The Fremont County Board of Commissioners approved a pair of resolutions at their Tuesday meeting to refinance Certificates of Participation (COPS) along with new COPS financing with an eye towards finding new quarters for Fremont County Public Health. The first resolution unanimously adopted by the board refinances a 2003 series of certificates and are designed to save the county money with a lower interest rate. The refinance portion will also stretch out the term of the payback reducing the annual payments over the next several years. The Commissioners said that is necessary because the 25 percent of sales tax revenues that are used to pay off the certificates have dropped the last several years during the recession and the payments were lowered to match projected revenues.
A second resolution involves issuance of certificates to provide the county with $2 million of additional funding for capital expenditures. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden said the priority issue for those dollars is to find a new home for Fremont County Public Health. Norden said Public Health has been in cramped quarters for years at the Department of Human Services Building. He said the Commissioners have put off finding new office space for too long and now with the Vital Records service housed back in Public Health in addition to other new programs, the Commissioners must find new space. Norden said it’s no secret that the Commissioners have been looking for several months at available office space within a block or two of the County Administration Building at 6th and Macon in Cañon City. The Commissioners said another capital expenditure priority in the new $2 million in COPS money will be to address ongoing mitigation of asbestos issues in the County Administration Building over the next several years.
In their reports to citizens the Board of Commissioners announced their intent to consider a resolution at their August 27th meeting that would place a question on the November 5th election ballot. The ballot question would ask voters to approve a 1% increase in the county sales tax with the money to be earmarked for the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department. Commissioner Norden said the board has held several discussions with Sheriff Jim Beicker and Undersheriff Ty Martin in recent weeks. Norden described the situation at the Sheriff’s Department as grim and said unless the voters are asked to help with a sales tax solution that current level of service is no longer sustainable with budget dollars available.
Norden cited three critical areas. He said there are manpower and security issues in the jail that must be addressed from a safety standpoint for both detention officers and inmates. He said $800,000 alone is needed to upgrade the electronic security system in the jail. Norden noted that patrol vehicles in the Sheriff’s fleet have an average of 170,000 to 190,000 miles and that the county’s maintenance shop says at least a dozen of those vehicles are costing more to maintain than they’re worth. Norden added that when the Sheriff was forced to cut his budget several years ago he took away the uniform allowance from all Sheriff’s deputies. Undersheriff Martin told the Commissioners that they have learned that Fremont County may be the only county in Colorado that does not provide deputies with a uniform allowance.
County Commission Chair Debbie Bell said if the voters approve, one priority for additional sales tax would be restoration of Animal Control in the Sheriff’s Department. Bell said the need for an Animal Control Officer is something she has heard repeatedly when she campaigned and since she was elected. Specifics on the proposed use of the sales tax dollars will be detailed by the Sheriff at the August 27th meeting.
In other business at the August 13th meeting the Commissioners:
- Approved renewal of a mining lease with Bill Canterbury for the mining of gravel from a pit on the Canterbury Ranch south of Howard;
- Approved a resolution of support for a grant application by the Cañon City Recreation District to Great Outdoors Colorado to pursue an update of the Eastern Fremont County Open Space and Trails Master Plan. The Commissioners also committed $3,000 from the county’s Conservation Trust Fund (lottery $$) to help provide local matching funds for the grant;
- Scheduled two public hearings for 10:00 a.m. September 10th. One hearing deals with a zone change for Derick Westback near High and Orchard Avenues north of Cañon City to allow RV and boat storage. The other hearing is for Arkansas Valley Ambulance on a Special Review Use application to allow a residence west of Texas Creek to be used for an ambulance garage from where EMT’s would also respond to medical emergency calls.