Littleton 11-28-2013
November 28, 2013 75 cents
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 125, Issue 19
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlittletonnews.com
New mayor ready to tackle role City’s character, vitality will be Cernanec’s priorities By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com Councilor Phil Cernanec became Mayor Phil Cernanec Nov. 19, and he was pretty revved up about it. “Man, I want us to be so positive and joyful, and I am so excited to live in Littleton,” Cernanec said the morning after his fellow councilors unanimously gave him his new title. It’s a title that’s largely symbolic, as the city charter actually uses the term “council president,” and his vote carries no more
weight than the others. But the mayor is often the face of the city at community events and governmental functions, and Cernanec, first elected to council in 2009, says he’s ready. “I’m going to be passionate about the vitality and Cernanec vibrancy of the neighborhoods, the vitality and vibrancy of the businesses, excellence in municipal services, continuing to nurture and leverage Littleton’s character, and continuing to improve the long-term financial sustainability of the city,” he said of his priorities. One of the first things he hopes this new council does is take a refresher course on
the guiding documents the council approved two years ago, including its goals and procedures. “I’m not looking to change them, necessarily, but I want us to own them,” he said. “We need to own them individually and collectively, and we need to remember them.” Cernanec recently attended the Littleton Community Retreat, where keynote speaker Brian Vogt mentioned some evident tension among some community groups. “When did we lose our core civility?” Vogt wondered. “Why are we doing this to each other? We don’t mean it. … Let’s have fair fights, and then pat each other on the back.” Cernanec said creating more unity will be a prime goal for him, whether through
creative community events or one-on-one chats, in an effort to increase positive and visionary dialogue. “This is an invitation to folks to have conversations about what they want to have happen, and their dreams, their imaginings. I absolutely know there are going to be tension points, there always have been. But we will listen. With every job I’ve had, there have been elements of fun and joy and hard work, and with that comes excitement.” Cernanec hopes council will continue working on economic development, and agrees with others that the river corridor can play a big part. “We need to protect and preserve the Mayor continues on Page 12
Colorado’s health-care site praised Local agencies offer help with Obamacare By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com
items in the boxes assembly-line style. While in one room, volunteers assembled the cardboard boxes donated by Cowboy Moving and Storage, in the main room tables were set up to hold the items that would go into the food boxes. Each station was marked with the number of the item. Mandy Brauchler and Ella Wilson of Highlands Ranch Girl Scout Troop 3204 marked the boxes of pie crust mix. “This is my second year to help,” Mandy said. “I like being with my troop and I think it is nice that we can help people have a nice Thanksgiving.” Once all the supplies were set up, another group of volunteers picked up empty boxes and began to move down the line,
Despite the turbulent rollout of the national Obamacare website, Colorado’s version is going a bit smoother. “The Colorado website has had a few stumbling blocks, but it’s doing pretty well now,” said Sarah Thoemke, outreach coordinator for Doctors Care clinic in Littleton and a designated “health-care guide” for Connect for Health. Indeed, it fired right up for her demonstration at Arapahoe Community College Nov. 19. Explaining that it’s not necessary to create an account to browse the site, she plugged in her name and some made-up numbers to give an overview of the process. “It’s really pretty darned intuitive,” she said. Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, means anyone without employer-sponsored health insurance or a private plan must obtain coverage or face a fine of $95 next year, with that amount going up each year thereafter. The ACA mandates free preventive care, lets kids stay on their parents’ policies until age 26, bans insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and requires plans to include mental-health care and maternity services, among other things. That last one has been a sticking point for some, Thoemke acknowledges, and has caused some people to lose plans they liked because they didn’t cover all the bases. Adding the coverage increased expenses, argue some insurance carriers, so they canceled the plans altogether. “Some people are having an issue with
Boxes continues on Page 11
Obamacare continues on Page 11
Mandy Brauchler, left, and Ella Wilson of Girl Scout Troop 3204 mark pie crust mix boxes as their part in assembling the Thanksgiving food boxes that Inter-Faith Community Services distributed. About 650 boxes were assembled Nov. 21 at the agency’s headquarters for distribution on Nov. 23. Photos by Tom Munds
Food boxes prepared for Thanksgiving Inter-Faith readies for annual distribution By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com Like a well-oiled machine in high gear, volunteers packed about 650 boxes in preparation for the Nov. 23 Thanksgiving food box distribution. About 100 volunteers gathered at InterFaith’s headquarters at Floyd Avenue and Irving Street in Sheridan for the well-organized project to assemble the boxes. Each food box was packed with the items needed to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal, as well as other food items providing three or four days of meals for POSTAL ADDRESS
a family. Many of the volunteers were from service clubs like the Denver South East Rotary, the Centennial Rotary and the Southglenn Sertoma Club. Companies like the First Commercial Bank in Englewood had volunteers at the event, as did a couple Girl Scout troops. Chuck Brown, a Douglas County resident, waited to be assigned a job. “I volunteered on my own because I wanted to help people have a nice Thanksgiving,” he said. “I had some bad years and relied on others for help. Things are better now, so I want to give back by helping others.” The volunteers were briefed and teams moved into place to begin the preparations so other volunteers could place the
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