Xcel Energy will cut power to 9,000 customers in northern Colorado starting Friday morning ahead of strong winds and fire danger, utility officials announced Thursday.
National Weather Service forecasters issued a red flag warning for critical fire weather in the northern Colorado foothills from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, with low humidity and winds up to 75 mph creating conditions “favorable for rapid fire spread” and extreme fire behavior, the agency wrote in an alert.
Xcel Energy customers in Larimer and Weld counties will see power cuts starting at 8 a.m., including in parts of Fort Collins, Loveland, Kerns and Bellevue, according to an online outage map.
The outage area’s rough footprint is Wellington to the north, Windsor to the east, Horsetooth Reservoir to the south and Ted’s Place to the west.
Central Fort Collins is not included in the planned outage, including Old Town and neighborhoods near Colorado State University, according to Xcel’s map.
Planned outages in Loveland include neighborhoods north and south of Fourteenth Street/U.S. 34 between Glade Park to the west and North Wilson Avenue to the east.
While weather conditions are expected to improve around 4 p.m., “restoration work won’t begin until high winds and elevated fire risks have subsided,” Xcel officials wrote.
“It may take several hours to several days for customers’ power to be restored because a crew must patrol the entire power line to ensure it’s safe to turn service back on before a power line can be re-energized,” utility leaders said Thursday.
Customers can report outages and damaged power lines through the Xcel Energy app, online at xcelenergy.com/out, by texting OUT to 98936 or calling 1-800-895-1999.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Last August, there was a fire in the kitchen at the Fort Collins Rescue Mission and since then, the shelter has been closed.
“The dorms, the showers, the bathrooms and the laundry facilities that we have here, we can get them back into operations. It’s just a matter of how soon we can do it,” said Seth Forwood, vice president of programs for Northern Colorado, Fort Collins Rescue Mission.
“Do you know how soon that could be?” asked Denver7’s Danielle Kreutter.
“I thought we were going to get back in here before Thanksgiving. Fire damage always takes way longer than you would expect,” he said.
Forwood said the closure has taken a toll on the options available to those experiencing homelessness.
Fort Collins
Fire at Fort Collins Rescue Mission displaces 82 people
“Between August 23 and December 22 we turned away people, 1089 times, who came to us, but we just didn’t have space for them,” said Forwood.
Thanks to generous community donations they were able to to open another shelter north of Wellington called Harvest Farm, and a temporary shelter at 117 Mason.
That was working well, until winter weather rolled in Thursday night.
“Last night, we are really getting to the maximum that we can handle, even with the expansion of this second site. We have a capacity for 40 at the Harvest Farm overflow site. So we are full up with 70 at the Mason shelter, and we reached 39 last night,” and Forwood.
The Rescue Mission is nervous, especially considering they are the only shelter for men experiencing homelessness in Fort Collins.
One way the community can continue being part of the solution is donations — particularly warm clothing for anyone who may need to be turned away if the shelters reach capacity.
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“I hope to God, we don’t, but for our staff to turn away people that they know, they call them by their names, they know their stories. And have somebody in the dead of night come when it’s freezing out, say, ‘We can’t help you, we’re full.’ To give them something to go out into the night with is a blessing,” said Forwood.
The center will have a 250 bed shelter inside of it in addition to other supportive services. The project is set to cost $27.5 million and the Rescue Mission is about $150,000 short.
“This building is going to be more than a shelter, just like our guests are more than just people experiencing homelessness. Fort Collins in Northern Colorado can do more than we’ve ever done before, if we all rally around this and give to make that building a reality,” he said.
Click here to learn more about how to donate to that project.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Danielle Kreutter
Denver7’s Danielle Kreutter covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on affordable housing and issues surrounding the unhoused community. If you’d like to get in touch with Danielle, fill out the form below to send her an email.
LOVELAND, Colo. — As we wrap up this year, some northern Colorado school districts are already planning ahead for the beginning of the next school year because of something we have been following for you for a while: the lack of air conditioning.
The Thompson School District, which serves the city of Loveland and parts of Larimer, Weld and Boulder counties, just approved a new calendar with a later start date to help students avoid those boiling summer days in the classroom.
