Serving Ouray CountyFor 96 Years

OURAY (970) 325-4478 • RIDGWAY (970) 626-5462MEMBER FDIC

THE CITIZENS STATE BANK OF OURAY

Proudly Supporting Our Community

www.alpinebank.comMember FDIC

Alpine BankDunn & Lindsey

Real Estate LLCOurayRealProperty.com

970-325-4663

By Samantha WrightAbout a year ago, Ouray became one of

the first municipalities in the UnitedStates to convert all of its street lights toenergy-efficient light emitting diodes(LEDs). The conversion was hailed at thetime as having the potential to slash thecity’s energy bill in half.

Yet while the past year has proven thatthe new LED fixtures do indeed consumejust one third the energy of their antiquat-ed mercury vapor predecessors, the sav-ings aren’t racking up quite the way cityofficials had hoped they would.

That’s because so far, San MiguelPower Association has not adjusted theway it bills the city for the street lights itowns on the side streets of Ouray, toreflect the fact that the new LED lampsuse less energy.

In essence, the city has been paying forsomething it hasn’t been using. And thatdoesn’t seem fair to some city officials.

“It’s been extremely frustrating,” CityAdministrator Patrick Rondinelli said. “Inmy opinion, SMPA is taking advantage ofthe citizens of Ouray by taking theirmoney. We’re using significantly lesspower and they’re still billing us the sameamount. That’s ridiculous, in my opin-ion.”

Ouray’s $60,000 conversion to LEDstreetlights was made possible through a

partnership between the city and two util-ity companies – San Miguel PowerAssociation and its former parent compa-ny Tri-State Generation & Transmission– along with the manufacturing companyBeta LED which sold the lamps at a dis-count to help make the conversion moreaffordable.

SMPA, which contributed $15,000toward the LED conversion, highlightedits role in the partnership to promoteitself as a green-minded, community-boosting entity. “Energy sustainabilitybegins with conservation,” SMPA generalmanager and CEO Kevin Ritter stated in apress release it issued right after the con-version took place in June of 2009. “Thechange to LED street lights is an idealopportunity for Ouray to save energy andmoney.”

But, it turns out, the city is dependenton SMPA to determine just how muchmoney it can actually save. That’s becauseonly the 33 street lights along Main Streetare owned by the city and meteredaccording to the actual amount of energythey consume. (According to Mayor BobRisch, the city has already saved $8,000

By Matt MinichOne of Ouray’s four-legged residents was killed this

Memorial Day weekend.The animal – a black bear cub weighing less than 10

pounds – was found dead on Seventh Avenue near theRiverside Bridge Monday, said Ouray Police Chief LeoRasmussen. The department received several calls the pre-vious Wednesday evening and Thursday from residentswho reported seeing the cub walking alone, apparentlyseparated from its mother.

The appearance of a young cub signifies the end of hiber-nation for most local bears, which typically become activein May or June, said Renzo Del Piccolo, the Division ofWildlife’s area wildlife manager for Montrose. As bearsstart searching for food, Ouray residents should take pre-

cautions to avoid accidentally providing them with a freemeal, he said.

Garbage cans and bird feeders are prime targets for hun-gry bruins, and when the animals get comfortable withhuman food sources they can be a danger.

“In nature, black bears are generally not very preda-cious,” Del Piccolo said. “When they associate humanswith food, that’s when they become a problem.”

Still fresh in the memory of many Ouray County resi-dents is the fatal mauling of 74-year-old Donna Munson,who was supposed to have been feeding bears for sometime before she was attacked.

Ouray residents are required by city ordinance to securetheir trash and are forbidden from leaving the containersoutside except on the morning of trash pick-up day,Rasmusson said. The ordinance carries a $300 fine aftertwo violations, but local police are not eager to take puni-tive measures.

“You try to educate the public first before you cite,”Rasmusson said. If residents are faced with the fines, theycan offset the cost by purchasing a bear-resistant dump-ster. Both Rasmusson and Del Piccolo advised residents todeter animals from raiding their trash cans by spraying thecans with ammonia or securing them with locks or chains.

A recent study by the DOW estimated that one black

OURAY, COLORADO, USA 81427 • 133ND YEAR • NO. 1 • 24 PAGES • WEEK OF JUNE 4-10, 2010

50¢

IINNSSIIDDEEHHEELLLLOODDIIDD YYOOUU KKNNOOWW??

