“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light” George Washington
“If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed” Thomas Jefferson
History of Valentine’s Day
History.com Editors
Valentine’s Day occurs every February 14. Across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and where did these traditions come from? Find out about the meaning and history of Valentine’s Day, from the ancient Roman ritual of Lupercalia that welcomed spring to the card-giving customs of Victorian England.
Where did Valentine’s Day originate from? The history of the holiday—and the story of its patron saint—is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Still others insist that it was Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter— who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and—most importantly—romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial—which probably occurred around A.D. 270—others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine’s Day Meaning: A Day of Romance and Love
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”— at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules,” writing, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
History of Valentine’s Day
continued on page 4...
The Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet 2023
Held at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center the 2023 Annual Banquet was a successful, well attended event on January 20th, 2023. The silent auction began at 5:00 pm with the cocktail reception & hor d’oevoures hosted and served by the Bank of Colorado. Dinner was hosted by Halliburton and the steaks were great, being gigantic proportions and exceptionally tasty.
Chamber President Jen Bell was the program master of ceremonies and was her usual bubbly self. The first award of the night was the Development Corporation Award presented by Don Tomi which was given to the Fort Lupton Housing Authority, The Outstanding Business award was presented by Jen Bell and went to Rollie Purifoy. Rollie reminisced a bit as this was a transition year for him and the company. The new owner was represented by Chase Yoder. Rollie shared they had chatted with a few companies but that they just did not seem to fit. The Yoder family however, with their long term history and commitment to customer service at the Weld County Garage in Greeley, seemed to be a really good fit.
The Outstanding Chamber Member Award was presented by Jen Bell and that went to the Fort Lupton Development Corporation.
The Outstanding Ambassador Award was again presented by Jen Bell and that went to Ivan Dobesh.
The Presidents Award presented by Jen Bell was given to Mariann Johnston & Francis LaBarera
The Community Light Award was given to Jen Bell.
Entertainment was provided by Sam Adams, whose humor was well received.
The Chamber would like to thank the sponsors who made the evening’s great success possible:
Bank of Colorado for entertainment & cocktail reception; Halliburton for being the dinner sponsor; Gatsby Sponsor United Power; Prohibition Sponsors: City of Fort Lupton & AIMS Community College; Flapper Sponsor: Warner Ranch; Zelda Sponsor: North Range Behavorial Health; Dessert Sponsor: RS Oilfield Services
President Jen Bell thanked everyone for all the great effort that went into the event and is looking forward to 2023.
Page 2: Way of the World
Page 3: Elected Officials Hold Town Halls with Citizens
Page 3: Remembering William Webster
Page 3: Heidi Ganahl is Here to Stay
Page 5: CCA Science Fair
Page 9: RE3J Annual report
Page 14: Wiggins Basketball
Page 16: Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Banquet Pictures
Volume 16 • Edition 3 February 1, 2023 Delivering to over 17,000 homes & businesses including all of Fort Lupton and Lochbuie.
THIS ISSUE
WHAT’S IN
Page 2: Letter to the Editor from BiO2
Our thoughts and prayers are with you both.
Rollie Purifoy & Chase Yoder, picture provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet Pictures continued on page 16...
Way of the World
by Bob Grand
It is approaching the one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. It seems unreal that Vladimir Putin has reverted to World War I trench warfare against the modern weapons that Ukraine has been provided with by Western forces. The number of Russian soldiers killed in less than one year is already ten times the number of Russian soldiers lost in their entire Afghanistan campaign. This fact cannot be hidden from the Russian people forever. In today’s world there are no secrets from the cell phone. It is surreal to watch some of the videos on YouTube depicting attacks on the Russian soldiers. You watch small figures being tracked on the ground like a video game and then watch as they are attacked. Makes you understand a bit better how desensitized our young people have become to violence and death. Make no mistake what you see is real death and pain. Putin’s ongoing management of issues with Yevgeny Prisozhin, purported owner of the Wagner Mercenary Group, the Chechens, led by President Romzan Kadyrov and the Russian Army leadership has become an even deadlier balancing act for Putin. In Putin’s mind you have to believe he thought he could best manage all three by playing one against the other in a classic medieval plot. We will see how this plays out as they all are seeing what is being done to them. Body counts do not lie. You can keep only so much from people until the numbers become so staggering they are impossible to hide.
China meanwhile is becoming more of a standout in not vigorously supporting Putin’s efforts in Ukraine. The Chinese government is dealing with some very serious internal issues of their own. You may not realize that the Chinese Regional governments financed many of their local real estate projects by allowing the regional governments to lease land to developers for 70 years. The party still owned the land but the developer would own the improvements that were made on the land. It was assumed that the land would be released to the parties for another 70 years, and so on. All this development contributed to the strong GDP growth that China reported year after year. The Chinese Banks would agree to provide mortgages to Chinese citizens who wanted to buy the properties that were made available. Well, the seeds of the great Ponzi scheme were planted. The Chinese people are now wondering if they will ever see the projects they have borrowed money to buy ever be built. A great many are now refusing to pay on their mortgages on properties that they were issued mortgages for. This is a problem of magnitude when you consider how wide spread the practice was. Driven by the impact of the COVID-19 issue which China dealt with so vigorously and its impact, given the world economic slowdown and the demographic impact of the aging Chinese population the Chinese Party has its hands full. Sorry Vladimir but not a good place for you to look for solutions.
Speaking of political solutions, politics 2024 in the United States is beginning to roll out. If you look at the leadership of both major political parties at the national, state and county levels – lots of the same old same old. People are craving solutions, not the dogmatic leadership of the past. People want a better quality of life for themselves and their families, not old political rhetoric filled with lots of words and steam but with little substance. The party that can best produce some substantive candidates will win out. But what will we see? It was encouraging to listen to some locally elected officials who took the time to come and share their thoughts with their constituents. In some cases, brutally frank observations of why the State of Colorado went so heavily democratic. It was not because of issues but rather because of the Republican Party’s inability to unite and get their message out to the voters in a consistent and retainable way. There are many in the Republican Party who believe control is more important than winning. Well if they do not modify their views, they will remain in control and continue to lose. The unaffiliated voters continue to be an ever-increasing percentage of the electorate. You do not have to be a mathematical genius to figure that out. Why is it such a problem for the old guard Republicans to see what is so plainly staring them in the face?
A 1993 book is beginning to resurface. It is the Adam & Eve story by Chan Thomas. It is a book about cataclysmic events. Filled with some history of being restricted by the CIA as too terrible to share, the book has a theory that the Earth is a very fragile system in balance, which can alter its state in a terrible cataclysmic series of events that topples everything we think we know about the planet in an unbelievably short time, including us. Geologic time has a habit of getting away from humans as they believe they are so important. In reality just a speck on the clock of the Earth. It raises many imponderable questions of religion, creation, and life in general. The book considers that the Earth itself, based on its tilt and relationship to the sun has more to do with climate change than with what we as a people are doing relative to global warming. After all what could be more important than what we do? How arrogant! It proposes that the poles shift, which has happened before, and that a massive transformation of the Earth’s crust takes place in what could be the blink of an eye. The Antarctic and the north pole find themselves at the equator resulting in a melt that leads to a huge increase in the level of the sea, swallowing our cities and burying them under miles of mud on the new ocean floors. Mankind does not fair well in all of this. Not to frighten or alarm but it makes you think about our arrogance as a people to think we are so important when in reality we are but a speck on the clock of the earth’s history.
As always, your thoughts and comments are appreciated: publisher@lostcreekguide. com
Letter to Editor
Mr. Grand:
Having read your editorial of January 4, 2023, I felt it was necessary that you should receive additional information on the Town’s process to upgrade the wastewater treatment lagoons.
In 2019, the Town engaged an engineering firm to create a Master Plan to address the continuing population growth. Quoting from the Master Plan, “It would be in the Town’s best interest to consider the implementation of a treatment technology that can meet both the projected capacity requirements and future nutrient limits starting in late 2019 or early 2020. It may be possible to retrofit the existing facility’s lagoons with mechanical equipment to increase the nutrient removal efficiency”. A mechanical plant was an option for consideration. The recommendation was to construct an MBR plant at a cost of $8.5M vs. an all inclusive cost of $4.3M for the selected technology. However, this cost estimate was based on a similar sized mechanical WWTF constructed in 2016, escalated to 2018 dollars. The Master Plan was unclear as to whether engineering and design fees of $850K were included in this cost.
The Town decided to utilize a patented hybrid technology that was approved for use in Colorado by CDPHE in 2018. The combined technologies will provide secondary and tertiary final polishing that will meet current and future discharge permit limits that will become more restrictive in the new 2023 Discharge Permit for the Town. There is an insurance policy in place that protects the Town’s initial payments. At the time of construction, a Builder’s Risk policy will be provided. Once completed and operational, a Performance policy will be issued to guarantee the meeting of permit limits. The financial risk to the Town has been covered.
The building and infrastructure have been designed to accommodate anticipated future increased influent from the Town’s collection system. Understand that CDPHE has strict regulations for any changes to an existing wastewater treatment plant. We are going through that process and addressing each regulatory segment to CDPHE’s satisfaction.
The Town Council and Administration also wanted to create reuse water from the treated discharge effluent. This becomes a financial benefit to the Town. The reuse water can be utilized as gray water for irrigation, recharge to the aquifer, or sold to other entities downstream as an augmentation source. The financial savings generated can be used to offset operational costs. The elimination of the chlorine contact disinfection process will also offset the use of polymers and any additional consumables required by this technology.
Know also that this decision was made by Council members and Administration staff who are citizens of the Town, whose lives are also impacted by their decisions.
Respectfully submitted,
Loren L Losh, CEO BiO2 Solutions
Freshman Republican Signs on with Democrats for ‘Right To Repair’ Farm Equipment Bill
by
Sherrie Peif,
Complete Colorado Page 2
DENVER — The first bill Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland put his name on since being appointed to replace the late House District 51 Rep. Hugh McKean, is drawing mixed reviews among members of his own party.
