Police expanding into building’s basement, council told

Evidence

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Fort Lupton Police Department is renovating its basement to serve the department better.

Fort Lupton Police John Fryar told councilors at their July 18 meeting that the basement renovations would be a total gutting of the North and center area of the basement. It will consist of two phases.

Fryar said the rst phase is to build back in an evidence room with a ventilation system, an investigations and evidence o ce, and an interview room with men’s and women’s locker rooms. In addition a con guration of the electrical and HVAC problems.

“We will provide lockers systems for areas of evidence and build a data system with more security for the evidence room, and o ce access. Also add a wall to the existing supply room for additional space for human resources, courts and engineering,” Fryar said.

Fryar said they would add a second bathroom in the second phase, create a training room, and set up the additional structure for the City’s Emergency Operations Center with a galley break room for them to use.

Mayor Zo Hubbard asked if there would be a disruption of his work.

Fryar said they would have to move evidence, store it in di erent places, and move people down there for a while.

“O cers will not have lockers available so they will have to come to work in uniforms. We will have some lockers in the bathrooms upstairs. We will have to create a work site upstairs for some of our police squadrons. We will be basically on top of each other,” Fryar said.

Mayor Hubbard suggested if police think of something the councilors can do to help during the transition, please come to them.

Councilwoman Valerie Blackston asks why the women’s locker room is smaller than the men’s. It should be equal.

“Demographically, the number of women working for us is smaller than the men, but if you want to look at the statistics, we are probably in the top 10% of agencies with female employees,” Fryar said

Mayor Hubbard said, “Good to

Know,” and Blackston said, “Awesome.” e six members of the council present approved a payment of $596,000 to Cross Line Construction with a contingency fund for both phases of the work.

Liquor license rejected

In other council business, councilors turned down an license application for a new beer and wine store at 104 Denver Ave.

Harbans Lali, owner of Everyday Stores in Colorado, applied for a new retail Fermented and Malt Beverage and Wine License. Lali has owns 16 convenience stores in Colorado and this would have been his rst store in Fort Lupton. All his 16 other stores are licensed to sell alcohol.

Councilors honed in on liquor license violations at his other stores, and Lali said his other operations have had violations. In each instance, the person that sold alcohol illegally was red.

Lali said all of his employees are required to take TIPS training, a program designed for employees to prevent intoxication, underage drinking, and driving. And his stores began using a point-of-sale system to scan IDs in March.

It was enough to convince Coun- cilman Carlos Barron.

“It looks like he is taking steps to x this problem,” Barron said. But the matter ended in a tie and tie votes automatically fail.

Mayor Zo Hu Hubbard and councilors Valerie Blackston and Claud Hanes voted no while Barron and councilors Chris Ceretto and Bruce Fitzgerald voted yes.

City Clerk Mari Pena said she would investigate how soon Lali could reapply for the license.

School security e U.S. Department of Justice o ers grants for School Resources O cers for $125,000, split into equal shares for three years. e Weld Re-8 school district, Fort Lupton Library, and the City of Fort Lupton will fund three School Resource O cers to secure Fort Lupton High School, Fort Lupton Middle School, and Twombly Elementary. program,” Edmunds said.

Fort Lupton will also submit an application for a grant with the U.S. Department of Justice for an extra School Resource O cer.

If approved, Fort Lupton would be responsible for the School Resource O cer’s salary and bene ts not covered by the grant. It would cover supplemental funding for those costs of $75,574.95.

It’s part of a growing program in the rural areas northeast of Denver.

“ e Farms to Families food truck supplements the monthly on-campus pantry items that stop at the Weld County campuses in Greeley, Windsor, and Fort Lupton,” said Patty Schulz, Aims Community College Program Hunger Free Program Coordinator.

Only the college’s Loveland campus is left out.

“Since the Loveland campus is in Larimer County, the Weld Food Bank does not support our programs at that campus,” she said.

Schultz said the Greeley campus students order in person, but the students on the other campuses can place orders online and have them delivered to their campuses for pick up.

“Since January 1, we have shipped 142 orders to the Fort Lupton Campus alone,” Schultz said. Keeping cool

Edmunds said the program relies on two refrigerated trucks, a smaller converted refrigerated beverage truck that brings fresh vegetables and fruits to the Aims campuses. A larger refrigerated truck carries