Physicians from Colorado Springs Cardiologists (CSC) see patients at the HRRMC Buena Vista Health Center on the first and third Thursday of each month. The group has been coming to the hospital in Salida for 30 years.

“We are fortunate to have built a strong relationship with CSC over the years,” said Greg Messmer, vice president of ancillary services. “The fact that CSC has agreed to see patients at our Buena Vista Health Center in addition to seeing patients at the main facility fits into our mission of providing personalized and exceptional care, now, even closer to home for our northern county patients.”

CSC is associated with Penrose Hospital and Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs, both Centura facilities. “HRRMC’s association with Colorado Springs Cardiologists is strengthened through our affiliation with Centura,” said Messmer. HRRMC is an independent affiliate of Centura Health, a network of care that connects Centura hospitals and resources with residents and health care providers across Colorado.

To make an appointment to see a cardiologist at the HRRMC Buena Vista Health Center, please call 719-634-6671. First-time patients need a referral from their primary care physician.

This year’s legislative session has come to an end…again! Although the last day of the 2012 session was May 9th, with the extra three days of the “special session” the legislature officially adjourned this past Wednesday, May 16th. We all welcomed the end of session and the Senate Democrats were proud to look back on our legislative accomplishments focused on Colorado’s economic recovery through a host of jobs bills in our ‘Colorado Works’ initiative.

Along with rural economic development, much of my legislation focused on resource management and environmental stewardship. Many of my jobs bills, such as the “Local Foods, Local Jobs Act,” the “Electronic Recycling Jobs Act,” and the “Forest Health Jobs Resolution” were passed with strong bipartisan support. During the special session, we finally passed my Water Projects Bill, which allocates $61 million in reservoir projects and watershed protection, among other initiatives. Senate District 5 is receiving important funding for local projects – $30M in funding will go toward the rehabilitation of the Rio Grande and Beaver Park Reservoirs. I teamed up with Rep. Pace to pass the Agriculture Land Tax Credit bill, which will help preserve our rural ag. communities and, as the senate sponsor of the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission bill, I worked to protect stakeholder interests and a create a balanced commission for stewardship of our state’s outdoor recreation and natural resources.

During the upcoming summer and fall interim, I will remain busy with interim committees, conferences, community events and town halls throughout Senate District 5. As always, please advise me of local events that I can add to my district tour this summer! Since my district is changing due to last year’s redistricting process, I’ll be touring the eleven counties of my current district along with Eagle County and Lake County, which both join SD5 in 2013. While it will be bittersweet to lose the San Luis Valley counties under the new SD5 map, I have many visits planned for this summer and plan to keep in touch long after the district changes are finalized!

Concert pianists Joyce Yang and John O’Conor have wowed audiences here before and other artists are making their debuts.

All concerts will be staged in Salida’s historic downtown—five at the SteamPlant Theater on the Arkansas River and one at the United Methodist Church —because the usual venue, Held Auditorium, is being replaced as part of new high school construction, which will not be finished until later this year.

July 7, Lera Auerbach, piano, www.leraauerbach.com

The series opens Saturday, July 7 with Lera Auerbach, a virtuoso pianist and composer with Russian-American roots. A prize winning writer, Auerbach’s poetry and prose is required reading in Russian schools. Her music compositions are some of the most widely performed works of the new generation.

Auerbach wrote her first opera at age twelve and moved to New York in 1991 while still a teenager to study at Juilliard School. Since then she has played with some of the best orchestras in the world and collaborated with many established artists. Beginning the 2011/12 season, she became composer in residence with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

The City of Salida is pleased to announce Michael Yerman has accepted the position of Community Development Director and will start June 25. Yerman served as Salida city planner from July 2008 to July 2011 and, most recently, served as Buena Vista town planner. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Urban Planning.

On his new position with the City, Yerman said, “I’m excited about working with the community and business owners on their projects and creating an ‘open for business’ culture in the City. I look forward to working with the city council and planning commission, and I’m truly grateful for the support and confidence in allowing me to come back to Salida as Community Development Director.”

Filed under Community Development, Jobs, News

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/yerman-accepts-community-development-director-position/

Doug Bess, 18-year career firefighter with the City of Salida, is the Interim Fire Chief following the resignation of Don Taylor. Taylor is the new fire chief for the City of Black Hawk. Bess was promoted to interim fire chief May 16, and he will begin his day schedule May 30. Hired in 1994 with the Salida Fire Department, Bess was promoted to captain in 1996.

In addition, Paul Ottomer was promoted to interim captain, and Dan Distel from the reserve corps was temporary hired to serve the department.

Dara MacDonald, city administrator, said results from the fire services assessment is expected by the end of the month. She said the City is waiting to see recommendations from the report before advertising the position.

To contact Bess, please call the fire department at 539-2212.

