Denver7 is hosting an Electronics Recycling Drive from 7-11 a.m. Sept. 14 at lot H at Dicks Sporting Goods Park, near the arena’s Quebec Street entrance.
e drive o ers a way to safely and responsibly dispose of your unwanted electronics in a convenient drive-through format for a minimum $5 fee.
An entire carload of disposable items costs $5 with additional fees for other items. For example, the site is charging $5 for each LCD monitor, $20 for each LCD TV, $40 for each CRT TV, $45 for each oor model printer and $75 for each DLP/Console/Projection TV.
For more information and electronics recycling tips, visit www. Denver7.com/ElectronicsRecycling.
Legal self-help clinic
e Access to Justice Committee hosts a free, legal self-help clinic from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on the rst Tuesday of every month.
e program is for those without legal representation and needing help navigating through legal issues.
Volunteer attorneys are available to discuss family law, civil litigation, property, and probate law. Call 303405-3298 and ask for the Legal SelfHelp Clinic at least 24 hours before.
young leaders to use their voices to positively impact their communities.
e cost to attend is $25. Registration is now available at brightonimagesummit.org and early registration is recommended.
Unscrambling the 2024 November ballot over breakfast
A fur ban, property taxes, school choice, the fate of mountain lions and more are topics before Colorado voters in November. e nonpartisan Common Sense Institute will highlight these issues in its 2024 ballot guide, a resource for voters that includes data, analysis and a description of the issues. A discussion costs $25 and will take place from 7:30-9 a.m. Sept. 10 at the Dome at AMG, 6295 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Greenwood Village. Link: https://tinyurl.com/mvanhk27.
Image Summit Youth Leadership Conference registration open Brighton Youth Services will host the Image Summit Youth Leadership Conference on Nov. 5 & 6 at Riverdale Regional Park, 755 Henderson Road. e Summit is open to Colorado youth in grades 5 - 12. is two-day summit will feature keynote speakers, engaging workshops ranging from art to diversity, an opportunity to interact with elected o cials from across the state, an American Ninja Warrior obstacle course, a food truck alley (all food included with registration fee), networking and more.
e goal of the youth conference is to empower youth, build condence, teach leadership, and inspire
New homes from $400s
Alliance Business Assistance Center grants available e Alliance Business Assistance Center is excited to announce that 2024 business grants are now available to support your business endeavors. Sta at the center can assist residents by helping to identify grants that align with their business goals and industry, providing guidance through the application process, ensuring that they have the best chance of success and providing other valuable resources for local business. To get started, visit our website at https://businessinthornton.com/ local-business/small-businesssupport-programs/business- nancial-assistance.
Mosquito Prevention
include ensuring pet dishes are removed from patios that can hold water, making sure roof gutters are cleaned and inspected yearly, removing debris piles from outdoor areas— including buckets, barrels, children’s toys, and tire swings— and removing or changing water in birdbaths frequently.
Homeowners should also maintain swimming pools and spas with proper ltration and chlorination levels, limit watering lawn and plants to avoid water pooling and limit your time outdoors during dusk and dawn to avoid mosquitoes. If you stay outdoors during this time, wear long-sleeved shirts and pants and use mosquito repellents that contain a high percentage of DEET.
CCPD Introduces Online Crime Reporting Form
e Commerce City Police Department has a new online reporting tool allowing the public to report some non-emergency crimes and receive a police report immediately without speaking to a police o cer.
Community members can now conveniently report incidents that do not require immediate o cer intervention, such as fraud, identity theft, lost property, theft/shoplifting (less than $2,000), and vandalism.
e new form is online now in English and Spanish at c3gov.com/ ReportACrime. Residents should always call 911 for emergencies.
‘Taking No Chances’
e Adams County Health Department wants people to be proactive in protecting themselves from mosquitoes and illness during these warm summer months.
While the county Environmental Health Team monitors for mosquito-borne illnesses, there are steps you can take right now to keep you and your loved ones safe. ose
A Doc will host monthly walks with Dr. Christopher Cannon, an interventional cardiologist at Brighton Heart and Vascular Institute. is is a walking program for everyone interested in a healthier lifestyle. After a few minutes to learn about a current health topic from the doctor, spend the rest of the hour enjoying a healthy walk and a fun conversation. It’s a great way to get out, get active, and enjoy all the bene ts of walking.
Legal self-help clinic
e 17th Judicial District Attorney’s O ce and e Link, a community resource and assessment center in ornton, o er free, 10week programs to families of Adams County teenagers to help develop personal and interpersonal drug-resistance skills. Sessions are from 5:30 to 6;30 p.m. Wednesdays. Call 720-292-2811.
Walk with a doc
Platte Valley Medical Center’s cardiac rehab team and Walk With
e Access to Justice Committee hosts a free, legal self-help clinic from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on the rst Tuesday of every month. e program is for those without legal representation and needing help navigating through legal issues. Volunteer attorneys are available to discuss family law, civil litigation, property, and probate law. Call 303405-3298 and ask for the Legal SelfHelp Clinic at least 24 hours before.
Boards/commissions’ openings
Commerce City has openings for several boards and commissions, including the city’s cultural council, the housing authority, and the Derby Review Board.
Visit https://www.c3gov.com/ Home/Components/Form/Form /70316b05422c448492c51da0f0e0 fd86/ to sign up.
Help for vets
Quali ed Listeners, a veteran and family resource hub serving northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, has many power chairs, scooters, and electric wheelchairs available.
To nd the closest facility to you, visit www.va.gov/ nd-locations. Quali ed Listeners also need volunteers to drive veterans to and from appointments, run errands for veterans who cannot get out, provide handyperson services, help administer veteran and family resource guide inventory in local libraries, and veterans to be trained to become quali ed listeners. Call 720-600-0860.
Introducing Farmlore, a new community taking root in the heart of Brighton.
Farmlore’s warm, rural character will blend beautiful new homes with the area’s rich agricultural roots creating a friendly, small-town vibe all its own.
With the Market Shifting in Buyers’ Favor, Selecting the Right Listing Agent Is Key
Last week, I wrote about what skills and knowledge you should expect your real estate agent to possess. This week, with the shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, I want to write about the importance of selecting the right listing agent.
You’ll probably want to know their level of experience, competence and success in selling homes similar to your own, hopefully within your city or neighborhood.
agents to list their homes? Many, I suspect are friends and family every agent’s biggest “competitor.”
Like you, I monitor the real estate activity where I live. The best way to do that is to ask an MLS member like my broker associates or me to set up a “neighborhood alert,” whereby you receive an automated email from the MLS whenever a home in your area is either coming soon, newly active, price reduced, newly under contract, newly sold, or even newly withdrawn or expired without selling. Send an email to info@GoldenRealEstate.com and I’ll make sure the most appropriate broker associate (or me) responds to set up an alert like that for you.
In my own neighborhood, I’m always astonished how many homes are listed by agents I’ve never heard of. As I write, there are 36 active or coming soon listings within 2 miles of my home, represented by 33 different agents from 27 different brokerages! No agent has more than two listings. And despite practicing real estate here for 22 years, I only recognize the names of 10 of them. This is typical of every city. Where did the sellers find all those different
In some cases, the seller had already gone under contract for their replacement home elsewhere and was convinced by the listing agent of that home to list their current home. If that agent is on the other side of the metro area, that is not the best decision, because that agent will be unfamiliar with your neighborhood, lives far away, and is unable to show the home on short notice, answer questions from buyers, or keep your brochure box well stocked.
Every homeowner, it seems, gets letters or finds a note taped to their door from a broker claiming to have a buyer for their home. That tactic may earn him or her an interview in your home, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the broker then says, “That buyer found another home, but I’m sure I can find you another buyer if you list with me. Sign here.”
Let’s say, however, that you want to interview listing agents and make a rational hiring decision. Good idea! Let me suggest some questions you might want to ask, some of which might not be obvious or that you know you could ask.
First, however, you need to choose the agents to interview. I suggest basing your search on their location and experience in your neighborhood or city. Second, study their active/sold listings to see (1) their geographic distribution and (2) how well their listings are presented on the MLS.
Since this column is printed in 24
Kim Taylor’s New Listing in Cedaredge
What an ideal location for your new home!