As we wrap up this year, some northern Colorado school districts are already planning for the start of next school year because of something we have been following for you for a while: the lack of air conditioning.
The Thompson School District just approved a new calendar with a later start date to help students avoid intense summer heat in classrooms. It’s a relief for some teachers in the district, like Amanda Myers.
“My classroom has been, in August and September, it’s been maybe 87 degrees,” she told Denver7. “That’s just with me in there. When you have children in there, it’s really hot in the classrooms. They’re miserable. They’re not learning. So I think pushing it back is a great idea.”
The district is pushing back the start of the school year by a week, to fall 2026, due to high temperatures and a lack of air conditioning in some schools.
TSD’s calendar committee spent the past few months drawing on feedback from a community calendar survey and guidance from the Negotiations Team, district policy, and state guidelines to make the changes.
The 2026-2027 school year will start on August 20, and the 2027-2028 school year will start on August 19.
Earlier this month, Poudre School District officials opted for similar calendar changes.
The 2026-2027 school year will start on August 19 for PSD students.
“We’ve been wrestling with the heat day concern at the beginning of every year for the last several years,” said PSD school board director Scott Schoenbauer.
The first week of school this year ended in multiple heat-related early-release days for both districts – a hassle for parents forced to rearrange their work schedules on short notice.
“Yeah, it made it difficult some days,” said TSD parent Michele Heaton.
Back in August, the Colorado Department of Education told Denver7 that while they do require a minimum of 160 days of instruction, they don’t set guidelines for when the school year should begin.
Most districts choose to start in early August so they can end the year earlier.
“It seems like every year they start a little earlier, just a few days here and there, and it just keeps creeping up. So hopefully this will settle it back down,” added Heaton.
Parents say it’s a start — though teachers like Myers hope it’s the first step to more long-term solutions.
“In all honesty, we need funding to get our schools air conditioned,” said Myers, “if we could get funding for every building to get air conditioning, that would be great.”
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Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Adria Iraheta
Denver7’s Adria Iraheta shares stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on education and stories in Arapahoe County. If you’d like to get in touch with Adria, fill out the form below to send her an email.
Denver dropped to its coldest temperatures in more than eight months on Tuesday night, sustaining the hopes of winter-loving Coloradans for a snowy Thanksgiving weekend.
The last time DIA thermometers dropped that low was 265 days earlier, when the temperature fell to 17 degrees on March 5.
Metro Denver residents are still waiting for the first snow of the season, with this year’s first snowfall likely to be the second-latest on record.
Denver’s latest first snowfall was on Dec. 10, 2021, and the city already surpassed the No. 3 latest snowfall of Nov. 21, 1934, last week.
Denver is also approaching the record for the most consecutive days without snow, according to the National Weather Service. The 2021 record was 232 days and the city has gone 221 days without snow in 2025 as of Wednesday, the fourth-longest streak ever recorded.
Folks sticking close to home for Thanksgiving can expect warm weather on Thursday and Friday, with highs in the 50s, before a cold front brings light snow to northern Colorado starting Friday night and into Saturday morning.
A second storm system could bring another round of light snow on Sunday, forecasters said.
“Snowfall amounts look to be on the lighter side, but with cold temperatures in place, it is expected to be cold enough for roads to become slippery at times,” forecasters wrote on Wednesday.
LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — At Chicken Salad Chick in Johnstown, it’s more than a lunchtime rush — it’s neighbors doing life over a bite to eat.
“We really pride ourselves on being a part of the community,” said owner Jessica Zumbrun.
Zumbrun and her husband own the Chicken Salad Chick locations in Greeley, Windsor, and Johnstown, and are now taking that ethos to a new level. They are offering free kids’ meals to anyone affected by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding freeze, no questions asked.
Since students already have access to free breakfast and lunch at school, the hope is to help fill the dinnertime gap for families who will lose access to their SNAP benefits on Nov. 1.
“We posted on Monday, and we have never seen such a response between all of our stores,” she said. “We served, I think it was eight meals right away that came through in Greeley.”
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Over at the Food Bank for Larimer County, volunteers are also doing their part to pay it forward.
“Just feeling like I’m doing a little something to help with, you know, help people that are having a hard time,” Charlice Wenger told Denver7.