QQUUOOTTAABBLLEE

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!(970) 325-4412 or

plaindealer@ouraynews.com

Official Newspaper for the City and County of Ouray, Colorado

OURAY COUNTY

… from Valerie Kerr and herchildren Phinneaus andJuniper of Portland, Ore., whowere passing through Ouray tovisit friends.

Mulling it Over . . . . . . . .2Sketchbook . . . . . . . . . .2Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6Nuggets . . . . . . . . . . . . .63/50 Business . . . . . . . . 7Trojan Tribune . . . . . . .10Education . . . . . . . . . . .11History . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Business Directory . . .17Classifieds . . . . . . .18-19Legal notices . . . . .20-21Calendar of events . . .22Arts & Entertainment . 23Grocery deals . . . . . . .24

To reach us ...325-4412 or 325-2839 (fax) 316-7062. Plaindealer, Box 607, Ouray 81427 E-mail: plaindealer@ouraynews.com

OURAY SNAPSHOT — Springs is indeed here and colors aboundthroughout town, just in time for the arrival of summer on June 21.

Plaindealer photo: Samantha Wright

The Ouray Trail Group reports 12 trails can be easilyaccessed from the city, or just outside. They are BabyBathtubs, Cascade, Oak Creek, Perimeter, Portland,Sutton Overlook, Ice Park, Silvershield, Twin Peaks, OldTwin Peaks and River Walk. For details see “Hiking Trailsof Ouray County,” available at local retail outlets.

“Nothing is etched in stone.”— BOCC Chair Lynn Padgett, at public presentationon proposed changes to the Land Use Code, page 3.

LED energy savingsdim expectations

TASTE OF OURAYn Rosemarie Pieper of the Saloon at the Historic Western Hotel serves samplings of her gar-lic mashed potatoes during the Taste of Ouray on Wednesday at the Ouray Community Center.As good as the potatoes are, Pieper won the “Best Dessert” award. The annual event, hostedby the Ouray Chamber and Resort Association, is a welcome back to the summer season forresidents and visitors, and as a showcase of the variety of fare offered at eating establishmentsthroughout Ouray County. Plaindealer photo: Regina Sowell

Bears season returns, precautions advised

Continued on Page 3

Continued on Page 9

CCIITTYY OOFF OOUURRAAYY

CCIITTYY OOFF OOUURRAAYY

WEEK OF JUNE 4 - 10, 2010 • OURAY COUNTY PLAINDEALER • 9

SSOOLLAASan Juan Outdoor Learning Academy

Camps to Challenge the AdventurousSummer 2010 Courses

ROCK CLIMBINGWhether you are a beginner or moreadvanced, we have a camp for you.

Dates:June 28: 1-day campJune 6-7: 2-day campJuly 19: 1-day camp

July 26-29: Advanced Camp

Camps for ages 11-17

CAMPING SKILLSJune 30-July 1:

Colorado National MonumentTrip - Hiking, Bouldering,Swimming, Constellations

July 14-15:Durango Trip - Exploring,Bungee Trampoline and

Alpine Slide.

SSOOLLAA

For a detailed list of camps and registration information, please visit: wwwwww..vvooyyaaggeerrpprrooggrraamm..ccoomm

or call: ((997700)) 662266--44227799

SOLA is sponsored by Voyager Youth Program

on its energy bill for these streetlights,since converting to LEDs.)

The rest of the roughly 75 streetlights onthe side streets throughout town are ownedand maintained by SMPA, as is typical ofmany municipalities. These streetlightshave a “hot connection” meaning they areplugged directly into the grid without beingmetered. The city pays for energy the lightsconsume according to a pre-set tariff rate.

“When SMPA creates a tariff rate, theyfactor in maintenance cost, replacementcost, and energy usage and establish a flatrate per light,” Rondinelli explained. “TheLEDs were installed one year ago but wecontinued to pay the same tariff through-out the year, even though we’re using two-thirds less power.”

SMPA hired a rate specialist last summerto create a study to come up with a new tar-iff rate for the streetlights, taking into con-sideration that the new LED lamps cost upto three times more up front but over thelong-term use less energy, have a longerlife, and (hypothetically, at least) requireless maintenance.

But since the technology is fairly new,nobody really knows how much mainte-nance the LEDs will actually require.

“What we have to consider is when peo-ple talk about the very long life of the LED,it’s for the LED component itself – that onesmall component that some in the industryare saying could last for up to 100,000hours,” Ritter explained in an interview onThursday.

