News Now Blog

Three years worth of real and personal property tax valuation protests by the Holcim Cement Plant before the Colorado Board of Assessment Appeals has resulted in tax refunds and abatements to Holcim totaling $1,525,600.    Those refunds will have to be made by the five taxing entities which get revenue from Holcim’s tax payments including the Florence-Penrose RE-2 School District, Fremont County, the John C. Fremont Library District, the Southeast Colorado Water Conservancy District, and the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District.

A public hearing is set before the Fremont County Board of Commissioners on April 12th to consider zoning amendments dealing with contractor’s yards in residential areas and the installation of small wind energy systems.    Both issues were tabled by the commissioners on November 23rd after it was decided that the issues needed more study and changes in language.  

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners voted 2 to 1 on Tuesday to give conceptual approval to a plan to erect a large stone display at the county’s War Memorial Park at the airport that will feature the motto “In God We Trust”.    Project coordinator Dennis Withers said it will be 76 feet long with 4-foot high letters made up of 58,262 pennies representing the number of American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.   Commission Chairman Ed Norden said that while individual commissioners gave verbal approval to the project in the past, formal approval was never c

The Fremont County Planning Commission will consider an application for a dirt bike and ATV recreation area north of the Fremont County Airport at their April 5th monthly meeting.    Stephen and Lynette Harris have applied for a Special Review Use permit for an off-road rural recreation facility on the northwest corner of the intersection of Phantom Canyon Road and Fremont County Road #123 a mile north of Highway 50.    The permit is intended to allow only family members and friends to ride their dirt bikes and ATV’s at the 120 acre off-road recreation area.&nb

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners is accepting letters from persons interested in an appointment to the Fremont County Planning Commission to represent the Penrose area.    A seat on the seven-member Planning Commission is open following the recent resignation of Tom Doxey.    Doxey’s seat on the Planning Commission in the past has represented the Penrose area.  The new appointee will serve the remaining two years of Doxey’s unexpired term.

The Fremont County Commissioners announced last week that a resolution had been reached regarding planned payroll changes for county employees in April.    At the February 22nd board meeting Sheriff’s Sergeants Trace Hall and Don Pinover said they were speaking for a number of employees who would be negatively impacted by a one week delay for the mid-April paycheck intended to allow the Finance Office and Payroll Clerk more time to handle payroll.   They said despite three pay periods in April a paycheck that would postpone a week’s worth of pay would create a hards

The Fremont Pride 2011 Spring Cleanup campaign is kicking off with distribution of free trash vouchers again this year to local residents.    Fremont County, the Cities of Cañon City and Florence, Twin Enviro Services, Skyline Steel, and Junk Masters are sponsoring the annual cleanup campaign.     A limited number of free waste disposal vouchers are available from City and County Government Offices.   

Impacts of the economic recession continue to spread among children and families in Fremont County.   With unprecedented demand for food stamp assistance and applications for Temporary Assistance to Families (TANF) at the Fremont County Department of Human Services the Board of Commissioners has announced that there are no more dollars for TANF Community Grants for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.   In past years, depending on the amount of money available in TANF reserves, the Board of Commissioners has awarded TANF Community Grants to qualifying agencies such