News Now Blog

The Fremont County Environmental Health Department and Fremont County C.S.U. Cooperative Extension sponsor a two hour program entitled “Radon, The Health Risks and Solutions”. The workshop will be presented from 1:30 until 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, February 8th, at the Fremont County Administration Building, at 615 Macon Avenue, in Cañon City.

The Fremont County Tourism Council (F.C.T.C.) is soliciting letters of interest from Fremont County Residents for a position consisting of a three year term on the F.C.T.C. The F.C.T.C. develops & administrates a Tourism Marketing Plan for Fremont County with proceeds from the Fremont County Lodging Tax.

New fees for subdivision and zoning applications in the Fremont County Planning and Zoning Office which stirred some controversy at a public hearing nearly three weeks ago, have been adopted by the Fremont County Commissioners with some modifications. The Commissioners said they followed the advice of some of those who testified saying that certain subdivision application fees for adjusting lot lines, boundary lines, and vacating of lot lines, would be too much of a burden on small property owners if fees were increased as much as three times.

The Fremont County Commissioners have announced a pair of public meetings in Cañon City and Florence to kick off a series of Commissioners’ Forums with citizens across the county in 2006. Commission Chairman Mike Stiehl says the forums will again give the Commissioners the chance to meet face to face with citizens to discuss important county issues and to field questions.

The Fremont County Commissioners listened to public reaction to proposed hikes in zoning and subdivision fees at the Board’s January 10th regular meeting. The Commissioners conducted a public hearing on the proposed new fee schedules which resulted from a comprehensive study of ‘cost of service’ by Eric Parrish of the Public Resource Management Group in Denver. The County spent $6,200 to have Parrish prepare the study to determine how much time and resources the staff in the Planning and Zoning Department spend on various applications.

The Fremont County Commissioners conducted their annual reorganizational meeting Tuesday morning electing District 1 Commissioner Mike Stiehl to replace Larry Lasha as the Board Chairman for 2006. District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden was elected the Chairman Pro-Tem.

The Board reappointed Brenda Jackson as County Attorney and Nelson Liskow as the Fremont County Veterans Service Officer, expressing appreciation to both for their trusted service to the Board and local citizens.

Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker and the Fremont County Commissioners have reacted to the dry and volatile weather conditions by imposing a countywide fire ban. Sheriff Beicker announced Wednesday that after consultations with Cañon City District Fire Chief Bill Guindon he decided to request imposition of the fire ban. Recent rangeland wildfires in Huerfano and Jefferson Counties prompted Governor Owens this week to also impose fire restrictions on state lands.

The Fremont County Tourism Council has adopted a budget that proposes spending nearly $115,000 on tourism promotion in 2006. The new budget relies on a 24.8 percent increase in county lodging tax revenues during 2005. The Fremont County Finance Office estimates current 2005 lodging tax revenues at $117,404. That compares to collections of $94,081 for 2004.

The Fremont County Commissioners spent less than 20 minutes dealing with a very brief agenda for their regular board meeting. The only official item of business was Resolution #2005-78 which adjusted various line items in the 2005 budget. The resolution appropriated additional sums of money to defray expenses in excess of amounts budgeted. The budget amendments changed the totals to $14,160,167 which represented a change in additional appropriations of $1,909,695.