THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 Vol. 131, No. 189 The Voice of Salida and the Upper Arkansas Valley 50 cents

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Partly sunny, becoming mostly cloudy tonight.

Hospital expansion plans near completion

See page 8

Calliope! loses grant, money

See page 5

Forecast

In a recently filed protest regarding the U.S. Forest Service bid award, Ken and Darlene Sustrich of Industri-al Leasing Partnership, said their main concern pertains to local government compet-ing with private industry.

Members of Salida City Council recently responded to allegations that the bid by Salida Natural Resource Development Corporation was unfair.

Councilman Jay Moore said the city competing with mem-bers of the community was logical, given the vision of the council.

“The majority of bidders weren’t interested in having the forest service office build-ing within the city, but mem-bers of council were,” he said.

Councilman Tom Yerkey said, “The whole (idea) was based upon economic develop-ment. Instead of one build-ing for one entity, the idea in council was to create a whole campus of outdoor special-ists.”

Salida Mayor Chuck Rose said, “I’m not being denigrat-ing, but our idea was more than an office building, but something that would benefit the entire community.

“The idea was consistent with what city government can do; use the opportunity of the forest service bid as a catalyst to create something more than just a single office entity.”

Yerkey said Tim Glenn, former Chaffee County Com-missioner, had the idea about eight years ago for a resource center to house in one place, six agencies – the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Ser-vice, Colorado State Parks, Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Forest Service.

Moore said, “Tim’s idea for a resource center, as I under-stood it, was originally for the site where the hospital

is now. When the city made the Vandaveer purchase, that land became an alternative idea.”

Yerkey said the Vandaveer site satisfied the forest service desire to be on the highway and wishes of the division of wildlife to be beside the river.

Councilman Keith Baker said, “I’m hoping it’ll be like a big welcoming center. If we can get people to stay at least one more day, that would be a huge boost to the economy.”

When the resource center becomes a reality, the hope is each entity will grow in size and employees, he said.

The c i ty hasn ’ t been involved in the process since Salida Natural Resource Development Corporation (63-20) was formed, before bid-ding, Yerkey said.

In minutes from the Nov. 3, 2009, city council meeting, Salida deputy clerk Janella Martinez, reported forma-tion of the Salida Natural Resource Center Develop-ment Corporation to build a natural resource center, was unanimously approved with-out public comment.

City administrator and development corporation pres-ident Jack Lewis said a 63-20 is a specific type of corpora-tion allowed by the Internal Revenue Service permitting a municipality to form a cor-poration to access municipal bond financing.

The global hospitality ser-vices website reported, “Tax-exempt bond financing can make an otherwise infeasible project possible in some com-munities, but the appropriate-ness of such a strategy needs to be determined at the local level by responsible stewards of the community.”

Councilman Steven Stew-art said, “The 63-20 operates much like a private company, with obvious tax advantages, which makes the playing field not quite fair, but I think the game is totally different.”

Lewis said a 63-20 corpora-tion is not subject to the Tax-payer Bill of Rights, electoral approval or a bidding process

by Cailey McDermott Mail Staff Writer

Local government answers resource center questions

P o p u l a t i o n o f S a l i d a decreased by 268 since the 2000 Census, but Chaffee County population grew by 1,567.

U.S. Census Bureau per-sonnel released 2010 Census data for Colorado Wednes-

day, showing county popula-tion increased to 17,809 from 16,242 since 2000 while the Salida population decreased to 5,236 from 5,504.

During the same decade, Poncha Springs gained 271 residents boosting its total from 466 to 737. Buena Vista grew, from 2,195 to 2,617.

Colorado population grew

by 16.9 percent since 2000, from 4,301,261 to 5,029,196, but state population growth wasn’t enough to bring Colo-rado any additional Congres-sional seats. Colorado didn’t lose any seats in Congress.

Census data indicates Chaffee County has 10,020 housing units with 7,601

by Joe StoneMail Staff Writer

Census indicates Salida shrank

A firefighter scouts the area ahead of a fire that started Wednesday afternoon. Firefight-ers evacuated people from the neighborhood. See back page for story.

Photo by Paul J. Goetz

Fire burns South Ark

Please see COUNCIL, page 3Please see CENSUS, page 3

Fishing report

See page 10

PAGE 16 — THE MOUNTAIN MAIL — SALIDA, COLORADO — THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Firefi ghters battle blaze on South Ark RiverPhotos by Paul J. Goetz

Firefighters from South Arkansas Fire Protection District extend a fire hose across the South Arkansas River Wednesday. The blaze took about six hours to extinguish.

Brush and grass explode into flames as fire spreads toward the South Arkansas River.

Capt. Chris Bainbridge scouts the south side of the South Arkansas River.

Left: Firefighters Doug Bess, Kent Maxwell and John Fell pre-pare hose which will be used on the other side of the South Arkansas River.

Photo by Cailey McDermottFlames climb a cottonwood as firefighters lay hose across a field. Fire burns cottonwoods to their core causing firefight-ers to fell trees and cut them into pieces before extinguishing the fire.

People were evacuated from businesses and homes south of U.S. 50 and west of CR 107 Wednesday as a wind-whipped wildfire jumped the South Arkansas River in Salida.

Capt. Bob Jefferson, inci-dent commander, said the fire originated south of the river. He estimated 4-5 acres of grass, thick brush, downed timber and cottonwood trees along the river was burned.

Thick white smoke from the blaze blanketed the area and was visible for miles.

Jefferson said f iremen encountered “very dry” con-ditions on both sides of the river and dry grass was 12-18 inches tall.

Cottonwoods along the

river were a challenge, Jef-ferson said, because fire burned into centers of their trunks, requiring they be felled and cut into pieces to extinguish smoldering wood.

Gusty wind that frequently changed direction hampered firefighters.

“Wind was from the north-east, but the fire was back-ing into the wind because of the dryness of the grass,” Jefferson said.

Although no structures were involved, Jefferson said flames burned to within 15-18 feet of one house.

He reported 25 firefight-ers battled the blaze 5-6 hours before containment. Jefferson said property own-ers along the fire perimeter would “keep an eye out over-night and a fire crew will walk it in the morning.”

Jefferson said the blaze may have started in a ditch. Witnesses said it began when a controlled burn was fanned out of control by wind.

Evacuations extended west from CR 107 and included Brady’s West, Burger King, Day’s End, Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, Comfort Inn, Old Log Cabin Antiques, United Country Real Estate and several resi-dences.

Responders included South Arkansas Fire Protection District, Salida Fire Depart-ment, Chaffee County Fire Protection District, Coaldale Volunteer Fire Department, Chaffee County Emergency Medical Services, Salida Police Department, U.S. For-est Service and Lowry Con-tracting, Inc.

by Paul J. GoetzMail Managing Editor

Photo by Paul J. Goetz