County Wraps Up 2011 with Board Appointments

The Prowers County Board of Commissioners made several committee appointments to close out their final meeting of 2011 last week. Jim Larrick was appointed to serve a three year term on the Prowers County Planning Commission beginning January 2012. David Wagner was selected for a four year term on the East Prowers Weed Control District and Doug Thrall was selected to fill a position for a three year term on the Prowers County Lodging Tax Panel. Thrall is managing the Rodeway Cow Palace Inn and Judy Douglass was re-appointed to a three year term on the panel. Members are qualified through their professional relationship to the local tourism or marketing industry.

In other action, the commissioners approved the contract submitted by Prowers Fair Board Treasurer Cindy Bennet to secure The Great Bear Show which will be presented during the annual fair in August. Mark Dorenkamp, County Road and Bridge Supervisor provided an update on snow removal operations in the county from the holiday blizzard. The commissioners authorized overtime payment for those employees who worked through their holiday time off. The county made current use of snow removal equipment made available to them at a premium price by the Department of Local Affairs following the 2007 blizzard that struck the region during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday. The commissioners approved the 2012 agreement with the Colorado Judicial Department for Court Security Grant funds in the amount of $107,425, and approved the 2012 State of Coloado 5311 Grant agreement with the county for PATS funds totalling $262,200 as presented by Darren Glover, PATS operations director. The commissioners approved an addendum submitted by county attorney, John Lefferdink, to the current agreement between the county and CSU for use of the Journey building for the Pierre Augier Cosmic Ray Observatory. Lefferdink felt an addendum to the current contract, in lieu of a conservation agreement, would be a better fit for use of the land for locating a tower to receive telemetry information from the Cosmic Ray collector tanks on property south of Lamar.

by Russ Baldwin
Photos Courtesy of Prowers County Road & Bridge