The Northlands sewer project keeps coming up in the City Council meetings and the Financial Committee meetings. Funds for the project keep coming from the city of Walsenburg. How much have the property owners in the Northlands area contributed to date? This is unknown. No amount has been mentioned.
The bills collecting on the accounts payable ledger are for the city. One of the next bills will be a $400,000 plus interim loan to pay for initial invoices for the project. The city is borrowing money to pay for services already rendered. There are about $500,000 in expenses waiting for payment.
Even though the money will be repaid by the USDA loan, the loan is guaranteed by the city of Walsenburg. Currently there are invoices for legal services in the amount of $27,000 to pay for property description details to properly secure the interim loan. Although it would seem logical that the Northland property owners would front this money, so far there is no indication that this will happen. All front money and effort seems to be from the city.
There is another puzzling part to this picture. The easement procurement process is proceeding so quietly that even council members aren't aware of any news about it. Many of us are concerned about the terms of any deals to secure the easements. Hopefully, the future of Walsenburg will not be forfeited in this process.
The Northlands project appears to be an ongoing process that should never have been started after the area was annexed. All utilities and roads should have been in place before the annexation. If proper procedures had been followed, we would not be involved in this quagmire now.
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