Wenger and the rest of the volunteers at the Loveland Fresh Food Share Market have their work cut out for them. The line was out the door when Denver7 crews were there Wednesday afternoon.
The food bank said the number of households that have signed up for the service so far this month is more than triple the average, going from 150 new signups to 478 in October.
“It is going to be devastating to those families, and so it is hard to prepare, but we’re doing what we can,” said Food Bank for Larimer County CEO Amy Pezzani.
Pezzani told Denver7 the food bank is pre-purchasing more food, extending open shopping hours, and offering up to $100,000 in emergency food grants to their partners ahead of the freeze.
More than 600,000 Coloradans are expected to lose their food benefits on Saturday.
State
CO Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association asking farmers to help food banks
On Wednesday afternoon, Colorado Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse blamed Republicans for these lost SNAP benefits. Neguse said the Trump administration has the power to release these benefits, but won’t.
“It is outrageous that the Trump administration can come up with $40 billion to bail out Argentina and refuses to spend the money that Congress has appropriated to feed hungry families in America,” said Neguse.
Republicans, on the other hand, blame Democrats for the shutdown.
With massive impacts ahead, food banks across the state are calling for a stop to the shutdown.
“As much we, as folks who are in the charitable food system, are here to help, and we do this every day, we cannot make up for the loss of $120 million in benefits in just a couple of weeks. It’s really impossible,” said Pezzani. “What I hope to see is that our lawmakers make some decisions that will change this trajectory, because this is a place nobody in America should be.”
For now, the northern Colorado community will continue to find creative ways to help each other get by. The staff at Chicken Salad Chick is preparing extra food every day to get ready for the increase in need.
“It’s not a lot, but we’re really hoping that other businesses, if they have the ability to do that, they’re able to step forward and maybe offer some assistance as well,” said Zumbrun.
Coloradans in need of food assistance can check out the following resources below:
Those looking for the most up-to-date information should click here.
Denver7 Gives has created a campaign to help Coloradans struggling with food insecurity. Click on the form below and select “Help Fight Food Insecurity“ to donate.
An undated photo of Terri Ann Ackerman, who was reported missing on Aug. 24, 2018, from her home in Lochbuie.
Lochbuie police this week confirmed the remains of 56-year-old Terri Ann Ackerman were found at her northern Colorado home, more than seven years after she was reported missing in the Weld County town of Lochbuie.
The Weld County Coroner’s Office announced Wednesday that Ackerman’s remains were found at a home in the 100 block of Poplar Street on Sept. 10 — the same area where she was reported missing from her home in August 2018, according to the Greeley Tribune.
Lochbuie police officials this week confirmed Ackerman’s remains were discovered at her home, but did not say where they were found or why they were not discovered for more than seven years.
The cause and manner of her death are also under investigation.
Officials with the police department and Weld County Sheriff’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ackerman’s family, who are raising funds to cover funeral costs, described her as “a loving, caring, and social person who meant the world to her family and friends.”
“She was always there for those she loved, filling every room with warmth and conversation,” her family wrote on GoFundMe page. “Terri Ann’s dedication to her family was unmatched, and her absence has been deeply felt by everyone who knew her.”
For the first time since Week 1, the Javonte Train finally went off the rails. Despite what the fantasy experts on the Grading The Week team saw as a (makes finger quotes in the air) “favorable” matchup at Carolina last Sunday, the ex-Bronco was held to a season-low 29 rushing yards on 13 carries and 5 receiving yards on five grabs.
Context: Despite a banged-up, messed-up offensive line in front of him across the pond, Dobbins still managed more rushing yards (40) and more total yards (also 40) on far fewer touches (14).
Estime, the Broncos’ fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 2024 NFL draft, was waived by Denver this past August after falling behind Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin on the depth chart. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Estime a few days later and stuck him on their practice squad.
On Tuesday, our man Audric became unstuck. The Eagles released him.
The ex-Irish runner remained inactive for all six games with the Birds, including the Broncos’ 21-17 win at Philly back on Oct. 5.
