1-Color
March 20, 2014
75 cents Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 122, Issue 20 A publication of
douglascountynewspress.net
Mayoral selection stays with council only
Dougco expands helicopter service contract
Public still won’t have input into selection, but process will ensure correct reporting of vote By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia. com When Castle Rock Town Council in 2012 voted at its organizational meeting for a mayor and mayor pro tem, there was no public input asked for — something Councilmember Chip Wilson expressed concern about at the council’s most recent meeting. Another issue raised: Paul Donahue — current mayor — won by a vote of 4-3, which the town later reported to the public as being a vote of 7-0, a concern raised by Councilmember Clark Hammelman. The 7-0 vote was actually the council’s second vote taken to ratify the ballot result of 4-3. Town council at its Feb. 4 meeting discussed the possibility of changing that process because there had been concerns raised about it — and then on March 11 voted 6-1 to make the change. No longer will council take a second vote to ratify the ballot vote, and so it will be the ballot vote that is reported. But there will still be no public input allowed. Wilson, the only one to vote against the change, said he voted that way because he was concerned about the public being kept out of the mayoral selection process. He said the council seeks “public input
New agreement part of county’s ‘hard, heavy, fast’ wildfire strategy By Hannah Garcia
hgarcia@coloradocommunitymedia.com In anticipation of yet another dry fire season, the county is expanding the scope of a contract it has with a helicopter service used to fight wildfires. At a March 11 meeting, the county commissioners unanimously approved a request from the Office of Emergency Management to replace the existing agreement with Rampart Helicopter Services. The new contract would expand exclusive use time period for up to six months starting on April 1 through the end of September. Under exclusive use, the service is guaranteed to be available when needed in case a wildfire ignites in Douglas County. The new agreement also expands the scope of services to law enforcement, public safety and searchand-rescue missions. The agreement is an improvement on last year’s agreement, which limited the exclusive use time period to two months, according to commissioner Roger Partridge. The county can also still use the company on a call-when-needed basis. “It’s an insurance policy,” said Tim Johnson, Douglas County director of emergency management. “These guys are very busy. There’s a possibility that they would be gone during a critical time” and would be unavailable without the exclusive-use provision. The expanded agreement is part of the county’s wildfire prevention
strategy, with commissioners and emergency management staff citing a refrain of “hard, heavy and fast” to describe its plan. Annual costs will not exceed $806,500, according to the contract. Last year the county budgeted around $300,000 for the service and used $229,000. The preventative cost is offset by the possibility of greater loss in the event of a catastrophic fire, Partridge said. The new agreement comes after wildfires have struck surrounding counties in the last few years, such as the Black Forest fire in El Paso County that killed two people, destroyed hundreds of homes and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The cost to fight the fire in El Paso County last year was around $9 million. “I don’t think it ever became as obvious to me (how necessary the service is) until tragedy struck surrounding counties,” commissioner Jill Repella said at the meeting. “The aftermath is a negative hit to a county’s budget.” The county commission also awarded payments in lieu of taxes, federal funding for local governments that help offset property tax losses from non-taxable federal lands within their boundaries, to five fire districts that provide coverage for the Pike National Forest Lands in the county. The county has paid $50,000 to these Fire continues on Page 9
Mayor continues on Page 9
State’s Supreme court to hear voucher case District’s program introduced in 2011 remains on hold through judicial process By Jane Reuter Rampart Helicopter Services fights an area fire in 2012. File photo
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com The Colorado Supreme Court will hear the Douglas County School District voucher case. It issued an order March 17 granting that request from several plaintiffs in the original 2011 filing. The case likely won’t be heard until late summer or early fall, an attorney working for one of the plaintiffs said. That distant date — or the 11 months it took the state’s high court to render its Voucher continues on Page 28
POSTAL ADDRESS
news-press
(ISSN 1067-425X) (USPS 567-060)
OffIce: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PhONe: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Englewood, Colorado, and the towns of Castle Rock, Parker and Larkspur, the News-Press is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media and additional mailing offices. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTeR: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DeADLINeS: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. | Legal: Fri. 11 a.m. | Classified: Tues. 12 p.m.
GET Social WITH uS Colorado Community Media wants to share the news. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin. Search for Colorado Community Media.
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.