House Bill 23-1011 is dubbed the “Consumer Right to Repair Ag Equipment.” It “requires a manufacturer of (agricultural equipment) to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information (resources), to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer’s agricultural equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services on the owner’s agricultural equipment.”
Weinberg, who is also the Chairman of the Larimer County Republican Party, was appointed to replace McKean for the 2023-24 session after McKean died suddenly of a heart attack on Oct. 30.
Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington was voted by his caucus to replace McKean as Minority Leader.
Weinberg says despite being a freshman legislator, he was not duped by the two Democrats on the bill — Rep. Brianna Titone from Arvada and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen from Pueblo — into lending his name to the bill. He said he took two months to investigate Titone’s claims before he agreed to co-sponsor it.
“Going down there as a conservative, it’s kind of harsh,” Weinberg said. “And I am a rookie, so I didn’t know if people were trying to trick me into getting on a bill. I did my due diligence with the stakeholders. I contacted all the farmers up here that deal with cattle, that deal with corn that deal with wheat, anybody that has anything to do with ag that has a tractor.”
What he found, he said, was the farmers in Northern Colorado are not happy about how their equipment gets fixed. He openly admitted his district is not an agricultural district, but the districts around him are, he said, and the success of agriculture is important for his constituents.
Letters to the Editor are encouraged. Letters may be edited for length, libelous, or inappropriate content. All letter submissions should include name, address, & phone number for verification purposes. Letters are published at the editor or publisher’s discretion. Opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Lost Creek Guide or staff.
Failure to comply with the bill, should it become law, would label the manufacturer guilty of deceptive trade practices. And manufacturers would not be allowed to enter into any new contract that would remove or limit its obligation to provide resources to independent repair providers and owners.
It’s common practice for manufacturers of certain equipment, technology and other such things to enter into financial agreements with repair facilities that are given “official” authorization to repair their goods (Apple iPhone for example). The manufacturer will then guarantee the repair will be done correctly for the consumer.
Freshman Republican Signs on with Democrats for ‘Right To Repair’ Farm Equipment Bill continued on page 4...
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 2 The LosT Creek Guide, LLC
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Elected Officials Hold Citizen Town Halls Throughout Weld County
Heidi Ganahl is Here to Stay
The Republican Women of Weld (WOW) held their first meeting of 2023 on Thursday, January 26th at Ben’s Pizzeria in Hudson. WOW officers were installed by Colorado Federation of Republican Women (CFRW) President, Barbara Piper.
The room was packed to hear from Heidi Ganahl about her recent run for governor and what she learned during that journey. Representatives Gabe Evans (HD 48) and Ryan Armagost (HD 64) stopped by with updates from the Capitol. Commissioner Scott James was also in attendance and announced his run for Weld County GOP Chair. The Weld County Central Committee Meeting will take place on Saturday, February 11th at Eaton Middle School. Additionally, Commissioner James offered an update on what was happening in Weld County. Ganahl offered an in-depth recap of her time on the campaign trail. Her expressions of the positives included how one million people supported her and the many wonderful volunteers her movement included. She is proud to have stood for important issues such as gun control, abortion, and mental health despite the media’s attempts use those positions against her. On the downside, Ganahl indicated many days it felt like she was running against the media more than her opponent. Another challenge was the lack of support from Republicans who lost in primary and supported candidates outside the party. And a major disappointment was the 1.2 million registered voters who simply did not vote.
Colorado State Senators, Barb Kirkmeyer, representing State Senate District 23, and Byron Pelton, representing State Senate District 1, Gabe Evans, representing Colorado House of Representatives District 48 and Weld County Commissioner at Large, Kevin Ross, had a busy day today. They held community town meetings in Kersey, Platteville, Fort Lupton, Hudson, and Brighton to make themselves available to local constituents on a variety of subjects. What a novel thought! It was a very non structured environment that encouraged discussion among constituents and their elected officials, on a variety of topics. The group stated that these would be held on an ongoing basis as they felt it was important to get out among their constituents to share what was going on at the state government level. They all felt strongly that was important to communicate what was going on at the state level as people do not really understand what is happening at the state level. Too many of the electorate do not participate in the election process and as such allow the majority to work on driving their agenda, picking winners and losers in the process. Something that government should not do.
Commissioner Kevin Ross pointed out that agriculture and energy, major contributors to the economy in the state do not receive adequate e attention by state officials. He noted for example that 70% of the air pollution that comes to our state is from outside the state, something you do not hear much about. Senators Kirkmeyer and Pelton talked about the efforts by the state that to drive policies that adversely affect our rural citizens. There was consensus that we need to make a better effort to communicate with the general public about what is really going on.
It was encouraging to see elected officials make an effort to communicate with the citizens, Not just before an election, but actually attempt to listen to what folks were thinking. Those kinds of politicians need our support.
- ObituaryWilliam “Bill” Webster
FORMER COMMISSIONER WILLIAM “BILL” WEBSTER LEFT AN IMPACT ON WELD COUNTY THAT BENEFITS GENERATIONS OF RESIDENTS
WELD COUNTY, CO — It is with a heavy heart that Weld County Government says goodbye to former Weld County Commissioner William “Bill” Webster. Webster, who served as a commissioner from 1990-1998, passed away peacefully at his home with family by his side.
Born in 1932 in Rochester, Minnesota, Webster’s family moved to Weld County early in his life as he attended grade school through high school in Greeley. Upon graduating from Greeley High School, he attended Colorado State University. He left CSU to serve two years in the Army. He returned briefly to the university before leaving again - this time to pursue his passion in livestock operations.
After purchasing and growing his business, Webster went on to become President of the Webster Land & Cattle Co. and Webster Feed Lots., Inc. Webster, a true pioneer in the agricultural industry, put Weld County on the map worldwide for his innovative cattle feeding techniques.
Webster went on to serve as a county commissioner in the 1990s and had a substantial impact on Weld County. He was instrumental in the creation of Two Rivers Parkway, the development of the Weld County Department of Public Works, and the construction of the county’s southwest building. Further, as a founder of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County, a former member on the Board of United Way of Weld County, the Greeley Stampede Committee, and the Greeley Planning Commission, Webster has shaped and served the Weld County community in a multitude of ways.
Webster cared deeply about Weld County, agriculture and education. In fact, he returned to CSU in 2013 to complete his Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science at the age of 81.
Our thoughts are with his family at this time, and his contributions to Weld County will be remembered always.
Solutions to the current challenges are something Ganahl offered. She is passionate that Republicans need to build a good ground game starting now. In the general election, $33 million of “dark money” went into PAC’s which offered a tarnished impression of Republicans that lacked truth. Ganahl also indicated we need to retain campaign talent in Colorado. Currently people with good management and fundraising skills are leaving here to seek work in other states.
Ganahl offered ideas for what we can do. Getting involved in local races is key. Having conversations with each other that focus on solutions to challenges. Studying how other states were successfully flipped in addition to focus groups and polling. Small donors are another key to future races. Better leveraging of social media is also important for success. Ultimately, Republicans must be consistent with their efforts. This race strengthened Ganahls’ resolve to remain active and help the people of Colorado. Ganahl will join Matt Connelly of Campfire Colorado in a new podcast called Unleased which will premier March 7th. This podcast has been created to tell the truth about the game that is being played. Connelly is well versed in politics. Combined with the passion Ganahl imbues for helping the people of Colorado, Unleashed, is sure to offer a lively and informative listen.
Other projects for Ganahl include the Red Sea Project. Currently, 60% of Evangelicals do not vote. Red Sea will help Pastors to engage the faith community to become more active and encourage their voting. Ganahl will also continue the Mad Moms program which continues to rally for protection of our children and what they are being exposed to in the public schools.
Keenesburg Water & Sewer Issues
After listening to the Keenesburg Water attorney and reading Loren Losh, BiO 2 CEO letter to the editor there are still some open questions. What was the town’s water treatment processing capability before the Evan’s Place development? What was the new capacity required to support the new development? Were there additional more stringent capabilities required by the state? What options were available to the town and at what cost and were they considered? Were there any state or federal grants available to support the $4 million + project? Were they applied for?
Did the town require new developers bring additional water supply to the town or did the town just provide water from its reserves to expedite development?
Mr. Losh’s letter to the editor identified three options for use of the water from the water treatment process:
- gray water for irrigation
- recharge the Lost Creek Aquifer
- sell as augmentation water to another user
What was the process the town used to explore these three options? What did the cost benefit analyses look like? Has the town ever explored credits from the Lost Creek Aquifer for the water discharged from is sewer plant?
In the world of open and transparent government citizens should be able to ask questions. Government officials should not take it as a personal questioning but rather citizens exercising their right to know what the process was in making decisions. The objective should be to have informed citizens. That should not be intimidating. The fact that the process might not have been perfect is not the fault of the citizens. Let the facts come out, so that the citizens can understand what was done and what was not done. The intent is to make it a better effort in the future.
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 3
Colorado Representative Gabe Evans, representing House District 48, Senator Barbera Kirkmeyer, representing Senate District 23 and Byron Pelton, representing Senate District 1
Heidi Ganahl
Heather Edmiston, Secretary; Gillian Smith, President; Tammy Klien, Vice President; Barber Piper President of Colorado Federation of Republican Women; Marge Klien, Treasurer
2023 CCA Science Fair
by Madison Richmann
On December 8th and 9th, Cardinal Community Academy middle school students competed in the annual science fair. All 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students presented a science fair presentation to a panel of judges. Middle school science teacher, Mrs. Sarah Johnson organizes and prepares students for the fair every year. When asked about the importance of science fair for middle school students, Mrs Johnson says, “It is one of the best ways for students to apply the scientific method in its entirety. They get to explore what they are curious about, and be a part of each step within one project. It teaches them problem solving, planning, communication, inquiry, and how to present their findings. They have to research, make predictions, plan an experiment, collect and analyze the data, as well as prepare a presentation that communicates their project to someone else. The experience gives them a taste of what professional scientists have to do, while also demonstrating that you do not need to be a scientist to test out an idea. The scientific method is something that can be used by anyone to explore our curiosities and ideas; That is what I want my students to take away from my science classroom.”
