Fort Lupton Press 3
August 18, 2021
Retention on the mind of Fort Lupton’s police chief BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNUITYMEDIA.COM
Fort Lupton Police Chief John Fryar made a request of council Aug. 10 to help keep some of his officers on the payroll. Council was in a town-hall format that night, so there was no decision. “We looked at agencies to compare to ours, and we stayed in Weld County,” Fryar said. “We could see how fast things are changing just to keep up with our competitors.” Fryar said the starting salary in Fort Lupton is $58,000. It’s as high as $66,000 in other parts of the county.
There is no pay-for-progress procedure in the city. Human Resources Director Laura Howe said if Frederick’s police department comes out of a county salary survey, Weld County’s pay rates are higher than most of the Denver area. “A lot of cities are moving fast,” Howe told councilors. “Law enforcement hiring is a challenge. More people are retiring. Fewer people are coming in. It’s not a unique problem to deal with. It’s getting to be an arms race in terms of pay.” Some of Fryar’s list of retention suggestions included more money for retirement plans. The city and the
police department members contribute 9.7 of the salaries. Fryar asked for an increase of 0.5 of 1 percent per year over the next three years. Another item on Fryar’s list was allowing officers to take their patrol cars home. Officers can do so now, provided they live within 20 miles of the city. “I’ve got nothing but good people,” Fryar told councilors. “I’d like to have a way to reward people who go above and beyond. I’d like the officers to be able to take their cars home. We won’t have enough cars to assign one to each officer. Frederick just entered into a lease program.”
Councilman Chris Ceretto agreed that it was time to let officers take their patrol cars home, though Mayor Zo Stieber said she’d seen several officers in their personal cars “who didn’t want to be exposed” in that fashion. “One thing to keep in mind,” said Councilwoman Shannon Rhoda. “It doesn’t matter what the pay is going to be. It’s going to be under what others do. That’s just the way it is. You can’t have it all. If we’re going to let them take the cars home, we have to make sure they aren’t taking them somewhere else.”
Council eyes ballot spot for marijuana grow question BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
FORT LUPTON – The ink hasn’t dried on potential ordinances that set up rules to allow medical and marijuana dispensaries to do business in Fort Lupton. Now, the city council may place an item on the November ballot to allow marijuana grow operations, too. Council has to make a decision by Aug. 31 to get the item on the ballot, according to city clerk Mari Pena. Resident Leonard Toews brought
LIBRARY FROM PAGE 1
are also seeing changes to costs not over months but over weeks. What I can tell you is that what we are seeing this week will literally be different next week.” The library wants to move from Fort Lupton High School to a twoacre plot of land near the Safeway store, about a block from the city recreation center. Plans call for two facilities, one remaining inside Fort Lupton High School for students and the new facility for everyone else. Board member Teri Kopfman said the library board and the High Plains Library District, which operates Fort Lupton’s Library, are under contract to buy the two-acre plot. If all goes to plan, work on the new building would begin in the spring of 2022, Matoba said. Plans call for accessible parking on flat paths to get patrons to and from the building. A multipurpose room will open up on the lawn, and it’s in front of the parking lot. There will be more parking spaces and Collector Road will have additional parallel parking. There will be up to three to four handicapped parking spaces and a drop-off space. Inside features include community spaces in the multipurpose rooms, collection, reading and seating areas, a maker’s space for high-tech projects, a children’s area, teen or young adult and staffing and support space as well. Lobby space would connect to the adjoining multipurpose rooms when the library is not actually open. Plans call for one large multi-purpose room with a removable divider. Board member Kopfman said the
up the idea of grow operations during the council’s Aug. 10 town hall. He called the potential growth of grow operations in town “massive.” “The question is where are we at when we look at that potential,” he said. “It’s a great area. It’s industrial. There are good places to have grows. There is a lot of agricultural DNA in this area.” Mayor Zi Stieber said the city of Pueblo had a huge grow operation. “They started out at 1 percent and then ratcheted out,” Toews said. “Somewhere between 1 and 2 perboard began presenting their plans to the public in 2019, with plans for three public meetings to narrow down and settle on a final design for the building. The board hosted two meetings before COVID-19 hit and the third meeting was postponed. Matoba said the point of the Aug. 11 meeting was to discuss what part of the library residents would like to see trimmed and what they would like to see expanded. The current plan is to shrink the entire project, sacrificing enough space throughout the building to make the reduction barely noticeable. “We are really taking a little bit out of everything,” Matoba said. “Our intent is not to eliminate a program function in any way — not to take out a quiet reading area or take out the children’s area but to take a little bit out of everything so all the major programs can remain.” Resident Rachel Williams said she favored a more tactical reduction in space rather than just reducing everything slightly. She thought the library could make up the 1,000 square feet by reducing the lobby and new book space at the front. The library also could possibly sacrifice a dedicated activity area for children. “I know the kiddos need a good place to move around, but if they have activity going on it could take place in the larger multi-purpose room,” she said. For Williams, the multi-purpose rooms are key. “With the community growing the way that it is, we need to be able to engage with all of our new members,” she said. “I think this is good for community building.” Matoba said the board plans to host another design meeting later this fall.
cent of potential business would be interested in coming to this area.” Councilwoman Shannon Rhoda thought extra money from grow operations should go toward the police department, which will be in charge of enforcing whatever ordinances are in place. “A lot of businesses have cameras that watch the harvest. That’s the insider piece,” Toews said. “If you’re going to spend millions of dollars, chances are you’re pretty well-established.” Council’s Aug. 31 session is in a
town-hall format, meaning there can be no decision. Council can call a regular meeting, though. The next planned discussion of tweaking and adding the ordinances for medical and retail marijuana is on Aug. 17. Council hasn’t been able to decide how to choose the four businesses it will allow in town. Stieber favors a system that includes a lottery and some form of a merit system. Rhoda was concerned about a potential overlap of fingerprinting duties between the city and the state.
Council field grows in Fort Lupton STAFF REPORT
As of last week, nine candidates were running for the various available positions on the city council in the November election. Voters will choose a mayor (four-year term), a representative from Ward 1 for a four-year term, a representative from Ward 2 for a four-year term and two members to represent Ward 3. The top votegetter receives a four-year term, while the second-place finisher gets a two-year term. Petitions for five of the candidates – Mayor Zo Stieber (running for reelection), Councilwoman Shannon Rhoda (who wants to take Stieber’s place), Mike Sanchez and Bruce Fitzgerald (Ward 3 incumbents) and
425 S. Denver Ave, Fort Lupton 303-857-7180
Ward 3 challenger Carlos Barron – were sufficient. The others who took out petitions as of last week were Scott Tipton (Ward 1), former City Administrator Claud Hanes (Ward 2) and present Weld Re-8 school board member Michelle Bettger (Ward 3), who’s also running for re-election to the school board. To vote, you have to be a U.S. citizen, a state resident for at least 22 days and be at least 16 years of age. Online registration (provided you have a driver’s license or an ID card) is available at www.govotecolorado. com. That’s the same place where voters can change their registration cards and party affiliations. Call 720-466-6101 for more information.
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