$598,000
This oasis at 24051 Parkwood Lane sits on 2.29 acres at the end of the road, adjacent to farmland, with great views of the San Juan Mountains and the Grand Mesa and it is just minutes from downtown Cedaredge. The 2,352-sq.-ft. home with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, an additional den/office, attached 2-car garage and beautiful wrap-around deck is just the beginning! Outbuildings include a 60’x24’ metal equipment and RV storage building, a 20’x10’ workshop with 120 and 220 volt electric, a 16’x10’ storage shed, a 24’x17’ tractor barn, a chicken coop, and a fenced backyard for your pets. This home was strategically designed to take advantage of passive solar with floor to ceiling windows across the south wall of the living/dining area. A truly amazing place! Come take a look for yourself. If you are new to Cedaredge, it is a very welcoming community with lots to do. Check out Pioneer Town, the Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center and the Grand Mesa itself, just 10-20 minutes up the road for outdoor recreationatitsbest.TheGunnisonRiverisjust15minutesdowntheroadforfishing and boating. All in all, it’s a great place to live! Find more details and lots of pictures at www.CedaredgeHome.info, then call Kim Taylor at 303-304-6678 to request a private showing.
weekly newspapers around the metro area, my broker associates and I may not be the best choice based on that first question, but, with my access to the MLS, I can identify the best candidates to interview. Full disclosure: that costs you nothing, but I will get a referral fee if you choose an agent I recommend.
You can also do this on your own by visiting www.Nestfully.com, the consumer-facing website of Denver’s MLS, where you can search for active listings in your area. Click on one or more of them to see how well the listing agent described the home on the MLS. Did they list all the rooms, not just bedrooms and bathrooms, and did they provide dimensions and descriptions of each, or just enter the mandatory fields?
Always keep in mind that the best indicator of how a listing agent will serve you is how they have served previous sellers.
Looking at those listings will answer the most important questions which you’d ask in person, but you won’t have to take their word the truth is there in front of you. You’ll learn, for example, whether they did point-and-shoot pictures or had a professional photographer shoot magazine quality photographs, and whether they created a narrated video tour or just a slide show with music.
Having chosen who to interview that way, ask these questions of those you invite into your home for an interview:
What commission percentage do you charge? Keep in mind, there is no standard commission. It’s totally negotiable, and the industry average is in the mid -5’s, not 6%. It used to be that that commission included the co-op commission paid to a buyer’s broker. As I explained in a previous column (which you can read at JimSmithColumns.com), that has been reworked so that the seller offers whatever buyer agent compensation he or she wants, and that amount, if paid, is deducted from the listing com-
mission same net effect, just reworked to comply with the NAR Settlement prohibiting shared listing commissions.
See whether the agent volunteers that they reduce their commission when the seller doesn’t have to pay the offered compensation to a buyer’s agent. That’s standard with my broker associates and me. If you have to ask for that provision, consider it a red flag. They hoped you wouldn’t ask.
Ask the agent whether he or she will discount their commission if you hire them to represent you in the purchase of your replacement home. That, too, is standard with my broker associates and me.
Hopefully the brokers you interview will have researched the market and will make a well-supported recommendation of listing price. Beware of agents who inflate their suggested listing price so you will list with them.
When setting the appointment, ask the agent to bring a spreadsheet of their sold listings with dates, days on market, listing price and sold price. They can produce that spreadsheet quickly on the MLS. (If they don’t know how, that’s a big red flag!) Here’s an example (mine):
That’s to show you what it looks like. If you want to read it, it is bigger at http://RealEstateToday.substack.com
Reclaiming roots and resilience
Monica Noriega on trauma and empowerment in the Latino community
BY ROSSANA LONGO BETTER ROSSANA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
At a recent Women’s Summit organized by Amistad, a nonpro t dedicated to the well-being of the Latino community in Boulder, clinical psychologist and Chicana activist Monica Noriega delivered a
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powerful talk on collective trauma and resilience. Her appearance was facilitated by Janina Farinas, founder of La Cocina, a Fort Collins organization that provides emotional support to the Hispanic community. Farinas’ dedication to community empowerment and healing was a driving force behind bringing Noriega’s insights to the summit.
For more on La Cocina and Noriega’s work, visit La Cocina and Monica Alejandra Noriega. is interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Colorado Community Media: You were the nal speaker at the end of the summit. Could you introduce yourself and explain why you chose to provide this detailed explanation about the trauma faced by Latinos, especially Latina women, in Colorado?
Monica Noriega: I am a clinical psychologist from San Francisco, California. I am Chicana, the daughter of Mexican farmworkers. I am also pregnant, and my daughter, who is here with us during the interview, is on the way.
Women living in a state like Colorado, which has a strong legacy of racism, also have a legacy of resistance and resilience to reclaim our medicines — our ancestral tools for healing collective traumas. As a Chicana, I often re ect on the movements and resistance of Chicanos and the indigenous peoples of these lands.
I believe that when I, as a psychologist, think about trauma and healing, it also involves reclaiming and connecting with these legacies and histories. rough this, we can learn not only how to interrupt the vicious cycles of trauma that we experience as individuals and families, but also how to disrupt the systems of oppression that continue to pursue us, worsening the traumas and conditions that severely impact families, women and people with young children. is is why I am here, because it is my passion.
CCM: You explained how from a young age, we have a relationship with our mother in the womb, but also with the earth. Many of the women here feel that they do not belong to this land. Many of us are immigrants or rst-generation, and we often feel invisible in this land. Why does this happen, and why is it so di cult for us to overcome this feeling of invisibility?
Noriega: ank you for addressing this connection with political and social conditions that make us feel isolated, that make us feel we do not belong and have no place here.
I must confess that I am not only a psychologist but also an organizer. I have studied ethnic studies and solidarity and social justice movements extensively. It is no coincidence that, just as collective racism’s most powerful and violent tool is its ability to isolate and separate individuals from their land, families, culture, children and ancestors, it is also part of colonialism and white supremacy. e traumas su ered by our ancestors and grandparents, and the experience shared by someone
here about being Chicana or rstor second-generation and being taught that speaking Spanish was wrong — these separations from one’s roots and interdependence are forms of collective trauma. ese fears have been con rmed across generations, not only validated but also supported by racist laws. is is why we have such a signi cant lack of power in politics and autonomy to make decisions about the material resources we need to thrive in our communities. It is not a coincidence that these traumas are supported by racist states and communities that have bene ted from white supremacy, and we lack leaders who have been able to truly change the material conditions in which we live.
CCM: What would you say to someone in a public position who receives comments like, “Why put so much e ort into the Latino community if they can’t vote for you? It’s a waste of energy”?
Noriega: First of all, I don’t believe in microaggressions; all are aggressions and have the same impact on a person’s subconscious. I would say to those who feel it’s not worth it or that investing in these things won’t make a difference — that nothing will ever change — that I have also felt that way. is is a way for us to realize that we have internalized and absorbed the lie, the grief and the messages that want to see us oppressed, silenced and marginalized. I don’t blame people in that state because it’s an understandable stage toward liberation, but we shouldn’t stay there. Without hope and movement, if the system succeeds in stealing our ability to dream of a world beyond our current situation, they have won.
In trauma work, children who stop playing and using their imagination are those who face more severe issues because they have lost the magic of being a living being, a part of this world. Our work in these times of violence and oppression is to protect and expand our capacity to dream and to know we deserve a better world.
So, if you nd yourself in a moment of despair, feeling it’s no longer worth investing in our issues, dare to ask: When did this start? What was happening? And who bene ts from me being silenced and disconnected? Is it bene ting you, your community, your family, or are you in a protective mode?
CCM: Some cities have up to 50% Latino population and public schools with 80% Latino students. What would you say to those wondering where the Latino vote is headed? In relation to the marginalization and fragmentation you mentioned, how can we ensure that the importance of the Latino vote is maintained beyond elections?
Noriega: at’s a good question. I would say that, as the saying goes for many organizers, “ e people united will never be defeated.”
I understand why many people and members of highly marginalized and fragmented communities feel that they are living under conditions designed for disorganization, leaving us to live as individuals
rather than as part of a united community.
ere are no easy solutions, but internal revolution is important to promote external revolution. If we want to see changes and believe we deserve a better future for our children and ourselves, we must start with this inner voice that tells us we might not deserve something better or that we’re asking too much or causing problems. We need to challenge where that message comes from, where we heard it. at’s when we can begin the internal work necessary to promote the external work demanded by the times we live in.
e Latino vote is extremely important, but so is the community work we do here and now to change conditions, because it has been done before and it can be done again.
CCM: What was the symbolism behind the act of planting and exchanging new seeds that you mentioned in your presentation today?