The students presented a slideshow to the judges who scored them by grade. Minus a few exceptions, 6th graders worked in groups of three, 7th graders worked in pairs, and 8th graders worked individually. The projects were judged from complexity, data, presentation, clarity, and how well the students understood their project and the scientific method. The judges were impressed with all of the projects, and the scores were tight making the final decisions very difficult. For the first time in CCA science fair history, two projects were named Grand Champion because the judges could not choose between both impressive projects.
2023 CCA Science Fair Results
6th grade
1st place: Eli Houston and Reagan Sporney
2nd place: Morgan Simpson, James Klausner, and Cooper Peake
3rd place: Maddy Pralle, Trey Neill, and Colt Sekich
7th grade
1st place: Rylan Richmann and Russell Fehr
2nd place: Brooklyn Labonte
3rd place: Vincent Rossi and Hugh Thoene
4th place: Marin Cantrell and Tegan Huwa
Honorable Mention: Avery Simpson
8th grade
1st place: Connor Rosling
2nd place: Nathan Dinges
3rd place: Dawson Dever
4th place: Mae Baker
5th place: Jeremiah Huck
Honorable Mention: Addison Powers, Makayla Milligan, and Cody Howard
Overall
Overall Reserve Grand Champion: Nathan Dinges
Grand Champion(s): Rylan Richmann and Russell Fehr, and Connor Rosling
Reserve Grand Champion, Nathan Dinges tested the accuracy of different prices of ammo for bb guns. He found that the more expensive ammo is, the more accurate it is; he says the extra money is worth it!
Grand Champion Connor Rosling tested the strength of zip ties in different conditions; cold, weathered, and room temperature. Connor found that room temperature zip ties can hold the most weight.
Grand Champions Rylan Richmann and Russell Fehr tested which material of saddle pads kept a horse the coolest in a ten minute workout: fleece, needle punched wool, or wool. They found that the needle punched wool kept the horse the coolest.
Mrs. Johnson is proud of all of her students regardless of the outcome of their projects. She says, “Seeing the interactions between the students and the judges is always rewarding each year. You can see the pride the students have in their work; both with what went well and what they would change if they did it again. They learn that even though the project wasn’t perfect, they can still share their experience and what they discovered with others.” Cardinal Community Academy is very proud of their science fair and as always, can’t wait to see what the middle school science students come up with next year.
Congratulations to all of the 2023 CCA Science Fair Winners.
Murrey: Governor Polis has Voter Mandate to Protect TABOR refunds
by Ben Murrey, Complete Colorado Page 2
Last week, Democratic state legislators announced plans for a bill aimed at taking away taxpayer refunds granted under the state Constitution. Governor Polis has a clear mandate from Colorado voters to oppose the effort.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights—commonly known as TABOR—requires the state to return tax revenue surpluses to taxpayers in a manner determined by the state legislature. Surpluses totaled nearly $4 billion last year.
In April, Polis stood on the steps of the state capitol and announced legislation to give back about $2.7 billion of the surplus via $750 checks to every Colorado taxpayer. Each check came accompanied by a letter in which the governor appeared to take personal credit for the refunds, calling them “Colorado Cash Back.”
Consequently—the deceptive political tactic notwithstanding—Coloradans stepped into the voting booth last November believing a vote for Polis was a vote for TABOR refunds.
They likely believed their legislators supported TABOR also. Lawmakers from both parties stood behind Polis when he announced the mechanism for issuing the constitutionally mandated refunds, joining him in praising them.
With last week’s bill announcement, Democratic legislators have already proved themselves two-faced on the issue. Polis’s reputation, however, remains thus far intact.
Astute observers might object, pointing out that the governor supported Proposition CC in 2019. The measure, referred to the ballot by the legislature, asked voters to give up their TABOR refunds forever. Voters rejected the idea.
After hearing what voters had to say, the governor rightly changed his position and became a supporter of TABOR refunds, choosing to stand with the people of Colorado on the issue. He continued this support on the campaign trail last year where he touted the rebate checks at every televised gubernatorial debate.
Because he ran as a champion of TABOR refunds, his electoral victory in November comes with a mandate from the people of Colorado to defend their refunds.
Polis won his reelection bid by nearly 20 points—a larger margin than any other statewide elected official. Fortunately, his popularity gives him enormous influence during his second and final term as governor. It’s time for him to use it.
Though the prime sponsors of the forthcoming legislation to abolish taxpayer rebates, Rep. Cathy Kipp (D) and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger (D), have not yet made the bill text public, they say surpluses would fund public schools instead of going back to taxpayers. Their proposal is entirely out of step with what voters have repeatedly said on this issue. Polis ought to remind them of that before they create a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone involved.
Once legislators introduce the bill, they leave Polis with the option of joining their effort, making himself a hypocrite, or opposing them and dividing his party. If in either case the legislature passes the bill, taxpayers become the next possible losers.
The governor would be wise to work behind the scenes right now and dissuade legislators from proceeding down this misguided path.
If legislators nonetheless proceed with the bill and pass it through the General Assembly, it will go to the ballot for voter approval. At that point, it would be incumbent on Polis to stand with the people of Colorado over his party by publicly opposing the measure. While the governor cannot veto the bill, his word holds authority and sway with voters.
The abolition of refunds would mean more taxpayer money in state coffers—effectively, a tax increase. Yet, when lawmakers tried to end the refunds in 2019, the language they put on the ballot for voters to see began, “WITHOUT RAISING TAXES AND TO BETTER FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS…” No doubt they will attempt the same deception this time around.
Thanks to his rhetoric and actions on the campaign trail, voters see Polis as a defender of their TABOR refunds. The governor’s articulate public opposition to this Democratic effort could clarify for voters that the measure would indeed raise taxes by raiding taxpayers’ refunds.
As a word of caution, Polis tried to split the baby on this issue in 2019, and he may attempt that again this year. During the debate over Proposition CC, the governor at one point proposed a compromise that would have stripped taxpayers of their refunds in exchange for a minuscule and temporary 0.04% income tax rate reduction.
Such a trade would leave taxpayers with the short end of the stick, trading about $100 million in annual tax cuts for billions of dollars in lost refunds. Moreover, in 2022 Polis campaigned in favor of both TABOR refunds and income tax reductions, not either or. That legislators now aim to take away TABOR refunds after lauding them just last year betrays the public trust. Polis still has that trust. Whether he keeps it will depend on what he does next. Political integrity demands that he unequivocally oppose taking TABOR refund dollars from taxpayers.
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 5
Why the Ground Under Colorado Solar Panels is Ripe for Growing Food
A Republican lawmaker has joined the previously Democrat-only push for solar agriculture, or agrivoltaics, priming Colorado to become a national leader
By Gabe Allen and Tyler Hickman, The Colorado Sun
At sites around the country, once-verdant fields, farms and forests are reduced to gravel lots to make way for utility-scale solar plants. At some, carefully trimmed Kentucky bluegrass is permitted to grow beneath the panels.
Just off Hover Road south of Longmont, one solar project breaks this mold. Savory herbs, berry bushes, veggies and hay flourish between rows of elevated photovoltaic panels. Jack’s Solar Garden is the largest commercially active research facility in the United States for “agrivoltaics,” a land-use model that combines agriculture with solar power. In just a few acres, the site grows produce for a local farm, produces enough electricity to power 300 homes and hosts researchers from three separate institutions. The project preserves the tradition of the land, which is a third-generation hay operation. At the same time, it is well-positioned for a future in which Colorado’s energy needs are increasingly met by renewable sources.
The idea behind agrivoltaics is simple: use the “empty” space beneath solar panels to grow stuff. However, the concept is still young. Agrivoltaic farms and research sites are owned and operated by a select few advocates around the country. During this legislative session, two Colorado senators plan to introduce a bill that could position the state as a leader in agrivoltaics research.
It’s not the first time the topic has been brought to the statehouse. In 2021, Senate Democrats passed Senate Bill 235, providing $3 million of funding for Advancing Colorado’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program. Of this, a small portion was allocated to purchasing equipment for agrivoltaic operations.
“We’re not the first state to recognize agrivoltaics, but we’re the first state to establish agrivoltaics in statute, and also funding from state funds,” said Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, the bill’s prime sponsor.
Jaquez Lewis credits Jack’s Solar Garden for her interest in agrivoltaics. After touring the facility, located within her district and just a 10-minute drive from her home, she was hooked.
A year later, agrivoltaics appeared at the Capitol once again. Senate Bill 22-138, sponsored by Denver Democrat Chris Hansen, did not fare as well as its predecessor. Five years of funding for agrivoltaics research was proposed with a hodgepodge of policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado. House Republicans mounted a last-second filibuster, killing the legislation.
Up until now, every bill concerning funding for agrivoltaics has been primarily sponsored by Democrats. In 2023, a Republican lawmaker from Alamosa intends to change that. Sen. Cleave Simpson first became interested in agrivoltaics as a potential solution to the issues that his family faced on their 800-acre alfalfa farm. Years of water scarcity had made the operation financially tenuous.
“I was trying to figure out how to make my farm self-sufficient in a lot of respects — energy, soil health and water,” Simpson said. “All of these things kind of come together in this conversation around agrivoltaics.”
Simpson predicts that his constituents will share his interest in the new technology. Over the past two decades, he has seen neighboring farms and ranches struggle to stay afloat.
“If the next 20 years look like the last 20 years from a water supply perspective, there’s probably 100,000 acres in the valley that doesn’t have an adequate water supply,” he said. “The entire community’s economy, culture and community is built around irrigated agriculture and I just see this freight train coming down the track at it. I’m routinely looking for solutions.”
At its core, agrivoltaics is a marriage of traditional land use with forward-looking infrastructure. Instead of razing crops to make way for power production, landowners may be able to adapt time-honored agriculturale operations to incorporate a second revenue source.
“Economics is certainly the biggest driving factor,” Simpson said. “I wouldn’t want to risk the economic viability of my family farm and my son’s future and my grandson’s future.”
On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis reiterated his goal for Colorado to generate 100% of its electricity through renewables by 2040 in his fifth annual State of the State address. The goal is part of a broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado. Last year, major utilities, including Xcel Energy, submitted clean energy plans to the state that detailed how they would contribute to the transition.
