September 25th Commissioners Meeting

The Fremont County Commissioners took action on a Model Traffic Code Ordinance as they dealt with a brief agenda of business at Tuesday's regular meeting. The Fremont County Sheriff's Department worked with the county attorney to bring the county's model traffic code in line with current state guidelines for traffic fines and point assessments on driver's licenses. Among changes in the traffic code, an additional $12 will be assessed for all speeding violations in unincorporated areas of the county. Two dollars will be kept by Fremont County while the other $10 goes to the State Treasurer for various surcharges. The ordinance was approved on first reading with final action scheduled at the October 9th regular meeting.

The Commissioners also approved a resolution adopting a new fee schedule for liquor license processing and inspections. The cost for a new liquor license application will climb from $400 to $500. The cost for liquor license renewals will go to $50 on November 1st. The County Clerk's Office reports that the new liquor license fees will be comparable to those charged in the cities of Canon City and Florence.

Fremont County Commission Chairman Ed Norden also noted that Fremont County was hard hit by cases of West Nile Virus this summer. Norden said the latest numbers from County Nurse Clarice Little indicated that 11 cases of West Nile Virus have been confirmed in the county so far this year. Among those numbers, six involved cases of fever, one was confirmed as meningitis, and four cases developed into encephalitis. He said trapping and testing of mosquitoes has ended for the season in Fremont County but the most recent trapping of a few weeks ago indicated very low numbers of the culex tarsalis mosquitoes which carry the virus. Norden said it may be another reason why residents may welcome the first autumn frost. Fremont County's 11 West Nile Virus cases are among 440 cases confirmed statewide this year.

Health Care Reform Meeting Set for Canon City

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform was created by the legislature to identify ways to make health coverage more affordable and accessible for all Coloradans. As recommendations are developed for legislators, the Commission wants to hear from people throughout the state about what matters to you. One of the fourteen meetings being conducted across the state is scheduled in Canon City on October 6th.

Colorado has approximately 792,000 uninsured residents with nearly 180,000 of them children. Public opinion polls show concern about health care as the top issue for Americans. Coloradans, like most Americans, are anxious for solutions to the rising cost of health care and the growing number of people who cannot afford health insurance or who do not have adequate coverage. The Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform was created by the Colorado Legislature in 2006. The Commission is charged with making recommendations for comprehensive health care reform with the goal of increasing health care coverage and decreasing costs for Colorado residents, with particular emphasis on the issues of the uninsured, underinsured, and those at risk of financial hardship due to the costs of medical care. The Commission is required to make final recommendations to the General Assembly by January 31, 2008.

The Canon City meeting is scheduled for Saturday evening, October 6th from 5 until 8 p.m. at the Skyline Elementary School on north 9th Street.

Questions to Address in Testimony

In order to allow all attendees an opportunity to share their views, we respectfully request those testifying to limit their remarks to three minutes and structure their comments around the following:

1. What should be the role of each of the following in providing or assuring access to health care?

a. Individuals

b. Employers

c. Health care providers and support services

d. Government

2. Please discuss anything that you think the Commission should pay particular attention to in the five proposals being evaluated, OR anything that you think is missing from the conversation that would make a difference to you as the Commission moves forward with recommendations for health reform.

Written Comments

Please provide written comments in addition to oral remarks. If you would like to comment on specific proposals, please do so in your written remarks. Written comments will be accepted from October 1st to October 22nd, 2007

E-mail: 208outreach@coloradofoundation.org

Fax: 303.837.8496 ATTN: Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform

Mail: Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
ATTN: Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform
303 E. 17th Avenue, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80203

An oral summary of the testimony received will be presented to the full Commission when it meets on Oct. 18-19, 2007. Written testimony will be distributed to all Commissioners. Testimony from these meetings - along with that received at similar community hearings in March and May, and all testimony provided at Commission meetings - will be incorporated in the Commission's final report to the legislature.

September 11th Commissioners Meeting

A zone change that will allow for expansion of a Lincoln Park business was approved by the Fremont County Commissioners at their regular meeting September 11th. Vicky Lippis sought a zone change from low density residential to business zoning for her property which is the site of Elm Avenue Greenhouses at the corner of Highway 115 and Walnut Street in Lincoln Park. The Commissioners approved the zone change and the site development plan which will allow Lippis to build another greenhouse on the southwest corner of the property. County staff had already determined that the new greenhouse would not any significant amount of new traffic. Staff and the Commissioners agreed that any additional storm drainage created by the greenhouse could be handled on site by Lippis. The Commissioners rejected a proposal by the Deweese-Dye Ditch Company that Lippis be required to enclosed the irrigation ditch along the highway frontage into a pipe.

