With the exception of Ward I representative Kent Stelljes, the Weston board of aldermen officially underwent a complete overhaul Monday night.
Out-going aldermen Tim Hill (Ward II) and Brandon Kohake (Ward I) were replaced by Joyce Burch and Patrick Farnon, respectively.
Ward Two alderman Bob Moore, however, resigned his position at the end of March after it was brought to the attention of city officials that he was acting as a representative for Ward II when he actually lives in Ward I.
Referring to Moore’s resignation as “an honorable and dutiful act,” Mayor Carlen Carter said that Moore had been assigned to Ward II for voting purposes when his house was constructed, but that while some of his property is located in Ward II, his actual home is in Ward I.
City clerk Kim Kirby said that an employee of the city water plant who also works for Water District #7 noticed the discrepancy while looking at an overhead map of the city. City officials confirmed the finding with an overhead map from the county, she said.
“Bob Moore has served the city of Weston and its citizens tirelessly the past five years as alderman and we thank him for his able service and the countless hours,” said Carter. “His hard work and involvement will not soon be forgotten. We wish him the best and look forward to the next opportunity to work with him for the advancement of our fine city.” The board will hold a special meeting on Monday, April 16 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss a replacement for the opening.
Finally, in the last of Monday night’s changes to the city’s slate of representatives, Carter appointed former mayor Greg Hoffman to the alternate position for the city’s board of adjustment.
In other Weston news, after several months of conversation with Verizon representatives, the board gave a green light to move to the next level with the company’s request to place antennas on the city water tower. Approving an initial five-year lease with Verizon, which will include annual payments of $12,600 and two additional automatic lease renewals of five years each, aldermen passed the next phase of the decision-making process to the city’s planning and zoning board for review of the design plans and specifications. Although the contract itself has been approved by the aldermen, it will continue in pending status until approved by the planning and zoning board, also.
Previous requests by Verizon to mount antennas on the water tower have been declined by aldermen due to concerns that the welding process would damage the tower’s paint. The revised proposal, however, utilizes magnetic attachments instead to mount the antennas to the tower. Verizon’s proposal includes the installation of an equipment shelter on the ground, from which fiber optic cable will run underground, then up the tower’s ladder to the antennas.
Verizon representative Jeff Konkel said that the company will lose a bit of elevation by using the magnetic mounts, which will have to be placed a bit lower than originally planned, but they will still be able to achieve the same coverage. The antennas measure 14.5 by five feet and, along with the cables, will be painted to match the water tower, Konkel said.
Terms of the lease also state that if the company’s antennas interfere with the upcoming FCC narrowbanding mandate, Verizon will be required to make corrections and also that if the city is approached by another company wanting to place antennas on the tower, Verizon will be given the option to buy out the offered contract, thus blocking competition.
If approved by the planning and zoning board, Konkel said that construction may begin later this year or possibly in 2013 with a “drop dead” date of Jan. 1, 2015.
