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July 9, 2014 VOLU M E 53 | I S S UE 27 | 7 5 ¢
PikesPeakCourier.net T E L L E R C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
WP Council listens to comments
Subjects include question for mayor, traffic, water rates, economic development By Norma Engelberg Contributing writer
After a 38-year partnership between the RE-1 School District and the Franklin Ferguson Memorial Library District, the entities are splitting up. As a result, the library’s board of directors intend to find a new location for the library and will be taking most of the inventory along. At right, Tim Braun, president of the RE-1 School Board, delivered a bombshell at the city council meeting July 2. In a dispute between the school board and the library board, which has the library packing up and moving, Braun thought he played the winning card – with a 1990 contract between the two. Braun is pictured at his shop on Bennett Avenue, the Hitchin’ Post. Photos by Pat Hill
Partnership dissolves for library/school By Pat Hill
phill@colorado communitymedia.com After 38 years of serving patrons at the Cripple Creek/Victor High School, the Franklin Ferguson Memorial Library is severing relations with the RE-1 School
District. At least that’s the way it was on July 3. Since the city council meeting the night before, the story’s ending is a moving target, with members of both boards drawing a line in the sand. Tim Braun, the school board’s president, presented to the council a man-
agement agreement from 1990 that gives ownership of the library’s inventory as well as control over its location within the high school to the city of Cripple Creek. For Braun, it was a bingo! moment but School continues on Page 4
Independence Day POSTAL ADDRESS
PIKES PEAK COURIER (USPS 654-460)
OFFICE: 1200 E. Highway 24 Woodland Park, CO 80863
Old-Fashioned Fourth of July celebration in Memorial Park is a popular event in Woodland Park. By mid-morning, the park was filled with families enjoying food and music. Photos by Kathy Fleer
PHONE: 719-687-3006
A mainstay of the annual Fourth of July celebration in Memorial Park is the ride on a fire truck provided by Northeast Teller County Fire ProtectionD istrict.
A legal newspaper of general circulation in Teller County, Colorado, the Pikes Peak Courier is published weekly on Wednesday by Colorado Community Media, 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WOODLAND PARK, COLORADO. 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
High country celebrates above the clouds By Kathy Fleer The Old-Fashioned Fourth of July celebration in Memorial Park is a popular event in Woodland Park. By mid-morning, the P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
park was filled with families enjoying food and music. A mainstay of the annual Fourth of July celebration in Memorial Park is the ride on a fire truck provided by Northeast Teller County Fire Protection District.
Besides the usual items on the July 3 Woodland Park City Council agenda, there were also a number of reports and public comments. During public comment on items not on the agenda, city resident David McCray asked Mayor David Turley to “step away” until allegations of sexual abuse of a child by someone in a position of trust against him are resolved. Turley thanked him for his input but made no further comments. Woodland Park utilities customer Todd Wiseman, whose home is located in one of the county “doughnut holes” surrounded by the city, asked if something could be done about high water costs now that building is picking up. As a nonresidential water customer, he pays double water rates for the 5,000 gallons he uses each month. City Manager David Buttery said he and Utilities Director Kip Wiley will meet with Wiseman to discuss the issue. Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Miller said she and other county community members have met with Sen. Michael Bennett and Colorado Department of Transportation officials to discuss how closures on U.S. 24 in Ute Pass will be handled. “We want eyes on the ground,” she said. “We don’t want CDOT to close the road based just on weather forecasts without even a drop of rain.” She announced that the city has recently welcomed 1,600 visitors as part of a Charis Bible College conference and the college expects to host another large group Aug. 12-15 at a Healing Conference. In his monthly report, Brian Fleer, director of the Woodland Park Office of Economic Development and executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, said the city’s Main Street Program application has been sent to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and approval or denial should be back by mid-August. A group from the city will also be presenting a hard copy of the application to DOLA for some face-to-face time. Fleer also showed off the city’s new tear-off maps and two new brochures that he said will help him “tell the story of Woodland Park” to visitors when they stop at the Centennial Trailhead where Fleer’s office is located. “We always encourage people to stop at the visitors center if they haven’t already been there,” he said. A $436,000 Community Development Block Grant that will complete a water-line loop near the hospital has been approved. The grant was linked to the building of an 85-bed skilled-care facility next to the Pikes Peak Regional Hospital that will create jobs. Councilmember Gary Brovetto also brought up the problems with traffic on U.S. 24 through the city that inhibit the city’s ability to be pedestrian friendly, a problem noted on a recent Main Street Assessment. In answer to Brovetto’s comments, Buttery said he recently told the CDOT that the city is tired of more studies and that it’s time to do something about traffic. The city and CDOT will make seven changes on the highway that are designed to encourage behavioral changes, including adding orange flags to the 30 mph speed-limit signs, the addition of a third Council continues on Page 5