WEEK OF JULY 25, 2024
VOLUME 135 | ISSUE 51
$2
Meadowood residents close in on buying land County takes
over sheriff’s office finances
$4 million in funds sought to seal deal BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Sandy Cook has never had to keep a calendar in her life. Now, at age 74, she does. Full of Zoom meetings and phone calls, her schedule is busier than ever before. “Some days, we have four Zoom meetings a day with different people,” she said. “I’m glad the calendar is full because that just shows the effort we’re making.” That effort is one she has been making for months, ever since she and her fellow residents at Meadowood Village in Littleton decided to try to purchase the land beneath their mobile homes. Earlier this month, the group celebrated a massive success when the landowner accepted their $18 million offer on the park. They invoked a state law that allows residents to make a purchase offer if their mobile home park goes up for sale. Their offer was put up against that of a large corporation, and the victory of winning the bid was a huge relief for the community,
Commissioners point to overspending, transfer BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
placement. In mobile home parks, residents usually own their homes and pay rent on the land beneath them. When corporations buy mobile home parks, the sale can mean lot rents increase for residents. Now, with the sale under contract, the group is trying to raise money to see their dreams of selfdetermination through. They need $4 million for a down payment.
The Arapahoe County commissioners have taken control of the sheriff ’s office’s finances, citing overspending and an unauthorized transfer of funds to a nonprofit. The matter involves more than $1 million and a foundation linked to the sheriff ’s office, which is defending its expenditures. The county stepped in to take over the sheriff ’s office’s finances in early July, adopting “new fiscal and procurements rules” amid questions over the spending, said Chris Henning, a spokesperson for Arapahoe County. “(This was) after learning through the existing budget process that the office had overspent its 2023 budget by nearly $1 million and diverted
SEE MEADOWOOD, P8
SEE FINANCES, P7
A person walks a dog in Meadowood Village, a mobile home park located at 6705 PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE COOK S. Santa Fe Drive in Littleton.
Cook said. But, after a brief moment of celebration, reality set in. “We still need to raise $4 million,” she said. With many of the senior residents at Meadowood Village living on modest incomes with housing costs well below the ever-rising average for the metro area, Cook and her neighbors made their offer on the park largely because they feared the uncertainty of a new owner and worried about dis-
VOICES: 18 | LIFE: 20 | CALENDAR: 23
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