Author: Daniel Chac
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City will spend $3.2M on ‘critical’ needs
Colorado Springs taxpayers will spend $3.2 million on new police vehicles, a fire truck and other “mission critical” capital needs even though they weren’t in the 2012 budget. The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday on a series of supplemental budget appropriations requested by Mayor Steve Bach. Other appropriations include $935,000 to pave four streets and…
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City Council gets a lecture from Bach
A simple question has turned into a three-day spectacle for city government. Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach on Wednesday became the latest in a string of city officials to weigh in on controversial remarks made Monday by the chairman of Bach’s Transit Solutions Team to Councilwoman Brandy Williams. Bach said Robert Shonkwiler lost his cool…
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Memorial Health System CEO McEvoy leaving hospital
After a turbulent and challenging four years leading Memorial Health System, CEO Dr. Larry McEvoy will leave the job May 4. Memorial was facing a financial abyss when McEvoy took over the top post in 2008, and although the hospital bounced back, those troubles led to two years of community soul searching to decide whether…
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Council votes to give Utilities access
The City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to give Colorado Springs Utilities the authority to access property owned by Houston-based oil driller Ultra Resources in order to continue work on the Southern Delivery System water pipeline. The city-owned utility says Ultra claims it isn’t trying to stop work on the 62-mile pipeline between Colorado Springs and…
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City discusses halting FREX, amending tax
The Colorado Springs City Council spent more than five hours Monday discussing a wide range of issues, including discontinuing FREX and amending the TOPS tax. The laundry list of items shows that City Council has months of work ahead. But, it was all talk and no action Monday during an informal meeting that included no…
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Planning commission gives townhome developer more time
The fate of 10 townhomes that have outraged neighbors because they were built too high remains up in the air. On Thursday, a divided Colorado Springs Planning Commission postponed a decision on a request from the townhomes’ developer to allow the buildings. The developer’s request was made before saying this week that he plans to…
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Mayor’s team recommends cutting off city funding for FREX
A group assembled by Mayor Steve Bach to evaluate how Colorado Springs delivers public transportation is recommending cutting off city funding for the FrontRange Express, better known as FREX. The mayor’s Transit Solutions Team says the city should take the money it spends on FREX, the region’s commuter bus service to Denver, and use it…
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SDS water rate hikes may be lower than planned
A recurring complaint among some Colorado Springs Utilities ratepayers about the 62-mile Southern Delivery System water pipeline is that it would drain their wallets. After all, residential water bills were expected to double because of SDS. But Utilities officials announced Wednesday that a series of 12 percent water rate increases planned through 2016 to pay…
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Mayor seeks $3M in supplemental budget appropriations
The Bach administration wants the City Council to approve about $3.2 million in supplemental budget appropriations for what it called “mission critical” capital improvements. “These are needs that have been building for some time, ever since I’ve been in office,” Mayor Steve Bach said Wednesday during the monthly mayor’s counsel meeting. The proposed appropriations include:…
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Utilities will appeal SDS ruling, ‘construction is proceeding’
Nearly one-third of the Southern Delivery System water pipeline is already in the ground. But Pueblo keeps kicking dirt in Colorado Springs’ face. Last week, Pueblo District Court Judge Victor Reyes set aside a vital water quality certification for the 62-mile pipeline and remanded it back to the state for further review. While the Colorado…