Noriega: ere was a metaphor in that exercise. My intention was to give you a somatic experience, because sometimes when we attend a workshop or conference, we stay in a cognitive mode, always in our heads. But healing doesn’t only occur in the brain and thoughts; it also happens when we allow ourselves to feel at the level of our bodies and souls — feelings we might have tried to avoid for a long time, because life doesn’t reward us for feeling our emotions. On the contrary, life and our conditions reward us when we don’t feel anything and can just keep going.
My intention was to provide an experience of planting a seed with a lot of heart and feeling, practicing community care and interdependence, which will be necessary to change our living conditions.
CCM: What do you think about the important moment we are experiencing locally, nationally and globally?
Noriega: We are still living in a world that has su ered pandemics, genocides and wars, and now we are approaching national elections.
At the Amistad Women’s Summit, Monica Noriega discussed collective trauma and resilience, highlighting the need for community healing and empowerment.
PHOTO BY ROSSANA LONGO BETTER
RTD launches cadet program to train transit o cers
Program allows students to earn college credit while exploring police work
BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Fulltime college students interested in becoming police o cers can get on-the-ground experience in law enforcement through a new program with the Regional Transportation District.
RTD is launching a new Transit Police – or RTD-PD – cadet program for full-time college students in the Den-
NORIEGA
… While some are more aware than others, we are remembering times when politicians and systems told us we were bad, that we were criminals, that we didn’t belong here, that we were terrible people. is can provoke a response of collective trauma, not only in the individual but also in the community. I wanted to give an experience of opening up these feelings, not in isolation, but as a practice for
ver metro area pursuing a criminal justice or related degree.
Police cadets will gain insights into the day-to-day work of an o cer in a transit police environment while potentially earning a three-hour credit for most college programs, according to an RTD news release.
Johan Sherpa, a senior at Metro State University studying criminal justice, started as RTD-PD’s rst police candidate on July 22 and is expected to be with the agency for six months or more to complete the program, RTD said in a written statement.
An Emergency Management police cadet role is also available, and the agency is reviewing applications to ll that position.
community connection, exchanging our wishes, hopes, and love, which must coexist with the fears and anxieties caused by the current moment.
CCM: What advice would you give to those, like you, who work as psychologists, organizers and community journalists to stay committed to their work, especially during crucial moments when there is fear of being forced to share our resilience strategies with the dominant culture? And now, as you are expecting a baby?
Noriega: My baby is moving a lot and is excited about this conversa-
RTD Deputy Chief Steven Martingano created the program for students to learn about the agency and explore the public safety eld. “ e program dedicates time and resources to make sure someone knows what they’re coming into when considering being an o cer,” Martingano said in the news release. “Police work is more of a calling and a passion.”
Sherpa learned about the RTD police cadet program through his uncle, who is a part of the Golden Police Department. Sherpa said he is looking forward to potentially shadowing or riding along with RTD-PD o cers on patrol and recommended anyone interested in being a police cadet
tion because I know she is listening and present for these discussions. I continue and do not intend to leave this work of integrating and reweaving the threads of collective healing and liberation for our communities, reintegrating our ancestral practices. I discovered at a very young age that I am here for a purpose. I belong here, and I feel a great responsibility to use the resources I have as a citizen, the support of my family and community, to study, be involved in movements, and use my energy and talents to improve the world for the next generation, not just for them
to come into the role with an open mind.
“I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can and I’m glad to be here,” said Sherpa in the news release.
RTD’s cadet program provides specialized training for skills essential to pursuing a career in public safety including video investigations, integrated security, cyber security and police dispatch communications. Police cadets can get a “head start” for an ofcer role, states the news release.
“If a cadet wants to join our department, they already have the condence to come in and understanding of the work to quickly complete eld training,” said Martingano in the news release.
but also for ourselves. I believe that when we heal ourselves and ght for justice, we are also achieving justice for our ancestors — my grandmother, my great-grandmother, who were farmworkers, migrants and displaced indigenous people. I feel that the work I am doing is closely tied to the work they did in their times so that I could speak, y and express what they never could.
I take this very seriously. What a great privilege it is in these times, in 2024, to be the independent, empowered woman they always dreamed I would be.
Carl Van Hove November 8, 1939 - March 15, 2024
Carl Van Hove, born Nov. 8, 1939 in Mohall ND, passed away Mar. 15 2024 at his Fort Lupton home. A casual memorial will be held outside at 16403 county road 6 at 10:30 am September 2, 2024. All are welcome to come and share their memories of Carl and an informal meal afterwards.
Carl worked on the family farm and then for Johnny Forness before enlisting in the Marines at 17. After serving in the Marines he came back to Mohall and met Gail Arneson, marrying on October 31, 1961. Shortly after getting married they moved south of Rhame, ND to work for Donald Lowe as a ranch and farm hand. eir children Naomi, Teresa, and Ed were born
on the ranch and blessed with ranch life in their early years. Carl enjoyed ranch work. He and Gail roped as a team for several years at a roping series held at the Stearns Ranch. In 1977 the family moved to Scranton ND and Carl started trucking. He worked for multiple trucking companies, moving to Fort Lupton CO in the mid 80s and retiring from Navajo at age 69.
Carl enjoyed hunting elk and deer in Colorado, riding to the hunting spots and packing out deer and elk for anyone. He rode the Mah Dah Hey trail in ND twice with Naomi and Teresa. He loved to go to cowboy style and sporting clay shooting events at his gun club.
VAN HOVE
Colorado Community Media’s newsroom has already used the results of the Voter Voices surveys we have received so far.
In recent months, we asked readers to take surveys asking what they think candidates for political o ces should focus on as they compete for their votes. e top answer from Colorado Community Media readers across the metro area sounded like something from a civics class: “democracy and good government.”
Our readers said they want the candidates to focus on solutions, even if it means compromises.
As Lisa Anne Bresko, a self-described moderate and business owner from Evergreen, told us, democracy and good government are foundational if our leaders are going to solve the many pressing problems facing our communities.
“I feel there’s very little respect and no more compromise,” Bresko said. “It’s ‘My way or no way’ on a lot of topics. at’s not the way to run a country or get anything done. I feel all of the name calling, the pointing of ngers, the disinformation about the people you’re supposed to be working with toward common goals is hurting the ability to get things done.”
More than 400 (and counting) Colorado Community Media readers have lled out our Voter Voices surveys using links in our newsletters and stories or QR codes from newspapers and yers. Our reporters and editors have been using the results to help form the questions we ask politicians in the two dozen Denver-area cities, towns and suburbs we cover. We are partnering with 60 newsrooms across the state in this endeavor.
Overall, there are some 6,000 responses.
In the surveys, voters are asked to rank their top three issues among 13 categories, revealing their importance. e surveys also allow voters to elaborate in their own words on what they think candidates should focus on.
Additionally, our Colorado Community Media reporters reached out directly to many survey respondents of all political persuasions to speak to them about their surveys and more. We also went into the community to connect with younger voters, an underrepresented category in the data.
More than 37% of our readers who took the survey cited democracy and good government as their top issue. More moderates and liberals cited it as a top issue than conservatives, but the surveys revealed that it is an important issue regardless of political inclination. Readers’ other top issue was the economy and cost of living, which was cited more by conservatives as their No. 1 issue, yet readers across the political spectrum said it was a top issue.
Phillip McCart, a liberal from Littleton, told us that candidates should focus on ways to help people who are struggling. One way candidates can do that, McCart said, is to work to reduce housing costs by creating more housing density.
“Housing costs are destroying the hopes and dreams of everyone,” McCart said.
at view was echoed many times in the surveys we gathered. For instance, one moderate Je erson
County voter – who wished to remain anonymous –wrote in her survey, “We have a severe lack of affordable and workforce housing in the metro area, and it is not improving.”
Evergreen resident Norm Sherbert, a conservative on scal issues and moderate on others, told us that everyone, regardless of income, should be concerned that many people across the metro area are struggling.
“I think it a ects us all,” he said. “I see it in my utility bills, the price of gas, grocery bills — and it just keeps climbing.”
Sherbert worries that the Social Security system might not be intact for future generations and believes strong, bipartisan leadership is needed to tackle such problems. He is not impressed by President Biden or the Democratic and Republican nominees for president, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
“I’m not a Trump fan, and I’m surely not a Biden or Harris fan,” Sherbert said. “It’s a shame we do not have the candidates out there that can really make something happen in the country. I hope we come back to the center and realize it’s not the candidates that are going to drive this country, it’s the issues and how they’re solved.”