Though Simpson is not an outspoken climate advocate, he sees the writing on the wall. Renewables are expanding in Colorado, and he wants them to benefit farmers when they do.
“If I can be in a space to help drive the conversation and protect ag, I’d much rather be in that space than trying to reverse policy,” Simpson said. “In this position, I have a little more control over what it ends up looking like.”
In the coming legislative session, Simpson plans to introduce a stand-alone bill that creates a grant program for agrivoltaic projects overseen by the newly formed Agriculture Drought and Climate Resilience office. According to a draft, the grants will be available to “new or ongoing demonstration(s) or research project(s) as a means to study the use of agrivoltaics in the state.” It will be the first state law in the country to provide funding for agrivoltaics research, though Massachusetts passed a law funding agrivoltaic generation projects in 2018.
Hansen will co-sponsor the legislation, and some of the language will be reused from Senate Bill 22-138. This time around, they are optimistic the bill will pass.
“Sometimes, with new concepts, people can have some reservations and hesitation,” Simpson said. “If Senator Hansen and I are working on it together, it’ll alleviate potential apprehensions on both sides of the aisle.”
Microclimates
For a farmer, the potential value of an agrivoltaic project is twofold. First, there is solar power itself, which the farm can use to power its operations or generate revenue through a lease agreement from a solar developer. The second potential benefit is harder to quantify.
As the sun moves across the sky, the panels at Jack’s Solar Garden track its course along a single axis. Below them, a shadow moves across the earth and rainwater is deposited along each panel’s downward edge. Before the farm became a solar garden,
every square foot received approximately the same amount of sunlight and moisture. Now, the field is broken up into an array of “microclimates.”
This concept is central to the purported benefits of agrivoltaics. Diverse conditions within the same plot of land increase the opportunities to grow diverse crops. In pasture land, agrivoltaic installations might promote more diverse plants, insect pollinators and soil microbiota — essential elements for long-term sustainability.
“For landowners out here, if you can increase productivity at all — great. If you can keep productivity the same — great, because you’re creating energy too,” Colorado State University doctoral student and agrivoltaics researcher Matt Sturchio said. “If you can slightly reduce productivity, but increase biodiversity and also resilience to climate extremes like drought and heat waves — win-win again, right?”The idea that solar panels might help crops survive drought is a seductive concept in the arid farmlands throughout Colorado and the desert Southwest. Water is always in short supply, and the evidence is mounting that agrivoltaic operations might help. A 2019 study led by University of Arizona researcher Greg Barron-Gafford found that jalapeños and tomatoes used irrigation water more efficiently under the protective shade of photovoltaic panels at a field site outside of Tucson. At Jack’s solar garden, partner organization Sprout City Farms grows vegetables, herbs and berries under the shade of panels.
Researchers like Sturchio hope that similar benefits could play out in native grasslands, hay fields and pastures. In addition to shading plants, the panels could provide livestock refuge from the midday sun.
Soon, a private-sector project will put the theory to the test. In August, Delta County commissioners approved the Garnet Mesa Solar Project, which will pair 80 megawatts of solar capacity with 1,000 local sheep. When completed, it will be more than 60 times bigger than Jack’s Solar Garden, taking over the title of the state’s largest agrivolatic facility.
Scaling up
Alexis Pascaris, the founding director of AgriSolar Consulting, has spent countless hours interviewing farmers about their opinions on agrivoltaics. In general, they fall into two camps.
“It’s either ‘stay off my farmland’ or ‘that’s awesome, how can I leverage those benefits to support my farm and my production?’” she said. The farmers who are interested want to know one thing. “They value social and environmental attributes, but, at the end of the day, it’s got to pencil financially.”
This rationale was at the heart of the impetus for Jack’s Solar Garden. In 2016, Byron Kominek moved onto the family farm after a five-year stint as a U.S. diplomat in southern Africa. At the time, the farm produced hay. But the margins on the crop were scant compared to when Kominek’s grandfather, Jack, ran the operation in the 1970s and ’80s.
“Haying was interesting, but it didn’t make anything for money,” Kominek said. “And we were getting less and less water every year for irrigating that really thirsty bromegrass.”
When Kominek went to the Boulder County Land Use Department to ask if he could build a solar array on the property, they shot him down. He could run a Christmas tree farm or an equestrian center, but they would not permit him solar panels. No matter what was growing underneath the panels, the project was seen as a power plant.
Kominek is an unusually persistent person. Over the course of three years, he convinced county officials to let him build Jack’s Solar Garden and sold shares of the operation to local homeowners. Now, the revenue from the electricity produced on the farm slowly chips away at the bank loan that funded construction, and Kominek has become a prominent advocate on the issue.
To many, Jack’s Solar Garden is a model for what is possible with agrivoltaics. Kominek hopes it is a catalyst for something larger. “Are we just going to keep dinking around with projects the size of mine, or are we actually going to start installing 10 megawatt, 50 megawatt, 100 plus megawatt systems that are aimed at agrivoltaics?” he said.
Other agrivoltaic advocates agree. For Sturchio, a large-scale project paired with state funding could underwrite his research on an unprecedented scale.
“How many sites are built for agrivoltaics, and how many have kept the land intact? Not many,” he said. “More money is important for building larger designs.”
Simpson hopes that large-scale agrivoltaics projects might provide an example for farmers like his constituents in the San Luis Valley. “I toured Jack’s Solar Garden last summer and spent time with Byron. It’s pretty impressive to see what he’s accomplished on, from my perspective, a small scale,” he said. “I need to be able to do it on 120 or 160 acres at a time and, you know, do it 50 times, or 100 times.”
Two things stand in the way of grand visions for large-scale agrivoltaic projects. The first is physical. Large-scale renewable energy projects require high-capacity transmission lines. Xcel’s Power Pathway project will bring this type of infrastructure to much of Eastern Colorado over the next few years, but places like the San Luis Valley lag behind.
“The entire supply for the San Luis Valley comes from two lines that generate north of the valley and come over Poncha Pass,” Simpson said.
Valley lawmakers have long discussed a second line into the valley from the east, but no concrete plans are in place to expand transmission infrastructure. For now, new renewable projects are limited by capacity.
The second obstacle is financial. Colorado’s general fund will be stretched thin over the next year as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) limit on state revenue lags behind inflation. Even if Simpson and Hansen’s bill passes, it may not be funded for another year.
“It’s really challenging this year to try to appropriate any dollars for it,” Simpson said. “We can at least get the statutory authority.”
Meanwhile, six Department of Energy-funded projects in other states will test the viability of utility-scale agrivoltaics in various climates and land-use categories. As of now, Jack’s Solar Garden has established Colorado as a leader in the field. If the state wants to maintain that status, it will need to scale up.
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 6
The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com
Colorado Experts Declared a Youth Mental Health Emergency. Here’s
What Happened Next.
By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat
More than 5,600 Colorado students have used the state’s free therapy program since it launched in October 2021.
Roxana Alvarado Martinéz, a high school sophomore, had told only close friends she was seeing a therapist to help her with anxiety and insomnia.
But that changed last week in the civics classroom where she serves as a teacher’s assistant. The teacher plucked slips of paper from the “Sol y Nubes” — sun and clouds — box, where students can anonymously share struggles or excitement.
That day, as the discussion touched on depression, bullying, and suicide, Roxana spoke up.
“There is no shame, absolutely no shame in you having a therapist or me having a therapist,” she told the class at Summit High School in Breckenridge. “I could help you get connected if that’s what you need.”
Roxana is part of a generation that has grappled with unprecedented mental health struggles over the last few years amid a pandemic that stoked stress, fear, and isolation for people young and old. She’s also one of thousands of Colorado youth taking advantage of a growing number of programs that aim to make mental health support more accessible and affordable for young people.
These programs include the state’s “I Matter” program, which provides six free telehealth or in-person counseling sessions to students in elementary through high school. So far, the program has served more than 5,600 students statewide.
There are a variety of local programs, too. Roxana, 16, received a scholarship to cover the cost of therapy from Building Hope Summit County, a mental health nonprofit. The Aurora school district east of Denver began offering students six free counseling sessions a year ago and the neighboring Cherry Creek district began offering eight to 10 free sessions to middle and high schoolers in December. Both districts contract with Hazel Health, a telehealth company based in San Francisco.
RESOURCES
I Matter: Sign up for six free therapy sessions for Colorado youth.
Colorado Crisis Line: 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255.
National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Dial 988.
It’s hard to know if Colorado youth are getting all the help they need. During the first nine months of 2022, mental health-related visits to emergency departments in the Children’s Hospital Colorado system were up 74% compared with the same period in 2019, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
That’s part of the reason why local and state leaders continue to push for easyaccess mental health support for children and teens before a full-blown crisis hits.
Michelle Weinraub, Cherry Creek’s chief health officer, said the district’s free counseling program grew out of a mental health task force launched in early 2022. She recalled asking students at one meeting if they’d use free counseling sessions they could access on their phones after school or work.
A couple of them were so excited, they jumped out of their chairs, she said.
“They were like, ‘Yes, that’s what we want,’” she said. Then the students started talking: “We can’t get an appointment unless we’re in crisis … My friend tried to call and they’re on a waitlist for six months. My friend wanted to see this person that they knew somebody else was seeing, but it doesn’t accept insurance.”
Experts declare a mental health emergency
In May 2021, just over a year into the pandemic, leaders at Children’s Hospital Colorado sounded the alarm about the spike in serious mental health problems among children and teens, declaring a youth mental health “state of emergency.”
They pleaded for more funding as well as efforts to reduce bureaucratic constraints in the youth mental health system. Six months later the state launched I Matter.
The program isn’t meant to be the only “front door” to counseling, but rather to serve as one low-barrier option for any young person who needs someone to talk to, said Charlotte Whitney of the state’s Behavioral Health Administration, which runs I Matter. There’s no requirement to be extremely anxious or depressed.
Whitney said the model can help set kids up for improved mental health long term “because they know where to access services and they know the coping skills to get them through those really hard times.”
