May 26th Commissioners Meeting

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners dealt with a brief agenda of business in a matter of minutes Tuesday for their regular meeting.

Other than a pair of routine liquor license renewals for Merlino's Belvedere and the Quality Inn which were approved, the Commissioners only business of the day was a public hearing on a Community Service Block Grant application.

The Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments is seeking $165,113 in community service grant dollars to be distributed as part of the federal government's stimulus package. Council of Governments Director Judy Lohnes said the two priorities for community service funding are for employment and for health care and nutrition. She said part of the money will be directed towards programs in the Colorado Workforce Center, the Fremont County Public Health Agency, and a parents training plan at Fremont County Head Start.

There were no public comments offered at the hearing and no board action was required.

Phantom Canyon Road Reopening

The Fremont County Road and Bridge Department reports that Phantom Canyon Road will reopen this Friday in time for the busy Memorial Day weekend. Phantom Canyon Road (County Road 67) to Victor and Cripple Creek was closed April 27th for major repairs to areas that were washed out in the July, 2006, flood in the canyon. Patch Construction installed some gabion rock baskets to shore up the edges of the road above some steep cliffs in an area nine miles north of Highway 50. Several concrete slabs were also poured in those areas to stabilize the road surface.

District 2 Road Foreman Gary Weirton said Patch Construction completed their work several days ago and that county road crews have been hauling gravel to clean up the approaches to the construction. Road closure signs will be removed on both ends of the road and traffic can travel Phantom Canyon again starting Friday.

The Phantom Canyon stabilization project is one of three projects being funded in 2009 from a $350,000 Colorado gaming impact grant.

Curtis Stone Honored for 40 years in Road & Bridge Department

The Fremont County Commissioners paused this week to honor an employee who has reached a personal milestone and for the county as well. Curtis Stone, Supervisor of Fremont County's District 3 Road and Bridge Tallahassee Shop, has logged 40 years of service as a county employee. That's the longest service record for a Fremont County employee.

The Commissioners presented Stone with a framed letter of congratulations signed by all seven of the District 3 Commissioners that Stone has served under since 1969. The letter was signed by Denzel Goodwin (1969-1972), Roy Canterbury (1973-1984), Dennis Jones (1985-1988), Bud Chess (1989-1992), Myron Smith (1993-1996), Keith McNew (1997-2004), and current District 3 Commission Ed Norden (2005-2009).

Reading from the letter signed by the seven Commissioners, Norden said, "It is rare to find a person who has applied such a dedicated work ethic to their tasks as you have displayed in your work for Fremont County over the past four decades. You have always led by example displaying the kind of work ethic needed to get the job done."

All of the District 3 Commissioners were able to attend the ceremony except for Dennis Jones. A reception in Stone"s honor was held at the County Administration Building immediately following the brief ceremony.

May 12th Commissioners Meeting

Adoption of findings for rescission of a Penrose zone change and discussion about anticipated 2009 budget cuts highlighted the agenda of business for the Fremont County Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

The board formally adopted a resolution setting out seven pages of findings in the aftermath of the Commissioners' decision on April 22nd to rescind a zone change first approved last December for the Ron Walker Ranch at Penrose. Neighbors in Top Rail Ranch Estates protested and argued that Walker misrepresented his intent to sell the ranch to the Holcim Company in his zone change application. The Commissioners voted April 22nd to vacate the Ag Forestry zone change and restore the property, now owned by Holcim, to Ag Rural and Ag Suburban zoning.

Among findings in the resolution approved by the board Tuesday is that Walker's responses to six questions in the zoning application did not reflect his intent to sell to Holcim, that the property sale was completed just days after the zone change, that Walker did exploration drilling on the property to determine minerals value, and that Holcim posted signs in January on the property declaring it as a "Future Quarry Site".

The Commissioners Tuesday also briefly discussed the county's financial and budgetary problems attributed to the current economic downturn. The board noted that in the first quarter of this year, sales and use tax collections were down by 8.2 percent or $93,000 less than a year ago. Combined with cost overruns at the Fremont County Jail due to escalating inmate numbers, the county finds itself in a possible $800,000 deficit by the end of this year.