Burning through two franchises over your first 18 months in the league makes for something of an auspicious NFL start for Estime, no question. But there’s one thing on the dude’s side: Time. He just turned 22 this past Sept. 6. If Estime can land on his feet, with head, heart and hands all pointing the same direction, he’s got time to re-write his narrative.
Wedgewood’s start for Avs — A
When the kids at the GTW offices can’t trust our eyes, we trust the math. After its first five games a year ago, the Avalanche had given up 28 goals (5.6 GAA) and had lost four times. After five games this fall to open the 2025-26 season, the burgundy and blue had surrendered just nine goals (1.8 GAA) while winning four of those five contests. Avs faithful may not know what a good power play looks like, but they know what it’s like to have a grown-up — Scott Wedgewood — keeping watch between the pipes.
Meanwhile, our old pal Alexandar Georgiev — the man in net here to start last season — just cleared waivers in Buffalo and was spotted in recent days practicing with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
Ed Lamb keeping UNC afloat — B+
When the GTW crew last saw Ed Lamb’s Northern Colorado Bears up close, they were being robbed of a historic win at Fort Collins in front of thousands. But while that bogus non-catch call against CSU still kind of burns our britches, we love happy — well, happy-ish — postscripts. After 23 losses in 24 games during the ’23 and ’24 seasons, Lamb’s UNC Bears went into the weekend 3-3 after their first six games for the first time since 2016. They won two non-conference games — and we all know there should’ve been a third — for the first time in nine years.
Since 2018 (the Bears didn’t play in 2020 for pandemic reasons), UNC’s average record after six games has been 1-5, and the squad has been 0-6 three different times over the previous six campaigns. It’s too early to bow, Ed. But we see you. And if this keeps up, we look forward to seeing a lot more of you.
Then you ask your third-string QB, a runner by trade (Tahj Bullock) who hasn’t completed a throw all year, to come off the bench cold, sprint right and pass you to a victory?
“That was one where I felt like that was our best chance to win, right there and right now,” Norvell explained Monday after watching film of CSU’s 17-16 home loss to the Roadrunners. “And so, I don’t regret it. I don’t. We needed to execute it better.”
True, his Rams are a two-point conversion away from being 2-1. A Bullock completion from rolling into a winnable home matchup against Washington State (2-2), coming off two Houdini escapes.
Either way, Saturday night against the Cougars has turned into must-see TV locally. Largely because it feels as if Wazzu just became a must-win contest.
It’s a too-darn-early referendum on what Norvell has built. And, more to the point, what he hasn’t.
Norvell’s predecessor, Steve Addazio, routinely embarrassed CSU at a time when the administration didn’t need any more help in that department. As soon as the Daz’s buyout dropped, ex-AD Joe Parker dropped the hammer.
Hires are usually reflections of their predecessors, if not stark contrasts by design. Norvell was poached from Nevada to bring normalcy, decency, an exciting offense and success, not necessarily in that order.
Four years in? That’s a yes, another yes, a not really, and a sort of.
Rams faithful aren’t shy about voting with their wallets. And Weber has to keep Canvas Stadium full — or awfully close. When Norvell boat-raced CSU with his Wolf Pack in late November 2021, Canvas sat half-empty. The Daz’s last three home games averaged 62% of capacity. The writing was on the checkbook.
We’re not there yet. CSU sold out four home games in 2024 and set a single-season home attendance record along the way — buoyed by a slate that featured Deion Sanders’ Fort Fun debut and a visit from rival Wyoming. Two games into 2025, the ledger is OK: Northern Colorado sold out on Sept. 6, while UTSA drew a more-than-respectable 88.8% of capacity (32,061).
Norvell sees this as a lifetime job, not a stepping stone. He wants to build it the right way. He’s committed to FoCo. He’s adjusted to the new normal of NCAA free agency, even hiring staff to handle the stuff he doesn’t particularly like. He’s invested in CSU, and vice versa.
But in a results business, the results on the field have been all over the place. Every silver lining has come with at least a little cloud trailing in its wake.
Last fall, Norvell got CSU to a bowl game for the first time since 2017. Once there, the Rams got obliterated by a MAC team. Clay Millen was the man, until he wasn’t. BFN was the man, until he couldn’t.