Students 12 and over can sign up for the therapy sessions by filling out a simple online form. Children under 12 can use the service, but need a parent to do so. Whitney said generally students can get telehealth appointments within days.
Occasionally, she said, students wait longer if they’re looking for something specific — for example an in-person appointment in a rural community or a therapist that specializes in transgender issues.
In Aurora, about 230 students have been referred for counseling through the free Hazel Health program since the start of the school year. In Cherry Creek, which launched its program Dec. 5, about 200 students have been referred for help, often by their parents. Officials in both districts say there are no waiting lists for appointments.
Puppy therapy helps students open up
Timothy Swanson, a social worker in Colorado Springs, is one of about 200 I Matter therapists statewide. He sees up to three students a week, mostly in person, through the program. Often, his clients open up first to his dog Smoke, a gentle pitbull mix who accompanies him to the office.
Tim Swanson’s dog Smoke is a comforting presence for clients.
Courtesy of Tim Swanson
“They just love him. They just grab him and start talking to him,” said Swanson. “It really helps these kids because a lot of times they come in, they’re withdrawn, a little nervous, not sure what therapy’s about.”
Swanson, 63, said many young clients, whether they’ve come through I Matter or other avenues, struggle with anxiety, anger, or depression. Sometimes, it’s because of pandemic-related disruptions at school, the trickle-down effect of parent stress, or cruel behavior from classmates.
Some of his clients have been told by fellow students, “Well, if you feel that way, why don’t you just kill yourself?”
“It’s really damaging,” Swanson said. “I encourage them to talk to counselors, to me, to their parents, to teachers or whoever, to help them develop a support system ... a healthy one where they can get good answers.”
As with other free therapy programs, I Matter aims to connect youth to continued counseling if they want or need it after the free sessions. Swanson said 30% to 40% of his I Matter clients continue seeing him after the first six sessions, paying through health insurance or other means.
Weinraub, of the Cherry Creek district, said if needed, Hazel Health therapists work with students and families to connect them to a local therapist after the free telehealth sessions end.
The COVID19 pandemic led to student burnout
Even before Roxana moved to the United State from Mexico at age 7, she was a top student. Her parents expected good grades and she delivered.
But her classes got harder in middle school. Then, in seventh grade, the pandemic hit. Roxana, once surrounded by friends, found herself spending long days alone in her bedroom.
Her father would say, “You have to come out and at least eat something, drink some water,” Roxana said. “I started getting to the point where I was drowning myself in all my work.”
She felt claustrophobic, exhausted, and worried about her mother, who worked as a nurse in Mexico. Eventually, Roxana tried counseling but it didn’t go well. She said the therapist told her, “It’s only in your head. You’re just pretending.”
By the middle of her freshman year in high school, her struggles spiraled. She was skipping classes and nearly failing courses for the first time in her life. She ended up in the hospital.
Today, Roxana is doing better. She’s seeing a therapist she relates to — one who is Latina and a native Spanish-speaker like herself — and she’s let go of her drive for perfect grades. She’s also trying to tackle the stigma around seeking mental health help, something she’s felt as part of the Latino community.
“We have this big, big culture of what happens in our family stays in our family and you’re not going to tell our family business around,” she said.
But Roxana knows there are other students like her at school, silently struggling with their painful realities. That’s why she decided to say something during the recent civics class, stuttering a bit as she shared her story.
“If I don’t speak out, other people won’t either,” she said.
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 7
2023 Colorado General Assembly: The People’s Guide to Following Education Issues
By Erica Meltzer and Jason Gonzales, Chalk Beat
Every January, 100 men and women elected to the Colorado General Assembly gather in Denver for 120 days and make decisions that affect students and teachers in the classroom, university administrators trying to balance their budgets, and parents and students having to make tuition payments.
Legislators only have to pass two bills before they adjourn in May: a balanced budget and the school finance act. Both have profound implications for educational opportunity.
They also tackle many more education issues, from student discipline to school safety, from standardized tests to workforce training.
But it can be hard for ordinary citizens to understand how ideas turn into laws.
To explain the lawmaking process and the opportunities for public input, we’ve prepared this guide to the legislative session.
Here’s how you can get involved:
How a bill becomes a law
Think Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill.”
Legislators get ideas for bills from a lot of places. A legislator might have a passion for a particular topic. The governor’s office or state department leaders might request a policy change. An interest group or concerned parents might ask a lawmaker to help solve a problem.
Lawmakers work with bill drafters — nonpartisan legislative staff — to write a bill. Once a lawmaker introduces it, leaders in either the House or the Senate assign it to a committee, usually one with relevant expertise.
Most education bills go to the education committee, but a bill on youth mental health might land first in the health committee or one on police in schools might be heard by the judiciary committee.
A few committees — most infamously the State Affairs committees — are known as “kill” committees, where leadership can send controversial bills, especially those from the opposing parties, to ensure they don’t reach the floor.
A bill must win committee approval to proceed to the full House or Senate. Some bills might need to go through more than one committee.
Bills must get approved twice in the first chamber, before heading to the next chamber and doing it all over again. Bills can be amended at any point in the process, and both chambers must sign off on the same final form of a bill.
Then the governor must sign it into law.
Who has a vote on the Colorado education committees
The House Education Committee has 11 members, seven Democrats and four Republicans. Find the committee schedule, documents, and live and archived audio at the committee website. Members are:
• Chair Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat
• Vice Chair Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Monte Vista Democrat
• Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat
• Rep. Mary Bradfield, ranking member, a Colorado Springs Republican
• Rep. Eliza Hamrick, a Centennial Democrat
• Rep. Anthony Hartsook, a Parker Republican
• Rep. Meghan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat
• Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, a Commerce City Democrat
• Rep. Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican
• Rep. Don Wilson, a Monument Republican
• Rep. Mary Young, a Greeley Democrat
The Senate Education Committee has seven members, four Democrats and three Republicans. Find the committee schedule, documents, and live and archived audio at the committee website.
• Chair Sen. Janet Buckner, a Denver Democrat
• Vice Chair Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat
• Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat
• Sen. Chris Kolker, a Centennial Democrat
• Sen. Paul Lundeen, ranking member, a Monument Republican
• Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican
• Sen. Janice Rich, a Grand Junction Republican
Find the names and contact information of all current Colorado lawmakers here. And find maps of current legislative districts here.
Can you speak on a bill or submit testimony?
If you’re interested in having your perspective heard, there are a few ways to get involved.
You can speak on the bill in person or remotely, or submit a written statement to the committee. The sign-up process is not difficult. Just fill out this online form. Speakers are generally limited to two to three minutes, so think about how to make your point quickly and clearly.
Want to know the schedule?
The full schedule of the House and Representatives can typically be found on the Colorado General Assembly’s landing page.
The session schedule should be posted daily and gets updated as bills move through the process.
Here’s how to look up Colorado General Assembly bills
Looking for a bill? Go to the Colorado General Assembly’s bill search page. There you can search by a bill number, the sponsor, or a topic.
When you click on a bill, you’ll see information such as a summary of what the bill does, the full text of the bill, and other relevant information, such as a fiscal note that explains how much passing the law would cost the state. Often the description of a bill in the fiscal note is easier to understand than the bill language itself.
You can also search through tabs near the bottom of the page that include the bill’s history, when it’s scheduled to be heard again, any amendments, and a summary of the committee votes.
What’s the Joint Budget Committee and why is it so important?
The six-member Joint Budget Committee is the most influential committee in the Colorado General Assembly. Why? Because it writes the budget that guides the state’s priorities. The committee members this year are four Democrats and two Republicans with Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat, as chair.
Yes, Gov. Jared Polis does submit a budget every November. And those priorities guide the Joint Budget Committee’s work. But the committee ultimately writes the budget that gets submitted to the Colorado General Assembly for approval.
Other lawmakers also have a chance to submit budget amendments that reflect their own spending priorities — but lawmakers need to pass a balanced budget and the Joint Budget Committee will strip out amendments that endanger that goal.
The budget shapes every facet of state government, including K-12 and higher education spending.
Want to know more about the education topics we expect to come up this session?
Check out our 2023 legislative preview of seven issues we expect lawmakers to discuss.
Need a refresher on what happened last year? We rounded up the most important education issues of the 2022 session.
Want to know more about how lobbying affects the legislative process? Check out our deep dive on education lobbying in collaboration with data reporter Sandra Fish. Here’s what we heard about education on the first day of the 2023 session. Have questions? We’re listening at co.tips@chalkbeat.org.
Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org. Watch Chalkbeat Colorado’s 2023 Legislative Preview
Watch Chalkbeat Colorado’s annual discussion of key education topics likely to surface during the upcoming legislative session.
We were joined by:
• Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument
• Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora
• House Education Committee Chair Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango
• Joint Budget Committee Chair Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada
• House Education Vice Chair Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista
A special thanks to our event sponsor, the Colorado Education Association. And thank you to our event partner, the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.
Colorado Retirement Plan Launches for Those without One, Including Self-employed, Gig and Farm Workers
The Colorado SecureSavings plan sets up a Roth IRA with automatic paycheck deductions. So far, 129 of an estimated 115,000 businesses that are likely required to enroll have done so.
by Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun
Anew program for Colorado workers who don’t have access to a 401(k) or other retirement plan at their job has officially launched after years in the making.
The Colorado SecureSavings program was designed to help nearly 1 million workers with no retirement plan to start one at no cost to the employer. Companies with existing plans must be exempted by the state. Others with at least five employees must enroll in what state Department of Treasury officials called a “10to 15-minute” process.
“This is about how (to help workers in) Colorado sustainably retire with dignity on their own terms,” state Treasurer Dave Young said. “Instead of being tied to an employer, like a traditional retirement plan, the Colorado SecureSavings Program travels with the employee (to a new job). … This allows small- and medium-sized businesses a broader compensation package.”
SecureSavings essentially sets up a Roth Individual Retirement Account for the worker and is open to all-sized businesses, including the self-employed, gig workers and farm laborers. After an employer enrolls, their workers are added to the portal so they can then choose to opt out or stick with it. After 30 days, 5% of a worker’s paycheck after taxes is deducted and placed into the retirement account. Vestwell Holdings manages the program for the state while BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors manage the investments.
