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Local News

  • Jeffco commissioners ax internal audit department

    The Jefferson County commissioners eliminated the county’s internal audit department on Feb. 17, citing the need “to reduce administrative overhead costs” and saying the department’s functions were duplicative.

    But the now-former internal auditor said that’s not the reason at all.

    Susan Johnson, who lost her job along with her assistant, says it’s all about accountability.

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  • Coffman calls Obama's stimulus ‘agenda-driven,’ says it won't stimulate economy

    U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman said the economic stimulus package signed by President Obama in Denver on Feb. 17 will do little to pull the country out of its economic doldrums.

    "I'm obviously very disappointed in the legislation itself, that seemed to be strong on agenda-driven policy and light on economic stimulus," Coffman said in an interview hours before Obama signed the legislation at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

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  • Jeffco government salaries

    Jefferson County Government Press Listing For Year 2008

    County Commissioners

    Administrative Specialist II 37163.27

    Commissioners Exec Secretary 63776.90

    Elected Official 63203.00

    Elected Official 87300.00

    Elected Official 63203.00

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  • Jefferson Economic Council announces board officers, new board members

    The Jefferson Economic Council elected its 2009 board officers in December.

    Kristen Anderson, senior vice president for Wells Fargo, is JEC’s new board chair. Mike McGinnis, a partner with Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck, will serve as vice chair, and Karen Lind, executive director of Elk Valley Public Improvement Corp., will serve as past chair. Mike Partheymuller, vice president of Carma Colorado, will serve as treasurer, and E.F. “Buddy” Douglass Jr., president with FirstBank of Lakewood, was elected board secretary.

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  • Amendment 54 ruffles feathers among Jeffco officials

    A state constitutional amendment that bars sole-source government contract holders from contributing to political campaigns caused some consternation at the Taj Mahal on Feb. 12, with county elected officials saying the ban is too broad.

    Amendment 54, which was approved by Colorado voters in November 2008, prohibits contractors with more than $100,000 in contracts with any government entity from contributing to political candidates, political action committees or political parties. It also applies to the immediate family of the contractor.

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  • Legislation on sewer rates on hold

    A bill born from the conflict between the city of Littleton and South Jeffco water and sanitation districts is dead in the water, as the parties continue to negotiate. But the legislation still could resurface.

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  • Former Jeffco commissioner Dave Auburn dies

    It started with stomach pains in August 2008.

    Then came the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and an estimate from doctors that Dave Auburn — businessman, former Jefferson County commissioner and, most notably, family man — had four months to live.

    "He beat those odds," said Linda Auburn, who lost her husband Feb. 11 to pancreatic cancer.

    Auburn lived to see his 63rd birthday on Jan. 21, the same day as his 20th anniversary.

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  • Cold facts on ice safety

    A Chatfield State Park ranger who rescued a fisherman who fell through the ice in early February says the incident calls to mind the precautions necessary for recreation on frozen water.

    Michael Judd, the ranger, said in a statement that the fisherman had walked about 50 yards out onto the ice at Chatfield Reservoir, but the surface was unstable due to recent warm temperatures. The angler, who has not been identified, was not wearing a life jacket or any other personal flotation device, and was fishing alone.

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  • County to bring stricter cell tower rules on line

    Jefferson County says its regulations on cell phone towers will be tougher when changes are made to zoning and permit laws this spring.

    But for the many people upset when cell towers seemingly pop up out of nowhere in their neighborhoods, there still will be no formal notification system.

    County officials say residents who want to know if a tower is coming to their area will have to search the county's permit database or look for signs on private land indicating a special-use permit.

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  • County workers, officials get acquainted

    Jefferson County employs more than 2,000 people, but many of them hardly know one another.

    In an effort to change that — and to let employees meet newly elected Commissioner Faye Griffin and newly appointed Treasurer Tim Kauffman — the county commissioners hosted a party in their office Feb. 12.

    "We're all a team," Becky Baker, a 13-year veteran of the county building department, said while holding a cup of punch and cruising the commissioners' fifth-floor digs at the Taj Mahal. "This kind of reinforces that. That's the good of it."

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