Similar views were espoused around our coverage area, which spans from Fort Lupton, Brighton and Commerce City in the north to Je erson County in the west, Idaho Springs in the mountains, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in the south, and Parker and Elbert County in the east.
During the primaries, we incorporated readers’ concerns about democracy and good government and the economy into questions we asked Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress in our primary forums for Colorado’s 4th District. e forums were cosponsored with the League of Women Voters Colorado and KUNC public radio.
We plan to do the same for more forums we’re cosponsoring this fall.
And, our Question and Answer surveys of candidates, which are widely read in print and online ahead of the November elections, will include Voter Voices-inspired questions and themes.
We also got to speak directly to voters and our reporters were met with appreciation in their e orts. is is just the start. We intend to keep the conversations with you going and we’re looking for ways to localize our connections with survey respondents. Watch for that.
Readers also told us they appreciated the opportunity to elaborate on their views and see our journalists as advocates for getting their voices into the process, given our unique access to leaders and candidates.
We have more work to do in terms of outreach, especially when it comes to younger voters and another category underrepresented in our results – people of color. Watch this space for future stories about them as we consider Voter Voices a starting point.
A big next step for us will be to work with groups of survey respondents to create a Voter Voices Citizens Agenda for our newsroom that helps guide our every interaction with public ofcials and candidates for political o ce.
Until then, tell us what we’re missing by adding your voice to our Voter Voices survey. Here’s the link: https://tinyurl.com/ mv6jxw7w or scan our QR code below with your phone. Our door is always open. Michael de Yoanna, editor-in-chief
BY THE COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA NEWSROOM
VOTER VOICES
About half of the readers who responded to our survey consider themselves moderate. About a quarter identify as conservative and another quarter as liberal. About 60% of respondents are women and 40% are men.
Many readers told us that partisanship has become a never-ending soap opera – with sides squaring o against each other leaving compromises, and the potential solutions to longstanding problems, in the dust. Many shared a feeling that the country has an urgent, almost desperate need for candidates who will talk about issues, especially divisive ones, calmly instead of attacking and dismissing each other.
e stakes, readers say, are just too high given a long list of concerns, from crime to climate change to in ation to immigration to national security. One of the most eye-opening insights from readers is their disdain for grandstanding by candidates, bitter attacks and empty promises.
Michael Wilson, a 65-year-old conservative in Je erson County, said he would like political candidates to talk about what they will do if they are elected.
“I don’t need to hear them try to run down their opponent,” Wilson said. omas Gibbons, a moderate who lives in the Highlands Ranch area, said property taxes, local crime and reducing gun violence are important to him, but the problems associated with them can’t be solved if elected leaders are not focused on good governance.
“Elected o cials must
nd a way to work together in bipartisan cooperation,” said Gibbons.
Littleton resident Porter Lansing, who identi es as liberal, said he would like to see candidates address the wealth gap between the metro area’s richest and poorest residents, citing concerns about unemployment and in ation. Lansing, who is 70 and disabled, said he lives mainly on his Social Security income.
“Everything’s so expensive, and everything’s going up,” he said. “I don’t want politicians to forget people way down here just because we don’t have money to contribute to their campaigns.”
It’s not just Coloradans who feel the government must improve.
Across the country, positive views of political and governmental institutions are at historic lows, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Many Americans say they are underwhelmed by candidates and 28% of Americans express unfavorable views of both the Democratic and Republican parties, the highest share in three decades of polling, with a comparable share adding that neither party represents their interests well.
In Voter Voices surveys, newsrooms across Colorado received strikingly similar ndings to ours, with good government and the economy coming out as top issues, closely mirroring the results of our readers. Other important issues cited by survey respondents included the environment, climate and natural resources, immigration and abortion.
e vast majority of respondents identi ed as older than 45.
at prompted Colorado Community Media to reach out to younger people directly. A reporter and our summer reporting intern used social media to promote the Voter Voices survey on Instagram, tweeting on X and even texting friends and colleagues for help reaching more voters in their 20s and 30s online and in person.
Many of the younger voters shared the same concerns as older voters, particularly regarding good government and the economy.
Ben Warzel, 25, of Littleton, was at a Denver restaurant as he expressed frustration over how candidates attack each other.
“(Candidates) can have their little pageantry, but we know that they’re not really doing anything,” Warzel said. “It’s just becoming dangerous, the people that we’re having to choose between.”
Some young people spoke about the intersection that the high costs of college and wages play out in their lives.
“I would like to see candidates talk about pay wages, especially with degrees and the cost of college,” a 24-year-old Voter Voices respondent from Arapahoe County who wished to remain anonymous wrote.
“I think the cost of college is becoming una ordable even for people who are more well o .”
“Cost of living has not gone down at all over the years,” a 24-year-old respondent to our survey wrote.
Joshua Glenn, 28, of Aurora, said he hopes candidates will focus on a raft of issues – from the economy to the safety of all Americans.
“I would like candidates
to focus on climate issues, economic future, abuse of power and the environment,” Glenn said. “Social justice is very important to me as well. As an African-American, and a contributing member of society, I want to feel safe in all parts of the country.”
Kamara Maxie, 24 of Denver, said the cost of living and abortion are the most important issues she wants candidates to address this election.
Maxie also said gun safety is an issue that candidates should address.
“I believe having legal guns is important for protection reasons, however, I don’t think we should have weapons of war,” Maxie said.
ere were also familiar divisions among conservatives and liberals. For instance, many conservative readers, like Eric Tyrell, who lives in Douglas County, cited immigration and tax policy as important issues. He would like to see candidates close the southern border and cut government spending.
“Government is too big and is still getting bigger every year,” he said.
Meanwhile, many liberals, like Kathy Mendt in Adams County, said abortion policy is important.
“Politicians need to keep their laws o women’s bodies,” Mendt said.
She also wants to see candidates who care about the environment.
“How willing are they to address climate change?” Mendt said.
Mary Wylie, an Arvada voter who identi es as a liberal, said climate change is a pressing problem.
“I think climate change is essentially the ballot, depending on who ends up winning the presidency and has control of the government,” Wylie said. Many survey respondents have similar litmus tests for candidates. For instance, they want to know: Does a candidate support the overturning of Roe v. Wade? Does a candidate support U.S. funding for Israel? Does a candidate believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election?
Colorado might ease SAT graduation requirement after big drops in high school math scores
BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Colorado may lower the passing score on high school math tests many students use to meet graduation requirements, the latest potential fallout from test scores that fell dramatically this year.
Without such a change, it’s possible graduation rates could drop for the Class of 2025, Colorado Department of Education o cials told the State Board of Education.
To graduate from high school in Colorado, students must show prociency in English and math. Using SAT scores is the most common way that districts o er students to meet that requirement, since the test is already administered to students in their junior year; ninth and 10th graders take the PSAT. But o cials couldn’t say how many students were relying on the test result to meet the graduation requirements this year.
e proposed change the State
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the minimum passing score on the math portion of the SAT from 500 to 480. Without that change, ocials say the percentage of students
graduation requirements will drop from 45% in 2023 to 39% with these results. at means about 3,400 students might be looking for a lastminute alternative to meet graduation requirements before May.
If the board agrees to lower the passing score to 480, it would mean 45.5% of students who took the test could use the score to meet their graduation requirements, roughly the same as last year.
on the PSAT the previous year would be predictive of their scores on the SAT in 11th.
“ ey were, I’m going to suggest, surprised when that prediction did not work out the way they were expecting it to work,” Zurkowski said. “I would encourage you to keep that in mind”
Lisa Escarcega, a State Board member, said the 3,400 students who could be forced to nd an alternative way to meet graduation requirements if the board doesn’t lower the cut score is a “signi cant” number.
“It’s much larger than I thought,” Escarcega said.
State Board members started ursday’s discussion hesitant about the idea of lowering the bar for graduation, but ultimately their comments leaned in favor of the change. Education department sta are continuing to gather more data about the impact, and will ask the State Board to vote on the proposal next month.
Joyce Zurkowski, the Colorado Department of Education’s chief assessment o cer, has been sharing concerns about the SAT scores with the State Board for months as preliminary results were previewed by state school o cials. Final school and district level results were recently released.
Compared to 2023, the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations on math tests dropped for students in grades 9-11. (Colorado doesn’t test 12th grade students.) Scores fell across all student subgroups.
Among 11th graders, the percentage meeting expectations dropped to 31.1% this year from 35.2% in 2023, and it’s down from 39% in 2019. In the reading and writing portion of the tests, some student subgroups’ scores improved; o cials are not considering changing the required passing score — 470 — for that portion of the test.