The first notices to employers about the program’s launch were sent Jan. 11. So far 129 employers have enrolled while 226 were ruled exempt because they either had an existing plan, had fewer than five employees or aren’t defined as employers under the statute, Sheena Kadi, communications director for the Department of Treasury, said in an email.
“Our data shows that approximately 115,000 businesses fall under the requirements, and will either need to enroll or facilitate a private option. We have already trimmed our list down based on who we know has an existing plan, and will be sending notices to about 85,000 employers at multiple points throughout the year,” Kadi said.
On Wednesday, a treasurer’s office news conference featured two employers Colorado Retirement Plan Launches for those without one, including selfemployed, gig and farm workers continued on page 10...
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 8
Members of the Colorado Secure Savings Plan Board included (L to R) Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young, Kameron Haake and Pete Turner, founder of Illegal Pete’s, on Feb. 26, 2020 after a board meeting. The board spent 10 months studying whether Colorado should adopt a retirement plan for workers who don’t already have one. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 9
Colorado Middle and High Schoolers could begin Receiving Annual Mental Health Checks
If a student needs additional resources, they would be referred to state-run program offering free therapy sessions by Elliott Wenzler, The Colorado Sun
The Colorado legislature is aiming to make it easier for youth across the state to access free therapy by creating a program in which kids sixth through 12th grade can get an in-school mental health assessment.
If approved by state lawmakers, House Bill 1003 would allow public schools to opt into the program, which would be run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Parents could opt their child out of the assessment, though children 12 or older would also be allowed to decide for themselves if they want to participate.
“We have to continue to destigmatize therapy,” said Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, one of the lead sponsors of the bill. “This is one way to do that. The brain is part of your body, this is similar to having an eye exam, ear exam or scoliosis exam.”
The idea would be an extension of the I Matter program, which was formed in 2021 and provides up to six free therapy sessions for youth in Colorado. The program has so far served nearly 6,000 students. House Bill 1003 aims to connect more kids to those free therapy services, Michaelson Jenet said.
If a student is found during an assessment to need treatment, their parents would be notified and given information about the I Matter resources.
The assessment program is intended as a way to help kids who are in a difficult mental health place before they get to a crisis point, Michaelson Jenet said. She sees the initiative as a way to bolster school safety.
“It starts with having an environment where kids who need therapy are actually getting that therapy,” she said.
In some schools, teachers are the ones who end up responding to mental health needs of students, said Lorelei Jackson, a student services coordinator in Denver Public Schools.
“It’s really hard for a teacher to support in math and literacy and also mental health when that’s not really what they’re trained for,” she said.
Jackson, who also volunteers with Teach Plus Colorado, an organization that connects teachers with policymakers, said she supports the bill because kids need to have their mental health needs met before they can learn.
“If you are dealing with trauma, if you are strongly internalizing what’s going on and people are depressed, you’re unable to focus on math,” she said.
Nicole Pasillas, a sixth grade teacher in the 27J Schools district in Brighton, said her students all seem to be experiencing mental health challenges, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating some mental health needs.
“I think there were always issues there but the COVID situation for certain kids in certain areas made it worse,” she said. “I can only help them so much, because legally I’m not a counselor or a therapist.”
Under the bill, participating schools would send out a letter notifying parents of the assessments and allow them to opt their child out if desired. Students 12 and older could still choose to get the assessment even if their parents opt them out.
Those children would have to consent to parent notification following an assessment if treatment is necessary. If the student doesn’t consent to their parents being informed, they will be directly referred to I Matter resources.
If an assessment reveals a student is in crisis or in danger of hurting themselves or others, the school would be immediately notified.
While the cost of House Bill 1003 hasn’t been determined, Michaelson Jenet hopes that it will be covered by federal funding and Medicaid.
“To the degree that we can invest in the front end and take care of problems before they become worse, then I would say that’s an investment worth making and especially if it’s a human,” said Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Morrison, another lead sponsor of the bill.
The program would be administered by CDPHE but the assessments would be done by a private contractor. CDPHE has several requirements it must follow when selecting a provider, including that they must have experience managing a similar statewide program, according to the bill.
Schools interested in having the program would need to notify the department before May 1 of the year in which they wish to begin.
The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services committee Jan. 25.
The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com
involved in the 25-employer pilot program, which started in October. They said their workers welcomed it.
“We had looked at a 401(k) program for our staff for years and every time I asked for bids, the bids came back incredibly expensive — thousands to enroll in a program and thousands every year to administer the program. And that wasn’t possible for us,” said Chrissy Strowmatt, general manager for Blue Bonnet Restaurant in Denver. “We wanted to be part of the pilot so we could get in as quickly as possible. … Most of my employees are long-term employees and have been needing something like this for a very long time.”
Colorado Secure Savings Program
What is it: A retirement plan if you don’t already have one
How does it work: Employers enroll with the state and add all employees. Workers have 30 days to opt out (they can do this at any time) before 5% of their paycheck becomes regularly deducted and placed into a Roth IRA.
For companies: Employers must register the business, add all employees, update their payroll system to regularly submit a portion of each worker’s check into the program. Employers cannot match the worker’s contribution.
For workers: Employees can adjust the deduction, choose investments or opt out in the SecureSavings portal. Money can be withdrawn at any time though any earnings face early-withdrawal fees and taxes.
Benefits: Automatic savings for retirement and the plan moves with the worker if they change jobs in Colorado. There are no fees for employers beyond time and effort to set it up. The administration fee for worker plans is capped at 1%.
Deadline: Employers with 50 or more employees must register by March 15, with staggered deadlines for companies with fewer workers. June 30 is the final deadline. Employers who already offer a retirement plan or have fewer than five workers can opt out.
More details: coloradosecuresavings.com
Lee Wood, co-owner of Wood’s High Mountain Distillery in Salida, said the setup and administration was simple for such a major benefit to his eight-person staff.
“When you make this available and with this subtle change of saying it’s an opt out rather than an opt in, what a difference it makes in terms of our employees willingness ability to participate,” Wood said. “Of the eight employees who are taking part of the program, we’ve had some that have upped their percentage withholding.”
Workers can adjust the deduction and pick their investments. They can also stop contributing or withdraw the money at any time. But only the money added from their paychecks can be withdrawn tax free and without penalty. Withdrawals from the interest earned on the account would face the normal early withdrawal fees of up to 10% plus applicable taxes.
The program has been in the works since at least 2019 when state legislators passed a bill to research the need for a statewide retirement program. The ensuing report found that nearly 1 million private sector employees in Colorado didn’t have access to a retirement plan mainly because their employers didn’t offer one. And the best way to get them in one was to make it auto enrollment. While it would take funds to set up a state program, the report forecasted that it would reach breakeven for the state in four years. The state legislature passed a law in 2020 to implement the program and limited fees to administer the program to 1%.
“For a lot of people, this is going to be a life-changing bill,” said Kerry Donovan, a former state senator from Vail who was also the bill’s prime sponsor. “We know by looking at national studies and Colorado trends that many people have less than a year’s worth of savings in their account. And in other nonprofit work I do, I see people that have savings of $60, of $45. … This is a game changer. People can set aside that 2% or 3% or more if they want and have confidence that they will have professionals managing that money in a smart and responsible way.”
The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com
Caldara: The Vagrant Who Sleeps Under My Window
By Jon Caldara, Complete Colorado Page 2
I’m not asking a lot. I just want the vagrant who sleeps under my window to go somewhere else. Anywhere else.
I just want this druggie to stop sleeping under my office window because I’m tired of cleaning up after him like I’m his freaking hotel maid.
You may note that after years of this I have lost sympathy for the “plight” of street people.
I’ve gone to enough over-priced hotels lately that, due to a labor shortage, no longer offer maid service, to be giving this guy my maid service for free.
I have the honor of running Independence Institute. More than a decade ago we were proud to purchase a permanent home just blocks away from the State Capitol. Long story short, we and our supporters are absurdly proud of the place, as you likely are of your own home.
If only the city were a fraction as proud.
Though I’m sure it thrills our collectivist opponents to no end, we need to spend more and more of our donors’ money and our energy away from our mission to instead fortify our handsome home from the transients who carelessly destroy it. They often descend on our property after dark to camp, and usually leave before we return in the morning.
Vomit, urine, litter, bottles and condoms have all been a regular clean-up chore. Not that cleaning up other peoples’ feces isn’t a joy for us — we did choose to clean up after politicians, mind you — we just hoped it’d be a figurative thing.
Staying up on the vagrants’ food waste is crucial because otherwise it invites even more uninvited guests: mice.
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 10
Colorado Retirement Plan Launches for those without one, including self-employed, gig and farm workers continued from page 8...
Caldara: The Vagrant Who Sleeps Under My Window continued on page 11...
Cooke: Polis’ New PUC Appointee Bad News for Colorado Ratepayers
By Amy Oliver Cooke
With the appointment of former state legislator Tom Plant (D-Boulder) to Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Governor Jared Polis continues the tradition of ideological vanity appointments as the PUC continues its progression toward rubber stamping Colorado’s forced conversion to 100 percent unreliable energy sources and higher energy bills.
Currently Plant works for former Governor Bill Ritter at the Center for the New Energy Economy (NEE) at Colorado State University, which grew out of Ritter’s goal as Governor to move the state away from the baseload workhorse coal electricity and toward natural gas and industrial wind. During his 2006 campaign Ritter told his staff, “I want my first ad to be about turning wheat fields into wind farms.”
Mismanaging Colorado’s Energy Office
Plant has been following Ritter since Ritter’s one term as Governor from 20072011. Upon election, Ritter tapped Plant to head up what was then the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO).
Plant’s tenure was riddled with mismanagement. In 2011, the Independence Institute released a paper titled Governor’s Energy Office Needs a Dose of Sunshine. Our research showed over $9 million in agency expenditures that we were unable to identify, and the agency couldn’t clarify. In addition, Plant used the state office for partisan meetings.
At the time, the GEO enjoyed “off-budget” status meaning it received little legislative oversight despite receiving nearly $16 million in unrestricted general fund taxpayer dollars. We suggested the legislature request an audit, which it did.
