OPINION

County, weather service, urging residents to sign up for phone alerts

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Many Weld County residents didn’t recieve any kind of warning when a tornado swept through area west of Fort Lupton June 7, according to a press release by Weld County offi cials.

Several residents contacted the county, worried they were not warned ahead of time, according to the release.

“If people are living 30 to 40 miles away from the tornado path and can see the tornado, they will not receive an alert warning. Only residents who are in imminent danger in the path of the tornado will receive the warning alerts,” said David Barjenbruch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.

The Weld County Emergency Management department suggests residents sign up each spring for CodeRed Alerts and also answer questions about the warning alerts.

The county uses CodeRed for emergency alerts that impacts public safety such as active shooter, major accidents, fl ood warnings, or major infrastructure issues. Weld County does not issue weather alerts through CodeRed. The weather alerts come directly from the National Weather Service through CodeRed.

Weld County landlines are programmed into the CodeRed system to receive message alerts. When a cell phone is registered with the CodeRed system, there is an option to receive the weather alerts.

An additional warning alert tool is called IPAWS, used by the Federal Emergency Management System that dispatches Amber Alerts and also the National Weather Service alerts.

The difference between the IPAWS and CodeRed is the CodeRed system is connected to a physical address, such as a landline. Cell phones are registered with the CodeRed system. When a severe weather event occurs, the CodeRed automatically sends a warning message within the mapping area of registered cell phones and landlines of people who live and work in Weld County.

The IPAWS system signals off cell phone towers in any physical area using wireless emergency alerts through cell phones. It alerts people who live in Weld County and also people who are visiting and traveling through an impacted area of Weld County.

According to Weld County offi cials, IPAWS can be used for specifi c occurrences but does not send weather alerts. The National Weather Service is only approved to send out the weather alerts.

Sirens

The tornado sirens are to alert people if there is a danger of severe weather while working or playing outside. When residents are indoors, they should rely on television, a NOAA radio, cell phone or internet to get information about the severe weather and instructions on safety, according to Weld County offi cials.

A written statement by the Fort Lupton Fire District talked about how the warning siren is used.

“They are not meant to warn people who are indoors or asleep. They are not meant to be your only source of warning information. They are designed to alert people who are outdoors that potentially dangerous weather is imminent and that you should get inside and seek additional information,” the statement said

Not all communities within Weld County use the outdoor tornado siren, according to Weld County offi cials. The towns of Frederick and Firestone do not use the tornado siren to warn people working outdoors or at work. Offi cials in Frederick also suggest signing up for the emergency CodeRed alerts.

In a written statement, the Frederick-Firestone Fire District encouraged residents to be proactive in ensuring they get notifi ed of emergencies in the are, whether they are indoors or outdoors.

“The alerts go out as soon as information is known,” the statement said. “The National Weather Service relies on local weather spotters to provide information, since radar may not show exact locations or rely on what is happening on the ground.”

To learn more about the weather spotter program, visit https://www. weather.gov/SKYWARN. Or register to receive alerts at www.Weld911alert.com.

TORNADO

buildings did not.

“We lost a lot of trees,” she said. “There’s a job site just south of us. Their trailer is up against our house. It’s about 10 feet away from the house. I don’t know how it didn’t get into our house. There’s plywood up in the trees.”

Weiner said the tornado looked like a landspout at fi rst.

“I got a really cool picture of it from far away,” she said. “It looked so tiny. I didn’t think it would do that much damage. It was just a baby. But it sat for four or fi ve minutes.”

McKinney’s wife, Sandy, said they went to the front door once they learned about the tornado.

“Then the alarm went off afterward,” she said. “We never had an alarm until it was to the neighbors, and she said she didn’t get an alarm either. It happened so fast. In the house, you couldn’t hear anything until it was right in front of the house.”

The National Weather Service rated the tornado as an EF-1 on the Fujita scale with winds of 99 mph. The storm was on the ground for 7 miles and was 50 yards wide in places. It started two miles northeast of Firestone and ended three miles northwest of Platteville.

Some of the tornado’s damage is scattered across the south side of WCR 26 in Firestone on June 7. The tornado sent this shard of plywood into a tree on Weld County Road 28 in Firestone. A resident said the tornado blew a construction trailer to within 10 feet of her home.

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BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When it comes to paying city employees, Fort Lupton’s salary scale is in line with state guidelines.

That’s according to city consultant Laurie Graves. She made a presentation to Fort Lupton City Council during a June 8 town hall meeting.

The city’s survey included more than 160 employees, including part-time workers. It excluded the city manager, elected offi cials and seasonal employees. Seventy-nine of those who participated were male.

