Connecting people, families and communities in the Johnstown-Milliken area
Johnstown: BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
OCTOBER 2016
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VOL 1
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ISSUE 3
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October 2016 Vol. 1 : Issue 3 501 8th Avenue P.O. Box 1690 Greeley, CO 80632
A NOTE FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR Eighty-five 2016 Roosevelt High School graduates are enjoying the fruits of a new Weld County higher education grant program called Bright Futures. At up to $3,000 apiece, that’s good news for those students. But when combined with the 1,384 total students who earned grants this fall, the costs have added up quickly for Weld County, which first envisioned the program more than a year ago. In this edition of Highway 60 Connect, we’ll take a look at whether the good-intentioned program with tons of potential will be sustainable in the long run.
For all editorial, advertising subscription and circulation inquires, call (970) 352-0211 Send editorial-related comments and story ideas to: tsilvy@highway60connect.com For advertising inquiries, contact bdennis@highway60connect.com
PUBLISHER Bryce Jacobson EDITOR Randy Bangert CREATIVE MANAGER Kyle Knoop BUSINESS MANAGER Doug Binder MANAGING EDITOR Tyler Silvy CREATIVE SERVICES SUPERVISOR Amy Mayer
Thanks for reading! TYLER SILVY, Managing Editor
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Catherine Sweeney Sharon Dunn Tyler Silvy Kelly Ragan Trevor Reid
Come by and try one of our
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Joshua Polson Alyson McClaran
BREAKFAST & LUNCH SPECIALS! Unique thrift items also for sale
24-10-50-51
SALES MANAGER Bruce Dennis 2016 2014
Best of
914 BROAD STREET MILLIKEN, CO (970) 587-1117
703 MAIN ST PLATTEVILLE, CO (970) 785-6171
Two locations open 7 days a week 7am – 2pm 2014
Best of
SALES STAFF Sue Lapcewich Heather Marrow
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 3
WHAT’S INSIDE...
Photo by Alyson McClaran
Photo by Joshua Polson
Photo by Joshua Polson
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After floodwaters turned Milliken into an island, county leaders take time to reflect
With school enrollment stagnant and business booming. Johnstown officials look toward solution
In Johnstown and Milliken, it depends on who you ask
Is the Weld County Bright Futures program sustainable in the long run?
LESSONS FROM FLOOD
P. 5 State officials investigate fish kill
Photo by Alyson McClaran
ROOFTOPS WANTED
P. 6 Calendar of Events
LACK OF LIQUOR
P. 7 Johnstown Company gets Greeley Gig
FUTURE IN DOUBT
P. 18 Facility offers care for variety of mental health needs
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GOOD TO KNOW
Photo by Alyson McClaran
MILLIKEN Milliken Athletic Complex 320 Centennial Drive, Milliken (970) 660-8750 Milliken Town Hall 1101 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-4331
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Milliken Public Works 2951 Ash St., Milliken (970) 587-8723 Johnstown-Milliken Chamber of Commerce 1109 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-0699 Milliken Police Department 1201 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-2772
JOHNSTOWN Johnstown Town Hall 450 South Parish Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-4664 Johnstown Public Works 450 South Parish Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-9103 Johnstown Police Department 430 South Parish Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-5555 Johnstown Municipal Court 450 South Parish Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-4664 Johnstown Community Center 101 Charlotte St., Johnstown (970) 587-4664
MillikenAnimalClinic.com info@millikenanimalclinic.com 1004 Broad St. Milliken, CO 80543 For an appointment please call: 970-518-1252
Best of 2016
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 5
STATE OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE FISH KILL IN JOHNSTOWN WATER By Catherine Sweeney For Highway 60 Connect
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ohnstown water officials are under investigation for inadvertently killing almost 1,000 fish in the town’s reservoir this summer. In an effort to treat an algae outbreak, a worker put a chemical compound into the water that ended up suffocating 972 fish, Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said last month. On July 29, the employee applied 40 pounds of copper sulfate — often used as a pesticide — to the reservoir. “That has been used in the past with no issues,” she said. That wasn’t the case this time. Several days later, hundreds of dead fish washed ashore. Officials instructed the Johnstown Police Department’s animal control division to clean the mess, and then reported the incident to the division of wildlife, Churchill said. The reservoir, which is north of Colo. 60 and
east of High Plains Boulevard, is used for the town’s drinking water and recreational fishing. Officials didn’t express any concern about public health as a result of the chemical in the water. Higher concentrations can cause nausea. The compound can cause eye irritation, but swimming isn’t allowed in the reservoir. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials got involved because the agency supplies the fish for the lake, as it does for many fishing ponds across the state. “When we have fish killed, it’s not uncommon for there to be reimbursement for the fish,” Churchill said. As of today, Churchill said officials aren’t considering criminal charges or fines. “We’re hopeful that we can get it resolved
» FOR MORE For general information on copper sulfate, go to www.npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ cuso4gen.html. For more information on the Johnstown reservoir and its Lake Park, go to www.goo.gl/EeAlki.
without any kind of litigation,” said Johnstown Town Attorney Avi Rocklin. Officials didn’t notify residents of the kill on its website or Facebook page. “There was talk about putting something out there, but I can’t tell you whether that was done or not,” Rocklin said. It also hasn’t been on any town council meeting agendas for public discussion. “Obviously, we’re still in the middle of an investigation,” she said. “It may be premature to be having conversations about it.” Copper sulfate-caused fish kills aren’t unique, according to a fact sheet from the National Pesticide Information Center. However, the chemical doesn’t poison them. Sudden plant death and decomposition depletes the lake’s oxygen, and dead plants can clog gills. Neither Greeley’s water department nor the Northern Water Conservancy District use the compound.