Zurkowski has said that while it is possible some of the drops in math scores re ect drops in learning and student abilities, it’s likely that some of the decline is due to changes to the SAT, which went fully digital for the rst time last year. It’s not possible to distinguish how much of the change in scores is due to each factor, she said.
Students who were in 11th grade last spring and took the SAT for the rst time digitally might have been
Instead of reaching certain SAT scores, students can meet graduation requirements to show mastery in math or English by earning passing scores on certain concurrent enrollment classes, doing capstone projects, or earning speci c industry certi cates. ere are also a number of other tests students can take. Not all districts o er all options however, and state o cials worry that some students’ options now could be limited.
e state may also consider taking more time to work with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and institutions of higher education to come up with a new cut score that represents the same level of pro ciency as previous cut scores. But o cials said that may take years.
Only around a dozen other states use the SAT for all students as an annual test the way Colorado does. But education department sta will share data next month on how Colorado’s score drops compare to those other states.
Colorado o cials also spent the summer evaluating whether the lower high school SAT scores would be valid for use in this year’s school and district ratings. e state ultimately determined they will be used. e preliminary ratings will be available soon.
is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with Chalkbeat Colorado, a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
High school graduates celebrate by tossing their caps in the air during their graduation ceremony. FILE PHOTO
BY BELEN WARD
Westminster joins public safety consortium
Westminster rst responders, police, re, EMS, and 911 services are now the sixth Front Range Communications Consortium (FRCC) member, according to a news release from August 23.
“ is expands the reach of the FRCC and can lead to better communication, which allows for greater situational awareness of many di erent scenarios, like severe weather, active threats or even day-to-day duties like prisoner transports across counties,” said Cordero Bustos, Wireless Systems Manager for the Weld County Department of Public Safety Communications.
“While communication was possible with Westminster operating on its own network, it required training and technological patchwork, something eliminated by Westminster joining the FRCC.”
e Consortium is a multi-county public trunked radio system located in Adams, Broom eld, Boul-
der, Weld counties. It includes rst responders from Federal Heights, ornton, Broom eld, the University of Northern Colorado, Weld County and Adams County.
Weld County helped develop the FRCC public safety communication radio system between agencies in 2014, according to o cials.
e Front Range Communications Consortium authorizes Westminster rst responders to communicate with Weld, Adams County, and other emergency responders within its network to collaborate across the counties to improve emergency response.
“ is IGA further solidi es how e ective the FRCC has been since it debuted in 2014,” said Tina Powell, director of the Weld County Department of Public Safety Communications. “Our goal when it was created was to give Weld County, Adams County, and member agencies more control over emergency communication, which positively impacts our ability to respond during emergencies. We’re excited to have Westminster on board.”
Westminster first responders, police, fire, EMS, and 911 services join the Front Range Communications Consortium (FRCC).
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Bumper crop of ‘hoppers plagues state
Colorado is experiencing one of its worst grasshopper infestations in recent history
BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
It was as if Doug Bay’s wish had come true, the day the doves landed.
Bay, who grows alfalfa and a bit of corn and sorghum in Otero County, had been eyeing the 3 acres of fresh green shoots for days, worrying they were about to be destroyed by the swarms of crop-munching grasshoppers that were bouncing all over his farm.
He was holding out hope that he wouldn’t have to spray pesticide to save his alfalfa crop from the destructive insects, which are vexing farmers and gardeners from Denver to the plains this summer. Bay almost called the local crop duster, but he put it o . en came the doves. About 200 of the tan birds swooped down from the sky and feasted on the grasshoppers, demolishing pretty much the whole lot.
“It was kinda neat,” recalled Bay,
whose family has been farming in Cheraw since 1950. “A couple hundred of them, eating those grasshoppers. ey must have told their friends this was a good place to eat.”
For farmers, the best way to deal with grasshoppers is to let birds handle it. But this year, when the grasshopper infestation is one of the worst in recent history, farmers can’t rely on just the birds. e bounty of grasshoppers is on par with last summer’s Mormon cricket invasion on the Western Slope.
Bay said he had to hire the crop duster to spray his other, larger eld of alfalfa, costing him about $15 for each of the 120 acres. He’s also got 15 chickens that spend their days pecking his yard and keeping the grasshoppers at a more manageable level, at least near his house.
Scientists say the grasshoppers are having a banner year in Colorado because the conditions for hatching eggs and growing big insects were ideal. Grasshoppers lay their eggs in dirt, and the pods or “egg beds” remain underground through the winter. e eggs hatch in the spring, and the tiny “nymphs” crawl out of the ground in search of food, according to Colorado State University’s extension services. If weather conditions are good, and there is plenty to eat, grasshop-
pers grow for several weeks until they reach adult size — and this summer they are quite large. e insects likely hatched earlier this year because of a mild, warmer spring, and then did not face the kind of cold, wet weather that can kill o newly hatched grasshoppers.
In Denver, gardeners are reporting extra-large grasshoppers and in extra large numbers, popping around yards and chewing holes in the leaves of their lettuce and tomato plants. On the Eastern Plains, their destruction has been spotty — some farms are having to spray pesticides or losing yields to the bugs,
while others have had few issues. For gardeners, experts suggest adding some plants that repel grasshoppers — garlic or chives — or using garlic to make a natural spray. Another idea is to cover the garden with netting to keep the insects from jumping into it. Get some chickens. Or put up a bird feeder. While grasshopper eggs are more likely to survive the winter in dry soil, undisturbed by tillage or irrigation, the insects often live longer and grow bigger in irrigated land where there is plenty of foliage.
School district funding goes to the Commerce City ballot
e rst would be a $113.9 million bond issue. at money would be earmarked for two areas, upgrading the school’s facilities and providing day-to-day operational funding.
Adams 14 asking voters to support $124 million for operations, teacher pay, building renovations SEE
Commerce City voters will be asked to support a $114 million bond to pay for rising day-to-day costs, building upgrades and a mill levy override for teacher pay at the polls this November.
e Adams 14 School District board agreed at their Aug. 29 meeting to put two questions on the November ballot.
e second would add a $10 million mill levy override geared toward sta salaries.
“We believe that this proposal is essential to the continued success of our students and sta ,” Superintendent Dr. Karla Loría said in a written statement. “As we outlined in our ve-year strategic plan, we are committed to ensuring our schools have the resources they need to provide a quality teaching and learning environment. is Bond and Mill Levy will help us achieve that goal.”
Part of the bond would be used
to make signi cant improvements to meet modern educational standards, according to a district press release. e bond funding would be used to renovate outdated buildings and ensure a safe, conducive learning environment for all students, according to the release. It would also provide additional money to maintain and enhance the quality of education provided to students.
Override
e board is proposing a 10mill property tax override to boost teacher and classi ed support sta salaries. In its written statement, district o cials said the override is necessary to attract and retain high-quality educators and support
sta in the district.
e school district currently collects 27 mills in property taxes from Commerce City residents who generally live south of 96th Avenue. According to the district’s budget, it collected $34.3 million in property taxes in the 2023-24 scal year. is measure would allow it to continue collecting property taxes at the same rate. Adjusted for ination, the district’s budget for the 2024-25 scal year calls for $35.9 million in property tax collections. District Accountability and community member Brandi Valdez said, “Investing in our schools is investing in our student’s learning environments. Investing in educational quality is investing in our community.”
NOTICE
EPA Adds Long Term Protectiveness Measure to Sand Creek Industrial
EPA adds land use restrictions to areas with contaminated soil.
EPA is modifying the existing remedy for Operable Units 1 and 5 (OUs 1 & 5) of the Sand Creek Industrial Superfund Site (Site). This update is called an Explanation of Significant Difference (ESD). The ESD will add measures to ensure long-term protection.
The Records of Decision (RODs) documenting EPA’s selected remedy decisions are explained in the September 1989 ROD (for OU1) and the September 1990 ROD (for OU5). This ESD adds institutional controls (legal, physical, or informational tools) to minimize the disturbance of contaminated soils in OUs 1 & 5.
Typically, EPA includes institutional controls in the remedy to ensure the cleanup remains protective into the future. The sixth Five-Year Review Report for the Site (September 2020) found the remedy to be short-term protective but lacking institutional controls that could ensure longterm protectiveness. This ESD proposes restrictive notices, a form of institutional control, that will introduce additional requirements if property owners conduct work where contaminated soil will be disturbed. EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will work together, with property owners, to implement these restrictive notices.