District 2 Commissioner Larry Lasha said the board along with department heads and other elected officials are currently examining all options as a way to both cut costs and increase revenues in some areas. Lasha said what's happening locally is a reflection of the national economy. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden said the Commissioners must take some action soon to stem the tide. Norden said "At some point in time citizens in Fremont County will need to be aware that the services the county delivers are going to be affected. You cannot rack up the kinds of revenue shortfalls we're seeing without affecting the delivery of county services".

The Commissioners were to have another follow up meeting with department heads and elected officials before arriving at some long ranging budget cutting solutions to address the situation.

In other business Tuesday the Commissioners:

• Appointed Dan Brixey and Dave Boden to the Fremont County Building Code Board of Appeals;
• Approved two property tax abatements proposed by the County Assessor;
• Approved a resolution establishing use of mail ballots for the odd-year election this November;
• Awarded a bid to the Ennovate Corporation for $23,677 to perform an energy audit of all the county's buildings;
• Authorized the chairman to sign a contract with Lamb-Star Engineering for $4,800 to conduct tests on the Texas Creek river bridge to determine if there is a crack in a steel bridge truss;
• Heard from Fremont 4-H Foundation President Virginia Patton who presented a lifetime Foundation membership plaque to Commissioner Larry Lasha for his foundation contributions.

Vets Names being added to War Memorial Wall at Airport

A ceremony is slated for the War Memorial Park at the Fremont County Airport to dedicate more names on the veterans' memorial wall and to conduct an official flag disposal ceremony. The names of more than 160 additional veterans were recently engraved on the memorial wall from orders submitted over the past year.

The dedication begins at 10 o'clock Saturday morning at the War Memorial Park. Pastor Jack Crosby, a Marine Corps veteran, will speak at the dedication. At 10:30, following the dedication of the names on the wall, American Legion Post #13 will conduct a dignified disposal of several retired American flags.

All citizens, including family members of those whose names are being dedicated on the memorial wall, are encouraged to attend Saturday's ceremony.

Phantom Canyon Repairs Progressing

A Patch Construction Company crew (left) prepares a section of Phantom Canyon Road for a concrete pour. The work funded by a Gaming Impact grant is repairing washouts from a flood in July, 2006.

(photo by Don Moore)

Work is progressing on repairs to Phantom Canyon Road (Fremont CR 67) to address safety concerns created by washouts in the July, 2006, flood along a section of steep cliff nine miles north of Highway 50. Phantom Canyon Road was closed to all through traffic on April 27th for the repairs. Patch Construction Company is performing the work under a $15,427 contract approved by the Board of Commissioners.

Since the work began, County Engineer Don Moore and the Commissioners have authorized additional work on two other nearby washouts that will cost the county an additional $5,000. The expense is well within the $50,000 budget under a Gaming Impact grant awarded to Fremont County by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

The Fremont County Road and Bridge Department still hopes to have Phantom Canyon Road reopened to all traffic by late May.

Load Limits Reduced on Texas Creek Bridge

(courtesy photo: BLM)

A routine inspection by a state bridge engineer has prompted the Fremont County Road and Bridge Department to reduce the load limits on a river bridge at Texas Creek that carries traffic to a popular public ATV recreation area.

Following a recent inspection by bridge engineers working for the Colorado Department of Transportation (C-DOT), it was recommended that the 11 ton load limit on the County Road 27 bridge over the Arkansas River at Texas Creek be reduced to a 3 1/2 ton limit. The bridge is located behind the Texas Creek Junction cafe and primarily carries traffic to a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ATV recreation site and whitewater rafting traffic.

At issue is a forge mark on one of the steel trusses of the bridge that apparently has existed for some time. The bridge is believed to be over 100 years old. With new concerns about steel truss bridges, C-DOT is taking a second look at steel trusses that show indications of fatigue failure. A report to the county from C-DOT says that because they cannot guarantee the safety of the structure they recommend that repairs either be made or more tests conducted.

District 3 County Commissioner Ed Norden said county officials have spent the last several days examining the options. Norden said it was decided to hire an engineering specialist to conduct a series of tests on the steel truss in question to determine if repairs are needed. He said it's hoped the Commissioners can formally authorize a contract early next week to spend up to $5,000 on the testing.