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OCT/NOV EVENTS 10.29
11.2
11.7
11.9
Milliken Halloween Family Fun Night, 5:30 p.m. Milliken Middle School, 266 S Irene Ave. millikenco.gov/calendar.php Planning Commission, 7 p.m. Meeting House, 1101 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-4331. Town Council Meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 450 Parish Ave. Johnstown www.townofjohnstown.com.
Planning and Zoning Commission, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 450 Parish Ave. Johnstown www.townofjohnstown.com/120/ Boards-and-Commissions
Town Board Meeting, 7 p.m. Meeting House, 1101 Broad St., Milliken. (970) 587-4331.
11.11
11.16
11.17
11.21
11.23
Alzheimer’s Support Group, 10:30 a.m. Johnstown Senior Center, 101 Charlotte St. (970) 587-5251. Planning Commission, 7 p.m. Meeting House, 1101 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-4331. Milliken Housing Authority, 1:30 p.m. Meeting House, 1101 Broad St., Milliken www.millikenco.gov/calendar.php. Town Council Meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 450 Parish Ave. Johnstown www.townofjohnstown.com.
Planning and Zoning Commission, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 450 Parish Ave. Johnstown, www.townofjohnstown.com/120/Boards-and-Commissions
Town Board Meeting, 7 p.m. Meeting House, 1101 Broad St., Milliken. (970) 587-4331.
Photos by Alyson McClaran
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 7
JOHNSTOWN COMPANY GETS
$250,000 GREELEY GIG By Catherine Sweene For Highway 60 Connect
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Johnstown-based company has been hired to bring dozens of parking spaces to downtown Greeley, Weld County officials confirmed earlier this month. The 78-parking-spot project will cost more than $250,000, and the Board of Weld County Commissioners approved a bid for the project in early October. DCP Civil LLC, a firm based in Johnstown, will build a gravel lot across the street from the GreeleyEvans School District 6 headquarters, at the 9th Avenue and 11th Street intersection. Crews plan to complete the lot so
people can use it during the winter, Buildings and Grounds Director Toby Taylor wrote in a memo. Crews will hold off on laying asphalt until the spring. Asphalt plants shut down in the cold months, said Communications Director Jennifer Finch. Officials will send the paving project out for bid later and plan to carry it out in the spring. The commissioners agreed to pay DCP Civil $260,529 for the project. The new lot will displace three buildings on the corner, one of
which has already been demolished. As for the other two, officials have hired a contractor for demolition, and they’re working together on a schedule, Taylor said in an earlier interview. Officials reviewed six bids last month and decided to take a few weeks to review them. They went with the low bid Monday. Downtown Greeley’s largest private employer, Animal Health, renewed its lease in March and plans to bring 20 more employees into the area. The company is headquartered at the county-owned Chase Building, 822 7th St., and supplies veterinary
health equipment. Weld officials are remodeling a section of the Chase building to move in 124 Child Welfare Division employees this winter. Downtown parking has been a hot topic in Greeley for years, and an incoming hotel and conference center will put more pressure on officials. Even with the development, which will displace two lots, officials say there is sufficient parking, citing a study released earlier this year. The same study suggested Greeley will, in a few years, need a parking garage in the area.
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District CCWCD develops water storage supplies, change of use of senior water rights & groundwater recharge projects for direct irrigation use or as augmentation supplies for members. • Water quality testing •Education outreach programs • Actively involved with water legislative efforts to protect water
www.ccwcd.org
970-330-4540
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LESSONS FROM A FLOOD Three years after floodwaters turned Milliken into an island, county leaders take time to reflect By Catherine Sweeney // photos by Joshua Polson For Highway 60 Connect
A home is surrounded by water Monday afternoon in Evans. Several neighborhoods in the area were ravaged by fast currents and debris during the flood.
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riving from Milliken to Johnstown and back should take 10 minutes. That Saturday, it took Julie Cozad hours. When the Flood of 2013 raged at its worst, as it did three years ago, it turned simple errands into adventures. Most things could wait a few days, but some things, like getting a prescription filled, couldn’t. Cozad was trying to get those medications for her customers, the residents of Milliken who desperately needed them. One of them had just had surgery. But most of the roads in and out of Milliken were rivers. Officials managed to get all of the prescriptions transferred over to Hays Market in Johnstown. Cozad had to find a way to get there. On the way, Cozad saw the damage and debris. Johnstown and Milliken are close to most of the area’s rivers — the Big Thompson and Little Thompson, the South Platte and the Poudre. That week, all of them overflowed, tearing up roads, turning farmland into lakes and inundating homes. The rivers turned Milliken into an island. “We were so isolated,” Cozad said. “People couldn’t come in and help us.” The September 2013 floods were the worst Colorado had seen in decades. A trillion gallons of water rushed through Weld County. Hundreds of people were evacuated, sleeping in makeshift shelters, such as middle schools and churches. Sewage systems were knocked out, which meant residents in Evans couldn’t take a shower, wash their dishes or flush their toilets. Highways and homes were destroyed. Weld County Commissioner Julie Cozad stands on the bank of the South Platte River on last month outside of Greeley. After her experience as mayor pro-tem in Milliken during the 2013 floods, she used what she had learned to pursue a career as a Weld County commissioner.
