Dear Empire residents,
I hope that everyone had a wonderful and fun summer! I wanted to address a few things that have come up to make the public aware.
Bears: Now that summer is ending, bears are becoming more common in town and getting ready for hibernation. Bears have been getting into the dumpsters and trash all over town, and residents all over the county have reported them getting into vehicles and homes. Please lock and secure all your food and waste if you are outside your home or camping. If possible, please throw your trash away in the morning on the day of your trash pickup to help prevent the bears from coming around at night. Bears are wild animals and are very unpredictable, so please do not feed the bears or leave food out for them. If you have bird feeders, consider placing them away from your home, 10 feet off the ground, and 10 feet away from anything they can climb. The Department of Wildlife (DOW) recommends only using bird feeders when bears are hibernating. If you find yourself in a situation where a bear has entered your home or vehicle, call 911 if it is a life-threatening emergency or the non-emergency line. DOW does like to keep an eye on how many bears are active in the community. Please call *277 ask for DOW and report bear sightings if a response is not currently needed.
Non-Emergency Calls or Questions: Some of our residents are still calling Officers’ cell phones and not calling dispatch. Officers are not allowed to self-dispatch themselves when they receive a call and must be dispatched through Clear Creek Dispatch. I’m glad our residents are comfortable talking to our law enforcement officers, but we need them to call dispatch directly. Clear Creek Dispatch Non-Emergency Number 303-679-2393
OHV’s: Residents and visitors have had a lot of confusion about Empire’s Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV) Ordinance. Residents can ride OHVs inside town limits but must register and purchase an OHV tag to ride side roads only. Speed limits for OHVs on side roads are 10 MPH. OHVs may cross Park Ave. (Highway 40) but cannot drive on Park Ave. Clear Creek County does not allow OHV vehicles to operate on county roads outside the Town limits, including Bard Creek Rd. and N. Empire Rd. Empire does help assist the county on calls, but we are not patrolling the County roads as part of our jurisdiction.
If you have any further questions, please email me at chief@empirecolorado.us.
Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day!
Chief A. Lorenz