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News
Adoptive family seeks award for bomb dog that went to war
News Published: Wed, June 19, 2013
Ruby and Wade Ridpath with their combat veteran dog, Carlos, who served five years as an explosive-detecting dog in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Ridpaths nominated Carlos for the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards in the military dog category. by Erin Prater erin.prater@gazette.com – “Bring him home.” As Ruby Ridpath typed those words into an [...]
News Headlines view all
- Bernie Herpin may face Sen. John Morse in recall, if he gets signatures
- FIRE NOTEBOOK: Reception canceled for Waldo exhibit
- Red flag fire warning for El Paso County, dry conditions all week
- Man in custody after traffic stop
- UPDATES: New areas to open temporarily Wednesday morning to Black Forest fire residents
Life
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s ‘gentlest giraffe’ dies at age 32
Life Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
Courtesy of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo The Gazette – The most recognizable giraffe at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, known for her unique, nearly all-white coloring, died Tuesday morning due to complications of old age. Becky, a 32-year-old reticulated giraffe, had been on a “quality of life watch” for about a year and a half, the [...]
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A&E
DOG DAYS OF SUMMER: The dogs who went Hollywood
Arts & Entertainment Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
by t.d. mobley-martinez tracy@coloradosprings.com – I love dogs. And I’m not alone. Which is probably why they have found themselves pictured or portrayed since men began to walk upright. Cave paintings and Egyptian murals. Those “Blue Dog” paintings. Tin Tin’s Snowy, L. Frank Baum’s Toto in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Astro, Scooby Doo and [...]
Sports
Sky Sox use Chris Volstad’s pitching, solid defense to top Tacoma 4-1
Sports Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
by JOE PAISLEY joe.paisley@gazette.com – Colorado Springs starter Chris Volstad got into a rhythm and the Sky Sox defense came up with three big double plays to down Tacoma 4-1 Tuesday night. The first two double plays ended Rainier scoring threats in the second and seventh innings and the final, a line drive grab by [...]
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- Former Rockie Esmil Rogers shuts down former team in 8-3 Toronto victory
- Northern Colorado football camp entry fees given to Red Cross after fire
- Subhead
- KLEE: With limited roster, CSU football must rely on flexibility of coaches
- McBride and Paulsen can’t carry Colorado Springs Sky Sox to victory in 12-7 loss to Las Vegas
Business
New hires, promotions & honors
Business Published: Wed, June 19, 2013
The Gazette – Tom Reiter has been named chief executive officer and president of Rocky Mountain Health Care Services, which provides a continuum of services to people who are elderly, blind, brain injured, disabled or living with diabetes or AIDS. Reiter will start July 1. He has more than 23 years experience in health-care organizations, [...]
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Military
Army show at home base brings a case of nerves for Fort Carson soldier
Military Published: Mon, June 10, 2013
In The Soldier Show, the stars of the show are not only performers, but soldiers. The Soldier Show travels the world to entertain our soldiers and their families. The show came to Ft. Carson on Thursday, May 30, 2013. (Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette) by erin prater erin.prater@gazette.com – hen the Army’s “Soldier Show” rolled into [...]
I think it’s great this info is released to all media outlets. Transparency is a good thing.
If transparency is such a good thing, then why didn’t the Bach administration take it upon itself to release the information without an open-records request submitted by The Gazette.
Transparency does not mean trust us.
It sounds like you are upset that the info was released to all media outlets. How do you know they weren’t going to release the info? You are speculating which really should not be the role of the press.
KKTV included in their report today “According to the city, however, this does not represent all of the work-related expenses from those employees. They say managers often absorb day-to-day costs, and point to the example of Bach not seeking reimbursement for about $6,000 in expenses.”
Janis, your post shows why it’s probably a good thing to release the info to all the press. We learn from KKTV that Bach did not seek reimbursement for $6,000 in expenses. That did not show up in this blog.
The city didn’t provide any proof of that Janis, so if and when they do, we’ll report it, too. I’m still waiting for a call back.
This strong mayor thing is going to run this city into the ground. I am retired military and I can tell you that I spent a load of money non reversible..
How long was the conference he was attending? Hiltons run about a buck and a quarter to a buck fifty a day. Add that to a sixty dollar per dieum and you have about 5 days. Now if parking was charged to the room it could have been a four day stay.
The car wash may not be out of line if it was a city owned vehicle. If he were an employee of mine I would ask for more itemization and justification.
I hate government waste as much as the next guy, but I would investigate these things further before I did anything rash like asking him for a reimbursement.
