The Fremont County Board of Commissioners whisked through a three page agenda in less than an hour quickly disposing of routine business items as part of the annual reorganizational meeting. The Board chose to leave the leadership positions the same for another year. District 2 Commissioner Debbie Bell made that recommendation suggesting that District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden serve another year as chairman during his final year in office. Commissioner Bell will then serve another year as Vice Chairman. District 1 Commissioner Tim Payne will continue in his role as Chairman of the Fremont County Board of Social Services. The Board also reappointed Brenda Jackson to serve another year as the County Attorney.
Members of Cañon City’s 1st United Methodist Church and Pastor Eric Feuerstein were in attendance as the Board of Commissioners adopted a proclamation declaring 2016 as a Year of Celebration for the 150th Year of Ministry for 1st United Methodist. The proclamation noted that the church had its’ humble beginnings in 1860 in an unfinished log cabin and then became the first permanently established church south of Denver when it was dedicated in 1866.
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1st United Methodist Church of Canon City Pastor Eric Feuerstein is flanked by the Board of Commissioners as they hold a banner celebrating the church's 150th anniversary in 2016.
The Board of Commissioners awarded a bid to Colorado Crushing to perform rock and gravel crushing in the county’s Cottonwood gravel pit along County Road 2 in the Tallahassee area northwest of Cañon City. Colorado Crushing will crush 20,000 tons of aggregate at a cost of $3.50 a ton. Department of Transportation Director Tony Adamic said it’s been a number of years since any crushing was done in the pit and in recent years county road crews performed their own screening operations in the pit to get materials.
The Commissioners also voted at their January 12th meeting to extend the exploration permit for the Dawson Gold Project southwest of Cañon City by another three years to February 26, 2019. Dr. Angela Bellantoni said the additional three years will give Zephyr Gold time to do more exploration and determine if they want to pursue a mining permit for the project along the south side of Temple Canyon Road on a BLM claim.
Fremont County Commission Chairman Ed Norden also announced that a public hearing scheduled on January 12th on a service plan for a proposed Tallahassee Fire Protection District northwest of Cañon City was being postponed by two weeks. Norden said additional time was needed for public notice after changes were required to the legal descriptions of the proposed boundaries for the new fire district. The Board rescheduled the public hearing for 10 a.m. at the January 26th commissioners’ meeting.
In other business at the January 12th meeting the Commissioners:
- Set a public hearing for January 26th at 10 a.m. for a Special Review Use Permit for Jennice Fagin to operate a commercial feed store on her property in Penrose within an “Agricultural Rural” Zone district;
- Designated the Cañon City Daily Record and Florence Citizen as the county’s official newspapers for 2016;
- Designated the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at 9:30 a.m. as the regularly scheduled meeting times for the Board;
- Designated the bulletin board outside the commissioners’ office and the bulletin board outside the south entrance of the building as official public notice posting places;
- Approved another two year temporary cessation for Holcim US Inc’s Ranchland Rock Pit #1;
- Approved the transfer of a Conditional Use Permit for Front Range Aggregate’s Parkdale Aggregate pit to Martin Marietta which recently acquired Front Range;
- Newly appointed Krysten Econome and reappointed Beth Katchmar and John Miller to three year terms on the Fremont County Tourism Council;
- Appointed Mark Masar of Penrose to fill an unexpired term on the Fremont County Planning Commission for the Penrose area seat;
- Amended the Fremont County Personnel Policies Manual regarding temporary full time employees and the health insurance policy language to come into compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act.