For more information on the Site, or to read the ESD, please visit the Sand Creek Industrial Superfund website; https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sand-creek-industrial
On July 1, a grasshopper sits atop the Clear Creek trail’s handrail underneath the U.S. Highway 6 bridge. PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
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Adams County Commissioners
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR ADAMS COUNTY, STATE OF COLORADO
RESOLUTION APPROVING THE REFERRAL OF A BALLOT ISSUE FOR THE NOVEMBER 5, 2024, GENERAL ELECTION AUTHORIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A TEMPORARY .15% COUNTYWIDE SALES TAX FOR THE PURPOSE OF INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE UNINCORPORATED AND INCORPORATED AREAS OF ADAMS COUNTY Resolution 2024 - 447
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic conditions have caused dramatic unanticipated increases in the cost of housing in Adams County (“County”) and the lack of affordable housing in the County for low and moderate income households has caused economic distress to Adams County individuals, families and businesses; and, WHEREAS, the County has an estimated housing unit deficit of approximately 10,000 homes that is expected to increase to approximately 30,000 by 2050 if not addressed; and, WHEREAS, a dedicated revenue stream to support the availability of affordable homes is critical to meeting the housing development goals set forth in Colorado State law; and, WHEREAS, the County is legally authorized to impose a sales tax on the sale of tangible personal property at retail and the furnishing of services, subject to the approval of the registered electors of the County; and, WHEREAS, the Board has determined that it is in the interest of the residents of Adams County to impose a temporary Countywide sales tax at the rate of .15% for the period beginning January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2044, the receipts from which shall be restricted in application to the expansion of affordable housing in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Adams County; and, WHEREAS, the Board has determined that a question regarding the imposition of a temporary sales tax for the purposes enunciated herein should be submitted by the Board to the eligible electors of the County; and, WHEREAS, the Board has determined to set the ballot title and ballot question for the issue to be submitted at the election called by this Resolution.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of County Commissioners, County of Adams, State of Colorado: 1.Pursuant to §§ 1-1-111, 1-5-203(3), and 30-11-103.5, C.R.S., the Board hereby authorizes and directs that the following ballot issue be certified herewith to the Adams County Clerk and Recorder (“Clerk and Recorder”) for submission to the registered electors in Adams County to be included on the ballot for the November 5, 2024, General Election: BALLOT ISSUE
SHALL ADAMS COUNTY TAXES BE INCREASED BY TWENTY- TWO MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($22,200,000) (FIRST FULL YEAR DOLLAR AMOUNT, FOR COLLECTION IN CALENDAR YEAR 2025) ANNUALLY, AND BY WHATEVER AMOUNT IS RAISED THEREAFTER, BY THE IMPOSITION OF A TEMPORARY COUNTYWIDE SALES TAX AT THE RATE OF .15% ($0.15 CENTS ON A $100 PURCHASE) EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2025, AND EXPIRING DECEMBER 31,2044, WITH THE PROCEEDS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXPANDING THE AVAILABILITY OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN ADAMS COUNTY, BY:
DISTRIBUTING GRANTS TO MULTIJURISDICTIONAL AND COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITIES ESTABLISHED IN ADAMS COUNTY FOR THE PURPOSES OF:
FINANCING, PLANNING, ENTITLING, DEVELOPING, OPERATING, ACQUIRING, PRESERVING, RENOVATING, ADMINISTERING, MAINTAINING AND CONSTRUCTING AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR SALE OR RENT IN THE UNINCORPORATED AND INCORPORATED AREAS OF ADAMS COUNTY; AND SHALL ADAMS COUNTY BE ALLOWED TO COLLECT, RETAIN AND SPEND THE REVENUES FROM SUCH TAX AND THE INTEREST EARNINGS THEREON AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION AND ABOVE ANNUAL LIMITS WHICH MIGHT OTHERWISE APPLY OR BE PROPOSED, INCLUDING AS AN APPROVED EXCEPTION TO THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN SECTION 29-1-301 OF THE COLORADO REVISED STATUTES; ALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ RESOLUTION NO. 2024 – 447. YES/FOR NO/AGAINST
2.This Resolution shall serve to set the ballot title and text of the ballot issue.
3.The election shall be conducted by the Clerk and Recorder in accordance with the Uniform Election Code, C.R.S §1-1-101, et. seq., and other laws and regulations of the State of Colorado, including without limitation, the requirements of Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution (hereinafter “TABOR”).
4.The Clerk and Recorder shall cause all acts required or permitted by the Uniform Election Code and the Rules relevant to be performed by the Clerk and Recorder or its designees.
5.The Clerk and Recorder shall cause a notice of election to be published in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado, including but not limited to, the Uniform Election Code and TABOR.
6.The Clerk and Recorder shall mail a TABOR notice package to all active registered voter households in Adams County, pursuant to Colo. Const., Art. X, §20, which shall include the ballot issue adopted herein.
7.Pursuant to C.R.S. § 29-2-104(5), the Clerk and Recorder shall publish the text of this Resolution four separate times, a week apart, in the official newspaper of the County and each city and incorporated town within the County.
8.If a majority of the votes cast are in favor of the ballot issue of implementing the temporary sales described herein, (“the Affordable Housing Sales Tax”) then such tax shall be imposed and shall apply to all taxable transactions, unless exempt, occurring on or after January 1, 2025, and through December 31, 2044, and shall be collected, administered and enforced in accordance with this Resolution and the schedules set forth in the rules and regulations promulgated by the Colorado Department of Revenue.
9.Imposition of Tax. There is hereby imposed on all sales of tangible personal property at retail or the furnishing of services in the County as provided in Section 29-2-105, et. seq., Colorado Revised Statutes, as amended, a tax equal to .15% of the gross receipts, the “Affordable Housing Sales Tax”.
10.All retail sales are sourced as specified in Section 39-26-104(3). For purposes of this sales tax, all retail sales are consummated at the retailer’s place of business unless the tangible personal property sold is delivered by the retailer or his agent outside the County limits. The gross receipts from such sales shall include delivery charges when such charges are subject to state sales tax imposed by article 26, title 39, C.R.S., regardless of the place to which delivery is made. If a retailer has no permanent place of business in the County, the place at which the retail sales are consummated for the purpose of this sales tax shall be determined by the provisions of Article 26, Title 39, C.R.S., and by the rules and regulations promulgated by the Colorado Department of Revenue. Without limiting the broad application of this sales tax and recognizing that mobile telecommunications services are subject to particular legal requirements, this sales tax shall apply to mobile telecommunications services to the greatest extent permitted under Section 29-2-105(1.5), C.R.S.
11.Transactions Subject to the Sales Tax. The transactions subject to the Affordable Housing Sales Tax shall be as set forth below and as
required by Colorado state law. The amount subject to the tax shall not include the amount of any sales or use tax imposed by Article 26 of
Title 29, C.R.S. The sale of tangible personal property and services taxable hereunder shall be the same as the tangible personal property and services taxable pursuant to C.R.S. §39-26-104, except as provided herein, and shall be subject to the same exemptions as those specified in 7 of Article 26 of Title 39, expressly including the following exemptions:
(A)The exemption for sales of machinery or machine tools specified in section 39-26-709 (1), C.R.S., other than machinery or machine tools used in the processing of recovered materials by a business listed in the inventory prepared by the department of public health and environment pursuant to section 30-20-122 (1)(a)(V), C.R.S.;
(B)The exemption for sales of machinery or machine tools specified in section 39-26-709 (1), C.R.S., used in the processing of recovered materials by a business listed in the inventory prepared by the department of public health and environment pursuant to section 30-20-122 (1)(a)(V), C.R.S.;
(C)The exemption for sales of electricity, coal, wood, gas, fuel oil, or coke specified in section 39-26-715 (1)(a)(II), C.R.S.;
(D)The exemption for sales of food specified in section 39-26-707 (1)(e), C.R.S.; for the purposes of this exemption, “food” shall be defined as in 39-26-102(4.5);
(E)The exemption for vending machine sales of food specified in section 39-26-714 (2), C.R.S.;
(F)The exemption for sales by a charitable organization specified in section 39-26-718 (1)(b), C.R.S.;
(G)The exemption for sales of farm equipment and farm equipment under lease or contract specified in section 39-26-716 (4)(e) and (4)(f);
(H)The exemption for sales of motor vehicles, power sources, or parts used for converting such power sources as specified in section 3926-719 (1);
(I)The exemption for sales of wood from salvaged trees killed or infested in Colorado by mountain pine beetles or spruce beetles as specified in section 39-26-723, C.R.S.;
(J)The exemption for sales of components used in the production of energy, including but not limited to alternating current electricity, from a renewable energy source specified in section 39-26-724, C.R.S.;
(K)The exemption for sales that benefit a Colorado school specified in section 39-26-725, C.R.S.;
(L)The exemption for sales by an association or organization of parents and teachers of public school students that is a charitable organization as specified in section 39-26-718 (1)(c), C.R.S.;
(M)The exemption for sales of property for use in space flight specified in section 39-26-728, C.R.S.;
(N)The exemption for manufactured homes and tiny homes set forth in section 39-26-721 (3);
(O)The exemption for sales of period products as specified in section 39-26-717 (2)(m);
(P)The exemption for sales of incontinence products and diapers as specified in section 39-26-717 (2)(n);
(Q)The exemption for sales of eligible decarbonizing building materials set forth in section 39-26-731;
(R)The exemption for sales of heat pump systems and heat pump water heaters set forth in section 39-26-732;
(S)The exemption for sales of energy storage systems set forth in section 39-26-733.
