Electric and phone service outage at Town Hall shuts building down

Story by Patti BrownThe Estes Park Town Hall was closed Wednesday afternoon due to a power outage in the building. Additionally, a phone service outage was also reported.Press releases about both situations did not provide a reason for the service disruptions but Public Information Officer Kate Miller responded to an inquiry by the Estes Valley Voice to deny that the utility outages were related to the public restroom remodeling project that is taking place in Town Hall.Wednesday Estes Park Health announced that its Jan. 29 board meeting will be conducted online and not in person in the boardroom at Town Hall due to a threat that has been reported to law enforcement.In an email to the Estes Valley Voice this afternoon, Miller reported that the Estes Park Police Department was only informed by Estes Park Health of an internal personnel matter that recently occurred which raised security concerns for them internally.After learning of the details of the matter from EPH leadership, the ESPD determined from a law enforcement perspective that the information EPH relayed to the Town did not contain evidence of a threat or any potential criminal activity and therefore would not lead to an investigation.EPH requested that the EPPD conduct extra police patrols at this time. This is being done at this time.Miller said that extra patrols are a common request from Estes Park businesses and residents and a service we provide routinely.”The EPPD did not recommend additional security measures beyond what is standard on the EPH campus and the EPPD did not take part in EPH’s decision to move its board meeting from an in person to an online format.According to Miller, “this is an isolated matter only within EPH, and we have no evidence of any security threats in our community.”Individuals interested in registering to attend the Jan. 29 EPH board meeting online can click here. A confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting online will be sent to registrants.Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com