PIKES PEAK 1/16/13
Courier View Pikes Peak
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 3
January 16, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
CASA adjusts to new rules By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com A decision by the Colorado Supreme Court changed the rules for Court Appointed Special Advocate as well as for the 4th Judicial District in El Paso and Teller counties. The change relates to CASA’s domestic-relations volunteer program. Since 1992, the 4th Judicial has been the only district in Colorado to rely on reports from CASA volunteers who act in the interest of the child in conflicted custody
disputes. In that time, CASA advocated for 1,000 children in both counties. “Domestic relations are those extreme nasty divorce cases,” said Dawn Ignatius, president of the CASA board and a resident of Teller County. The decision mandates that Child Family Investigators be certified and paid for their services in domestic-relations cases in Colorado. While intended to strengthen regulations for privately-paid CFIs, the ruling inadvertently impacted CASA.
The office of Court Appointed Special Advocate is filled with pictures of children who have been protected as a result of advocacy by the nonprofit organization’s volunteers. Courtesy photos by Adam Ramseth
In Teller County last year, 19 children were caught in conflicted-divorce cases, each of whom received a CASA volunteer advocate. “I am sorry to hear about the termination of the CASA domestic-relations program,” said 4th Judicial District Judge Robert Lowrey in a press release. “I was hoping we could find a way to work around the decision as currently structured.” The ruling affects 40 CASA volunteers in both counties, each of whom can petition the state to become trained and certified as private-pay CFIs. “The certified CFIs would then get appointed by the bench,” said Mittie Pedraza, CASA’s director of programs. “As part of the rules the state now trains the CFIs and we can’t supervise them anymore. Because we can’t recruit or train them, edit their reports or go to court with them, there’s nothing we can do.” The new rules cap the privatepayment of CFIs at $2,000 per case, or, if the family cannot afford to pay, the state caps the compensation at $1,250. However, advocating in court in domestic relations is only one part of CASA’s work to keep children safe. “The dependency and neglect cases are our `bread and
CASA volunteers always take photos of the children for whom they advocate in court. Photos by Courtesy photos by Adam Ramseth butter,’” Ignatius said. “That’s what we exist for. Those children get involved in the court system because of abuse and neglect.” For instance, last year CASA volunteers advocated in court for 409 children who suffered abuse and neglect. “That program has not been affected whatsoever, nor
has our Supervised Exchange and Parenting Program been affected,” Pedraza said. “It is what it is. Rules change. I think we had a positive impact in our work and someday if the rules change and we can get back in the game, we will. But until then we’ll concentrate on our other programs.”
RE-2 completes 300+ maintenance projects District continues to look at building, grounds safety, security By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews.com The maintenance and operations teams at the Woodland Park RE-2 School District has had a busy eight months since Jeff Gatlin, director of technology services, unveiled a database that tracks needed repairs and regular maintenance across the district. Of the 482 items that were identified as needing work during building walkthroughs conducted last May, more than 300 have been completed. He told the RE-2 school board at its Jan. 9 meeting that the
district also conducted some larger maintenance and operations projects. One of the largest was the installation of a new “smart” irrigation system at the high school football field that automatically adjusts irrigation to the weather. The district also partnered with the city on a new irrigation meter. Irrigation water delivered by one part of the irrigation system was billed with water used inside the high school building and was included in the district’s wastewater bill. However, the city doesn’t charge a wastewater fee on irrigation water. “We think changing out the meter will save the district $2,000-$3,000,” Gatlin said. The district also bought its own paint striper and backhoe, which will allow some kinds of maintenance and repair work to be done in-house. Maintenance crews
have upgraded all elementary school playgrounds for safety, replaced stadium lights and repaired roofs. Crews also addressed a drainage problem that typically sends mud into the high-school math wing every spring. “We think we’ve fixed the problem,” Gatlin said. “We’ll see this spring. …We did all this work without asking for more money from the district’s fund balance.” The district’s next priority is upgrading its heating and air conditioning systems. “These systems all have moving parts and moving parts eventually break,” Gatlin said. He added that he would like the district to look into creating a roof-replacement account. District Superintendent Jed Bowman said the district installed key-card entry systems and video security cameras on
all school buildings two years ago and has continued to look for ways to improve security equipment and procedures. “We practice and plan and continue to do the best we can to ensure the safety of our children,” he said. He also reported that the district is forming a budget taskforce subcommittee to look at the district’s financial future in light of continuing enrollment declines. He said the district will probably see further enrollment declines for the next five years before enrollment levels off and starts to climb again. “We are still hearing positive news from the state regarding public school funding for 2013-2014,” he said. The next board of education meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 13 in the district administration building conference room.
Weather closes down WP construction season Woodland Hardware on hiatus, two retail stores delayed to February By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews. com Frost in the ground has shut down construction of the new Woodland Hardware store at Woodland Station in the center of Woodland Park and delayed the opening of the Family Dollar and
O’Reilly Auto Parts stores at Tamarac Center behind Gold Hill South. Woodland Park Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Brian Fleer told the authority board at its Jan. 8 meeting that the city has finished its portion of the drainage work at the Tamarac site and that city Public Works Director William Alspach
POSTAL ADDRESS
won an award for his infrastructure work from the American Public Works Association. Fleer also told the board that Woodland Hardware Kelly Rodarmel co-owner said he doesn’t expect the new store to open until January 2014. Family Dollar will likely open at the end of February and O’Reilly will open in midFebruary. Opening late will not affect the authority’s tax revenue because all three stores have “payment in lieu of taxes” clauses in their contracts, said board President Dale Schnitker. The authority board went into an executive session for negotiation purposes after the public portion of the meeting but Fleer said the board reconvened the Construction continues on Page 3
Woodland Park Deputy City Clerk Suzanne Leclerq swears in Tanner Coy, owner of Tweeds Fine Furnishings, as the newest member of the city’s Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors at the Jan. 8 authority board meeting. Photo by Norma Engelberg
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.