A heated debate ensued during the Falcon Incorporation Committee’s first public meeting when a few of the 70-plus participants vocalized divided opinions about incorporating Falcon.The September meeting took place at Falcon Middle School, and representatives from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs attended the meeting to answer questions about incorporation. Clay Brown, one of the department’s regional manager, advised the group to “identify what you don’t like and what you’d like to change (regarding plans to incorporate).”He told the audience that the goal of the department of local affairs is to strengthen Colorado communities by providing financial and technical assistance.”Some small communities don’t have resources to help them become successful,” Brown said. “Most clients are small, rural areas and they can’t hire consultants.”He said incorporation is gaining popularity in Colorado, and each year an average of one community in the region he serves has incorporated.When communities develop local governments, the municipality is designated as a statutory town or city, or a home-rule municipality. As a statutory town, the state statutes retain authority over the municipality. A home-rule community is able to make any rule as long as it is not unconstitutional or contradictory to state laws, Brown said.”Make sure this is right for you,” he said. “Do your homework. Look to see if there are other solutions.”Part of the homework includes intercepting the feedback from the community.Thomas Cline, the FIC moderator, said he was happy with the turnout, but he would like more feedback from other Falcon neighborhoods.”I wish we could have gotten more input,” he said. “We need to figure out a way to hear concerns from people within the boundaries. A large number of people are not in favor of it at Woodmen Hills and that’s why we didn’t include them in the boundaries.”Wendy Habert, a Woodmen Hills resident, has attended about five meetings – some of the initial ones held by the now defunct Falcon Exploratory Incorporation Committee – and this latest meeting by the FIC. Although Woodmen Hills is not included in the proposed boundaries, she is concerned that information has not been adequately disseminated to the public.”We’re still part of the community, and we have a vested interest as members of the community,” Habert said.She said her concerns are primarily the cost of incorporating, the boundaries and the implementation of services.”I’ve had the same concerns since the very first meeting I went to,” she said. “They are not answering the questions of the community. They have not met with the fire chief, they have not met with the sheriff’s office and they have not met with the El Paso County Department of Transportation supervisor. I appreciate their efforts, but they need to meet with these people.”Cline said before the FIC schedules another public meeting he would like to gather ample information to answer the questions raised by the participants. That information, he said, would include a clearly worded charter and definitive boundaries.Marc Short, a small business owner for 25 years, has lived and worked in Falcon since 1990. He lives within the proposed borders and said he has seen “Falcon grow from being a rural community with no real businesses, just five-acre ranches, to suddenly we’ve got a suburb and development with a full complement of businesses.””The only way we can proceed and develop an identity is through some process to create our own government that is a legal incorporated community,” Short said. “We need to create a form of government that is small and responsive to the needs of the constituents.”He foresees the immediate effects of incorporation as minimal.”Initially there will be very little change to anyone who lives here,” Short said. “As issues arise that are relevant to the community, we will see changes because we will have the ability to direct those changes that benefit us.”Short has become involved with the FIC since attending the September meeting.”If we don’t take charge of our future, our future will be deemed however the county wants us to be.”For more information on the Falcon Incorporation Committee, contact Tom Cline at thomascline@msn.com or 719-683-5755.