Norvell was hired with the idea of becoming another Sonny Lubick — a stable, long-term builder. But the transfer portal opened; House vs. NCAA happened; and Coach Prime turned up in Boulder to suck all the oxygen out of the local news cycle.
None of that is Jay’s fault. Yet with a move to the Pac-12 looming next year, some CSU fans talk about pining for a football version of Niko Medved in their new league. Someone who’ll make a big splash at CSU nationally, even if that means using the Rams as leverage toward a sexier job. And if they’re gone after two seasons for greener, richer Big Ten or SEC pastures, McElwain-style, so be it.
So: Lifetime guy (Norvell) or hot up-and-comer? It’s going to be one archetype or the other.
Norvell’s current contract expires Dec. 31, 2026. Per the term sheet the Rams released during his December 2021 hire, he’s making a base salary of $1.9 million this season and is due to make $2 million in 2026.
CSU can buy that out without cause for $1.5 million from now until New Year’s Eve. It can do so anytime in 2026 for “remaining base pay owed.”
With the remaining undecideds, there’s only one way back. And on this one, Norvell needs to not listen to his inner OC. Or to his gut. He should heed the ghost of one of his mentors, the late Al Davis.
Colorado’s fall color season is upon us as the first areas of the state are reaching peak, with the rest of the state to follow, according to Dan West, also known as “Mr. Aspen” because of his annual fall foliage forecast.
West is the Colorado State Forest Service entomologist based in Fort Collins who recently flew the state looking at the health of the state’s forests and received a bird’s-eye view of how the aspen are turning.
Here is your guide for peak viewing times and best color drives in Northern Colorado and statewide.
Peak fall color viewing times in Colorado
Here is West’s prediction on when areas of the state will see peak conditions:
Northern mountains: Includes areas north of Interstate 70, including Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat and Cameron Pass areas. Peak expected Sept. 20-27.
Central mountains: Includes, the I-70 corridor, including Breckenridge, Vail and Aspen. Peak expected Sept. 24-30 at higher elevations and cold valleys and Sept. 29-Oct. 5 for elevations in between.
Southern mountains: Includes the Grand Mesa, Crested Butte, Pagosa Springs area. Peak expected for Oct. 8-13.
Tips on how to safely navigate during Colorado’s prime fall color viewing
National Public Lands Day is Sept. 27, so expect especially high traffic that Saturday when many areas of the state will be at peak viewing.
Here are driving tips from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
If you’re able, avoid weekend fall color traffic jams by going Tuesday through Thursday. Prime weekends see significant traffic in certain areas.
Be aware of vehicles traveling at lower speeds.
Watch for vehicles pulling off the roadway or parked along the road.
Find safe, designated areas to park.
Drivers, be aware of pedestrians out of their vehicles taking photos.
Pedestrians, watch out for passing vehicles.
Best fall color drives in Northern Colorado
Peak to Peak Highway: This drive on Colorado Highway 7 from Estes Park to Central City/Black Hawk takes you along the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park and offers excellent viewing.
Buckhorn Canyon/Pingree Park loop: One of the more popular and closest aspen viewing drives to Fort Collins includes a loop consisting of Buckhorn Road (Larimer County Road 44H), Pingree Park Road (Larimer County Road 63), Colorado Highway 14, Larimer County Road 27 (Stove Prairie Road) and Rist Canyon Road (Larimer County Road 52E).
Upper Poudre Canyon: The Cameron Peak Fire burned many aspen in the stretch from Rustic to Cameron Pass area along Colorado Highway 14, but aspen viewing picks up once you are west of Cameron Pass in the Gould area and all the way to North Park. The Colorado State Forest State Park visitor center has ample aspen, some of which turn a beautiful orange.
Rocky Mountain National Park: A good loop drive is to take the slower (and less crowded) gravel Fall River Road up and take the paved (and more crowded) Trail Ridge Road down. Depending what time of day you drive here, you might need a timed entry permit reservation.
Colorado’s best fall color drives
Kebler Pass: The 30-mile drive on a mix of pavement and gravel on Kebler Pass Road (Gunnison County Road 12) just west of Crested Butte to Colorado Highway 133 is the quintessential Colorado aspen drive. This area boasts the largest aspen grove in North America.
