One of the world’s largest cheese producers moved closer Tuesday night to calling Greeley home to its latest factory, though company officials insist they are still considering other sites.

Why does Greeley want a Cheese Factory?

The factory is projected to bring 400 jobs to Greeley. What type of jobs will these be?
Are these the same types of jobs provided by JBS?
Will this contribute to our immigration problem?
Will this put Greeley further behind Loveland and Fort Collins in terms of average wages, crime, gangs, etc…?
Is this the kind of industry we need in Greeley?

Last week the Greeley City Council decided to enact a ban on free samples of chewing tobacco at the Greeley Stampede. The ban actually covers distribution of all free samples of tobacco products, but will have the largest impact on Greeley’s only major event of the year.

This action has brought a scathing response from Greeley Tribune columnist Mike Peters in which he accuses the Council of being political nannies.

The most unfortunate result of this ban is the impact it may have on the Stampede. In a city with minimal cultural events already, this action may cause a $200,000 sponsorhip loss to the Stampede.

The vote was 4-3, Mayor Ed Clark and council members Don Feldhaus and Maria Secrest voted against the ban.
Charles Archibeque, Ed Phillipsen, Carrol Martin and, everyone’s favorite, Pam Shaddock voted for the ban.

The second of two October debates between City Council Candidate will be held on Monday October 8.

Ward IV candidates Pam Shaddock and Bill Gillard, and at-large candidates Maria Secrest, TJ Marlo, Susanne Villarreal and Russ Baxley will debate each other at 6:00pm at the City Council Chambers

These debates are sponsored by El Voto Latino and will focus on Latino issues.

If anyone attended the first debate between the Mayoral and Ward I candidates, please feel free to give us a recap.

Monday was the deadline for filing paperword for a Greeley City Council election. Here is the lineup:

At-Large - Vacated by Pam Shaddock so she could run for Ward IV
Susanne Villarreal - Democrat, ran for council previously
Will Gardner
Russ Baxley
Maria Secrest
T.J. Marlo

Ward I
Charles Archibeque - Former city council member who had interesting things to say about Latino voting power in Greeley.
Denise Hall - Is that this Denise Hall?
Jan Branham - Incumbent, appointed after LeRoy Johnson recall

Ward IV - Seat left empty by term limited Debbie Pilch
Pam Shaddock
Bill Gillard

Mayor
Tom Selders - Incumbent looking for a third term
Ed Clark - Former police officer

As always, if the candidates would like to tell us about themselves, or if anyone has any information on the candidates, please let us know.

Greeley City Council Member is in hot water with her fellow members of the Weld Technical Advisory Committee for talking too much.

After a few meetings, it became apparent to some committee members that Shaddock was speaking with the media about many topics, something the group had tried to stop after appointing Stan Everitt the de facto chair and spokesman of the group. Shaddock also submitted a short opinion article to the Tribune about the committee’s work, which was published July 15.

While Shaddock and I are not on the same page politically, I have to give her some respect for her stance on this. Her opinion article published July 15th does little more than encourage public involvment. Does the Technical Advisory Committee not want the public to know about their scheduled forums? What can they possibly be discussing that is not fit for public consumption?

Tuesday night, the Greeley City Council decided to have no further discussion on the Regional Transit Authority.

While it was not an ‘official vote’, so there doesn’t appear to be a record of which members supported it. Mayor Tom Selders did say he was for it, and Pam Shaddock was against the RTA.

“My belief is that we’re out of time and the RTA is not ready,” said Councilwoman Pam Shaddock.

The Council was stuck on two major issues. The lack of an ‘opt-out’ option and the fear that Greeley dollars would be used to improve the roads around Centerra near I-25.

This first issue seems legitimate, but the second is not. Highway 34 from I-25 is THE main artery into Greeley. Travel between Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins has already become problematic. Without a significant investment at Centerra, the problem will continue to grow. If the US 34 Corridor is not kept open Greeley will become even more isolated from it’s Northern Colorado neighbors.

The bottom line is that now Loveland is the sole remaining large city involved with the RTA project. Will Loveland be enough to keep the dream alive? Will the Loveland voters approve a project where they stand alone? If the RTA does come into existence, will Loveland reap the rewards and become the Northern Colorado transportation hub?

It will be interesting to see.

Greeley Mayor, Tom Selders, has caused controversy in Greeley with his comments about Illegal Immigration

Selders’ recent trip to Washington D.C. to urge lawmakers to reform immigration policies sparked controversy last week when he told officials how December’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant negatively affected Greeley’s families.

What do you think?

Greeley City Council’s second town meeting of the year will be tomorrow, May 22nd, 5:30pm at New Frontier Bank, 2425 35th Ave.

This is the Ward 3 town meeting, but all residents of Greeley are welcome to come and speak.

Anyone attending this meeting, feel free to post your comments.

The City of Greeley has made available, via it’s website, a Candidate Guide for the upcoming 2007 elections.

This guide lists all of the hoops one would potentially have to jump through to be elected to city council, but one of the more interesting items is this:

Qualifications for Elective Office

• Citizen of the United States
• No other elective office held
• No felony convictions
• Resident of Greeley one year immediately prior to the election (and resident of Ward for 90 days for Ward candidates)
• Completed Nomination Petition signed by at least 25 registered electors residing in the city of Greeley and within Ward for Ward candidates

So, basically, anyone who has been in Greeley for a year, hasn’t been in jail, is old enough to buy beer and can get 25 neighbors to sign a petition can run for City Council. How cool is that?

If any of you out there see this and want to throw your hat in the ring, remember, Greeley Elections is more than glad to print any news, statements or comments that you want to send us. Let’s make November 2007 the best election year EVER!

In case you missed this week’s down meetings, here is the schedule for the rest of the year:

Ward 3 will be May 22, Ward 4 on Aug. 28 and Ward 2 is scheduled for Oct. 23. All meetings are at 5:30 p.m., and locations for the meetings will be announced at a later date.