The Silt Board of Trustees voted 6-0 Monday night against a proposed moratorium on residential annexations.

Trustee Randy Corry, who favored the moratorium earlier, changed his mind after hearing arguments by Trustee Tod Tibbetts and a report from town planner Janet Steinbach.

Corry had worried that without a moratorium, more annexations might make it difficult for the town to provide water and sewer service.

“And it seems like the economy continues to slow things down, so a moratorium is not necessary,” Corry said.

Corry said it looked like Silt might need a moratorium after being “hammered” with annexations last year. “But now it doesn’t seem necessary … and there are no new annexations pending.”

Tibbetts updated the trustees on Silt’s water and waste water situation Monday night. After the meeting, Tibbetts said the town plans to start building a new waste water treatment plant in the spring.

Tibbetts said the town is looking at three options for addressing its water problems: build new facilities that would provide for Silt’s needs for 10 years, build a larger facility to meet needs for 15 years, or remodel the existing plant to create enough capacity for seven years.

Regardless of which option the town chooses, it will install a settling tank at the existing plant before spring runoff to increase capacity and reduce turbidity, Tibbetts said.

Silt is also exploring whether to drill wells to augment the often muddy water it pulls from the Colorado River.

Some Silt residents also had problems accessing the town’s raw water system for irrigation last summer. Tibbetts said the town is working to address those problems as well, and will repair a couple of leaky storage tanks this spring.

“Those tanks were leaking pretty bad,” Tibbetts said. “So we’ll be able to fill them to capacity.”

Contact Lynn Burton: 945-8515, ext. 534

lburton@postindependent.com