The Fremont County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved a restructuring of the Fremont County Airport Advisory Committee and then voted to fill three positions on the committee. Commission Chairman Ed Norden said when the board restructured member terms in September, so that all of the staggered three year terms begin on October 1st, the board postponed a decision on whether to reduce the number of members. Norden said several committee members had suggested the committee be reduced from nine to seven members. Norden said after interviewing nine applicants for four vacant seats the Board of Commissioners agreed that a seven member board made sense. As the commissioners voted to reduce the committee number to seven members, Norden said the two seats being eliminated include the seat held by Dave Thomson who resigned earlier this year and the seat held by Committee Chairman Walt Giffin who has submitted his resignation from the committee effective January 1st.
With the restructuring to seven members in place, the Board of Commissioners voted to reappoint R. Jay Seavy and to newly appoint Greg Tabuteau and James Woolworth to three year terms expiring on October 1st, 2014. Commissioner Mike Stiehl said that while incumbent committee member Robert Henderson was not reappointed it doesn’t diminish the contribution that Henderson made to the Airport Advisory Committee over the years. Stiehl said he hopes Henderson stays active in airport issues and continues to attend the Advisory Committee meetings as a citizen.
The commissioners Tuesday also voted to approve a resolution establishing new liquor license fees for the various liquor license applications that are processed through the Fremont County Clerk’s Office. County Clerk Katie Barr said that when the Board of Commissioners took action several weeks ago setting up a new process and fees for requiring only local approval for Special Events Liquor Licenses, the resolution at that time did not address other liquor license fees. The resolution approved Tuesday increases liquor license fees to match the fees charged by both the City of Cañon City and the City of Florence. County Attorney Brenda Jackson said it’s probably the first time county liquor license fees have been increased in about 12 years.
The commissioners Tuesday also voted to approve the project specifications and budget for construction of a new memorial feature to be added to the Fremont County Airport’s War Memorial Park. After voting last March to approve the concept of the “In God We Trust” memorial lettering, the commissioners gave the go-ahead for the Memorial Park Advisory Committee to start construction. The large four-foot tall metal letters will be erected between the two Vietnam era Army helicopters. Eventually the letters will be covered with pennies. The pennies will serve to represent the number of soldiers who died in Vietnam with the year-dated pennies also corresponding to the number of soldiers who died in the representative years. The commissioners said the final construction specifications will need approval of the county engineer and that donations collected to help fund the project must be deposited into War Memorial Park Fund. The commissioners postponed consideration of how much financial assistance the county will provide from the park fund. Commissioner Debbie Bell said it’s coincidental that the commissioners are giving final approval for the “In God We Trust” lettering project just two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives reaffirmed the use of “In God We Trust” as the national motto.
In other business Tuesday the Board of Commissioners:
- Conducted the second and final public hearing on the 2012 proposed county budget. Budget adjustments for additional costs made in the last two weeks will reduce estimated General Fund reserves by the end of 2012 to $680,000. The commissioners will consider final adoption of the 2012 budget at the December 13th board meeting. The budget document can be reviewed by clicking the budget link on the county web site home page at www.fremontco.com;
- Approved a resolution adopting required Federal Emergency Management Agency changes in floodplain damage prevention regulations. County Engineer Don Moore noted that among the regulation changes is a requirement that no development may cause the base flood elevation within the parcel to rise more than a half-foot or more than 0.1 feet at the parcel boundary;
- Approved the appointment of Mildred Wintz of Florence and the reappointment of Carol McNew of Coaldale to the Fremont County Heritage Commission;
- Approved the transfer of a special review use permit for Big Horn Storage along Highway 115 at McCumber Lane to John Hance on behalf of the E.V. Hance Trust and a name change to Reliant Storage, LLC.