Weld County has had its share of natural disasters. A tornado damaged hundreds of homes in Windsor in 2008. Blizzards hit every few years. But Weld hadn’t ever experienced anything like the Flood of 2013. For some county officials, it was a first taste of chaos. Three years later, they’ve moved up in their careers, and they brought with them insights from that time that can’t be taught.
SLOSHING THROUGH
About a year before she was elected county commissioner, Cozad was sloshing through a drenched Milliken, calling the shots while even the town’s own mayor couldn’t get in. She kept a log of what happened that first week, after the pelting rains saturated the ground and became the flood everyone associates with Friday the 13th. That morning, Cozad thought she was going to work from home because of the bad weather. She didn’t know yet how bad it would get. “Then we had a bunch of things going on all at once,” she said. First came the emergency notification call: All roads in and out were closed. Then she found out families were being evacuated. The rain falling on Weld and the areas upstream weren’t their only problem. Because of the sopping ground, a train derailed, and no one knew what it was carrying. Gas lines broke under the floodwater’s pressure. Oil tank batteries were floating around. Help came after the first few days, but until then, Milliken was on its own.
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122
bridges wiped out
140 7K 64 $230 million $12 million $1.7 $41 billion million
irrigation canals damaged closed roads
parcels of land affected by flood water
of damage in Weld County
damage to oil and gas facilities
damage to state and local infrastructure
in FEMA distributions in Weld County
54,000 lbs.
of food collected in just one day by the Weld Food Bank (the largest single-day collection in its history)
$1.4 million
distributed from the Weld Recovery Fund
File photo
A mobile home park had been destroyed. Other homes held together but were uninhabitable. Officials had to figure out how to set up an emergency shelter. “We couldn’t wait until the Red Cross got here, or until another agency could help us set it up,” Cozad said. “We had no choice. We had 200 people that had been evacuated.” Keeping people safe inside the shelters was tough, but keeping people safe outside of them wasn’t any easier. Officials had told everyone to stay put. They put up barriers to block dangerous roads. People who were safe didn’t have many resources. Milliken doesn’t have a grocery store. It has two gas station convenience stops and a Dollar General, Cozad said. By 2 p.m. Friday, they were all out of bottled water. They were starting to run short on gasoline. Given the short supplies, some drove anyway. One mother took her daughter and tried to get to Greeley. They had to cross a bridge on Two Rivers Parkway. They didn’t make it, and a search and rescue team had to go retrieve them. In the shelter, people weren’t sure what to feed the families. “They look at the leaders in the community to make those decisions,” Cozad said. “I’d go in the kitchen and start looking at things.”
“ “WE WERE SO
ISOLATED,” COZAD SAID. “PEOPLE COULDN’T COME IN AND HELP US.”
DOWN IN THE TRENCHES
ABOVE: A wooden cutout of a little girl crying says it all as it sits in front a group of trash dumpsters surrounded by flood debris in 2014 at the Evergreen Mobile Home Park in Milliken. BELOW: A van is taped off after the bridge beneath it collapsed when flood waters were higher on 18th Street in east Greeley in September of 2013 after flood waters began to subside.
was so much need for communication at that time, the system just flat out couldn’t handle it.” Getting word out to residents wasn’t any easier. “Reverse 911 doesn’t work so good if they’ve evacuated because of the flood,” he said. The event made the sheriff’s office turn to more modern ways to communicate. Instead of depending on the radios, they started using text messages and internet messaging. Since then, they’ve refined their software. They have a system that can send out hundreds of text messages at once, Reams said. Facebook and Twitter started getting more action. They updated road closings, shelter hours and other items using social media. They released messages urging residents to keep from driving around barriers. They used it to reconnect families. Reams quickly learned during the floods that the public information officer position was a full-time job, he said. Now it officially is one. The 2013 floods were the worst since the storm that washed out the Big Thompson Canyon in 1976. Almost four decades had passed between the two tragedies, which made many feel that ever-familiar “it can’t happen to us” feeling. “It was pretty life-changing for me,” Cozad said. “It opened my eyes to the fact that these things can happen. “I feel much better about being ready if something happens in Weld County than I did three years ago.” Officials learned about themselves, their abilities, and what they wanted to change about the organizations they joined. But they also learned about the people their organizations serve. “From the tragedy came really positive things,” Reams said. “It was really neat to see the community come together. You saw that a lot. It was impressive, very impressive.”
Sheriff Steve Reams, during the floods, was down in the trenches, too. He was the bureau chief over the patrolmen, and he was the public information officer for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office deals with all kinds of natural disasters; it’s responsible for search and rescue. But Reams hadn’t seen anything like this. “We’ve had multiple snow storms,” he said. “Those are usually isolated to one community. … In two or three days, the snow is melting. With the flood, it was much more significant than that. Gosh, that’s something we’ve never really thought of, a flood coming through the county and essentially cutting the county in two halves.” In the same way it made Milliken an island, the flood waters cut through parts of Weld and made travel impossible. “We had to be able to modify the way we did business,” Reams said. “We had natural land barriers that had been created.” He and his crews ran into two major problems: communication and travel. Reams needed to coordinate with other people in the office. He needed to communicate with the public. Both proved trying. There were more people needing to talk than there were radio channels for them to use. “I was really overwhelmed pretty quick,” he said. “There
Deputies and staff pass Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams as he poses for a photo in front of his office earlier this year at the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, 1950 O St., in Greeley. Reams was among the public officials helping during the flood in 2013.