In January 2013, the state auditor released a report and confirmed our findings. We reported how the state auditor blasted the GEO, now called Colorado’s Energy Office (CEO), “for shoddy accounting and management practices within the formerly off-budget agency.”
Among the criticisms the report levels at the CEO:
▪ CEO was unable to demonstrate that $252 million spent over the past six years was spent cost-effectively.
▪ CEO does not calculate or maintain a comprehensive, annual budget or budget-toactual data for any of the 34 programs administered during Fiscal Years 2007 through 2012. As a result, CEO could not determine the total cost or the total amount spent for any of its programs.
▪ CEO program managers have not been required to manage programs within a budget, though they are responsible for requesting and justifying program expenditures.
The report contains plenty of specific examples, some of which can be found here.
Perhaps most scathing was the auditor’s characterization of the CEO under Plant’s leadership:
“Overall, we found deficiencies in CEO’s management policies and practices, including deficiencies in CEO’s internal accounting and administrative control systems. Altogether, the issues we identified lead us to question CEO’s ability to implement programs and projects successfully.”
Now, Colorado ratepayers are expected to believe that as a PUC commissioner, Plant will get into the granular details of complex rate cases, ask meaningful, provocative questions, challenge assumptions, and be a good steward of ratepayer dollars. If the past is any example, ratepayers would be right to be worried.
A rubber stamp for Polis
The sad truth is that Colorado’s PUC is no longer a serious agency, but it maintains serious authority determining just and reasonable rates. This isn’t a reflection upon staff, which does an admirable job. It is a reflection of the commissioners who seem to think their role is to promote preferred policies rather than act as neutral regulators who scrutinize evidence, thoughtfully deliberate, decide reasonable costs to ratepayers, ensure grid stability, and a myriad of other things.
It shouldn’t be a job for the faint of heart or the slacker. Yet, consider this recent comment from Commissioner John Gavan, who Plant will replace upon his Senate confirmation:
“I really think Xcel needs to step back and focus on customer satisfaction instead of nickel and diming us with all of these onerous rate increases that are just pancaking and adding up. We are in a very dangerous period now and I really call on the commission to really scrutinize this to a degree we’ve never done before…”
Gavan sounds like a middle school girl gossiping in hallway about, like, really high electric bills.
Considering their job is to scrutinize Xcel, I’m left wondering what commissioners have been doing as Coloradans have been paying skyrocketing electric bills.
That’s the problem. There is no scrutiny so long as a utility appears to comply with the green, eco-left group think that is the PUC commission. Least cost power? No. Reliable grid? No. Industrial wind and utility scale solar? Yes. Higher rates to get there? You bet!
By law no more than two of the three commissioners can be from the same party. Current Commissioners Eric Blank and Megan Gilman are Democrats from Boulder and Edwards, respectively. The last Republican to serve as a commissioner was attorney Wendy Moser, appointed to a two-year term in 2017.
Technically, Plant is unaffiliated, replacing John Gavan who is also unaffiliated. Philosophically, Plant is also a Boulder Democrat, having represented the area in the state legislature. More importantly, Plant is a devoted follower of Colorado’s eco-left group think.
Bottom line, Plant hasn’t been nominated to ask questions on behalf of ratepayers.
Caldara: The Vagrant Who Sleeps Under My Window continued from page 10...
Their discarded used syringes are copious and scattered. Fortunately, we just have the interns walk around barefoot until we find them all.
Call the cops you say? You are adorable.
At best the police just chase the bums off if they show up in time. In frustration I called 911 recently (we usually call the non-emergency number) to be put on hold for three minutes before being cut off. I called back and got through after another threeminute hold.
Helpful crime tip — to avoid bleeding to death, always call 911 three minutes before being shot.
The poor cops that came hours later looked like death warmed over. You see, the DPD is down some 200 to 300 officers.
Why? Here’s some insight: One told me he just arrested a guy for stealing five cars. Later that same afternoon he arrested the very same guy for (drumroll …) stealing a car. Thanks to the new laws no one stays in jail for more than a few hours for a nonviolent crime.
At considerable expense we made our beautiful building “bum resistant,” installed security systems, alarms, reworked landscape. We use our lawn sprinklers to keep vagrants from encamping.
But this hasn’t stopped one or two very persistent drug users who have found our bushes the perfect vacation getaway.
We throw away all their stuff they leave — apparently, we’re their storage unit too — to try to make it as unwelcoming as possible. This includes boxes, bags, clothes, blankets and pillows (they have pillows). But they keep coming back with more stuff. People keep giving them more stuff! We had to pay for a larger roll-away trash bin for it all.
If they didn’t get more supplies, they might have to go into the shelters at night where they could get the help they need. So, for God’s sake, please stop subsidizing this guy’s behavior. It’s the first rule in public policy — what you subsidize you get more of. There’s Colorado’s transient problem in a nutshell.
The costs continue. We needed to file an insurance claim for roof damage. But with the added costs of all the property crime insurance claims around the neighborhood, including our own vagrant break-in and robbery, our insurance company decided to drop our coverage altogether.
Non-violent crime doesn’t mean non-costly crime.
I get it. I am the furthest thing from a sympathetic character to lots of folks.
But if it’s happening to me and taking away this much in time, money and energy from my organization, what’s it doing to the organizations you support and the businesses you frequent?
When we at Independence don’t have to work so hard to stop criminals from sleeping under my window, it will be a sign Colorado’s economy is improving, saving you money.
So, care about that.
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 11 The meeting will be a Virtual Telephone Town Hall Meeting, and will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 1 1, 202 3. 970-483-7343 GetBlueLightning.com NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WIGGINS TELEPHONE ASSOCIATION, DBA BLUE LIGHTNING, is hereby given. The Annual Meeting will include the election of TWO Directors & other business as may properly come before the meeting.
File photo of boaters enjoying Jackson Lake ORCHARD, Colo. – Jackson Lake State Park will open its boat ramp on April 1. The fixed starting date is to accommodate staffing needs and weather conditions. Boaters must be properly registered and equipped with mandatory safety equipment, including proof of an inspection for Aquatic Nuisance Species, prior to launching. Boaters are required to clean, drain, and dry their vessel and remove the plug before driving on public roads.
Empire Boating Club members will have two Saturday inspection and registration dates available: March 18 and March 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jackson Lake offers year-round camping as well as OHV riding, renowned birding, and is an International Dark Skies Park.
The state park is hiring for temporary and full-time positions, with applications encouraged by Feb 5.
Legislative Democrats Want to Give $1,400 Tax Credit to Retired Public Employees 55 or older
by Sherrie Peif, Complete Colorado
DENVER — A bill making its way through the House of Representatives could cost Colorado taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, while benefitting only a privileged few as Democrat lawmaker aim to give retired Public Employee Retirement Account (PERA) holders as well as those part of local government retirement accounts an additional $1,400 over the next couple of years.
House Bill 23-1016, sponsored by Shannon Bird, D-Westminster and Emily Sirota, D-Denver in the House and Chris Kolker, D-Littleton and Chris Hansen, D-Denver in the Senate, would create an income tax credit for tax years 2023 and 2024 for Colorado residents who:
▪ Are 55 or older at the end of 2023 and 2024;
▪ Retired from a position that had a Colorado state public pension plan;
▪ Or retired from a position that had a public pension plan administered by a local Colorado government.
The bill has been assigned to the House Finance Committee, but there is no date scheduled for a hearing as of press time.
According to the bill, inflation is up, and public service employees are likely to be on a fixed income, and Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) increases to their benefits doesn’t match inflation.
The credit would be a refundable credit, meaning that once the taxpayer’s tax liability is met, anything remaining would be refunded to the taxpayer.
Joshua Sharf, a senior fellow in fiscal policy at the Independence Institute,* who serves as an appointee on the legislative oversight subcommittee for PERA said there was some skepticism of the idea of a special tax break for government retirees when it was brought up at a meeting late last year, even among Democrat committee appointees. However, it was never reviewed by his group as the subcommittee’s input was skipped over and the bill was passed directly to the next level, the Pension Review Commission.
Sharf said a 2018 Senate Bill imposed a brief moratorium on COLAs as well as ratcheted down any progress made toward fully funding the pension program that has been in the red for decades.
Sharf said lawmakers argued that with no COLAs in 2018 or 2019, and small amounts in 2020 and 2021 current retirees are hit harder than the 2018 bill intended. However, he adds that PERA retirees from 2010 received COLAs that outpaced inflation through 2017 (14.9 percent total compared to 11 percent inflation).
Sharf said the other problem with the bill is the fact that it is not intended just for PERA retirees, but any public pension plan, even those that co-exist with Social Security benefits — which does get an equal COLA yearly, and received an 8.7 percent increase this year.
While there is not a fiscal note attached to this bill yet, a bill in 2022 that impacted the same workforce estimated approximately 315,000 retirees. That multiplied by $700 per person, per year is $220 million per year, or $440 million total.
Sharf said additionally, the bill considers a retiree to be 55 or older.
“Fifty-five may be old enough to retire, but for most people, it’s hardly beyond the point where they have the ability to improve their financial situations,” he said. “Taxpayers who are helping to fund these pensions in the first place are, by and large, still working at that age.”
Sharf said Colorado already has income tax credits that reward behaviors, but this would reward a specific class of individuals.
“This particular credit is simply a wealth transfer to a politically connected group,” Sharf said. “There’s no prospective behavior being encouraged here, unless it’s to retire in the next couple of years. The bill was structured this way – through the tax code – in order not to affect PERA’s bottom line, it’s funded level, or the automatic adjustments designed to put the system on a path to full funding by 2047.”
The bill does not have a safety clause on it, meaning if it passes, any Colorado resident could challenge the bill and force it to go to the voters, so long as a petition is filed within 90 days after the final day of the 2023 legislative session. Those wishing to repeal the bill would need to gather 124,238 signatures from registered voters in 60 days to force it to a vote. It would appear on the 2024 ballot.
The number of signatures needed is down 394 from previous years, as it is based on 5 percent of the total number of ballots cast in the last election for Secretary of State. The 2022 election had a lower turnout than 2018, the last time the number was set.
