News Now Blog

The Fremont County Commissioners announce that another town hall meeting has been scheduled for citizens in western Fremont County. The town hall meeting is set for Wednesday evening, November 16th at 6:30, at the Cotopaxi School Cafeteria. The meeting will focus on Fremont County budget and finance issues and 9-1-1 emergency response issues in western Fremont County.

(The following news release was distributed by the Canon City Office of the Bureau of Land Management and is reprinted here because of interest to Fremont County residents.)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has begun the final stage of the Arkansas River Travel Management Plan.

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

Fremont County Clerk Norma Hatfield says ballots for the November 1st Coordinated Mail Ballot Election have been mailed to voters in Fremont County. Voters can expect those ballots to arrive by October 17th. The mail ballot will be the only method to vote in the election. There will be no polling places and no early voting for the election. Mrs. Hatfield says voters can deposit their completed ballots into the box at the Clerk’s Office no later than 7:00 p.m. Election Day November 1st.

The Fremont County Commissioners dealt with a brief agenda of business for their regular meeting on October 11th. The Commissioners honored Karen Hawver for her 30 years of service with the Fremont County Department of Human Services.

The Fremont County Commissioners will conduct another town hall meeting, this time traveling to the east end of the County. Commission Chairman Larry Lasha has organized a town hall meeting for the Penrose community on Tuesday evening, October 18th. Tom and Carol Doxey have agreed to make the Apple Shed restaurant available for the town hall meeting. It will begin at 7 p.m. on October 18th. The Commissioners and Sheriff Jim Beicker plan to attend and discuss a number of issues.

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs has notified the Fremont County Commissioners that Fremont County was awarded a State Gaming Impact grant in the amount of $400,000 for 2006. The grant award was made following a September 15th meeting of the Local Government Limited Gaming Impact Advisory Committee in Gilpin County. Fremont County Commissioner Ed Norden and County Engineer Jack Effinger appeared before the committee requesting a grant in the amount of $484,000.

The Fremont County Clerk’s Office is busy preparing for the Coordinated Mail Ballot Election. Although November 1st is Election Day in Colorado, Fremont County Clerk Norma Hatfield notes that there will be no polling places open on Election Day. The only method of voting will be done by the ballots each voter will receive in the mail. Mrs. Hatfield says that state law requires the County Clerk’s Office to put the ballots in the mail between October 7th and the 17th. She says the ballots are being mailed only to active voters.

The first community wide tire collection day hosted by the Holcim Company for Fremont County residents on Saturday, September 24th, attracted a lot of interest from citizens. Fremont County and the Upper Arkansas Recycling Program co-sponsored the program with the desire that citizens would use the opportunity to clean up old tires on private property. Keith Krugh of the Holcim Company reported that 1,182 passenger vehicle tires were delivered to the Holcim Plant at Portland along Highway 120 east of Florence. Krugh said that amounted to almost 12 tons of tires.