Report card: Town short on communication skills

WELLINGTON – Wellington has to change.

Not only does time stand still for no man, it doesn’t stand still for towns either.

Wellington, until recently an agricultural village, has become a full-fledged bedroom community for Fort Collins over the past decade. Since 2000, Wellington’s population has surged to 4,700 from 2,700 in the last census count.

Three expansive housing developments have grown up in the past two years, with a fourth poised to go in at the extreme southeastern corner of the town.

Yet there are things here that bother people; things like what their children are going to do here, the communication between the municipal government and the people who live here, and the tax base.

A community assessment group of six from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade spent three days looking over Wellington between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, a process that included a day-long session of focus groups with community members on Dec. 1.

Overall, the visitors liked what they saw and heard.

Town residents and officials were “open, honest and candid with us,´ said Jacob Castillo, a member of the assessment team and the director of business development for the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.

Castillo said all the focus groups got equal attention, but during the delivery of the report, the section dealing with government relations generated a lot of discussion. The report’s list of Wellington’s weaknesses in this area included:

n The town lacks mechanisms to reach out to community residents.

n The town’s policy goals aren’t communicated to community.

n The community’s participation in town government is low.

n A lack of information dissemination to the community.

And the assessment team said this lack of communication with the community could only further widen the disconnect between the town hall and the people who live here.

One reflection of the communication gap was evident in the last municipal election in 2004. Deputy town clerk Cynthia Sullivan said only 92 people voted.

If the assessment team is right, the lean election numbers might be less about voter apathy than in the lack of understanding of what’s going on.

Town Administrator Larry Lorentzen and Wellington Mayor Larry Noel were not available for comment before this story went to press.

The report recommended that Wellington develop a communications plan, utilize what it called a “strong core group” of community volunteers, create a staffing plan for future growth and strengthen the relationship between the town board and the school board, among others. Castillo and Peter J. Roskop, another member of the assessment team, strongly recommended Wellington bring on a third-party mediator to bring the different factions together.

“An objective third-party mediator,´ said Roskop, an official with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

The assessment team’s second worry is the composition of the town’s tax base. Most of Wellington’s revenue is generated from impact fees on new housing permits. Doug Andersen, president of the Wellington Economic Development Association and a local real estate broker, estimates the impact fee at $15,000 per house.

Of the town’s tax revenues, about 60 percent came from property taxes last year and the rest from sales taxes. Town officials have acknowledged that the ratio should be just the opposite.

“I may be thinking too much like a realtor here,´ said Andersen, “but that’s a lot from houses. What happens if the growth stops? What’s that going to do to your property taxes?”

“I think there has to be a drive to bring some new businesses to town,” Andersen said.

The assessment team also pointed to Wellington’s lack of a cohesive development plan, and the fact that it doesn’t have a business retention and expansion plan. Furthermore, the town is short of available retail sites downtown.

According to the assessment team’s report, Wellington needs to:

• Designate a part of town for business development.

• Plan to attract new businesses and expand existing businesses.

• Cooperate with other regional economic development programs.

• Promote value-added agriculture rather than just growing the crops,

“I have some great examples,” Castillo said. “First, the brewing industry; the second is something like Bingham Hill (cheese company), which works with the local dairies in making cheeses; the third is biodiesel. The idea is working to get more out of your crops and your operation.”

The news was not all negative.

For instance, the assessment team applauded the potential of the town’s main street, which includes some renovated buildings. Other strengths included a strong sense of community in Wellington and positive features such as the Filling Station, community parks and the Boys and Girls Club.

Still, the report concluded there is not enough for kids to do, a lack of job opportunities and a sizeable out-migration of young people.  The latter issues are not helped by the fact that Wellington lost its high school a number of years ago. Wellington students attend Poudre High School in Fort Collins. The town also lacks a community recreation center.

“I was at some of the focus groups and the thing that people were really talking about was ‘what are we going to do for the kids?’´ said Andersen. “That was the thing that really got them going.”

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