12.The Affordable Housing Sales Tax shall not be imposed on the following:
(A)The sale of construction and building materials, as the term is used in section 29-2-109, C.R.S. if the purchaser of such materials presents to the retailer a building permit or other documentation acceptable to the County evidencing that a local use tax has been paid or is required to be paid.
(B)The sale of tangible personal property at retail or the furnishing of services if the transaction was previously subjected to a sales or use tax lawfully imposed on the purchaser or user by another statutory or home rule county equal to or in excess of that sought to be imposed by Adams County. A credit shall be granted against the sales tax imposed by Adams County with respect to such transaction equal in amount to the lawfully imposed local sales or use tax previously paid by the purchaser or user to the previous statutory or home rule county. The amount of the credit shall not exceed the sales tax imposed by the subsequent statutory or home rule county.
(C)The sale of tangible personal property at retail or the furnishing of services if the transaction was previously subjected to a sales or use tax lawfully imposed on the purchaser or user by another statutory or home rule city and county, city, or town equal to or in excess of that sought to be imposed by Adams County. A credit shall be granted against the sales tax imposed by Adams County with respect to such transaction equal in amount to the lawfully imposed local sales or use tax previously paid by the purchaser or user to the previous statutory or home rule city and county, city, or town. The amount of the credit shall not exceed the sales tax imposed by the subsequent statutory or home rule city and county, city, or town.
(D)The sale of food purchased with food stamps. For the purposes of this subsection (D), “food” shall have the same meaning as provided in 7 U.S.C. sec. 2012 (g), as such section exists on October 1, 1987, or is thereafter amended.
(E)The sale of food purchased with funds provided by the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1786. For the purposes of this section (E), “food” shall have the same meaning as provided in 42 U.S.C. sec. 1786, as such section exists on October 1, 1987, or is thereafter amended.
(F)Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, sales of cigarettes shall be exempt from the Affordable Housing Sales Tax pursuant to 29-2-105(9), C.R.S.
13.Transactions subject to Specific Ownership Tax. All sales of personal property on which a specific ownership tax has been paid or is payable shall be exempt from said county, town, or city sales tax when such sales meet both of the following conditions:
(A)The purchaser is a nonresident of or has his principal place of business outside of the local taxing entity; and
(B)Such personal property is registered or required to be registered outside the limits of the local taxing entity under the laws of this state.
14.Collection, Administration and Enforcement. The collection, administration and enforcement of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax shall be performed by the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue (the “Executive Director”) in the same manner as the collection, administration, and enforcement of the Colorado state sales tax. The provisions of article 26 of title 39, C.R.S. and all rules and regulations promulgated thereunder by the Executive Director shall govern the collection, administration, and enforcement of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax.
15.Vendor Fee. No vendor fee shall be permitted or withheld with respect to the collection and remittance of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax.
16.Distribution of Sales Tax Revenue. The Board of County Commissioners shall be responsible for and shall establish policies and procedures concerning the oversight and distribution of proceeds from the collection of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax, and shall define the term “Affordable Housing” for the purpose of the distribution of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax.
17. Deposit and Expenditure of Revenue.
(A)The County shall establish an Affordable Housing Fund within which all revenues and expenditures from the Affordable Housing Sales Tax shall be deposited and accounted for.
(B)Up to three percent (3%) of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax collected may be used for administrative purposes associated with administrating the Affordable Housing Fund.
(C)After payment of the administrative expenses described in Section 17(B) above, moneys remaining in the Affordable Housing Fund shall be used for the purpose of distributing grants to multijurisdictional and county housing authorities established in Adams
purpose of expanding the availability of affordable housing for the benefit of the
and
Public Notices
to the registered electors no later than ten days after the adoption of this Resolution.
19.If a majority of the votes cast on the issue of the imposition of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax are in favor of such ballot issue, in accordance with §29-2-106, C.R.S. the Clerk and Recorder shall provide the Colorado Department of Revenue with a written notice of the adoption of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax, along with a copy of this Resolution, no later than forty-five days before January 1, 2025. 20.The officers and employees of the County are hereby authorized and directed to take all action necessary or appropriate to effectuate the provisions of this Resolution.
21.The rate of the Affordable Housing Sales Tax and the deposit of revenues collected as set forth in this Resolution shall not be amended, altered, or otherwise changed unless first submitted to a vote of the registered electors of the County for their approval or rejection. Other provisions of this Resolution may be amended as necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Resolution by resolution adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in accordance with Colorado law.
22.All actions consistent with the provisions of this Resolution heretofore taken by the members of the Board of County Commissioners and the officers and employees of the County and directed toward holding the election for the purposes states herein are hereby ratified, approved and confirmed.
23.All prior acts, orders or resolutions, or parts thereof, by the County inconsistent or in conflict with this Resolution are hereby repealed to the extent only of such inconsistency or conflict.
24.If any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this Resolution shall be adjudged invalid or unenforceable, the invalidity or unenforceability of such section, paragraph, clause or provision shall not affect any of the remaining sections, paragraphs, clauses or provisions of this Resolution, it being the intention that the various parts hereof are severable.
25.The cost of the election shall be paid from the County’s general fund.
26.This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage.
Legals
Metro Districts Budget Hearings
Public Notice
NOTICE AS TO BUDGET AMENDMENT
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a proposed budget amendment has been submitted to the BELLE CREEK METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 1 for the year of 2023. A copy of such proposed budget amendment has been filed in the office of the District, 58 Inverness Drive East, Suite 100, in Englewood, Colorado, where the same is open for public inspection. Such proposed budget amendment will be considered and final action taken at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Belle Creek Metropolitan District No. 1 on September 13, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at 10693 Belle Creek Boulevard, Henderson and via zoom.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/849434629
65?pwd=WwMANCONyCOfWWcqopY
XyRaKQKKCXN.1
Meeting ID: 849 4346 2965
Passcode: 669909
Any interested elector within the Belle Creek Metropolitan District No. 1 may, at any time prior to the final adoption of the budget amendment, file or register his objections thereto.
Dated: September 4, 2024
BELLE CREEK METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 1
By: /s/ Laurie Tatlock Manager
for the District
Legal Notice No. CCX1411
First Publication: September 12, 2024
Last Publication: September 12, 2024
Publisher: Commerce City Sentinel Express
THIRD CREEK
METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2 ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Sections 29-1-108 and 109, C.R.S., that an amended budget has been submitted to the Board of Directors of the Third Creek Metropolitan District No. 2 (the “District”) for the fiscal year 2024. Copies of the 2024 amended budget are on file in the office of the District’s Accountant, CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP 8390 Crescent Parkway, Suite 300, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, where same are available for public inspection. Such 2024 amended budget will be considered at a regular meeting to be held on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. via video/ teleconference. Any interested elector within the District may, at any time prior to the final adoption of the 2024 amended budget, inspect the 2024 amended budget and file or register any objections thereto.
To attend via videoconference, e-mail chelsea.bojewski@claconnect.com to obtain a link to the videoconference.
To attend via telephone, dial 1-720-5475281, and enter phone conference ID 149 496 46#.