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ROOFTOPS WANTED With school enrollment stagnant and business booming. Johnstown leaders look toward solution By Trevor Reid For Highway 60 Connect
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s retail development in Johnstown booms, a standstill in residential development has town leaders working toward a solution. To attract residential developers, Johnstown is putting together a Model Service Plan that would enable developers to form residential metropolitan districts. Metropolitan districts provide developers with financing by issuing tax-exempt bonds and other debt obligations. This form of financing makes public improvements such as infrastructure possible where traditional forms of financing fall short. To pay the debt, the district has authority to assess mill levies and impose fees on those who move the district. Districts are political subdivisions of the state. Districts are therefore not governed by the town, but instead by the district’s Service Plan and its board of directors. The Service Plan must first be approved by the Town Council, which may limit powers such as imposing fees. Once the document is approved, the developer holds an organizational election to determine its board of directors. Johnstown interest in metropolitan districts began in February, during a joint work session between the Town Council and the Johnstown-Milliken Re-5J School District. During the work session, Superintendent Marty Foster explained that flat enrollment rates have put the school district in a bind. Mayor Scott James, who was a council member at the time, wanted to address the issue. “I kind of looked around the room, and I saw everybody with blank looks on their faces and they said ‘we don’t know what to do, we don’t know what to do.’ So I asked Marty point blank, ‘What do you need from the town?’” James recalled. “More rooftops,” Foster answered. “Bring us more homes so that there’s places for people to live because the school district cannot grow anymore because everything’s pretty much built out in the subdivisions.” Eager to help out the school district, James contacted retail production builders to get to the heart of the problem. They answered back without hesitation. Though eager to build in Johnstown, the availability of traditional financing, such as bank or venture capitalist financing, simply wasn’t there. “And quite frankly every other municipality around us – every other one – has metropolitan district policies,” James said. “It became apparent to me pretty darn fast that we better change
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 11
our policies regarding metropolitan districts and look at a Model Service Plan.” When Gary White, the founder of the largest Colorado law firm specializing in metro districts, heard about the issues Johnstown faced with its lack of metro districts, he approached the Town Council. During a July session, White helped the council determine the best strategies for its own Model Service Plan. “One of the greatest concerns was making sure that if a model is adopted that appropriate kinds of improvements are financed and that property owners are well advised in advance of the property taxes,” White said. “In the end, the Council was receptive to creating an environment in which current landowners in Johnstown can be competitive in the marketplace to attract high-quality homebuilders.” Because funds are paid for by those who directly benefit from the resulting amenities instead of being paid for by the town as a whole, metro districts have been gaining in popularity. By providing funding and attracting developers, metro districts sound like a simple solution to a complicated problem. Without careful planning, however, metro districts can fail. In Loveland, where there is no set policy for approving metro districts, a district called Deer Meadows went bankrupt due to a lack of uniformity with surrounding areas. Charging more than three times in property taxes than a neighboring subdivision, Deer Meadows’ particularly high property taxes spelled doom for the district. White explained that uniformity is key to thriving districts. “If a model service plan is adopted, and it remains uniform from one district to the next, administration of the districts by the town will be simple, no particular development will have a better competitive position with respect to the content of the service plan and homeowners will be on equal footing with respect to taxes as compared to other surrounding jurisdictions,” White said. By keeping these considerations in mind as the Town Council drafts its Model Service Plan, Johnstown has the opportunity for residential growth to catch up with the town’s ever increasing commercial growth. Mayor James said the town will look at everything before approving a district’s service plan. “In order to receive our permission for that type of financing vehicle, the developer will have to show a considerable benefit to the people who move in there. We’re talking clubhouse amenities, pools, trails, walking spaces, what will make the community truly unique,” he said. The Town Council anticipates the Model Service Plan will be up for approval by the first meeting of November. Mayor James said things should all fall into place after that. “There are developers that are lined up and ready to go, quite frankly, once we bring that kind of financing online for them,” he said. “I’m very excited because that will probably be anywhere between 700 and upwards of 1,200 rooftops.”
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“BRING US MORE HOMES SO THAT THERE’S PLACES FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE BECAUSE THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANNOT GROW ANYMORE BECAUSE EVERYTHING’S PRETTY MUCH BUILT OUT IN THE SUBDIVISIONS.”