“But what about the electronic compo-nents, the ballast, the connection to thelight pole, and other elements? This is fair-ly new technology,” he continued. “We arehaving to make some assumptions, and ourrate consultant goes across the country andlooks for data. It’s much more complicatedthan just considering the energy efficiency

component.”It took a year, but SMPA has finally come

up with a new tariff rate. “It’s been a veryin-depth study and takes into effect all thecosts we incur to provide our service, plusfinancial ratios and margins for the co-opto stay financially healthy,” Ritter said.

The new tariff, which will go into effectshortly, has come in quite a bit lower thanit used to be – $6.53 per month per light,compared to the previous rate of $9.46,equating to an annual savings to the city of$2,496 – but not as dramatical a drop ascity officials had once anticipated.

Mayor Bob Risch appealed to the SMPAboard at its most recent meeting in May,asking the directors to consider at leastmaking the new tariff rate retroactive to thetime of the LED conversion, so that the citycan be reimbursed for the power it has paidfor but not used.

District 7 Director Jerry Hoffer, who rep-resents Ouray and Silverton on the SMPAboard, was sympathetic to Risch’s plea, hesaid, but others were not.

As Ritter put it in an interview onThursday, creating a retroactive tariff is aprecedent which SMPA does not want toset. “It wouldn’t be fair to our membersunless we made it so for all of them,” heexplained.

Another burr under the city’s blanket hasto do with a surprise bill for $5,000 whichthe city recently received from SMPA, tocover the installation costs the utilityincurred last year over a week-long periodwhen SMPA workers partnered with thecity crew to swap out all of the old mercu-ry vapor lamps for the new LEDs.

Rondinelli balked at paying the bill,because it wasn’t part of the written agree-ment the city had with SMPA when theconversion took place, and because, hepointed out, SMPA actually owns the bulkof streetlights on which lamps werereplaced.

“It was supposed to be a partnership,”Rondinelli said. “They now have high-endLED lights with double the life span andless maintenance issues. They’re their fix-tures, but they’re billing us for installation.”

Ritter countered that customers typicallybear the costs of improvements to theirutility infrastructure, even when ownershipof that infrastructure remains with the util-ity. He maintained that there had alwaysbeen a verbal understanding that the citywould reimburse the utility for its laborcost, and started adding interest onto theunpaid bill. The utility has since agreed toremove the interest fees if the city pays thebill.

Mayor Risch is trying to be diplomaticabout the whole thing. “It’s a difference ofopinion – but we’ll pay it,” he said onWednesday of this week. “We want to keepa good working relationship with SMPA,and we want to partner with them on otherprojects in the future.”

That includes a net-metered micro-hydro project which is almost completenear the Hot Springs Pool, which will con-siderably offset the power used by thatoperation. There is also another micro-hydro project in the works, which may beinstalled along the city’s water line as itdescends steeply from Weehawken Springsto the city water tank. Tapping into up to2,000 gallons per minute, that projectcould potentially generate green powerwhich the city could in turn sell directlyback to SMPA.

In the meantime, Risch is optimistic thatthe city will recoup its $30,000 investmenton the LED lamps fairly quickly, even with-out as much cooperation from SMPA as heonce hoped for.

“We’re saving $2,500 annually on theside streets, and $8,000 on Main Street,and using 25-30% of the energy we werewith the old fixtures,” he pointed out. “Thebenefit to the city is huge.”

...Less energy, but same tariffContinued from Page 1

n SMPA General Manager Kevin Ritter and the Mayor of Ouray, Bob Risch, shake hands in June2009 to celebrate Ouray’s historic conversion to LED street lights. File photo courtesy SMPA

Bluegrassat the Wright

SSWWEEEETT SSUUNNNNYY SS OO UU TT HH

FFrriiddaayy,, JJuunnee 1111tthh,, 77::3300 pp..mm..Sponsored by The Citizens State Bank

To Benefit the Wright Opera HouseAAddvvaannccee TTiicckkeettss:: $$1155

Available at: Buckskin Booksellers, Khristopher’s Culinaire, Mouse’s Chocolates,Cimarron Books & Coffee in Ridgway, Ouray Silversmith’s in Montrose.

ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOORCCAASSHH BBAARR:: BBEEEERR && WWIINNEE

Don’t forget to bring a can for the food bank!