THIRD CREEK METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2
/s/ MaryAnn McGeady McGEADY BECHER P.C. Attorneys for the District
Legal Notice No. CCX1410
First Publication: September 12, 2024
Last Publication: September 12, 2024
Publisher: Commerce City Sentinel Express
Public Notice
NOTICE OF HEARING ON PROPOSED 2024 BUDGET AMENDMENT
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that proposed budget amendment for 2024 has been submitted to the Third Creek
and seconded
Aye Tedesco Excused
Pinter Aye
O’Dorisio Aye
Baca Excused Commissioners STATE OF COLORADO ) County of Adams ) I, Josh Zygielbaum , County Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners in and for the County and State aforesaid do hereby certify that the annexed and foregoing Order is truly copied from the Records of the Proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners for said Adams County, now in my office. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said County, at Brighton, Colorado this 27th day of August A.D. 2024.
County Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners Josh Zygielbaum: By:
Metropolitan District No. 2 (“District”). Such proposed amended budget will be considered at a meeting and public hearing of the Boards of Directors of the Districts to be held via telephone and videoconference at 11:00 a.m. on September 19, 2024. To attend and participate by telephone, dial 1-720-547-5281 and enter passcode 149 496 46#. Information regarding public participation by videoconference will be available at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and public hearing online at www.thirdcreekmd2.com.
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that copies of the proposed amended 2024 budget, if required, are available for public inspection at the offices of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, 8390 East Crescent Parkway, Suite 300, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111. Please contact Gigi Pangindian by email at Gigi.Pangindian@claconnect.com or by telephone at (303) 265-7821 to make arrangements to inspect the proposed amended budget prior to visiting the foregoing office. Any interested elector within the District may, at any time prior to final adoption of the amended 2024 budget, if required, file or register any objections thereto.
THIRD CREEK METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2
By: /s/ Kent Pedersen, President
Legal Notice No. CCX1408
First Publication: September 12, 2024
Last Publication: September 12, 2024
Publisher: Commerce City Sentinel Express
Bids and Settlements
Public Notice
NOTICE OF FINAL PAYMENT
NOTICE is hereby given that the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District (“District”) of Adams County, Colorado, will make final payment at its offices at 6595 E. 70th Avenue, Commerce City, Colorado 80022 on September 30, 2024, at the hour of 3:00 p.m. to PCL Construction of Denver, CO for all work done by said Contractor(s) in construction work
Project Location: Primarily located at the Klein Water Treatment Facility between the EWSF and GAC facilities on the east side
Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender, or other supplies used or consumed by any contractors or their subcontractors, in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done or that supplies rental machinery, tools, or equipment to the extent used in the prosecution of the work, and whose claim therefor has not been paid by the contractors or their subcontractors, at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, is required to file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid, and an account of such claim, to the District at the above address, Attn: Dawn Fredette, District Clerk, on or before the date and time hereinabove shown. Failure on the part of any claimant to file such verified statement of claim prior to such final settlement will release the District, its Board of Directors, officers, agents, and employees, of and from any and all liability for such claim.
All of the above is pursuant to §38-26107, C.R.S.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SOUTH ADAMS COUNTY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT acting through its SOUTH ADAMS COUNTY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT ACTIVITY ENTERPRISE
By: /s/ Vicki Ennis Secretary
Legal Notice No. CCX1409
First Publication: September 12,
HOPPERS
Farmers, including Bay in Otero County, are on their third out of four cuts of alfalfa for the season, and still keeping an eye on the grasshoppers. Alfalfa is most vulnerable to grasshoppers when it’s just beginning to grow and “they can mow it right down,” Bay said. When the plants are taller, grasshoppers can’t destroy it but can decrease its yield, he said.
At Bay’s son-in-law’s ranch, in the southeastern corner of the state, the grasshoppers hatched early and died o when they were small
VOTER VOICES
Our readers also listed a hodgepodge of local issues. ey included inadequate roads and cell phone “dead zones” in Je erson County, a desire to see more conversation around local control issues, the e ects crime has on businesses and how safe people feel in certain parts of the metro area, among other issues.
because there wasn’t enough moisture for them to survive. But Bay has had to deal with two grasshopper hatches, and the second one produced especially big grasshoppers. He and others were forced to spray, he said, and Bay hired a pilot because the alfalfa was too thick to drive a sprayer through it. “Once you spray them, it pretty well kills them,” he said. “You have to watch it real close — you can spray one batch and another batch could hatch.”
Farmers also can scatter an insecticide called EcoBran, which grasshoppers will eat and die. en other grasshoppers, which are cannibals, will eat the dead grasshoppers and die, too. But this is “hit or miss,” Bay
And, some said perceptions of communities as conservative or liberal doesn’t provide an accurate reection of reality.
“Douglas County is a red county, but it’s growing a little more blue, especially where I live in northern Highlands Ranch,” Alex Miller, a 60-year-old Highlands Ranch man who identi es as a liberal, told us.
“Based on the yard signs in the last election, my neighborhood had as many Biden signs as Trump signs.
I think it’s a mistake to write o the county as lost to Republicans.”
said, because if the grasshoppers have other things to eat — say, alfalfa or lettuce — they likely won’t eat the wheat bran laced with the chemical carbaryl, which is toxic to insects.
Ranchers have little recourse, since their grazing land is so vast. eir cattle just get less to eat when grasshoppers are rampant.
It’s just all part of the season for farmers and ranchers, Bay said. “I gamble every day,” he said. “You gamble with the weather. You gamble with the bugs. So I don’t much like to go to Cripple Creek.”
On the bright side for hunters: e doves are thick this year thanks to grasshopper abundance, and dove hunting season starts this month.
Candidates can improve by focusing on the issues instead of attacking each other, many survey respondents said.
“ e negativity and the bashing, I think, is just very divisive and drives us further apart,” Wylie said.
Jane Dvorak, a moderate from Jefferson County who listed democracy and good government as top concerns, said, “ e lack of respect for di ering opinions/ideas is scary.”
“It’s time to take a hard look at how we talk to each other, make decisions and what is best for the
Bay is optimistic lately, as he nishes the latest cut of alfalfa and moves on to cutting the sorghum, that the grasshoppers will run out of things to eat and fade out. e Arkansas River, which supplies his irrigation water, is getting low now at the end of summer. And it hasn’t rained much lately on the plains.
Bay will also keep hoping for black birds or more doves, the “most awesome” natural control for insects.
“But you can’t order a ock of birds to come in,” he said. “It’s a luck thing.” is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.
whole, not one person/group,” Dvorak wrote.
To voters like C. Michael Litzau, a 65-year-old moderate Adams County voter, the integrity and ethics of political candidates matters as much as their stance on issues.
“What has their experience been like working with groups during di cult circumstances, and how do they resolve con icts?” Litzau said. “A priority for my evaluation of candidates for elected o ce is their ability to act civilly, even in a time of disagreement.”
WINDLER
Butterfly Park
Sealed Bids will be received by Windler Public Improvement Authority, hereinafter referred to as OWNER, at the office of the Authority Engineer, Merrick & Company, 5970 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, until 10:00 AM local time on September 27, 2024 for:
Butterfly Park at Windler
This Contract provides for the construc-
tion of the following: Butterfly Park is approximately 4.5 acres that includes grading, playgrounds, gardens, trails, site furnishings, landscaping, irrigation, and electrical. The park is located northwest of E. 56th Avene and Harvest Road within the Windler community.
Copies of the Bidding Documents may be requested from the Windler Public Improvement Authority, at the email of the Authority Engineer, barney.fix@merrick.com, beginning August 29, 2024. NO PAYMENT REQUIRED.
Bidders must be licensed Contractors in the State of Colorado.
Bids will be received providing unit price
for items; however, the price given will be on a maximum not-to-exceed amount, as described in the Bidding Documents.
The Work is expected to be commenced within sixty (60) days after the Date of Contract.
Bid Security in the amount of five percent (5%) of the total Bid Price must accompany each Bid in the form specified in the Instructions to Bidders.
The Successful Bidder will be required to furnish a Performance Bond, Labor and Material Payment Bond guaranteeing faithful performance and warranty bond for two-years after Substantial Completion, and the payment of all bills and
obligations arising from the performance of the Contract.
The OWNER reserves the right to award the contract by sections, to reject any or all Bids, and to waive any informalities and irregularities therein.
For further information, please contact Barney Fix at Merrick & Company at 303-751-0741.
Legal Notice No. CCX1405
First Publication: August 29, 2024
Last Publication: September
EVENT LOCATION: Arvada Center 6901 Wadsworth Blvd Arvada, CO 80003 https://bit.ly/2024-health-event
