Posts tagged Boulder County
July 4 emergency warning siren tests canceled
Jun 28th
Boulder County, Colo. – City of Boulder and Boulder County officials, as well as leaders from several communities throughout the county, decided Tuesday to cancel the upcoming monthly siren tests, which were scheduled for Monday, July 4.
The decision was made to limit disruption of community events taking place throughout the day on July 4, as well as to avoid potential confusion the sirens might cause visitors who are unfamiliar with the county’s outdoor warning system.
Siren testing regularly takes place on the first Monday of each month at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. from April through August.
In addition to conducting the audible tests on the first Monday of each month during peak flood season, Boulder County recently acquired software that silently tests the sirens on a weekly basis to ensure that all aspects of the sirens are working properly.
The City of Longmont’s system is independent of Boulder County’s, and Longmont will conduct an audible test as previously scheduled.
About the countywide alert system
Used to alert residents to potential danger from a flood or other immediate threat, there are more than 30 outdoor warning sirens in place across Boulder County, including in Boulder, Erie, Jamestown, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville (does not do audible testing), Lyons, Marshall, Eldorado Springs, Superior and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Community Forestry Sort Yard program prepares for seasonal location change Site near Nederland to close July 9; alternate site near Allenspark to open Aug. 9
Jun 28th
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County’s Forest Health Initiative is gearing up for its seasonal transfer of the county’s Community Forestry Sort Yard program from Nederland to Allenspark.
Because the county only has the resources and staff to operate one site at a time using an air curtain burner and related equipment to reduce volume and process woody material, the two sites operate on alternate schedules each season.
At 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 9, the Nederland area sort yard, located at 286 Ridge Road, will close for the summer. Residents using the Nederland area site are encouraged to continue with their beetle mitigation and defensible space improvement projects by cutting and transporting beetle-infested logs and slash to the site before mountain pine beetles begin flying in mid-July.
The Boulder County Commissioners are reviewing proposals for reopening the Nederland area sort yard on a limited basis this year to accept additional slash and logs from county residents. More information on potential dates and hours for these extra collections will be released later this summer.
Additionally, Nederland area residents are invited to attend and provide input about their experience using the sort yard in its first year of operation at a community meeting scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 12, at the Nederland Community Center.
The Allenspark/Meeker Park sort yard, located on the Peak-to-Peak Highway just north of the Boulder-Larimer county line, will open for log and slash disposal at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9 and remain open through Oct. 15. The Allenspark area site will not accept logs infested by mountain pine beetles until the majority of beetle flight has ended in mid-September.
To better understand the types and preferred lengths of material accepted at the sort yard, please visit www.BoulderCounty.org/ForestHealth before using the yard for the first time.
For more information about bark beetle management tips, upcoming trainings, and sort yard operations, contact Ryan Ludlow, Boulder County’s outreach forester, at 720-564-2641 or pinebeetle@bouldercounty.org.
Boulder County awarded Family Unification Program vouchers HUD program helps stabilize families and move them toward self-sufficiency
Jun 22nd
Boulder County, Colo. – In recognition of its effective, integrated approach to human services delivery, where children and families are offered a full continuum of early and preventative support services that increase their safety and their chances to be self-sufficient, the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services was recently awarded 50 Family Unification Program Housing Choice Vouchers by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Only 150 vouchers were awarded in Colorado and less than 2,000 nationwide.
By providing access to stable housing and supportive services, the Family Unification Program enables Boulder County to reunite children in foster care with their parents or to prevent children from entering the foster care system. Research consistently shows that children who are able to safely stay with their families have much better long-term outcomes than children who are removed from their homes.
FUP vouchers will be available for families whose inadequate housing is the primary factor in the separation or near separation from their children. Families and youths are permitted to rent housing from private landlords and generally pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent and utilities. County staff will refer eligible clients to the voucher program.
“We feel strongly that a lack of affordable housing is not a valid reason to separate children from their families,” said Frank Alexander, Director of the county’s Department of Housing and Human Services. “With these vouchers, we can ensure that families have a safe and affordable place to live and thereby remove one obstacle from parents who want to take care of their children but do not have the financial resources to do so. Providing short-term supportive services to at-risk families on the front end can make the difference for kids and families over the long term.”
According to the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, it costs the federal government approximately $56,892 annually per family to place children into foster care. Yet the cost to provide housing and supportive services to one family averages less than $14,000 annually. Through this investment in FUP to reunify families who are separated due to a lack of affordable housing options, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD, will reunite nearly 3,500 children with their parents, thus saving $74 million in annual foster care expenditures.
Cost savings are also considerable for young people aging out of foster care. The average annual cost of a FUP voucher for young adults is $5,600 – a 10th of the estimated costs associated with undesirable outcomes such as homelessness, incarceration, and residential treatment.
“Boulder County is proud to be leading the way in providing a highly integrated, locally delivered housing and human services system and appreciates HUD’s recognition of this innovative approach to service delivery,” Alexander said.
