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December 17, 2014 VOLU M E 49 | I S S UE 48 | 7 5 ¢
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Tri-LakesTribune.net T R I - L A K E S R E G I O N , M O N U M E N T, G L E N E A G L E , B L A C K F O R E S T A N D N O R T H E R N E L P A S O C O U N T Y
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The Town of Palmer Lake will receive $350,000 in GOCO funds to help build a new park as part of the Awake Palmer Lake project. Courtesy photo
Palmer Lake receives GOCO funds to build new park Town will get nearly $350,000 in funding By Danny Summers dsummers @coloradocommunitymedia.com The great outdoors of Palmer Lake will become even greater after a $350,000 grant was approved by the GOCO (Great Outdoors Colorado) earlier this week. “Our mission is to preserve, pro-
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tect and enhance the great outdoors of Colorado,” said Jake Houston, the GOCO local government program coordinator. “We’re looking forward to working with Palmer Lake on this project and helping them achieve their goals of having a safer park.” The Town will receive $349,893 in GOCO money that will be applied to what is being called the Rockin’ the Rails Palmer Lake Railroad Park. The project includes the construction of a pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks in order to create safe access to the park. The bridge will be a 90-foot-long and eight-foot wide flatbed railroad car raised 25 feet above the tracks with a staircase for pedestrians and a ramp on either side for bicyclists, wheelchairs and strollers. Pathways will also be added along with improvements to the parking area, as well as a restroom. The funding also will add an 18-hole disc golf course to the park area. “The biggest issue with the park
is getting to the other side,” Houston said from his Denver office. “The bridge will take care of that issue. “The next step is to work with the railroad on the logistics and come up with a design.” The bridge design over the railroad track is to lean on Palmer Lake’s history as a one-time refueling stop for steam engines. Union Pacific Railroad, which has the rights to the railroad, must first sign off on the engineering plan and design of the bridge. The review could take up to four months. The grant effort for the GOCO funds was led by a volunteer group of Palmer Lake residents. The group is simultaneously working on a plan to have Palmer Lake refilled by spring. Palmer Lake is currently involved in a water right’s battle. “We certainly hope Palmer Lake gets that issue resolved sooner than later,” Houston said. Several other small towns and unincorporated parts of Colorado received vital funds help to create
or restore recreational amenities in their communities, thanks to the latest round of GOCO local government grants. The GOCO board of trustees approved $2.3 million in grants on Dec. 9 to eight communities, which will be leveraged for an additional $1.3 million in funding. Demand was high as GOCO received 44 applications requesting $12.6 million in funding; more than five times more funding than was available in this grant cycle. Unsuccessful applicants are allowed to apply again in 2015. The approved grants will help improve access to recreational areas, refurbish existing facilities that communities could not afford to repair themselves, purchase land for a park and upgrade playgrounds for children. Among the other counties that received GOCO funding during this cycle was Teller. The Town of Victor will get $188,886 to help renovate the playground at Washington Park,
known locally as Kids Park. It is Victor’s only playground as the nearest school is six miles away in Cripple Creek. The current playground does not meet current national safety standards and has structures that are 20 to 50 years old. The new playground equipment, which will include faux climbing boulders, will have a mining and nature theme to reflect the town’s heritage. The project will include a fence to keep kids from running into the street and a shelter and benches. GOCO also gave a $500,000 grant to the Colorado Youth Corps Association, which includes plans for fire mitigation in the Black Forest area. GOCO was created when voters approved a Colorado Constitutional Amendment in 1992. It has since funded more than 4,500 projects in urban and rural areas in all 64 counties without any tax dollar support. Visit www.goco.org for more information.
Bryan Jack selected as new Black Forest Fire Chief Jack has been working in the Tri-Lakes area for almost 20 years TRI-LAKES TRIBUNE (USPS 418-960)
OFFICE: 325 Second Street, Suite R Monument, CO 80132 PHONE: 719-687-3006 A legal newspaper of general circulation in El Paso County, Colorado, the Tri-Lakes Tribune is published weekly on Wednesday by Colorado Community Media, 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT MONUMENT, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 10 a.m. G ET SOCIAL WITH US
P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
By Danny Summers
dsummers @coloradocommunitymedia.com Monument native Bryan Jack has been chosen as the new fire Chief of the Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District. Jack was appointed by the District’s Fire Board during its Dec. 10 regularly scheduled meeting. He will replace interim fire Chief James Rebitski, who was filling in for embattled fire Chief Bob Harvey. The Board announced that Jack’s starting salary will be around $85,000. He is expected to sign his contract by the end of the year, and begin his new role as chief in January. Rebitski will remain with the department as the deputy chief. Jack brings a wealth of experience to the job. He was most recently the Town Administrator in Simla from March through September of this year. Prior to that he spent 10 years as the battalion chief for the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District, where his responsibilities included the daily operations of the 40-member department. His duties also included establishing and assuming incident command on major fire, medical, hazardous materials, and rescue emergencies, as well as promoting and maintaining a positive working environment with agency employees and external parties. He was the interim chief if the Tri-Lakes Monument/Fire Protection District from De-
cember 2012 through May 2013. While in that position he directed and oversaw the development and administration of community based programs and initiatives through civic, school, business, and other organizational groups. Jack is also a former captain with the TriLake Fire Protection District (April 2001 to August 2004). He began his career as a firefighter with Tri-Lakes Protection District in 1995, as well as a five-year run as a Hotshot with the U.S. Forest Service. The Black Forest Fire Board selected Jack after more than an hour in executive session. After Jack was announced as the new chief, the crowd who gathered at Fire Station I applauded Rebitski for his work as interim chief. Harvey had been embroiled in a controversy with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa within days after the massive Black Forest Fire erupted on June 11, 2013. Maketa was critical of Harvey’s handling of the fire, which eventually led to the former Black Forest Fire Board to hire an independent investigator to look into Harvey’s handling of the situation. The investigation cleared Harvey of any wrong-doing, but that led to even more heat from Maketa, local residents and the new fire board. In June of this year, Harvey cited post traumatic stress disorder and took a leave of absence. Harvey resigned in August. The Black Forest Fire Board interviewed Jack, Rebitski and Scott Van Boerum (currently the fire chief for the Arivaca Fire District in Arizona). The three candidates all boasted extensive resumes. Rebitski has more than 16 years of firefighting and emergency experience, including time with the Fountain Fire Department and American Medical Response. Van Boerum has more
The Black Forest Fire Department Board is expected to name its new fire chief at its regularly scheduled Dec. 10 meeting. Courtesy image than 27 years of experience with fire departments in Arizona. The three men held a meet-and-greet with the public on Dec. 9, providing the community a chance to meet the candidates and ask questions. During the public session, Jack spoke about establishing trust between the fire department and the public. “Communication is how we fix things,” Jack said. “Obviously there may be some lack of public trust on some sides, but if you look at we just got a new Fire Board put in a place and I think we can work with transparency.” Jack added that he does think the community is “at the fully recovered state yet.” The Black Forest fire burned about 15,000 acres, destroyed 488 homes and killed two people.