The last time a private citizen successfully challenged a legislative action was in 2019, when Rep. Rose Pugliese, R-Grand Junction (then a Mesa County Commissioner) led the charge to stop Colorado from joining the National Popular Vote compact. Pugliese was successful in getting the matter to the voters, but her effort lost at the polls. Complete Colorado will continue to follow this bill as it goes through the process, including when a fiscal note is released.
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 12
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February Happenings at Aims Community College
GREELEY, CO – January 26, 2023 – Aims Community College hosts events designed to create shared experiences and deliver first-hand exposure to programs and campuses. All are welcome to these public events on Aims Community College campuses. To request accommodations for any of these events, call 970-339-6388 or email disabilities@aims.edu.
Bittersweet Harvest: Carrying The Family Legacy | Feb. 2 | 6:30-8 p.m. | Welcome Center Ballroom
Join us for a special presentation by Esthela Nuñez Franco and Adriana Trujillo, sharing pictures and stories from their family’s bracero legacies. The Bracero Program (1942-64) admitted two million Mexican men as guest workers into the United States for short-term labor. A little-known chapter of American and Mexican history, the program impacted the lives and identities of numerous families and communities. This event is co-hosted by Greeley Museums.
Ed Mabrey: A Spoken Word Artist | Feb. 10 | 5-6 p.m. | Welcome Center Auditorium
Join us for an evening with Ed Mabrey. As seen on HBO, ABC, and more, Ed Mabrey will perform spoken word art focusing on race, body image, mental health, anxiety, and removing stigmas from seeking therapy. Please join Ed for a poetry slam workshop and light refreshments after his performance.
Art of Indigenous People | Feb. 23 |3:30-6 p.m. | Welcome Center Ballroom
Learn and celebrate the beautiful culture of Indigenous people with storyteller, singer, songwriter, and author Red Feather Woman and her group by celebrating Native American culture. Join us for Navajo tacos and strawberry juice while supplies last.
Tax Help Colorado
Saturdays | Feb. 4 - Apr. 8 (closed Mar. 11-18) | 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Cornerstone | Greeley Campus
Fridays | Feb. 3 - March 3 | 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. | Prairie Building | Fort Lupton Campus
Thursdays | Feb. 2 - 23 | 4 - 8 p.m. | Room 107 | Loveland Campus
Aims offers free tax preparation and e-filing assistance for the community’s lowto middle-income taxpayers. This service is provided through a partnership with Tax Help Colorado. Anyone who made less than $60,000 annually in 2022 can receive assistance from IRS-certified Aims students and community volunteers. Sites are operated on a first-come-first-served basis.
For more information about events at Aims Community College, visit events. aims.edu.
Aims Offers New Industrial Technology Certificates in Manufacturing Operations, Energy and Robotics
Aims Community College is offering three new certificate programs to address the needs of the growing manufacturing sector in northern Colorado. Over the next decade, there will be a greater need for skilled workers familiar with process automation, sustainable energy practices, industrial robotics and other high-tech skills.
by Aims Communications
The new Aims Industrial Technology certificates include the following:
• Energy Certificate
• Manufacturing Operations Certificate
• Robotics Certificate
“What is most exciting about these new certificates is that they provide a mechanism for students to focus on a specific field within the industry,” said Dave Sordi, an Aims instructor in Industrial Technology and Energy Studies. “For students who don’t have the desire nor the time to obtain a two-year degree or general certificate, it will allow them to quickly learn about these fields and then use that to expand their career opportunities.“
Adding these focused certificates is expected to increase Aims student enrollment in the Industrial Technology program and potentially attract students in other degree programs who want to learn about robotics, energy, or manufacturing operations. Sordi provided this example: “a student may be pursuing a degree in nursing but would like to understand robotics due to the growing use of robots in the medical industry.”
To gain knowledge and insight, the Industrial Technology program holds regular meetings with an advisory committee consisting of representatives from local industry partners to advise the college on the local business community’s needs. These industry advisors have worked with Aims to continually evolve and develop curriculum for what is relevant. In the process of bringing these new certificate programs to the catalog, Aims retired certificates that were no longer as relevant to the businesses in the local economy.
“It’s exciting that Aims is partnering with the students and the businesses in the
community to help build the workforce we will all rely on tomorrow,” said Eric Fitzsimons of CNE Creative Enterprises, LLC, an advisory committee member. “The intention is to guide students through the course selection of the certificates to gain the base skills needed for entry or acceleration of their careers in the associated industry.”
“As companies evolve to respond to COVID-19, such as addressing broken supply chains, they will bring manufacturing back onto U.S. soil,” Sordi said. “To become competitive with overseas labor costs, companies are using more automation and robotics within their operations. This creates issues, including a lack of technical expertise in the workforce to operate and maintain this equipment and increased energy use. These certificates will educate students to fill the opportunities created by issues industries will face.”
Visit aims.co/apply to begin the admission process and learn more. An Aims admissions counselor will follow up to discuss the next steps. Learn more about the Aims Industry Technology and Energy Studies certificates at aims.co/industrial-techcerts.
MCC Offers Free Tax Preparation with Tax Help Colorado Program
Fort Morgan, CO. 1/24/2023. This tax season, Morgan Community College is partnering with Tax Help Colorado, a program of Mile High United Way, to offer families free tax preparation. Beginning Thursday, February 2, 2023, IRS-certified volunteers will prepare and file tax returns free of charge to households with incomes of less than $60,000 a year.
Free tax prep helps ease the burden of commercial tax preparation costs on lowwage earners and helps connect families with valuable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is worth up to $6,700 for the 2022 tax year. On average, tax preparation in Colorado cost $200.
“Tax Help Colorado’s partnership with MCC benefits families in our community by ensuring taxpayers reclaim valuable tax credits to help support their household income and boost the local economy,” said Leah Thomas, MCC Agriculture and Business Management Faculty and Coordinator. “MCC’s tax site is operated by certified tax preparers with over 15 years of experience. Schedule your appointment online today!”
This free service will be offered at Morgan Community College, 920 Barlow Road in Fort Morgan on Tuesdays and Thursdays, February 2 - March 7, 2023, from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. Appointments are required and can be scheduled by calling (970) 542-3100, Monday-Friday between 1 p.m.-5 p.m. or on the MCC website at www. morgancc.edu/taxhelp.
In 2022, MCC Tax Help Colorado volunteers completed 386 Federal and State returns, resulting in $760,973 in refunds for families and households living in northeast Colorado.
A list of all the Tax Help Colorado sites, as well as the locations of other free tax assistance sites in Colorado, are available by calling 2-1-1 or visiting TaxHelpCO.org.
Candidate Forums
United Power will host the following Meet the Candidate Forums where members can learn more about each of our director candidates.
Monday, March 13 | 6:30 p.m. Riverdale Regional Park Rendezvous Room, Waymire Dome 9755 Henderson Rd, Brighton 80601 View Livestream at www.unitedpower.com
Tuesday, March 14 | 7:30 a.m. Coal Creek Canyon Community Center 31528 Highway 72, Golden 80403
Thursday, March 16 | 6:30 p.m. United Power Carbon Valley Service Center 9586 E I-25 Frontage Rd, Longmont 80504
Friday, March 17 | 7:30 a.m. Fort Lupton Recreation Center Multi-purpose Room 3 203 S Harrison Ave, Fort Lupton 80621
Annual Meeting & Director Election
Where: Riverdale Regional Park
When: Wednesday, April 12, 2023
4:30 p.m. | Registration opens 6:30 p.m. | Meeting begins
www.unitedpower.com
February 1, 2023 Lost Creek Guide 13
LC_CVInd_4.625x6.875.indd 1 1/18/2023 4:43:54 PM
Heritage Christian Rallies To Take Wiggins Boys Basketball, 64-57
by Paul Dineen, Get The Picture Sports LLC
Levi Hermsen scored seventeen points to lead Heritage Christian.
The Heritage Christian Eagles boys (of Fort Collins) traveled to Wiggins to take on the Tigers in basketball on January 21. The Wiggins boys team entered the contest with an 8-4 record and were on a three game winning streak. Heritage Christian was 7-4 and on a winning streak of four games. After a close game into the fourth quarter, Wiggins pulled ahead by ten midway through the quarter. The Eagles scored twentyfour of the final thirty-one points to force overtime and get the win 64-57.
Heritage Christian took period one, 15-11. But, Eagle scoring slowed in the second and third quarters, when they were outscored by the Tigers, 24-17, giving Wiggins a three point lead after three, 35-32. The game had remained within five points through just under seven minutes left in the fourth. Both teams got hot in the fourth quarter, combining for 38% of the points they would score in regulation. Along the way, Wiggins would open up a ten point lead at 50-40 more than half way through Q4. That would usually be a comfortable margin for a win. However, the Eagles rallied for fourteen of the next eighteen points. They forced overtime by tying the game at fiftyfour on a Luke Lundy layup with thirty-six seconds remaining. Heritage Christian then took charge in the overtime, outscoring the Tigers ten to three, for the 64-57 final.
Cole Kerr led Wiggins shooters with eighteen points and fouled out in Q4. Omar Perez added fourteen points. Levi Hermsen led the Eagles with seventeen points. Raul Bertinato and Shane Moseley each chipped in fourteen.
The loss put Wiggins at 8-5 and 1-1 in the 3A/2A Lower Platte league, for fifth place out of nine teams. At this writing Wiggins’ next (and final) regular season game will be at Wray on February 16.
With the win, Heritage Christian moves to 8-4 overall, extending their winning streak to five games. They are 5-4 in the 3A/2A/1A Mile High league, for fifth place out of thirteen teams. The Cougars final regular season game will be at Denver Christian on February 17.
Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 14
Omar Perez scored fourteen points for Wiggins.
Raul Bertinato scored fourteen points for Heritage Christian.
Cole Kerr led all scorers, netting eighteen for Wiggins.
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Lost Creek Guide February 1, 2023 16 The Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet 2023 Pictures provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce & Lost Creek Guide Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided by Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide Provided By Lost Creek Guide