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PARKS & REC
MILLIKEN
Photo by Alyson McClaran
YOUR SCHOOLS
Weld County RE-5J School District
Ada Park, located South of Broad Street (Highway 60) on Aragon Court Fireman’s Park, located on Broad Street (Highway 60) next Milliken’s Fire Department Milliken Fitness Park, located on Lilac Street and Rachel Court in the Frank Farms Subdivision Florence Park, located on Holly Street between Rachel Avenue and Tamara Avenue, in the middle of Frank Farms Subdivision Hillsboro Skate Park, located at Harriet Avenue and Elm Street Lola Park, located on Forest Street, between Irene and Josephine avenues Mountain View Park, located off of Juneberry and Olive streets in Milliken’s residential area Sappington Park, located off of Schoolhouse Drive on the west side of Knowledge Quest Academy
JOHNSTOWN Clearview Park, located in the Clearview Subdivision Eddie Aragon Park, located in the Johnstown Center Subdivision between South Parish Avenue and Castle Pines Avenue between the Post Office and Library Hays Park, located in the Country Acres Subdivision on Country Acres Drive and Harding Avenue Lake Park, take Highway 60 to High Plains Boulevard, turn right onto Rocksbury Lane
Photo by Alyson McClaran
Administration Building 110 South Centennial Drive, Suite A, Milliken (970) 587-6050 • weldre5j.k12.co.us Letford Elementary School 2 Jay Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-6150 • letford.weldre5j.k12.co.us Pioneer Ridge Elementary School 2300 Cinnamon Teal Ave., Johnstown (970) 587-8100 • pioneerridge.weldre5j.k12.co.us Milliken Elementary School 100 Broad St., Milliken (970) 587-6200 • millikenes.weldre5j.k12.co.us Milliken Middle School 266 S. Irene Ave., Milliken (970) 587-6300 • millikenms.weldre5j.k12.co.us
Parish Park, located at Charlotte Street and Raymond Avenue Rolling Hills Ranch Park, located in Rolling Hills Ranch Subdivision on Rolling Hills Parkway Pioneer Ridge Park, located in the Stroh Farm Subdivision, west of Pioneer Ridge Elementary School, at the corner of Cinnamon Teal Avenue and Saxony Road Sunrise Park, located at the North end of Greeley Avenue and also accessed off North 6th Street near Jay Avenue
Roosevelt High School 616 N 2nd St., Johnstown (970) 587-6000 • roosevelt.weldre5j.k12.co.us Knowledge Quest Academy 705 School House Drive, Milliken (970) 587-5742 • kqatrailblazers.org
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 13
LACK OF LIQUOR? In Johnstown and Milliken, it depends on who you ask By Trevor Reid For Highway 60 Connect
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fter the former owner of Johnstown Liquor pleaded guilty to tax evasion last year, questions sprung up about the store’s future. The new owner, Arnold Martinez, put those questions to rest as he opened the store on September 20. “We want to get bigger, and we want to get to the point where people know us. I think now, everybody knows (about the store), but those are the old owners,” Martinez said. “We do business a little bit different than the old owners.” Martinez, 58, has been in the business for 10 years. Martinez is a resident of Greeley, where he operates Gordon’s Liquor Mart. “We heard about a sale of the store back in January. I inquired at that point. It was for sale, but then it was taken off the market two months later. Then some legal things
“ “WE WANT TO
GET BIGGER, AND WE WANT TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE PEOPLE KNOW US.”
happened, and they called me up and asked if I was still interested,” he explained. After Martinez purchased the store, he became familiar with what attracts the store’s large customer base. The largest liquor store in Johnstown and Milliken, there are obvious factors such as a better selection and lower prices. Another major factor for the store’s popularity is its clean and friendly environment, Martinez said. But he was still left wondering one thing: why are there so few liquor stores in Johnstown and Milliken? Johnstown Liquor is one of only three stores
shared between the two towns, and the only liquor store in Johnstown. East of Johnstown Liquor, McCutters is a small liquor store just off Highway 257. With a drive-thru window, customers can easily swing by the store to purchase their libations on-the-go. On Milliken’s Broad Street sits Milliken Liquors, another store of relatively small size. Though the store’s selection is fairly small, it provides more options for craft beers than McCutters. Owner Jim Gardner, 70, said craft beers sales are always rising at the store. “I have seen the people increase by over 2,000 since I opened, and so that has increased my sales: there’s more people available than there were 20 years ago,” Gardener said. Touting a customer appreciation program with 1,500 registered customers, Gardner said business has only improved over the years. As business grows, however, Gardner doesn’t see any more liquor stores popping up in the near future. Not in Milliken at least. “There isn’t enough business, I don’t think, for another one. Unless they put it in Johnstown,” he said. Milliken resident and homebuilder John Smedley, 46, agrees. “We’re about a 6,000 people population, and the two liquor stores we currently have in Milliken
generally satisfy that need,” Smedley explained. “I don’t think we have a lack of liquor stores here, we just have a change of ownership happening right now. I don’t think it’s a problem.” Despite Gardner’s positive outlook for his business, one uncertainty has him bothered: the outcome of Amendment 72. If the amendment passes this fall, an extra $1.75 tax will be added to each pack of cigarettes, raising the total tax per pack to $2.59. “The last time they raised the price of cigarettes, when they weren’t near that, I lost 25 percent of my sales,” he said. Martinez of Johnstown Liquor said he has no stance on the amendment. Despite its potential impact on the store, he maintains confidence in Johnstown Liquor’s ability to hold its own. “I know this store here is the number one store in northern Colorado as far as cigarette sales, so whether it’s going to affect that or not, only time will tell,” Martinez said. Regardless of the amendment’s outcome, Gardner hopes to sell Milliken Liquors soon so that he can retire. Gardner opened the store about 16 years ago, after leaving the antiques business for medical reasons. He said he’s ready to sell the store any day now. “I have it up for sale because in my age now, with my health being the way it is, I would like to retire. But I can’t retire if I don’t sell the business,” he said. As Gardner searches for new ownership for his store, residents continue to wonder about the future of Johnstown and Milliken’s liquor stores. Smedley used the Alibi, a new bar that opened in Milliken earlier this year, as an example to illustrate his confidence in Milliken’s small businesses. “This town has always had pretty much two bars. When there was the Burnout and JT’s, JT’s ceased to exist - this one springs up. It’s economics,” Smedley said. “We’re going to provide enough business to support the people around here.”
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FUTURE IN DOUBT
By Tyler Silvy // photos by Joshua Polson For Highway 60 Connect
Is the Weld County Bright Futures program sustainable in the long run?
