Woodland Park’s long drama came to an end June 5 as the City Council passed an ordinance to officially end the 1.09% sales tax that had been earmarked for the Woodland Park School District.

In the end, what had been a storm that rocked the City Above the Clouds went out with a whimper. Nobody showed up to beat the dead horse by expressing their discontent with the decision during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Two lawsuits over the tax are still pending, however. The conflict also cost the city former council person Carrol Harvey, who opted to resign her position rather than put Woodland Park through the expense of a recall election.

The tax was killed at the council’s March 17 special meeting, when an emergency ordinance was unanimously passed. The most recent ordinance was mostly procedural since emergency ordinances expire after 90 days. Failure to pass the ordinance would not have reinstated the tax because of the terms of Colorado’s TABOR law, though.

Council opening

Harvey’s departure has left a vacancy on the city council. Council opted to “take a pause” and not fill the open position for the time being.

According to the charter, if council chooses to fill the vacancy they have the option to appoint any qualified person, conduct an open application process or appoint the person who received the next highest vote total in the most recent municipal election.

In other business

• Council approved funds to do renovations on the Planning and Human Resources Offices. Also approved was funds for a new sewer camera, which is the only way to inspect such lines. Public Works Director Kip Wiley said the previous camera had been repaired multiple times and was no longer fixable.

The biggest approved expenditure was over $1 million to install a glass-fused to steel bolted tank. The project was already in the budget and actually came in under the expected cost.

• City council approved two liquor licenses. The first was a special event license for the America’s Mountain Festival, which will be held on July 5. The second was a transfer of an existing license for Pikes View BBQ & Taproom.

• Jessica Scott was sworn in as City of Woodland Park Treasurer.