In a brief regular meeting for the Fremont County Board of Commissioners on July 26th the Board approved an amended intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for operation of the FreCom Joint Dispatch Center. The countywide E 9-1-1 dispatch center opened on the fourth floor of the Fremont County Judicial Center one year ago. County Attorney Brenda Jackson said the original IGA was the basis for getting all of the governmental entities together to get the dispatch center operational. Jackson said it was always the intent to revisit the IGA once the center was operational and fine tune some of the language in the agreement.
The five entities that partnered to form the dispatch center IGA are Fremont County, the City of Cañon City, the City of Florence, the Cañon City Area Fire Protection District, and the Fremont County E 9-1-1 Authority. Jackson said the only significant changes to the IGA are dates. She said the agreement didn’t shift any sharing of the financial obligations and that the method to determine percentages for cost sharing will remain the obligation of the five member joint governing board. After a full year of operation she said it will now be easier for the governing board to look at real data and determine the distribution of calls for service between the users of the dispatch center.
Smaller fire districts and other first responders who are not party to the IGA are billed quarterly for dispatching based on the number of calls for service. The City of Florence, Cañon City Fire District, and the E 9-1-1 Authority have also approved the amended IGA. The Cañon City Council must still take action to also approve the agreement.
In other business at the July 26th meeting the Board of Commissioners:
- Adopted a resolution expressing appreciation for support shown by Chaffee County officials and citizens in offering aid to Fremont County residents impacted by the Hayden Pass wildfire. Animals displaced by the wildfire were transported to temporary holding pens at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds at Poncha Springs;
- Reappointed Byron Alsup to another three year term on the Fremont County Planning Commission;
- Reappointed Brian Rupp to the Fremont County Board of Building Code Appeals for another three year term.