April 15, 2016 VO LUM E 1 4 | IS S U E 24 | FREE
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More time allowed for power-line discussion Xcel’s proposed transmission routes pass through town By Tom Skelley tskelley@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Deb Nabb, of Castle Rock, casts an adoring eye toward her foster dog, Canello. Nabb continues to pull porcupine quills from the boxer mix’s face and shoulder. Photos by Chris Michlewicz
Sherlocks bring animals home Missing Mutt Detectives come together to locate pets By Chris Michlewicz Special to Colorado Community Media While Deb Nabb explains her ways of rehabilitating neglected dogs, Canello sneakily applies a few affectionate licks to her cheek. The boxer mix’s face says so much when he looks at his foster mom, namely that he’s grateful to have found someone he can finally trust. Canello achieved a measure of notoriety when he went missing from a different foster parent’s home on Christmas Eve, only to show up on a doorstep miles away two weeks later with a face and shoulder full of porcupine quills. Canello quickly became known in media reports as “the porcupine dog.” Since his brush with both the agitated porcupine and fleeting fame, things have been a bit calmer. Missing continues on Page 8
Parker Town Council approved a resolution to waive parts of the municipal code, allowing further negotiation between Public Service Company of Colorado/Xcel Energy and the council on the contentious Pawnee-Daniels Park Transmission Line project. Town Attorney Jim Maloney said he pushed for the resolution in order to allow more time for public review and negotiation of the project. Another benefit for the waiver, according to Maloney, is that environmental standards for evaluating the project will be in line with 2020 standards rather than current ones. According to state law, he said, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission automatically considers any pending agreement between a municipality and Xcel to be agreed upon after a 90-day period. Current law states that any proposal sent by the council to Xcel could then be returned at Xcel’s discretion, possibly eating away at the 90-day threshold and forcing an automatic approval of the project by the PUC. The resolution, unanimously approved by the council, says that any time spent by Xcel internally debating any council proposals would be added to the 90-day limit. Maloney said this extra time Council continues on Page 11
LOCAL SPORTS Find out how area teams fared in our weekly roundup. PAGE 24
Three core members of the Missing Mutt Detectives, a community group that helps find lost dogs, take Canello for a walk at O’Brien Park.
How will Colorado meet workforce demand? A special report by Colorado Community Media Staff report With the fourth-lowest unemployment rate in the nation, 3 percent, Colorado has made mountainous gains when it comes to economic development following the recession that struck in December 2007 and lingered for years. Businesses are flocking to the Centennial State, and Coloradans are finding work. But employers increasingly are finding it difficult to find the right workers to fill their jobs.
Metro North Chamber of Commerce President Angela Habben said, at least in her organization’s part of the Denver area, the workforce isn’t meeting the market demand. “Either employers can’t find workers willing to do the job or they can’t find prospects with the training required to meet position qualifications,” she said. Simon Fox, deputy director of Business and Funding Initiatives for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said the demand is great for wokers in the fields of information technology and skilled trades. “There aren’t enough welders or carpenters,” he said. Democratic and Repbulican state
lawmakers are working together to address this. The 10 bills comprising a bipartisan package called Colorado Ready to Work are making their way through the Legislature. The overriding theme is creating partnerships between the business and education communities, with the goal of developing a workforce that can meet Colorado’s growing and changing demands. For many business leaders, measures like these can’t be passed soon enough, given the massive growth the Denver metro area figures to see in coming years. “That’s a real supply-and-demand dilemma if we don’t act soon,” Habben said.
INSIDE
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
On pages 6 and 7, we take a look at the Colorado Ready to Work package, and at what is being done now to train the workforce in the face of growing and changing demand.