The Board of Commissioners present a formal resolution to Curtis Stone honoring his 45 years of service to the county upon his retirement from the Road & Bridge Department
The Fremont County Board of Commissioners voted at their April 8th regular meeting to formally terminate the lease for the county’s Public Health Clinic in Florence City Hall. It was only in March of 2013 that the Florence Public Health Clinic was officially opened after the county secured a grant to renovate space in Florence City Hall. The intent was to reach out to the population in eastern Fremont County with health services to young adults and others.
County Manager George Sugars said that after reviewing finances with the new Public Health Director and the county’s finance director, the department is not able to sustain a long term, or even short term, way to provide a clinic in Florence with employees there so staff the facility. Sugars said the revenues simply had not materialized over the past year. Sugars said the clinic has been closed since the middle of January, and the lease expires May 31.
District 2 Commissioner Debbie Bell said she spoke earlier with the city manager and the mayor of Florence. She said she explained to them the disappointment of the Commissioners and the fact that the county can no longer afford to run the clinic. She said the numbers of the clientele being served there simply did not appear the way they originally predicted. Bell said, "It's not a fun thing for us to do, but I think we need to be good stewards of the taxpayer money, and this is what we need to do at this time."
The Commissioners approved a resolution recognizing the contributions of Curtis Stone who is retiring after 45 years of service with the Fremont County Road & Bridge Department. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden noted that soon after he took office in 2005 he came to realize the admiration and respect Stone had from fellow employees and neighbors he served maintaining roads in the Tallahassee area northwest of Cañon City.
In other business at the April 8th meeting the Board of Commissioners:
- Approved Special Events Liquor permits for the Cañon City Rodeo Association’s Blossom Festival Rodeo on May 2nd & 3rd and the Penrose VFW Post’s Bazaar and Street Dance on May 17th;
- Set two public hearings for 10 a.m. on May 13th. The first hearing deals with a zone change request from Ag Living to Business Zone for the Crossroads Event on the southeast corner of Highways 50 and 115 at Penrose. The other public hearing deals with an amendment to the County Zoning Resolution regarding Special Review Uses for towers, performance standards in the Airport Zone District, and off-street parking requirements;
- Reappointed Planning Director Bill Giordano to the Fremont County GIS Authority for a two year term;
- Appointed John Miller of Florence to fill a vacancy on the Fremont County Tourism Council created by a resignation;
- Adopted a policy guiding memorial donations to the county; Authorized the Chairman to sign a County Deed for property boundary adjustments at Pathfinder Regional Park with the Cañon City Recreation District.