W
hen Brady Cobb walked into the Big 97.9 radio station with 34-year radio veteran Scott James last year, he knew this was his future. Cobb, a 2016 Platte Valley High School graduate, was taking a concurrent enrollment course at Aims Community College called Radio Production 1. James, who is also the mayor of Johnstown, was his teacher. “ He took us over to (the station), and that really sparked my interest,” Cobb said. But Cobb wasn’t sure how he would pay for school to make his dream a reality until his counselor approached him one day. “My counselor in high school stopped me in the hallway and said, ‘Fill this out,’ ” Cobb said. Cobb had a future, up to $3,000 per year in tuition for four years, thanks to the Weld County Bright Futures program. Now Cobb is pursuing an associate degree in radio production at Aims. He’s one of 1,384 Weld County students who earned the first-of-its-kind scholarship. And 85 Roosevelt High School graduates are taking advantage as well. “It has helped me out a lot,” Cobb said. “It has basically paid my way here to Aims. If I didn’t have Bright Futures, I wouldn’t be able to pay for my gas to get here.” But Cobb’s feel-good story, and those of the rest of the first Bright Futures class, may be short lived. Funding those dreams is not cheap. The 1,300-plus students have received $1.1 million in scholarships for just the fall semester, and with the fundraising needed to power the program barely keeping pace, it’s unclear how long the new program will last. The program relies on donations that are offset by property tax rebates the county provides from a $15 million fund. In the year since the program was established, the county has raised just $1.1 million. In January, another $1.1 million bill will be due for this first class of Bright Futures, meaning the county will likely fight an uphill battle to keep the program sustainable. They already got lucky once: Another $1.6 million infusion came from oil and gas production on the Pawnee National Grassland, a payment county officials neither expected nor one they can count on in the future with the oil and gas downturn. When the county is four classes of students into its program, and contributing $4-plus-million per semester, keeping the program alive could be even trickier. Still, after a year of working out the kinks associated with starting a unique program — technological hurdles, communication, etc. — Weld County Commissioner Mike Freeman remains optimistic. “I think we’re feeling really, really good about it,” Freeman said. “We’ve got good numbers and good fundraising. I think we’ll see the numbers improve as we go forward.” Freeman’s optimism is tied to the promise of the program, the promise to Cobb and others. Freeman imagines thousands of stories like Cobb’s. It’s why he and other commissioners sought a change to state law to allow the county to create this program, and why they solicit donations on the promise of property tax rebates: Weld residents can now help pay into what officials hope is truly a bright future. “I was visiting with somebody who has three kids going to school,” Freeman said. “One of them, if it wasn’t for Bright Futures, had no possibility to go to college. A first-generation graduate; first in the family to go to college. That, really to me, is what this is about.”
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 15
Brady Cobb smiles as he talks on the Aims Community College student radio station in September at the college in Greeley. Cobb, a Platte Valley High School graduate, was one of the recipients of the Bright Futures scholarship. He’s now using the scholarship to pursue a career in radio.
It’s also about increasing the education level of Weld County’s workforce, hence the designation of Bright Futures as a workforce development program. The idea being that a more educated workforce will attract businesses and better jobs to Weld County and pave the way for mass prosperity. The hope, for county and school district officials alike, is that Bright Futures hangs as a carrot in front of high school seniors. “When we’re talking with kids about college and career planning, we can now say, ‘And here’s a way you can pay for that,’” said Deirdre Pilch, Greeley-Evans School District 6 superintendent. And yet, commissioners seemed to have a hard time running the program with the money that’s in place. When Weld County launched the program September 2015, officials planned to eventually add two full-time positions. They got by with one this year, barely, and they needed help to do it. Not only did that person have to process applications from 1,300-plus students, she had to communicate with every higher education institution those students would attend. Weld County pays the institutions rather than the students, and if students slip below a 2.0 GPA, the money goes away. That meant dealing with 168 colleges and universities ranging from The Academy of Natural Therapy in Greeley to Yale University. Next year, when another 1,300-plus students get scholarships, the workload doubles. The same is true for the next three years until the program is in full swing in the fall of 2019. Commissioners raised questions when they said the grants would allow students to attend higher education institutions anywhere in the United States, but the majority of students are staying in Colorado, highlighted by 242 attending the University of Northern Colorado and 398 attending Aims. “We never expected we would see a three- almost four-page list of institutions we’re going to have to deal with,” Freeman said. “Which is great. We’re letting kids have this many different options, and I’m just thrilled about that as well.”
Even though he picked an in-state, in-county institution, Cobb would likely agree. And he’s got some advice for Weld County high school seniors who get approached by counselors in school hallways this year: Fill out the form. “People coming out of high school don’t have the excuse any more of not going to school,” Cobb said. “Because there is a way that you can go to school now, and it’s really nice to know that.”
By the numbers 85 2,500 1,384 2016 Roosevelt High School graduates are currently benefiting from the program.
Number of students who took advantage of Weld County Bright Futures grants, available to all Weld County high school graduates.
140
Estimated number of Weld County high school 2016 graduates.
55%
It’s 55% of graduates. But, the scholarships were available for students who live in Weld too, meaning…
Students who graduated from high schools located outside of Weld County earned Bright Futures grants. In fact… of the 59 high schools that had
24
2
GED recipients received the scholarship.
students earn Weld County Bright Futures scholarships are located outside of Weld.
1
Honorably discharged veteran received the scholarship.
