More money was collected for child support in El Paso County last year than in Denver County, according to a report being heard today by El Paso County commissioners.

YoungWilliams Child Support Services of Jackson, Miss., says it answered more than 85,000 customer service calls and had a customer service rating of 3.8 out of a possible 4.0 last year.

The company, reporting on the first year of a five-year contract, also says it brought in $45.3 million in child support, compared to $41.7 million collected in Denver County.

It's workers collected $827,969 each, compared to Denver's rate of $340,225, the report says.

YoungWilliams started a program to assist parents with job searches and other assistance and also gained cooperation from the local military bases, including Fort Carson, Schriever and Peterson Air Force bases and the Air Force Academy.

In addition, the office met two of four performance goals set by the state. First, 90 percent of cases that needed paternity determinations got them, and 80 percent of cases have a child support order. The company's report wasn't clear on the state goals and how its performance compared.

• El Paso County
• Gun-slinging county commissioners, from left, Amy Lathen, Sallie Clark and Peggy Littleton.

Monday is the deadline for bids to build the Cheyenne Mountain Shooting Complex near Gate 20 off Interstate 25 at Fort Carson.

El Paso County is handling the bidding process, which will not be based on low bid, according to the specifications, which state:

NOTE: Proposers are advised that THIS IS NOT A SEALED BID OR LOW BID PROCESS. The
County intends to make an award using the evaluation criteria to determine the “Best Value” for the
County as indicated in this Request for Proposals (RFP).

The bid is to be awarded in mid-May and the project completed before the end of September, the bid documents state.

No cost estimate is included in the bid announcement, but county officials previously have given the cost in the $750,000 range. Funding will come from grants and contributions from the Colorado Division of Wildlife, National Forest Service and others.

The project includes construction of shooting lanes for handguns, small-bore rifles and high-powered rifles. The contractor also will improve the access road, build an unpaved parking lot, install gates and a barbed wire perimeter fence, and develop erosion control measures.

The respondents are advised that the stormwater and erosion control features reflected on the plan are conceptual and not fully developed. The contractor will have to prepare the full storm water erosion control plan for this site. Estimated quantities for typical temporary erosion control measures have been included in the cost proposal tab and will be used in determining the contract amount. These quantities may not represent the actual quantity of temporary BMP’s required, based on the contractor’s plan.
The following elements reflected on the drawings will be furnished and installed by others: overhead
shelters for the shooting area, picnic benches, vehicle gates, post and dowel fencing, parking blocks,
shooting benches, targets, a marquee entrance sign with a timber support structure, and range signing.

The shooting range is being built as a replacement for the Rampart Range shooting area, which was closed by the U.S. Forest Service in summer of 2009 after a man was killed there in a shooting mishap.

UPDATE: County Administrator Jeff Greene says the commissioners' dais was reinforced against gunfire after commissioners were concerned with their safety due to attacks on public officials in other parts of the country and a stalking incident of an El Paso County commissioner last year. He wouldn't identify the commissioner, and nothing came of the stalking, though he described the individual as "menacing." He didn't know if a police report was ever filed or whether the person was armed.

"The commissioners are pro-gun. They support the Second Amendment. They want people to have concealed carry and to carry unconcealed. There was a concern of some of the commissioners when this [stalking] happened last year," he says in an interview. "We do have a security guard that sits at the entrance of the facility [Centennial Hall]. Also, we have a security guard dressed in plain clothes that will observe the proceedings as well.

"Some of the commissioners were concerned about their safety," he adds, refusing to name which commissioners. "We live in a very different environment today. There's been countless events across the country where public officials have been in harm's way."

He says the county decided that installing Kevlar in the dais was better than placing a metal detector at the door to the meeting room.

——————ORIGINAL POST WEDNESDAY, April 18, 10:37 a.m.————————

El Paso County commissioners spent nearly $7,000 to install "ArmorShield" in their dais in Centennial Hall.

In other words, they bullet-proofed the desk where they sit to conduct meetings.

ArmorShield's website says the company "prides itself on its ability to design and manufacture soft and hard armor products."

We have strived to identify those issues that have plagued officers for years and offer simple and well-thought solutions that make the wearing of armor easier than ever before.

ArmorShield USA provides the end user with leading edge technology in soft ballistic armor packages. We are proud to have developed our patented Blunt Trauma System (BTS) which decreases the potential trauma a person receives when taking live fire.

We also provide the option of hard armor insert plates to protect against High Velocity Threat (HVT) ammunition.

Another document provided by the county shows that Infinity Composites Inc., Ashtabula, Ohio, provided "Kevlar Bullet Resistant" panels. The protection rating and panel size was redacted by the county before releasing the documents.