Women made 83 percent of a male’s salary for comparable work, which was in line with the state’s average. Non-white employees made 82 percent of what white workers make. Several employees who took the survey have been on their jobs for less than three years.

“It doesn’t mean you have an unlawful pay disparity,” Graves told the council. “Now you need to look at the details and make sure there is a valid explanation.”

Some of the valid reasons are merit pay and seniority. Graves said some jobs, such as librarians, are production-based or require travel or specialized education. Graves encouraged the council to steer clear of what she called “invalid reasons,” such as a previous job’s salary, as a means of a job offer.

“The law doesn’t require you to pay the same as other cities,” said Laura Howe, Fort Lupton’s human resources director. “The law requires you to spend money fairly across your staff. You need to make sure we are paying employees fairly.”

The city studies and surveys the salaries it pays roughly every two years.

“I want to pay employees fairly,” Howe told the council. “I’m the one doing the recruiting, and I want to pay as well as anybody. It’s interesting watching what other cities are doing. We’re doing a good job.”

Mayor Zo Stieber said the city’s police department is a training ground for offi cers.

“How do we, as a council, keep improving the workforce if we don’t know what’s behind people’s departures?” she asked.

“For those who want to, we do exit interviews with an electronic spreadsheet,” Howe said. “We can track reasons for every departure.”

“We need to know why people are leaving,” said councilman Tommy Holton.

Re-8 budget defi cit grows

School board to adopt 2021-22 spending plan

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

The Weld RE-8 School District’s budget defi cit increased by almost a million dollars, mainly because of salary increases for classifi ed and certifi ed employees.

That was the message from Re-8 Director of Business Services Jessica Holbrook to a June 10 school board study session. When the discussion began, the defi cit was $2 million.

“The updated salary increases will be in the budget before our approval?” asked board member Cody LeBlanc.

“Yes,” Holbrook said.

“That increases the defi cit to $3 million?” LeBlanc asked.

“Somewhere around that number,” Holbrook said. “There are some changes coming from the School Finance Act, hopefully in a positive direction.”

The district recently approved a new math curriculum for the middle schools. LeBlanc and board member Jaime Sierra voted against it. Sierra said her decision was due to the budget shortfall. Holbrook said the funds to pay for the curriculum came from voter-approved mill levy money.

Most of the district’s budget goes towards salaries and benefi ts for its employees. Holbrook said that is about the only area of the budget that could face cuts to help balance the books.

“We’re running a lot of areas on bare-bones,” Holbrook said. “There have been a lot of changes between the budget you were given in May and the budget we will give you in June. There are going to be some signifi cant changes.”

Pigskins and meetings

The board is expected to vote on whether to change a couple of next year’s meeting dates during its June 24 regular meeting. The subject came up during the study session June 10, but the board couldn’t make a decision because of the meeting’s format.

If approved, the Aug. 26 meeting takes place Aug. 24, and the Oct. 28 meeting takes place Oct. 26.

The reason is Superintendent Alan Kaylor’s son.

“My son is a senior, and he plays football those two nights (Aug. 26 and Oct. 28),” Kaylor told the board. “That was my request. As soon as I got the schedule, my wife was in my ear.”

Kaylor is a former football coach. At one time, he was an assistant coach at the Colorado School of Mines.

Sweeping transportation bill goes to governor

Fees expected to generate billions to tackle backlog of projects

BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

of the most extensive steps in years fuel, and on deliveries and rideshare fair, balanced approach to moving the toward paying for the state’s lagging trips, to generate billions of dol- state’s transportation system forward. infrastructure. lars to tackle Colorado’s long list of House Speaker Alec Garnett, Polis supported the measure and, transportation projects. It also directs D-Denver, called his bill “the best barring any unforeseen circum- hundreds of millions of state budget solution for transportation funding stances, was expected to sign it into funds to transportation projects, that the state has ever had in the past law. The bill deals with more than while requiring the Colorado Depart- 10 years.” $5 billion over the next decade and ment of Transportation to consider “This anticipates the future,” he emphasizes an electric-vehicle future, greenhouse gas emissions reduction said. “That’s what legislation should as well as mass transit, including a goals when planning new construc- do in this state.” Colorado lawmakers on June 2 sent potential Front Range passenger rail tion. Republicans, however, see the meaThe tornado sent this shard of plywood into a tree on Weld County Road 28 in Firestone. Senate Bill 260, a sprawling trans- system. Senate Bill 260 was mostly backed sure as an attempt to skirt the Taxportation fee and spending measure, The legislation will use new fees on by Democrats at the Capitol, who payer’s Bill of Rights, which requires PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, taking one the purchase of gasoline and diesel claimed the legislation represented a voter approval for tax increases.