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News from
Jefferson County
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Scholarship Winner Daughter of Jeffco Employee
At the June 28 Board of County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners were joined by County Treasurer Tim Kauffman and Chief Jeff Shrader from the Sheriff's Office, to present Julia Faliano with a college scholarship from the Colorado County Officials and Employees Retirement Association (CCOERA).
CCOERA is a non-profit association formed in 1968 by Colorado state statute. Its sole purpose is to provide retirement benefits to employees of Colorado local governments. Both Kauffman and Shrader serve on the CCOERA Board and Shrader is the current chair.
Each year CCOERA Board members pool their money to fund a college scholarship program. Employees and employees' children from participating CCOERA entities are encouraged to apply for the scholarship. Julia's father, Jerry, works in the county's accounting office. She is one of the six recipients for this year's awards and is the third from the Jefferson County organization to have received it since the program began.
Julia graduated from Denver East High School where she was involved in Key Club and was an editor and photographer for the yearbook. She will be attending the University of Colorado this fall where she will pursue an education degree and would ultimately like to teach hearing-impaired kids.
She currently volunteers five days a week at the University of Colorado's hospital performing newborn hearing tests, and at Westerly Creek School working with hearing impaired students. In her spare time she enjoys music, the outdoors, photography and yoga. |
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Temporary Regulations for Signs in Place
 The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved a resolution that establishes a temporary moratorium on enforcing regulations prohibiting portable or wheeled signs, advertising devices and banner signs.
The Jefferson County Zoning Resolution prohibits the use of these types of signs within the county. However, it does allow the temporary use of signs in conjunction with a special event permit, but the signage has to be within the property lines of the special event location.
The county is currently evaluating sign regulations in the Zoning Resolution and while doing so felt that the temporary moratorium would give business owners and nonprofits a tool to help better promote their organizations, especially in the current economy.
During the temporary moratorium, businesses and nonprofits will be allowed to use portable signs and banners as long as they conform to the approved criteria such as only two signs per property. The county will also temporarily allow off premise signs solely in concurrence with special event permits issued for non profit events.
For more information, visit www.jeffco.us/planning.
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| Supplementary Budget and Appropriations Approved
At the Board of County Commissioners June 28 hearing, the board approved amendments to the 2011 budget, which was adopted December 7, 2010.
The funds approved were part of the 2010 Savings Incentive Polic, which states that if a department had saved more than $10,000 in its operating budget in 2010, it would be eligible to ask for 50-75 percent of that savings in 2011 for one-time purposes only. Capital Project budgets were not included as part of the Savings Incentive. The savings were created by various saving incentives such as not filling certain empty staff positions or cutting back on supply and equipment expenses.
The BCC heard proposals at the June 21 staff briefings from various offices and departments. Of the $557,716 in unreserved fund balance that was requested to be used, the BCC approved $333,471. Approved items included:
- $42,950 for monitors and printers for the Assessor's Office.
- $30,000 for furniture and equipment for kiosks for the Clerk and Recorder's lobby management.
- $10,700 for the Coroner's Office to be used for an x-ray table, autopsy carts and replacement of an old copier and fax machine.
- $31,460 for the County Attorney's Office to replace damaged, outdated and worn out office equipment
- $33,300 to replace survey equipment for the Transportation and Engineering Division
- $52,250 for the Inmate Welfare Fund to be used for items such as GED computers for Inmates. This fund, by state statute, can only be used for inmate programs.
For more information on the budget, visit www.jeffco.us/budget. |
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Development Agreement with Urban Frontier OK'd
The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved a Development Agreement with Urban Frontier that will provide the guidelines for a 30-year development plan for approximately 573 acres of land at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.
In October 2009, the airport advertised for a Request for Proposal (RFP) looking for an organization that would want to buy or lease approximately 402 acres of non-aviation land and about 170 acres of aviation land on the southwest side of the airport. The evaluation committee unanimously selected Urban Frontier.
This past February, the BCC approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Urban Frontier that outlined the general terms for a series of conventional agreements and structure for the development of the airport property.
Under these agreements, the airport will receive $0.50 per square foot for all non-aviation land that is sold and will also receive 50 percent of all net proceeds after payment to Urban Frontier for demonstrable predevelopment expenses and any necessary bonding and infrastructure reimbursements.
Based on preliminary estimates, for the duration of the build out, the airport will receive approximately $38.7 million for land sale revenue and the county will receive approximately $19.5 million in annual tax benefits. |
Fatherhood Program Doing Well
At staff briefings, Debbie Moss and Ray Washington spoke to the commissioners about the county's Fatherhood Program.
During the last 12 months, Jefferson County's Fatherhood Program served more than 1,000 families. It assists fathers by identifying and overcoming barriers they face to maintain an active role in their children's lives. The program holds activities, events, classes and trainings all year long.
One such activity is the weekly Saturday meetings held in collaboration with Jefferson High School. Fathers and their children are invited for an afternoon of free interactive activities that they might not otherwise be able to do together. Activities such as softball and having lunch help fathers interact with their children. They are then offered coaching on continuing such interactions.
Research suggests that emotional and financial strength of communities are linked to the strength of the men in the families that make up the communities. The Fatherhood Program helps fathers reach out for help and strengthens families and communities in the process.
For more information on this program, visit www.jeffco.us/cse and click on the Fatherhood Program link. |
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View BCC Meetings Online!
Did you know Jefferson County records each County Commissioners Hearing for rebroadcast on its website? You can also find recordings of other county meetings, videos of events and Jeffco's video program, Jefferson County Insights. To learn more, visit the Jeffco Media-on-Demand site. |
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