Asked how come commissioners are concerned about the possibility of taking live fire, Commissioner Sallie Clark begged off, claiming no part in the decision.

"I haven't been involved in that. I really haven't," Clark tells the Indy. "Facilities obviously was involved. I didn't ask for it. I know there are security issues that others consider when they're designing buildings, but I really can't speak to it because I wasn't involved in the design. I leave that up to the experts who deal with security issues to work that out. If that's something they felt was important, that was part of the design of the entire facility. I don't get involved in the security issues of El Paso County."

County spokeswoman Jennifer Brown says the installation, which cost $6,676.88, according to county records obtained by the Indy, was to protect commissioners. But she says she doesn't know whether a specific incident led to the addition. She says she'll check and get back to us.

We found only one instance of a governing body considering the installation of Kevlar, a bullet-proof material, in a dais. It was discussed by the Bloomington, Minn., City Council in 2001 but we don't know if it was installed. We've called the town to find out.

Check back with us later for more.

• John Morris

The race for the Board of County Commissioners is District 3 has turned into one of the county's most heated competitions, now stretching to November. Two-term commissioner Sallie Clark is vying for a third term, while newcomer Republican candidate Karen Magistrelli is mounting a surprisingly effective challenge.

Last month, at the Republican Party county assembly, delegates in District 3 showed Magistrelli notable support, voting to give her the top line over Clark on the June 26 party primary ballot.

And now, longtime Democratic activist and former El Paso County party chair John Morris has stepped into the race for the November general election, facing the Clark-Magistrelli winner.

According to Morris, his decision to launch his first-ever campaign for office came after it was clear that no other Democrat was going to step up to bat.

"After the county assembly, we did not have a candidate come forward," he says, "so we had a vacancy there. And over the last few months, I have tried really hard to get who I thought were very worthy people to run, but they for one reason or another chose not to do so."

"I just felt that I could not let what has gone on with the Republican Party for such a long time ... just let that pass, without standing up and saying, 'That's wrong,' " he continues. "I think that there's lots of frustration out there with the county doing things the same old way, the same old Republican way that has been for the past 40 years, and I am going to run against that. I am going to run against the machine."

Morris points to the controversial, and widely unpopular, 2010 ballot issue that has paved the way for Clark to seek a third term.

"I think that she really over-reached herself on this third-term thing," Morris says. "This is Sallie's retirement program; an extra third of a million dollars. And this business of manipulating the electoral process with that deceptive ballot issue, and using that for her own personal benefit. That really stinks, and somebody really needs to say that this really stinks."

Morris, a retired high school history teacher, worked for 27 years in Colorado Springs School District 11. He sees his campaign as an opportunity to give voice to the many concerns with county government that he hears, but feels all too often are ignored.

"I know that I am a way-underdog, but so what?" he asks. "For me, it's a matter of expressing my concern and outrage. And I think that this county is way more diverse than the halls of government would indicate."

"I have a strong message and I think that I offer a strong alternative."

• Pam Zubeck
• The revamped Centennial Hall meeting room has a spooky feel to it.

El Paso County commissioners held their first meeting in the remodeled Centennial Hall today.

The remodel is part of the county's $50 million Strategic Moves initiative, which included buying the former Intel building at 1675 Garden of the Gods Road and moving many county offices there, including the treasurer, assessor, clerk and recorder, workforce center and human services.

Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave., was built in 1976. It served as the clerk and recorder's office and "election central" for decades. In recent months, it's been overhauled into offices for administration, budget, legal, procurement, public communications and commissioners.

Each commissioner has a roomy office with workspace, conference table area and seating area with sofas, chairs and coffee tables.

The final steps in the space shift include remodeling the County Administration Building, 27 E. Vermijo Ave., for use by the Sheriff's Office. That work should be done by fall. Then the county will turn to remodeling the sheriff's training facility near the Criminal Justice Center on East Las Vegas Street for the coroner's office. The existing coroner's office will be used for a function yet to be determined by the sheriff, says Deputy County Administrator Monnie Gore.

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa has appointed Paula Presley, long-time sheriff's officer and chief of the law enforcement bureau, as undersheriff. She'll assume the position when Undersheriff Larry Kastner retires next month.

• Presley: Moving up.

Presley was recently rotated to the law enforcement bureau after spending many years as chief of detentions overseeing the Criminal Justice Center. Presley's tenure there saw numerous advances in security and inmate assistance.