This is amounts asked for reimbursement not including whats been spent by tax payers money. Security, new high paid jobs with benefits, office decorating, and spirit of the springs events. who is paying for all that? we are! The City is screwing the small business owners who actually took money losing pools and turned two of them to profit making facitlites. Sticking them with a big bill because things were breaking down and the City didnt want to fix them the right way. They had a leak in a pool , city slapped a bandaid on it like they always do and then stuck the small business owners with a huge bill who as of December 31 is out of business and now owes the City money for theyre putting of repairs. This City says it wants to be business friendly. well lets see it other than paying 2 employees in economic vitality almost a quarter of a million dollars in salaries. put your money where your mouth is Colorado Springs.
http://www.bachsoffice.com/spirit-of-the-springs/spirit-of-the-springs-events
Party at the Antlers Hilton ballroom? How much is that costing us taxpayers? And he keeps talking about public safety, what a hypocrit. Same page talks about golf tournament at hootytooty Broadmoor. If its a Mayors golf game for the City wouldnt it make sense to have it at the CITY OWNED GOLFCOURSE? you Bach supporters are starting to panic and attack because you know your boy isnt coming through like you thought he would and how he promised. Ballroom party to say look how good im doing so far. Forget the ballroom and fix up the parks so we all can enjoy them. Conservative my ass.
The Antlers “party” and the golf tournaments are to raise funds for a non-profit working to make C-Springs a better place to live. The place where it is held at is more the non-profits business’s and has nothing to do with the city.
I dont think the city should get involved in dictating that every non-profit in the city has to hold every event it has on city owned property.
You know there are bigger things to worry about in this city like the council spending $500,000 on tennis courts and not having enough money to reopen the swimming pool and rec center for the poor kids. Another one is the council disenfranchising the entire Military community by unanimously voting the only Military voice off of the the task force. Focus on the real problems the city is facing and work to keep all our elected leaders honest..
http://www.springsgov.com/
City releases staff expense reports
The City has received a media request for the expense and mileage reports of Mayor Steve Bach and 29 managers and judges since the Mayor took office in June 2011. City policy allows for employees to be reimbursed for approved expenses in the conduct of City business. Often managers absorb the costs of day to day business expenses without reimbursement. Mayor Bach has about $6000 in expenses associated with the job for which he chose not to seek reimbursement.
In our continuing effort for transparency, we are posting the resulting information. Whenever open records requests produce information with broad public interest, the City reserves the right to post the information on its Web site and to disseminate the information to area media outlets and to interested citizens through other channels.
Specifically, this request focused on the expenses turned in by Mayor Bach and the following positions (whether interim or permanent): City Clerk, City Attorney, Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief of Economic Vitality and Innovation, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Municipal Judges (there are 12), Chief Financial Officer, Human Resources Director, Chief Communications Officer, Aviation Director, Cemetery Manager/Operations Supervisor, Parking Manager, Information Technology (Chief Information Officer), Innovation and Sustainability Manager, Senior Analyst Bob Cope and Small Business and Spirit (Economic Vitality Specialist).
The resulting spreadsheets of information detail the raw data reported by each individual, allowing each interested citizen to review the data without third-party translation.
The raw data is available here.
Janis,
The city’s Communications Office still hasn’t provided proof to back up the claim that the mayor has $6,000 in expenses “for which he chose not to seek reimbursement.
Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey “also wanted me to tell you she hasn’t yet been able to talk to the mayor about the unclaimed expenses mentioned in the news release,” city spokesman John Leavitt told me yesterday afternoon in an email.
I sent another email this morning. Hopefully they can provide evidence to support their claim today.
Thanks.
I am not too concerned about how much money the Mayor spent that he did not ask reimbursement for. Not a big deal unless you are trying to see if he is honest about an ambiguous statement.
Janis, were the hotel bills just submitted as a single item or was there more detail? Also how long were the stays at the locations and how much were the hotel rooms? He is the Mayor so there should be a little schmoozing fund like any other CEO.
Air fare looks right but I dont know what the “chamber” & “liaison” entries are about.
Any more detail would be great. Thank you for being forthright.
Link to his expense breakdown
http://www.springsgov.com/units/communications/2011exspenses.pdf
I want everyone to know that the Spirit of the Springs events come together as a result of community participation and generosity. The Antlers is sponsoring the one coming up on Feb. 17 and The Broadmoor is a sponsor of the golf tournament that will raise funds for The Mayor’s Spirit of the Springs initiatives, so they don’t have to rely on taxpayer funds. Having the golf tournament at a City course would actually be very expensives because the City golf courses are enterprises and Issue 301 which was passed does not allow an enterprise to financially contribute to the City.
Mary Scott, City Communications
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