Maroon Bells: Located about 42 miles southeast of Aspen off of Colorado Highway 82, this is one of most photographed places in Colorado, for good reason. Make sure to secure a reservation before visiting.
Dallas Divide: Take Colorado Highway 62 west from Ridgway. For even more color continue to Colorado Highway 145 south to Telluride on the San Juan Skyway. This area offers a superb combination of bountiful aspen and majestic mountains in 14,157-foot Mount Sneffels and 14,252-foot Mount Wilson.
Grand Mesa Scenic Byway: This 63-mile paved road leaves Interstate 70 about 45 miles east of Grand Junction and heads up Colorado Highway 65 on the Grand Mesa to Cedaredge. The world’s largest mesa is filled with color from aspen, cottonwoods and scrub oak dotted with aspen-ringed lakes.
La Veta Pass: This 50-mile drive on U.S. Highway 160 takes you from Walsenburg to Fort Garland and offers golden aspen mixing with the dark greens of pines and stunning views of the Spanish Peaks and Sangre de Cristo mountains that tower above the San Luis Valley floor.
Guanella Pass: This 22-mile scenic byway between Georgetown and Grant turns from a paved road to a well-maintained gravel road. From I-70, take the Georgetown exit and follow the signs. While the aspen show is grand here, so are the crowds.
Flat Tops Trail: Ditch the crowds on this 82-mile stretch of paved and gravel road between Meeker and Yampa and experience one of the best aspen viewing drives in northwest Colorado.
Where to find fall color condition updates
For 2025 fall color viewing conditions in Colorado and across the country, visit this map. The map will be updated as the season approaches and progresses.
And whether it was or wasn’t a reception is not even the biggest issue surrounding the program. Norvell has a quarterback controversy. He called it a competition during the bye week practice. But that is never the case, especially when the three-year starter is losing his grip on the position.
Jackson Brousseau is getting first-team reps as Norvell mulls his choice. This decision should determine whether Norvell receives a contract extension. That’s because the Rams enter a seven-game stretch that will provide clarity on whether he should keep the job.
CSU hosts five home games, including Sept. 20 against the University of Texas San Antonio on FS1. Washington State follows. These are not Cam Ward’s Cougars. The optics of this game remain important since CSU will be joining Wazzu in the revamped Pac 12 next season. Are the Rams competitive? Do they look the part?
And Norvell knows after the latest white-knuckle scare that he better beat Wyoming. Nobody cares that the game is on the road. Waking up on Nov. 9 with a 6-3 record provides hope that Norvell made the right choice. The temperature is not dropping on this topic until Fowler-Nicolosi plays better or Norvell moves on from him.
CSU’s athletic program is on a heater. The men’s basketball program, after a terrific March Madness run, was invited to the Maui Invitational in 2026 and recently signed guard Gregory “Pops” Dunson, the highest-ranked recruit since rankings became available in 2000. The volleyball team remains a force, and the women’s soccer team has entered the national polls at No. 25 for the first time in school history.
Football, however, is the window into the university for donors. Norvell cannot afford a 6-6 record with a boring offense and uncertainty at quarterback.
Rams fans, especially the students, did their part last week. It’s on Norvell to reward their chaos with better performances.
Tight fit: The Joke was on us in Week 1. Evan Engram finished with three catches for 21 yards on four targets. He only played 26 of the 76 offensive snaps, and it wasn’t only because of his injured calf. Engram appears ready to go on Sunday. If the Broncos run the ball better, as expected, there should be at least four RPO or cross-route strikes to Engram in the first half alone, or coach Sean Payton is doing it wrong.
Bowl it over: The retractable roof is a point of debate among Broncos Country as it relates to this week’s new stadium announcement. It allows for multiple events, including a Super Bowl, Final Four and Wrestlemania. But here’s another addition: a bowl game. There has been interest over the last year in bringing a bowl to Denver, and this offers a chance to accelerate that conversation even before shovels are in the ground.
FIRESTONE, Colo. — A water bill dispute between the Town of Firestone and the Central Weld County Water District (CWCWD) is heating up.
Last week, the water district, which has served the town for nearly 60 years, announced it would cancel its contract with the town in 2028, citing an “unworkable and financially unsustainable” partnership with the town’s management and board of trustees.
