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Citizens Service Center closed

June 27th, 2012, 4:15 am by

The following is a press release from the El Paso Clerk & Recorder’s office. The Citizens Service Center is closed until further notice…

Due to the Waldo Canyon mandatory fire evacuations the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office at Citizens Services Center (1675 W. Garden of the Gods Rd) will be closed until further notice. All other branch offices will remain open to serve our citizens. Staff has been redeployed to our other offices.

 

The Election Department will be closed tomorrow but all other departments will be open and serving customers beginning at 8:00 a.m.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

The Clerk & Recorder branch offices are as follows:

  • North Office-Union and Research
  • Southeast-Powers and Airport
  • Downtown at Centennial Hall-Cascade and Vermijo
  • Clerk to the Board will be functioning out of the Centennial Hall Auditorium

Posted in: Citizens Service Center • city of colorado springs • Clerk and Recorder Office • El Paso County • Pikes Peak Workforce Center • Wayne Williams | Post a Comment »

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June 20th, 2012, 1:47 pm by

A Nobel Peace Prize isn’t in the offing, but El Paso County Commissioner Dennis Hisey and Auddie Cox, his challenger for the District 4 post, did shake hands on camera this morning during a “Candidate Conversation” on Gazette TV.

Cox had accused Hisey of “running a gutless smear campaign” against him in an email to me on June 6.

Cox accepted Hisey’s explanation about the robo-call and that Hisey’s campaign wasn’t behind the automated phone calls that praised Hisey and blasted Cox. Hisey said the calls to voters in the district were stopped after about two days, when he learned of them. District 4 encompasses southern Colorado Springs, Fountain and the southern part of the county.

Cox reached across me — the moderator for the 51-minute discussion of issues — to shake Hisey’s hand.

The handshake scene won’t rival the Camp David Accords that resulted in the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty and a shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize award for Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Kudos to both candidates for squaring off on a live-stream that will live on www.gazette.com. It provided voters with a good look at both men, and some of the differences between them.

The GTV series continues Thursday with Marsha Looper sitting down alone with Gazette reporter John Schroyer. Looper’s opponent, Amy Stephens, declined the invitation to join in the fun.

Friday’s finale of the “Candidate Conversation” series features incumbent Sallie Clark and challenger Karen Magistrelli, who are vying for the District 3 county commissioner seat. They battled during a three-year land use issue that Magistrelli brought before the Board of County Commissioners, and have waged a spirited battle the last several months.

Friday’s 10 a.m. GTV showdown between Clark and Magistrelli should be fun. Be sure to watch!

 

Posted in: Citizens Service Center • El Paso County • El Paso County Commissioners • elections • Pikes Peak Workforce Center • term limits • Transportation | Post a Comment »

Oregon staff studying Citizens Service Center

May 1st, 2012, 1:54 pm by

Like a prize steer at the county fair, the Citizens Service Center is on display to visitors this week.

A group from Jackson County, Ore., is in town to see what they can learn about El Paso County’s relatively new Citizens Service Center, 1675 W. Garden of the Gods.

“The biggest city in their county is Medford and they bought an old post office building, about 80,000 square feet, to consolidate their offices like we did,” said El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark. “Some staff from their county is studying how we did our one-stop shopping at CSC. They want to see how our layout works, how we combined most everything under one roof to create more efficiency.”

The county moved several offices that were scattered around town to CSC. Under that one big roof are Department of Human Services, Pikes Peak Workforce Center, El Paso County Public Health and the offices of the county Clerk, Treasurer and Assessor, along with a Motor Vehicle office.

“I think it’s working well,” Clark said, “especially if you don’t have a car. Everything is in one place so it can save time and effort.”

 

Posted in: buildings • Citizens Service Center • Clerk and Recorder Office • County Assessor's Office • El Paso County • El Paso County Commissioners • Motor Vehicle • Pikes Peak Workforce Center | Post a Comment »

No computer camp for special-needs, at-risk kids

February 4th, 2011, 9:16 am by

Twenty at-risk, special-needs youth were supposed to attend a three-day computer camp starting today, Feb. 4, and running through Sunday.  But they don’t get to.

With a 3-2 vote, the El Paso County Commission last week rejected a federal grant of $38,520, which would have funded the camp. Participants were local youth, ages 16 through 21, enrolled in the federally funded Workforce Investment Act Youth Program, which the Pikes Peak Workforce Center administers for El Paso and Teller counties.

The camp would have provided an introduction to laptop computers, including the Windows platform, MS Office skills and Internet-based employment assistance. The intent: to provide the youth to become “self-sufficient and independent job searchers, career explorers and entry-level workers.” They also would have received a laptop computer, upon completing the camp.

Commissioners objected to the expense, even though the federal government would have picked up the tab.

“I think this is an outrageous fee for taxpayers — $1,920 per kid,” said Commissioner Peggy Littleton.

Commission Chairwoman Amy Lathen agreed.

“We cannot sustain these kinds of programs. Citizens pay federal income taxes, and at at this point, they’re funny money; they’re not federal dollars,” she said.

Littleton, a former state board of education member, said the youth could get computer training through school or other avenues.

Lathen said the program seems redundant .

Pikes Peak Workforce Center Chief Executive Officer Charlie Whelan said he understood the commissioners’ concerns and that he would try to find another way for the youth to receive laptops and computer training.

Posted in: El Paso County Commissioners • Pikes Peak Workforce Center • Uncategorized • Youth • • • • • | 14 Comments »