In the meantime the Road and Bridge Department is emphasizing public safety and warning ATV and rafting enthusiasts to heed the new 3 1/2 ton load limit. Additional signage warning of the change to the bridge's load limits is being posted as the BLM anticipates lots of ATV users will head to Texas Creek for the Mother's Day and Memorial Day weekends ahead.

Assessor Mails Notice of Valuations

Fremont County property owners have begun receiving their Notices of Valuation (NOV's) in the mail from the Fremont County Assessor's Office. Assessor Stacey Seifert says 2009 is a reassessment year in Colorado which takes place every two years. Seifert says after mailing the NOV's last week, her staff has already begun handling protests that will come into her office in the coming weeks.

The recessionary downturn in housing prices is sure to prompt a lot of questions as to why values listed on the NOV's do not reflect what is happening in the market place. Seifert reminds property owners that state law requires that the values reflected on the notices are based upon estimated property values at the end of June, 2008.

Seifert adds that the valuation increases were not as substantial as expected. She says that close to 50 percent of properties countywide saw a slight decrease in value.

Seifert said for those properties that saw valuation increases, many of them may not have been updated in the 2007 reassessment and are now just catching up to the 2008 values. She said there were other properties that saw value increases due to assessment errors or because of improvements that were made to the property.

For property owners choosing to protest their values, they can do so in person at the Fremont County Assessor's Office by June 1st. Written protests must be postmarked no later than June 1st. The Assessor's Office will have until the end of June to mail out a notice of final determination of value. If the property owner is still not happy with that value a further protest can be made in writing to the Board of Equalization no later than July 15th. The Board of Equalization will then conduct protest hearings starting in July.

April 28th Commissioners Meeting

Award of a bid for bleachers at the Pathfinder Park outdoor arena and a lease-purchase agreement for a used fuel truck at the Fremont County Airport highlighted a brief agenda of business for the Fremont County Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

The county received two bids for purchase of bleachers at Pathfinder Park. Southern Bleachers of Graham, Texas, bid $44,600 while Bleachers International of Kiowa, Colorado, submitted a bid of $58,058. The Commissioners awarded the bid to Southern Bleachers and noted that the county will save about $14,000 in shipping and bleacher assembly because of the donations by a local firm. Lee Daffron of Fremont Enterprises of Florence offered to travel to Texas and pick up the bleachers and to erect them on site at Pathfinder Park.

The new bleachers are one of three main components being financed as part of a $200,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado. The grant will also fund restrooms and arena lighting. Total project cost with donations and matching local lottery dollars will be nearly $320,000.

The Commissioners approved a lease-purchase agreement for acquisition of another fuel truck at the Fremont County Airport. Airport Manager Richard Baker said having another fuel truck will expand the airport's overall fuel storage capacity particularly when fuel demand escalates during the summer wildland firefighting season. The county will lease-purchase a 1996 Ford 3,000 gallon capacity fuel tank truck to handle jet fuel. Baker said he has calculated a five year pay-off period using the most conservative fuel sales estimates. A surcharge on fuel sales will pay for the truck and will not involve any tax dollars.

The Commissioners voted to waive the hard surface paving requirements for the Coyote Coffee Den in Penrose after having previously granted a pair of two-year extensions for the paving requirement. In permanently waiving the paving requirement the Commissioners agreed to accept an alternative plan by shop owner Pete Megasis who said he wants to employ a more economical plan utilizing a surface comprised of milled and recycled used asphalt. The Commissioners allowed Mugasis until July 31st to apply the alternative parking lot surface.

The Commissioners Tuesday also:

• Approved a temporary use permit for a hardrock enduro off-road motorcycle race on May 31st on the Joe Stock Ranch along Red Canyon Road north of Canon City;
• Approved a temporary use permit for the tenth annual Belvedere Blues Fest at Merlino's Belvedere in Lincoln Park on September 11th, 12th, and 13th;
• Approved the re-licensing of ambulance operations for the Penrose Volunteer Fire Department, the Florence Volunteer Fire Department, Arkansas Valley Ambulance in Western Fremont County, Northwest EMS, and American Medical Response (AMR).