In a statement, the Town of Firestone said it was “surprised” by the announcement and is “actively working to understand and examine its full range of options.”
“The Town of Firestone received a letter from the Central Weld County Water District indicating its intent to cancel the existing Agreement concerning Domestic Potable Water Service. While it’s fair to say that the Town has been frustrated at times by the District’s unwillingness to comply with terms of the current agreement – with issues dating back to at least 2006 – we were nonetheless surprised to receive the letter. For years, the Town has been focused on reaching a new fair, mutually beneficial agreement. One that would allow for continued water service for residents and businesses while helping the District remain financially viable. However, based upon the District’s communication, the Town is actively working to understand and examine its full range of options, including availing itself of any and all legal remedies.”
Denver7 has been following the ongoing dispute between CWCWD and the Town of Firestone. Read our previous coverage below:
The Town of Firestone believes it is being billed incorrectly under a 1974 contract agreement with CWCWD. The agreement states the town will pay the established water rate schedule or the monthly minimum charge, whichever is greater.
Firestone Mayor Don Conyac, however, said his town is being charged both.
Read the Town of Firestone’s 1974 agreement with the water district here:
CWCWD said the agreement does not require a formal amendment to establish a new rate structure, which was adopted by the water district’s board of directors on Sept. 17, 2009. The town was notified about the change on Sept. 30, 2009, and the new rate structure went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010, CWCWD’s website reads.
The town had a Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for Wednesday night — the first time residents could voice their concerns to town officials since the cancellation announcement. Community members have previously told Denver7 they’ve felt ignored by their leaders.
On Wednesday’s agenda was a 30-minute Q&A with residents. However, town officials only answered questions that were submitted ahead of the meeting. Pre-written answers were then recited by the board.
Denver7
Questions written in by the community about Firestone’s water issue.
“They are not very transparent,” Firestone resident Scott Franks told Denver7.
“Well, the Q&A process you had to submit your questions prior,” said Bobby Matthews, who has lived in Firestone since 1978. “So, they’re going to pick and choose what questions they want to answer.”
Mayor Conyac did address the dispute during Wednesday’s meeting.
“I honestly think that this was just some pressure put on us so that we would quit and run and hide and think Daddy’s spanking us. I’m not that way,” Conyac said.
Citing a lack of trust in the board, Franks told Denver7 he filed a recall petition on Wednesday against Conyac Mayor Pro Tem Frank Jimenez and three of the four trustees: Raymond Byrd, Sean Doherty, and Lorna Morton. He did not include Trustee Matt Holcomb in the filing.
“We need effective leadership here, and I don’t think we’re getting it right now,” Franks said.
The board reiterated throughout Wednesday’s meeting that the town has always strived for water independence.
“We are pursuing solutions with every resource available to us,” Conyac said.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Claire Lavezzorio
Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio covers topics that have an impact across Colorado, but specializes in reporting on stories in the military and veteran communities. If you’d like to get in touch with Claire, fill out the form below to send her an email.
FORT COLLINS — Colorado State collected its first win in a Rocky Mountain Showdown tuneup, but the cost might have lasting effects on the Rams’ season.
CSU defeated Northern Colorado, 38-17, in a Saturday performance at Canvas Stadium that will draw mixed reviews in its own right. But the biggest story moving forward could be the availability of star wide receiver Tory Horton for the showdown next weekend with rival Colorado in FoCo.
The all-conference pass catcher left Saturday night’s game in the third quarter and did not return. Horton hauled in his second catch of the game, made a nifty move to shake off a defender along the sideline, but almost immediately pulled up because of an injury. He took a couple of steps with a limp before going down in pain on the CSU sideline.
Haze blanketed Colorado on Monday as wildfire smoke drifted from Canada, and the gray skies are expected to hover overhead for at least another 24 hours.
The wildfire smoke led the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Regional Air Quality Council on Monday to issue public health advisories, recommending people limit outdoor activity. The smoke is increasing the amount of ozone and fine particulate matter in the air.
Air monitors across northern Colorado and the Front Range were showing high concentrations of particulate matter, which can be smoke, soot, ash or liquid particles that people can inhale.
