From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
It’s like anticipating a wall of funding options rushing at you. Funding for water projects on Fountain Creek, that is.
The Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District Friday looked at multiple efforts in El Paso County to answer questions about what should be funded, how money can be raised and when voters should be asked to support those projects. Tied up in the study is the continuing question of what role the district should play and how it will get the money it needs to carry out its own goals. “We need a timeline, so we have concrete steps we can take,” Pueblo Councilwoman Eva Montoya said. “We need a plan.”
The district is considering what questions it needs to ask in polling voters in El Paso and Pueblo counties about the possibility of a mill levy, how a question would be worded and when to place the issue on the ballot. Even after those questions are decided, there are questions about how to pay for an election and how to fund the campaign for a mill levy, since government groups could not pay for it.
At the same time, three separate investigations are proceeding in El Paso County — all of them related to Fountain Creek and potentially involving the Fountain Creek district.
● An El Paso County stormwater task force is trying determine priorities and funding sources for flood control. The Fountain Creek district board voted to manage a technical study, which would be funded by Colorado Springs Utilities and El Paso Coun ty. The study was suggested by Summit Economics, which launched the task force with an earlier white paper.
● Colorado Springs is reassessing its stormwater needs at the request of Mayor Steve Bach. A contractor will be chosen in April.
● The Coalition of the Upper South Platte is working with community groups to determine rehabilitation strategies for the Waldo Canyon burn scar.
Lurking in the background is the Southern Colorado Business Partnership, which announced its intention to seek a regional solution for Fountain Creek to the Pueblo Board of Water Works earlier this week.
More Fountain Creek coverage here.