of construction work completed in the public right of way.

The ordinance will return to the board at a September meeting.

The board decided to keep in place policies for water dock usage, rather than moving to a “membership” system.Previously, trustees discussed possibly implementing a card or membership system for residents of the Mancos Valley after the dock saw higher usage last summer.

Alvarez said she was worried about a possible “entitlement” that could come with a membership requirement, and board members said they didn’t see a real need for the conversion.

Trustee Ed Hallam brought up a question about the cost of implementing such a system – the revenue would need to make up for the installation cost.

“I don’t see it’s worth spending a lot of money, if it doesn’t bring us in enough money to offset the costs,” he said.

ealvero@the-journal.com