16 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I OCTOBER 2016
SEVERED
Severance taxes plummet for Weld County municipalities; Johnstown and Milliken to lose nearly $400,000 By Sharon Dunn For Highway 60 Connect
W
eld County and several of its smaller municipalities will see taxes derived from oil and gas production this year slashed more than half, but federal lease royalties on energy production may offset it some. The taxes and royalties are important in that they help communities that are impacted by oil and gas development rebuild infrastructure. The state this year distributed $37.9 million in annual state severance tax and federal mineral lease direct distribution payments to 510 Colorado counties, municipalities, school districts, and federal mineral lease districts. Weld County government, which gets the biggest individual severance tax payment in the state, saw a 65 percent drop in taxes to $1.66 million. All 25 other municipalities in Weld that receive taxes also saw huge hits. Johnstown and Milliken combined to lose nearly $400,000 from 2015 to 2016. But many Weld and local officials have been preparing, knowing a downturn in the industry would create a gap in funding. “We already planned for it,” said Gary Carsten, town administrator for Eaton, where severance taxes dropped 63 percent in the past year to $61,312. “We knew it was going to come, so I was pretty conservative. I’m not a surprised at all. It doesn’t help, but it’s not a surprise.” Smaller towns like Eaton use such money for streets and other necessary infrastructure. Carsten has been working with the state Department of Transportation to get a new street light on the north end of town; these funds would have helped foot the bill, which will come to about $750,000. “We’ll still do it, but it means we’ll have to find other sources of money, but we knew that going in,” Carsten said. A small silver lining is the federal mineral lease royalty for Eaton came in slightly higher this year at $51,338, up 7.6 percent from last year.
In fact, while all Weld towns saw a massive drop in severance taxes, most saw increases in their federal royalties. Greeley is an example of a wash. City officials had been expecting $2 million this year between the two funds — $1.5 million from severance and $500,000 from royalties. Severance taxes actually fell to $1.1 million (down from $3.3 million last year), but federal royalties jumped a skosh to $954,044. “We’re breathing a sigh of relief right now,” said Victoria Runkle, Greeley’s assistant city manager and finance director. Weld County Finance Director Don Warden budgets every year for a five-year average, knowing oil and gas revenues go up and down. When the county gets more than the budgeted average, he stuffs it in a contingency fund. When it goes down, he dips in for a little help. This year, he’ll be dipping into that fund, as severance taxes fell about $334,000 short of expectations. “We’ve had that fund balance, which built up over last few years,” Warden said. “We won’t have to make any cutbacks.” Like Greeley, Weld’s lease royalties grew slightly to $1.39 million, or 2 percent. Next year, however, may be another down year, Warden said. The state Supreme Court ruled in May the state was overcharging oil and gas companies for severance taxes. Original figures on that payback were at $87 million, but Warden said, that amount will come down as officials have since determined that estimate was too high. “The net effect, besides the oil and gas price drop… is that fund will probably be depleted a bit by making refunds to oil and gas companies. I would imagine it will have more of an impact next year.” In fact, Warden expects, the county severance tax distribution next year will be only about $1 million. The state Department of Local Affairs distributes the funds, and noted that statewide, federal lease royalties fell 38 percent. That drop, according to a news release, was partially offset by the General Assembly’s transfer
of nearly $4.5 million from the Local Government Permanent reserve. The growth in Weld federal mineral leases is because it has the lion’s share of permits, wells, development and oil and gas employee population.
SEVERANCE TAXES MUNICIPALITY 2016 / 2015 Ault ...................................................... $17,118 / $56,456 Dacono ................................................ $42,813 / $119,521 Eaton ................................................... $61,312 / $166,203 Erie . ..................................................... $85,326 / $243,452 Evans ................................................... $279,666 / $856,763 Firestone ............................................. $96,814 / $275,862 Fort Lupton . ....................................... $109,272 / $324,519 Frederick ............................................. $96,236 / $269,906 Garden City ........................................ $2,925 / $5,849 Gilcrest ................................................ $18,190 / $56,727 Greeley ................................................ $1.14m / $3.3m Grover................................................... $2,484 / $6,086 Hudson................................................. $20,586 / $62.112 Johnstown............................................ $149,742 / $382,502 Keenesburg.......................................... $15,117 / $42,571 Kersey ................................................. $29,894 / $77,157 LaSalle.................................................. $41,519 / $109,763 Lochbuie.............................................. $55,091 / $152,054 Mead..................................................... $41,648 / $110,044 Milliken................................................ $74,207 / $201,376 Nunn.................................................... $7,415 / $19,344 Pierce.................................................... $12,408 / $29,357 Platteville............................................. $39,561 / $129,121 Raymer................................................. $1,206 / $3,518 Severance............................................ $39,417 / $99,808 Weld County....................................... $1.66m / $4.8m Windsor .............................................. $157,601 / $426,063 Source: Colorado Department of Local Affairs
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 17
63,964 Registered Republican 63, 964 registered Republican voters in Weld County, the highest number of registered voters for any political party, including unaffiliated.
42.18% Obama Vote (2012) 42.18% of voters cast their ballot for Obama, though.
63,653 Registered Unaffiliated
58.84% Romney Vote (2012)
63,653 voters registered as unaffiliated in Weld County.
54.84% cast their vote for Mitt Romney.
40,333 Registered Democrat
16 Options
40,333 voters registered as Democrats in Weld County.
16 options, not including write-in candidates, for president in Weld County in 2012.