Filed under Fire, News

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/bess-promoted-to-interim-fire-chief/

The Film Production Activities in Colorado Act is the first of its kind in the country. The bill creates a loan guarantee program for production activities and will also make Colorado more attractive for movie production by increasing the existing film incentive from a 10 percent rebate for production costs to 20 percent, allowing Colorado to meet or exceed similar programs in other states.  This rebate will apply to production costs for films, television series, commercials, documentaries, music videos, and video game creation.

Senator Newell offered the following comment on the signing of the Film Production Activities in Colorado Act today:

“They said this couldn’t be done, but here we are.  This legislation brought us together as Republicans and Democrats, urban, suburban, and rural to show our solidarity and belief in our dream to recognize and recapture film jobs in Colorado.”

(from right to left) High Noon Entertainment CEO Jim Berger, Senator Linda Newell, COO Duke Hartman, and Senior V.P. of Finance John Hardy

The combination of diverse and scenic landscapes, the availability of experienced film crews, and an existing infrastructure make Colorado a desirable state for film production.  More than 400 films have been filmed in the state, including feature films like Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Catch and Release, True Grit and City Slickers. However, incentive programs in other states have lured movie production to other regions in recent years.

The Film Production Activities in Colorado Act works to reverse this trend. The legislation has wide support from film and creative industries all over the state, including the CINEMA (Colorado Innovators of New Entertainment, Media, and Arts) Colorado Coalition. The creative industry is the fifth largest employment sector in the state, and one of the fastest growing in the country.

Donald Zuckerman, Director of the Colorado Office of Film, Television, and Media offered the following comment on the importance of the HB 1286:

“This bill is so important for Colorado’s content creation industry.  Content creation is one of America’s fastest growing industries and one of its greatest exports.”

Under the Film Production Activities in Colorado Act, an in-state production company’s local expenditures must be at least $100,000 and an out-of-state company must spend at least $1 million to qualify for the performance-based incentive program. In addition, 50 percent of the jobs must be filled by Colorado residents, an increase over the existing 25 percent requirement.

All responses must be submitted prior to 2:00 PM on Friday, June 22, 2012 to the Finance Director, City of Salida, 448 East First Street, Suite 112, Salida, CO 81201.

Background

The City of Salida, located in south-central Colorado, has a population of approximately 5,300. The City operates enterprise or business-type funds in addition to the general fund and a conservation trust fund. The City employs 53 full-time and approximately 50 part-time workers who provide the following municipal services:

• Water and wastewater treatment and distribution
• Planning and community development
• Streets and infrastructure maintenance and improvements
• Police and fire protection
• Municipal court
• Municipal swimming pool and recreation programs
• Event center
• Vital statistisc

Charges and fees for all services are billed and collected in-house Approximately 3,100 customers are served by Salida’s water and/or wastewater services and, of those, approximately 300 are signed up for ACH. The City is considering paperless billing as well as on-line payment and credit card payment options. The City imposes an occupation tax on short-term lodging (14 motels and 50 vacation rentals) and collects various franchise fees and intergovernmental revenue. In 2011, the City processed 2,100 accounts payable checks and 100 on-line bill payments and prepared 152 W-2s and 32 1099s.

The City’s current billing system is used to generate water and wastewater service billings and to process daily cash collections with an interface to the general ledger. A primary goal of the software conversion is to eliminate staff’s reliance on Excel and Word to heavily supplement the software packages for miscellaneous billings and tracking supplemental financial data and key metrics.

The City’s current system runs on a Dell Power Edge 1900 4GB Server (Quad Core Xeon Processor E5310 2x4MB Cache, 1.60GHz, 1066MHz FSB) with the Windows Server 2003 operating system (standard edition), 2008 Media.

Requirements

Salida’s operations require a system to provide the following functionality:

1. General Ledger
2. Budget Preparation (with multiple version capability)
3. Financial Reporting Analysis
4. Billing
   1. Utility Billing – Water Wastewater (Badger meters)
   2. Occupational Tax on Lodging
   3. Other (eg. planning zoning fees, lab testing, bulk water, park rentals, recreation programs, reimbursements, meeting room rentals, etc.)
5. Cash Receipts
6. Accounts Payable
7. Fixed Assets

Additional functionality that may be considered include:

1. Court Fines / Payment Tracking
2. Payroll
3. Human Resources
4. Event Management
5. Sales Tax

Vendor Response Format and General Proposal

Responses should be prepared in a simple and straightforward manner. Reviewers will expect a concise description of the vendor’s ability to meet the requirements of this request for information. Please see the complete RFI for all requested information and the manner in which it is to be presented.

Evaluation Process

Prior to awarding a contract, staff shall complete a thorough evaluation of system capabilities, training and support offerings, on-going maintenance, vendor financial stability, references from other customers and total costs for each system.

Product demonstrations of the software functionality will be required prior to any bid acceptance. The City shall not be responsible for any costs incurred by the vendor during the evaluation process. The City will perform whatever research it deems necessary to thoroughly assess the vendor’s history, financial viability, customer service capabilities and the software’s performance and reliability.