County Engineer Don Moore reviewed the newest update of the county's Flood Damage Prevention Regulations and the flood hazard areas. Moore told the Commissioners that there were only minor changes to the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood plain maps for the county. The Commissioners adopted the regulations and flood plain maps as required by federal law.

The Commissioners voted to give the owner of the Top Rail Ranch Hunting Camp in the Tallahassee area northwest of Canon City another five months to comply with septic system and building permit requirements under a Special Review Use Permit. In a letter to the board ranch owner Ron Walker said he would not attend the hearing on alleged violations of the permit saying, "Just let the county do what they decide is best for Fremont County". The Commissioners noted that the county's code enforcement officers and environmental health inspector did not go looking for violations on the ranch but that the health department had received a citizen's complaint. The Commissioners said with big game hunters already scheduled to be in camp this fall they did not want to negatively impact the operation. Thus the board extended the deadline and gave Walker until February 12, 2008 to bring his septic and building permits into compliance.

In other business the Commissioners:

• Approved a contract award to Patch Construction for $28,243 to rebuild a concrete abutment for a large culvert over Cocklebur Creek on Siloam Road southeast of Florence;
• Approved a temporary use permit for the annual Apple Day Parade and other festivities in Penrose on October 6th;
• Accepted a pair of manuals which the local 'CCAT' contracted for under an EPA technical assistance grant;
• and presented $10,000 checks each to the Canon City and Penrose Libraries representing annual financial assistance from the county. Christy Lindsey of the Penrose Library reported $225,000 has now been collected from businesses and individuals in the community representing 77 percent of the cost to build a new Penrose Library.
  

Commissioners Set Ballot Revenue Measures at Special Meeting

The Fremont County Commissioners approved two resolutions at a special meeting Wednesday to place two fiscal issues on the November 6th mail ballot. Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker is putting forth a sales tax question that would ask voters to increase the county sales tax by one-half percent from 1.5% to 2%.

Beicker noted that when voters rejected a proposed property tax increase last November many people said they would have preferred that a sales tax increase would have been presented instead of a property tax. State law prevented that last year because a 6.9 percent sales tax limit had been reached in Florence. Last spring the legislature approved and the Governor signed HB-1344 which permits sales tax increases of up to two percent beyond the 6.9 percent limit if used exclusively for public safety. Sheriff Beicker said with state authority now in place, voters will be asked to approve the half-cent sales tax increase to raise about $1.7 million per year.

He said the money raised will help meet the state mandate to operate the jail. Beicker says the reality is that even while his department is getting set to open the new 96 bed jail addition, revenue from leasing some beds will last only a couple of years until Fremont County needs that bed space for its own inmates. Without additional revenue from the sales tax Beicker says money would have to be taken from other county services to keep the jail operating. Beicker says the money would also be used to address the same patrol needs listed a year ago to put more deputies on patrol in the county. Sheriff Beicker said "This would help fulfill our mandate. We want to provide what the citizens expect and deserve, standards recognized nationally. The alternative would lead to litigation and that would be quite a bit more expensive."

Commission Chairman Ed Norden said if the sales tax is passed the Commissioners expect to continue funding the Sheriff's budget at the same level it is now along with the new sales tax revenue, thus assuring citizens that funds would not be diverted elsewhere.

The Commissioners also referred to the ballot a property tax stabilization measure intended to capture some of the revenue developed through efforts by County Assessor Stacey Seifert to get properties on the tax rolls that were neglected the past five years. The ballot language proposes that without raising any new tax rates or mill levy the county would be allowed to collect its maximum 12.294 mills in property taxes established as the limit under the Tabor Amendment that was approved by voters in 1992. The measure calls for an eight year time out on the Tabor revenue limits on property taxes through tax year 2015.

Norden said that when voters rejected a mill levy increase for Road and Bridge maintenance last year citizens said that growth should pay for itself. Norden said this tax stabilization question does just that by allowing the maximum Tabor mill levy limit to be collected against the growth in new properties that the assessor is putting on the tax rolls. Commissioner Mike Stiehl said the Commissioners also felt it was important to place a sunset limit on the revenue issue so if it's reconsidered by voters in eight years they could measure what had been accomplished with the money. Commissioner Larry Lasha said the maintenance needs of the Road and Bridge Department have not gone away and that the county is continuing to face challenges of how to keep pace with costly road repairs and equipment.