The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — In hopes of making tangible progress with community-police relations in Oak Creek, a group of concerned business owners will meet with members of the Town Board tonight.

After lengthy discussion at last week’s meeting, the Town Board directed trustees Josh Voorhis and Gerry Greenwood to meet with local business owners and report back to the board at its Sept. 12 meeting. David Bonfiglio will lead today’s discussion at 6 p.m. at the Oak Creek community center.

“The goal of this is to get some solutions and some options, and make sure we understand exactly what the business community wants and what their expectations are,” Voorhis said.

Two weeks ago, 25 business owners signed a public apology to their customers for what they allege are problems caused by the Oak Creek Police Department.

Budgeting the future

As Oak Creek moves into formulating its 2009 budget, preliminary figures show that the general fund has $200,000 in collections this year — painting a much nicer financial picture than the town has had in the past, Voorhis said.

If the numbers hold, hopefully the town can pay back some of the money it has borrowed from its electric fund in less budget-happy times, he said.

The town’s departments are trying to finalize their needs for the next year, and the board also will have to consider the results of Oak Creek’s recent audit, Mayor J. Elliott said.

“The budget is highly critical for us — we’ve got to get that done so we can see where we’re at,” he said.

Last October, facing a $228,000 budget deficit, the Town Board opted to transfer $250,000 from the electric fund to the general fund to balance the 2008 budget.

The Oak Creek Town Board’s budget workshop is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at Oak Creek Town Hall.

— To reach Melinda Dudley, call 871-4203

or e-mail mdudley@steamboatpilot.com