Among those:
— Changes in inmate use of telephones to record conversations and require identification before placing calls, which led to better monitoring and prosecution of inmates who intimidate witnesses.
— Running programs designed to reduce recidivism in which inmates learn life skills and sign contracts to not re-offend.
— Establishing visitation by phone and video screen outside the jail to save jailer time shuttling prisoners to and from visitation rooms.
— Building a detox facility, and then building another one, using the first one as an adjunct to the Criminal Justice Center. Detox serves 475 to 525 people per month.
— Gaining licensure of detox as a transitional residential detox facility, meaning more money for the jail; the jail got licensed for substance-abuse treatment in the jail, the only county jail in the state with such licensure.
— Installing a SecurPASS machine to electronically frisk people booked into jail, preventing contraband from being hidden in body orifices.

Of course, the jail has been in hot water a few times in the last few years over inmate deaths and injuries, incidents that have spawned lawsuits.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Michael Schaller says Presley will be paid $114,756 as undersheriff, a bump from her bureau chief salary of $108,252. During the recent shuffle, Joe Breister, the former law enforcement bureau chief, took over as detentions bureau chief.

"Interviews will be conducted per our policy for any other promotions," Schaller writes in an e-mail.

Swimming pools and spas used by the public, which total about 150 in El Paso County, will once again under go regular inspections starting Sunday, the county's Public Health Department announced today.

Inspection of pools and taking of water samples for analysis was discontinued in 2008 amid budget cuts.

Now a streamlined version of the program is resuming, and the fees that will be charged pool owners will fund the program, unlike prior to the program being eliminated.

"Public Health reevaluated the program in 2011 with input from the pool and spa industry," Public Health spokeswoman Danielle Oller says in an e-mail. "It has been restructured to focus only on the prevention of waterborne illness, and the fees are set to cover this streamlined program."

Some key points of the program:

* Specialists will now conduct on-site water chemistry testing. (previous program took water samples, had them tested at the lab) This reduces staff time and lab costs.

* Seasonal pools/spas will be visited by staff once a year. Previous program was twice a year.

* There will be an additional charge for mandatory follow-up inspections to verify public health compliance.

* Based on industry feedback, staff will spend on-site inspection time working with the owner/operator to solve critical waterborne illness violations. Previous program looked for both critical and non-critical violations. This reduces staff time during the inspection.

Public Health said in a news release the goals of the program "are to increase education and outreach to the community and to stakeholders in the pool/spa industry, and protect the health and safety of pool and spa visitors with efficient use of staff resources and effective inspections and training."

Here are the new charges:

· Plan reviews, including pre-operational inspections—$241

· Inspections, year-round pool/spa facilities (includes two regular inspections)—$181

· Inspections-seasonal pools/spa—$106

· Follow-up inspections—$43/hour

· Additional services—$43/hour

• Pam Zubeck
• Glenn: Hosts first media session.

I was the only one who showed up at the appointed 10 a.m. time today, but the idea from El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn to host a regular media session once a month is a good one. Glenn represents District 1, which covers the northern portion of the county.

Glenn opened the discussion to any topic, and we covered a lot of ground in a half-hour. Here are some highlights:

Election issues: Glenn feels the city should seriously consider contracting with the county Clerk and Recorder's Office to redraw boundaries for Council districts. While the city code requires new boundaries be in place 150 days before the April 2013 city election, Glenn thinks a draft should be provided a lot sooner.

"I think it's only fair," he says. "If you wait for 150 days before, it's not fair for people who have never run for office." Making sure you live within a district with an open seat and planning a campaign can take time.

"We should give people as much information as possible."

Mail ballot: "I'm a fan of giving voters all options. There are a lot of people who want to go to the polls, vote early or by mail. We should provide all options to people. If it comes down to cost versus credibility, credibility wins out every time."

Oil and gas: Required bonds for road repairs might need to be increased. The bonds recently posted by Ultra Resources of Houston for this purpose ranged from about $10,000 to $18,000. "The staff knows they're in a new area and they're not saying that's where it's going to stay. In my district, roads are No. 1."

Glenn hasn't been on a tour to one of Ultra's well sites in the county, although Ultra already has been taking city Oil and Gas Committee members to the Olive Oyl well site southeast of Colorado Springs.

Glenn says he's open to hear an argument should Ultra want to lease county property as a well site, leading to the county receiving royalty payments if a well is productive. This could be possible if a preferred drilling site is in a county park, for instance.

"That's a huge public issue," Glenn says. "You want to survey the public sentiment. Some people would want to completely preserve" public property. But royalty payments might be a funding source to improve a county park. "If the owners," he says, meaning taxpayers, "don't want to do it, it's not going to happen."