August 27, 2015
THIS WEEK IN
VOLUME 95 | ISSUE 27 | 75¢
LIFE
LOCAL
Museum of Outdoor Arts focuses on ‘Altered Reality’
page 21
EnglewoodHerald.net A R A P A H O E C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
WHAT’S INSIDE
Fired up: Foo Fighters and Royal Blood rocked Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre See Page 2
Digitally distracted: How new technologies change etiquette. See Page 13
Joan Pratt, left, lines up part of the framework as one of the 30 women volunteers helping construct a Habitat for Humanity project in Englewood. The project got underway on Aug. 19, the first day of Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver’s inaugural Women Build Week. About 175 women volunteered during the week. Photos by Tom Munds
Women build homes, community
The air in there: Is Deflategate having an impact at the high school level? See Page 23
All-female volunteer crew works on Englewood Habitat for Humanity project By Tom Munds tmunds@coloradocommunitymedia.com
POSTAL ADDRESS
Rhea Oberst, a Habitat for Humanity construction staff member, checks to make sure the new wall is in the right position before driving nails to hold it in place. The Arapahoe County resident joined other volunteers Aug. 19, the first day of Women Build Week, working on the two-duplex project in Englewood.
ENGLEWOOD HERALD
(ISSN 1058-7837) (USPS 176-680) OFFICE: 7315 S. Revere Pkwy., Ste. 603 Centennial, CO 80112 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Englewood, Colorado, the Englewood Herald is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 7315 S. Revere Pkwy., Ste. 603 Centennial, CO 80112 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legals: Fri. 11 a.m. Classifieds: Mon. 5 p.m.
PL E ASE RECYCLE
Habitat for Humanity’s work on the lots at 2329 W. Harvard Ave. in Englewood from Aug. 19-23 featured the familiar sounds of power saws and hammer hitting nails. What was different was that all of the volunteers working at the site were women. The project was part of Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver’s first Women Build Week. “This is the fifth time I have volunteered to work on a Habitat project,” Littleton resident Laura Worzella said. “I work for Wells Fargo, a company that is a big supporter of Habitat. They requested volunteers, and I signed up.” Worzella was among 30 volunteers working on the site on Aug. 19. She said swinging a hammer and helping put up walls is a big change from her day-today duties at her office. Habitat continues on Page 12
Balanced budget plan unveiled City manager, council, staff look over initial proposal By Tom Munds tmunds@colorado communitymedia.com Englewood City Manager Eric Keck presented a plan for a balanced 2016 general fund budget to the Englewood City Council at the Aug. 10 study session. State law requires all cities to have balanced budgets. Keck pointed out that, for the first time in years, the city is starting the planning process with a balanced general fund budget. Since 2002, Englewood has worked through the budget process and has used financial transfers from other funds to achieve the state-required balanced general fund budget. In his memo to the council, the city manager said the right-
sizing of the budget will require additional attention throughout the year to fine-tune the sources and uses of available resources. In the data about the budget, Keck’s memo stated the budget is based on the city receiving about $43.7 million in total revenues in Keck 2016. That is an increase of about $758,000 over estimated 2015 revenues. Proposed spending for 2016 is $43.66 million, which is about $400,000 less than 2015 estimated expenditures. Some of the spending reductions are a result of managers replacing retiring department directors and the savings from contracting with Denver Fire Department to provide fire and rescue services. Keck said if the decision had been made to maintain the
Englewood Fire Department instead of contracting with Denver Fire Department for fire protection and emergency medical services, the council would face the prospects of having to make cut that would reduce services to residents, such as closing the recreation centers a couple days a week. “We are still looking at the budget department by department this year, but there have been many changes to the way things have been done in the past,” the city manager told members of the city council and city staff at the meeting. “But don’t get too comfortable with these changes, because things will change again next year when we fully implement the priority budgeting process. Then, instead of looking at the budget department by department, we will look at considering the priority of each of the city’s programs as we decide where to best use our resources.”
He said, for example, instead of primarily looking at the police department in discussions of safety, the discussion of safety programs will involve several departments. Another different aspect of the 2016 budget plan is the ability to increase funding for capital projects. The plan is to draw money from a number of sources such as the conservation trust fund and open space fund to increase the allocations for capital projects and equipment to $8.7 million. Keck said the increased allocation will allow work on many projects and programs that have been on the list to be considered for funding but have not been done because money for those projects was not available. When the city manager completed his presentation, representatives of each of the city department talked about his Budget continues on Page 4