24 Registered Unity Party 24 voters registered for the Unity Party, the smallest number of voters registered for any political party. The next smallest is the Green Party, with 360 registered voters.
5 Jerry White Votes 5 votes cast in 2012 for the Jerry White, Phyllis Scherrer Socialist Equality Party ticket, the fewest votes for any presidential option.
94.38% Turnout (2012 Election) 94.38% turnout in the 2012 election that saw President Barack Obama win a second term.
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18 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I OCTOBER 2016
NEEDED CARE Johnstown-based treatment facility offers care for variety of mental health needs
Ashley Rabenski talks about how the open space in the gym area is used and how that activity works into therapy for many patients earlier this month at the Clear View Behavioral Health facility in Johnstown.
By Kelly Ragan // photos by Joshua Polson For Highway 60 Connect
E
ven though suicide is the eighth-leading cause of death in Weld County, inpatient treatment facilities are few and far between. Clear View Behaviorial Health officials hope to help. Last Monday, the center opened its adolescent unit, the final installment in its inpatient care offerings. Clear View Behavioral Health, 4770 Larimer Parkway in Johnstown, is the closest resource available to Weld residents who need more intensive care for their mental health. According to a 2010 Weld Health Kids Colorado Survey, 29 percent of Weld high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row they stopped doing their usual activities. According to the same survey, 17 percent of those high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, and 12 percent of students made a plan for how they would do it. In 2013, four kids between the ages of 10-19 years old committed suicide in Weld. Clear View is now one of two in-patient mental health facilities in northern Colorado. Mountain Crest Behavioral Healthcare, located in Fort Collins, is the other. Clear View Behavioral Health opened its doors after residents in Weld and Larimer County said they needed more options, said Lana Currance, CEO of Clear View.
Ethan Dexter shows off one of the classrooms used by patients earlier this month at the Clear View Behavioral Health facility in Johnstown.
OCTOBER 2016 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I 19
THE NEED
ADULTS
According to a Weld County community survey conducted in 2013, a health care provider diagnosed 23 percent of Weld residents with depression. Of those who needed mental health care in 2013, only 53.5 percent sought treatment. Mental Health Colorado, an advocacy group, held a community conversation in Greeley in May. Not knowing where to go, coupled with the stigma around mental health issues, were among the top reasons people did not seek care.
The adult unit opened Nov. 27, 2015. It holds 34 beds. Some of the services include assessment, diagnosis and stabilization. It provides a structured environment to help get adults on track and learn how to manage what they’re struggling with.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT? Clear View provides inpatient care, something North Range Behavioral Health does not. It’s a higher level of care for those who need it, Dexter said. Joanna Sinnwell, spokeswoman for North Range, said having Clear View around is good for Weld County. Clear View breaks up its services into different units. Those include senior, adolescent, adult and detox. The distinction allows each group to get more of the care they need, Dexter said. A middle schooler might need different support than a senior. Clear View has 92 beds between all units.
SENIORS The closest place for senior inpatient mental health care is Colorado Plains Hospital in Fort Morgan, or Peak View in Denver, Dexter said. Depression and drug abuse often is forgotten among seniors’ other health concerns. Distinguishing between normal aging and mental health issues can be challenging, Currance said. There’s grief, isolation, loneliness and physical pain. “Seniors suffer from a lot of challenges and people put them down as aging,” Sinnwell said. “Depression is not normal aging.”
DETOX The detox unit, housing 16 beds, opened in June. Drug use spans all three age populations, Currance said. They’ve already seen a lot of heroine, cocaine and meth, Currance said. Some patients come in with a combination of all three. Though the detox unit is not full, it’s getting use and gaining recognition since its opening, Currance said.
GOING FORWARD Clear View staff is working to develop relationships with schools, hospitals and police departments. It will continue to develop its relationship with North Range, as well, Dexter said. When patients are discharged, it helps to have North Range in Greeley to provide outpatient care. For now, Clear View will focus on educating the community about the services it offers, Dexter said, so when someone needs help, they know where to turn. “It’s still a topic people would love to avoid,” Currance said. “Our goal is to get rid of some of that stigma.”
ADOLESCENTS The adolescent unit opened Monday and offers 24 beds. Currance expects more adolescents will use Clear View with the school year in full swing. School is stressful, Currance said, and there already has been significant interest. Clear View works to keep kids on track when they are checked into the inpatient program, said Ethan Dexter, community liaison for Clear View. They incorporate school into the program so kids don’t leave just to have the added stress of being behind in school. Clear View also offers adolescent outpatient services, which may help prevent the need for the more intensive inpatient care, Dexter said. If school employees or parents see kids having breakdowns, they can bring them to Clear View for support.
Darcie Moseley uses one of the group therapy rooms before patients arrive earlier this month at the Clear View Behavioral Health facility in Johnstown.
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WARNING SIGNS
» Changes in relationships » Changes in normal social activities » Changes in weight (weight loss or weight gain) » Statements made related to harm to self or others » Statements made related to hope lessness, loss » Appearance is less clean or tidy than usual » Lack of interest in once enjoyable hobbies or activities » Racing thoughts/conversations » Less talkative than usual » Prefers to be alone, isolated » Increased usage of alcohol or drug abuse (legal or illegal) » Becomes angry or upset easily » Cries easily » Feelings of paranoia » Statements related to visual or auditory hallucinations » Increase in risky behavior
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20 I HIGHWAY 60 CONNECT I OCTOBER 2016
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