The Fremont County Commissioners handled a busy agenda of business at their January 26th regular board meeting highlighted by a salute to the volunteer efforts of a Fremont County Sheriff's deputy.
Deputy Bruce Briscoe was honored by Colorado Special Olympics with a plaque for his many years of volunteer efforts to organize law enforcement torch runs in southern Colorado. Ralph Maher, coordinator for the southeastern Colorado Special Olympics Torch Run said Briscoe started with the torch runs in 1997 when he was a deputy in Custer County and then continued to organize them when he began work with the Fremont County Sheriff's Department. Maher said Briscoe's efforts have helped to raise over $10,000 for Special Olympics. Briscoe said what hooked him in helping with Special Olympics was the joy he saw on the faces of the athletes. Briscoe has also volunteered as a Special Olympics coach.
The Commissioners also saluted the work of former Canon City Mayor Bill Jackson on the Fremont County Planning Commission. The Commissioners presented Jackson with a crystal award noting his 13 years of dedicated service to the Planning Commission as the City of Canon City's municipal representative.
With a recommendation from County Clerk Norma Hatfield and four support letters from citizens, the Commissioners voted to conduct the 2010 August Primary Election by using all mail ballots. Hatfield said it's much more economical to conduct a mail ballot election. She said mail ballots are also very popular with voters throughout the county.
The Commissioners heard a presentation from Steve Foute from the Pueblo Regional Office of the U.S. Census. Foute spoke about the importance to local government to see that all citizens are counted in the census. Foute said the distribution of federal and state grant dollars are tied directly to census population counts every ten years. It's also vital to the drawing of boundaries for legislative redistricting. The Commissioners unaimously approved a resolution calling attention to 2010 as "Census Awareness Year" urging citizens to cooperate by filling out the census forms when they begin arriving in the mail in March.
The Commissioners voted to approve a resolution adopting new fees in the Planning and Zoning Department dealing with minor and major modifications to Site Development Plans, Special Review Use Permits, and Conditional Use Permits; Master Plan amendments; Zoning Resolution amendments; and zoning compliance letters.
Commission Chairman Ed Norden said the $300 fees being established on Master Plan amendments and Zoning Resolution amendments that are initiated by citizens will be monitored closely to determine if the fees are fair. Norden said the board wants to make sure that citizens are not discouraged from initiating their own amendments but that they felt some type of fee needed to be in place to avoid a situation where the entire process comes to a standstill if there were an influx of citizen initiated amendments. He said under that scenario, the Planning and Zoning staff would be tied up on amendment reviews.
Commissioner Mike Stiehl agreed saying the fees are not intended to have a chilling effect on citizens participation but to set a reasonable fee for the staff time invested.
The Commissioners adopted two other resolutions on Tuesday's agenda. One resolution is in support of a possible resolution being drafted by the National Association of Counties calling on railroads to be more considerate to the needs of local government in solving problems created by rails pass through various communities. The other resolution formally adopts a job description for County Manager George Sugars who recently completed his first year on the job. Chairman Ed Norden said there was always an understanding of Sugars' responsibilities but when he was hired a year ago the Commissioners felt it was a priority to get him on the job and then to work on the final job description as the year progressed.
In other business Tuesday the Commissioners: Received an annual report from Code Enforcement Officers Robert Sapp and Ron Zenisky on 2009 Code Enforcement Efforts; Appointed Dan Grenard to fill two years remaining on an unexpired term on the Fremont County Heritage Commission created by the resignation last fall of Flo Orona; Authorized the chairman to sign a lease agreement being negotiated with AllTel for possible location of a wireless communications tower on county property at Cotopaxi;
Approved the transfer of a use permit for Forge Food Mart along Forge Road south of Canon City from Sheila and Ronnie Kimmel to Bill Tezak for two more years. The Commissioners were told there are no immediate plans to reopen the business; Awarded the 2010 county stationary bid to Rocky Mountain Print and Copy for $767.
Deputy Bruce Briscoe was honored by Colorado Special Olympics with a plaque for his many years of volunteer efforts to organize law enforcement torch runs in southern Colorado. Ralph Maher, coordinator for the southeastern Colorado Special Olympics Torch Run said Briscoe started with the torch runs in 1997 when he was a deputy in Custer County and then continued to organize them when he began work with the Fremont County Sheriff's Department. Maher said Briscoe's efforts have helped to raise over $10,000 for Special Olympics. Briscoe said what hooked him in helping with Special Olympics was the joy he saw on the faces of the athletes. Briscoe has also volunteered as a Special Olympics coach.
The Commissioners also saluted the work of former Canon City Mayor Bill Jackson on the Fremont County Planning Commission. The Commissioners presented Jackson with a crystal award noting his 13 years of dedicated service to the Planning Commission as the City of Canon City's municipal representative.
With a recommendation from County Clerk Norma Hatfield and four support letters from citizens, the Commissioners voted to conduct the 2010 August Primary Election by using all mail ballots. Hatfield said it's much more economical to conduct a mail ballot election. She said mail ballots are also very popular with voters throughout the county.
The Commissioners heard a presentation from Steve Foute from the Pueblo Regional Office of the U.S. Census. Foute spoke about the importance to local government to see that all citizens are counted in the census. Foute said the distribution of federal and state grant dollars are tied directly to census population counts every ten years. It's also vital to the drawing of boundaries for legislative redistricting. The Commissioners unaimously approved a resolution calling attention to 2010 as "Census Awareness Year" urging citizens to cooperate by filling out the census forms when they begin arriving in the mail in March.
The Commissioners voted to approve a resolution adopting new fees in the Planning and Zoning Department dealing with minor and major modifications to Site Development Plans, Special Review Use Permits, and Conditional Use Permits; Master Plan amendments; Zoning Resolution amendments; and zoning compliance letters.
Commission Chairman Ed Norden said the $300 fees being established on Master Plan amendments and Zoning Resolution amendments that are initiated by citizens will be monitored closely to determine if the fees are fair. Norden said the board wants to make sure that citizens are not discouraged from initiating their own amendments but that they felt some type of fee needed to be in place to avoid a situation where the entire process comes to a standstill if there were an influx of citizen initiated amendments. He said under that scenario, the Planning and Zoning staff would be tied up on amendment reviews.
Commissioner Mike Stiehl agreed saying the fees are not intended to have a chilling effect on citizens participation but to set a reasonable fee for the staff time invested.
The Commissioners adopted two other resolutions on Tuesday's agenda. One resolution is in support of a possible resolution being drafted by the National Association of Counties calling on railroads to be more considerate to the needs of local government in solving problems created by rails pass through various communities. The other resolution formally adopts a job description for County Manager George Sugars who recently completed his first year on the job. Chairman Ed Norden said there was always an understanding of Sugars' responsibilities but when he was hired a year ago the Commissioners felt it was a priority to get him on the job and then to work on the final job description as the year progressed.
In other business Tuesday the Commissioners: Received an annual report from Code Enforcement Officers Robert Sapp and Ron Zenisky on 2009 Code Enforcement Efforts; Appointed Dan Grenard to fill two years remaining on an unexpired term on the Fremont County Heritage Commission created by the resignation last fall of Flo Orona; Authorized the chairman to sign a lease agreement being negotiated with AllTel for possible location of a wireless communications tower on county property at Cotopaxi;
Approved the transfer of a use permit for Forge Food Mart along Forge Road south of Canon City from Sheila and Ronnie Kimmel to Bill Tezak for two more years. The Commissioners were told there are no immediate plans to reopen the business; Awarded the 2010 county stationary bid to Rocky Mountain Print and Copy for $767.