The City may request additional information to further clarify, explain or validate the contents of any proposal. All information must be submitted to the City in writing within three working days of the City’s request.

Bid Acceptance or Rejection

The City reserves the right to reject all proposals, or to reject any proposal in part or in whole, and to award the proposal to the most responsive and responsible firm as deemed in the best interest of the City. Further, the right is reserved to waive any formalities or informalities contained in this proposal.

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/software-request-for-proposals/

Salida Public Works Department will close G Street from First Street to Sackett Avenue starting Tuesday until further notice. The closure is to change the one-way section of street for two-way traffic. All cars must be removed from the area before May 22 to allow Public Works to make the necessary changes. Questions may be directed to Brenda at Public Works, 539-6257.

Filed under News, Public Notices, Public Works

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/g-street-closed-beginning-tuesday/

by Dara MacDonald, City Administrator

The public is invited to the grand opening of the Milk Run Trail on Thursday, May 24.  The event will last from 4-6 p.m. with the ribbon cutting at 4:30 at the intersection of Starbuck Circle and the trail.  Refreshments will be provided.

The Milk Run Trail is a new connection from the end of the Monarch Spur Trail in the field behind Wal Mart.  The new section of trail connects from the old dead-end to Starbuck Dairy Subdivision, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Wal Mart and the intersection of Hwy 50 and CR 111.

The Monarch Spur Trail was constructed on former railroad right of way that was obtained by the City when the line was abandoned.  The City obtained the land they could at that time and acquire grant funding to install the existing trail.  It has been a popular trail for many years but has surprised many first-time users when they reach the abrupt end and were forced to turn back.  The addition of the Milk Run Trail will allow users to connect from downtown to Highway 50 and all of the neighborhoods between.

One might think that it is a simple process to construct a logical trail extension; however, like many projects it was not simple to fund or complete.  The City obtained the land for the trail extension in 2006 as part of the negotiation for the development of the Starbuck Dairy Subdivision.  The City was eventually awarded $156,400 in grant funding through the Colorado State Trails program towards construction of the trail.

Pridemore Construction was awarded the contract for the project and construction is nearly complete.  We hope that you can join us for the grand opening on May 24^th and if not, that you will enjoy the new trail in the near future.

On a separate note, it is my honor to now serve this community as the City Administrator.  Our family was pleased to have the opportunity to move to Salida in 2005, and we continue to enjoy being able to call this community our home.  I look forward to working with the Mayor, City Council and all citizens to maintain the services and facilities we enjoy and make improvements where necessary or desired.

We have a wonderful city, and I am confident that together we can overcome the challenges that will inevitably come and continue to create new improvements such as the Milk Run Trail to celebrate in the future.

Filed under Administration, Milk Run Trail, News

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/milk-run-trail-grand-opening/

Join us Wednesday, May 23 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers (448 E 1^st Street) for the second in a series of meetings to create a master plan for Salida’s Chisholm Park.

Chisholm Park is located at 324 Hunt Street, between Maxwell and Chilcott. Last summer, the old house burned down, and the City plans to use insurance money and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) funds to update and refurbish the park. Your thoughts on park design are desired in the process to re-build.

If you cannot attend but would like to be heard, please e-mail your thoughts to: theresa.casey@cityofsalida.com.

Filed under Chisholm Park, News, Recreation

Article source: http://cityofsalida.com/2012/05/chisholm-park-master-plan-meeting/

Having lured the fish to the surface, a dry fly angler’s triumphs or tragedies reside in the public domain. When a fish rises to your fly and just as it is about to take it down you jerk it away in a fit of schoolboy nerves, it is hard to blame your ineptness on a rock or stick or some other unseen underwater obstruction as a nymph fisherman can. Best you can do is to reclothe yourself in what shreds of dignity you can muster and press on to the next success or humiliation. I once missed nine fish in the space of thirteen casts. In front of a client. I handed her back her rod.

“See, I told you it was difficult,” was all I had left.

Despite glaring evidence to the contrary, in the form of rising fish tugging, chewing, inhaling and ingesting their flies, some fishermen still try to put the blame anywhere but themselves. The guide is an obvious target. I generally point out that short of leaving them in the parking lot and fishing in their stead, once the fly is in the fish’s mouth there’s not a lot more a mortal can do. Others get more creative. Among the excuses I’ve heard, “The fish on the Arkansas take a dry fly differently than most other rivers. They seem to gum the fly, rather than take it with their teeth,” and “They seem to be just slapping it with their heads rather that biting it, like they just want to stun it,” are personal favorites.

So yes, I do get excited when fishing dries. I get excited when I get it right. I get excited when I get it wrong. I get just as excited when others get it right or wrong. I’m not sure that this is healthy in a fifty-two year old. Still, it could be worse. I could be one of those types that dream of articulated streamers. Now that’s disturbing.