District 2 Fremont County Commissioner Debbie Bell will serve another year as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. That was the decision of the board during the annual reorganizational meeting on January 8th. Newly seated District 1 Commissioner Tim Payne was elected as Vice Chairman for 2013. The Commissioners also elected 2013 officers for the times they meet as the Board of Social Services. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden was re-elected Chairman for another year while Commissioner Bell will serve as Vice Chair. Norden also fills the role of Board of Social Services Treasurer.
The Board of Commissioners reappointed Brenda Jackson to serve another year as the County Attorney and decided to continue with the current schedule for Board of Commissioner regular meetings. The Board will continue to meet at 9:30 a.m. on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month. The official posting places for the Notice of Public Meetings by the Board of Commissioners will continue to be the bulletin board outside the Commissioners’ Office in Room 105 of the Administration Building and on the exterior bulletin board next to the main entrance on the south side of the Administration Building.
The Commissioners approved a Conditional Use Permit for Wes Dorsey to continue operating his Orchard Park Mini-Storage Facility at 1271 Lawrence Street on the north side of Cañon City. Dorsey built the 58 self storage units in 1993 but with the 20 year expiration of his current permit the Board had to consider a new application since the mini storage facility is not a permitted use in that Agricultural Estates Zone District.
Chairman Bell also announced that the Board of Commissioners had scheduled a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on February 12th on an application for a Conditional Use Permit for gold exploration on 593 acres of property southwest of Cañon City. Zephyr Gold USA wants to conduct surface and drilling exploration for gold within about two acres of the property. The site is located west of the Dawson Ranch subdivision and is off of Temple Canyon Road about three miles southwest from the intersection with Mariposa Road. Bell emphasized that the permit would be for exploration only and not any actual mining at this point.
In other business at the January 8th meeting the Commissioners:
- Approved annual bank depositories for county funds;
- Approved the Daily Record and Florence Citizen as official newspapers for the county;
- Reappointed Commissioner Norden as a director for the Fremont County Finance Corporation;
- Appointed Casey Myers of Penrose to serve as an alternate member on the County Board of Zoning Adjustment