Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC) Meeting
March 8, 2017
—WESTCLIFFE, Colorado
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
The room again overflowed with members of the public wishing to make their views known. Whereas on Tuesday, the public comments were unanimous in disapproval for the actions of the Board regarding Robin Young’s termination, today, they were nearly unanimous in favor. A number of former members of the 4-H Foundation, along with Fair Board members read letters containing a wide variety of complaints against Robin Young.
(Editor/GG: These emails are posted on our website under archives at SangredeCristoSentinel.com.)
Bill Baker, current president of the 4-H Foundation stood on several occasions to speak in defense of Mrs. Young, much to the noisy disapproval of the crowd. The complaints were all 4-H related.
Mr. Kattnig again stated that they had no authority to fire Mrs. Young, that it was CSU’s doing.
When the meeting agenda commenced, they began with Commissioner Items. Mr. Kattnig reported on the workshop held the previous day, saying not much new information was attained. For general information, he listed the age of the Road and Bridge fleet of equipment and stressed that expertise was needed in planning and management in that department, as well as long-term planning.
Butch Gemin and Jessica Carter came before the Board to discuss the Early Childhood Council. There are two phases to the ongoing project. There must be a Convening Entity to kick-start the process. Then there must be a Fiscal Agent that will act as the “employer” for the coordinator. No county funds will be used, but the state funds must be channeled through the Fiscal Agent to the coordinator. The Board passed a motion to accept either the school or the library as the convening entity, conditional on the county being the fiscal agent. The Board expressed misgivings about becoming the fiscal agent.
The liquor license for the Lodge at San Isabel was renewed.
County Clerk Kelley Camper updated the Board on the ongoing process to preserve the county’s old record books. She is hoping twenty more books will be done this year. The money for this project comes from a portion of recording fees.
The Board approved a $650 bid to repair the east door of the Courthouse.
Staff Reports
The Airport Advisory Board gave their report. Mr. Printz will work with the Board to give the FAA “compelling reasons” why the FAA should spend $3.5 million on moving the runway so the airport can meet current design standards. Mr. Anderson also requested that up to $3,500 from their crack seal budget be reallocated to the Say-Weather system so that system can be installed. This allows pilots flying into our airport to get current weather reports via radio or telephone.
The Landfill report was given by Rusty Christensen. He reported that the cost to run the landfill in 2016 was $18,151. CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) will be coming April 18th and Christensen requested that the Board take a landfill tour before then. He is considering a burning certification class for burning slash.
Virginia Trujillo was unable to attend. The Board accepted her report via email.
Dawna Hobby, from HR and Finance reported that she has extended the County Health Nurse job posting for one more week. She discussed insurance for the Wetmore Community Center building and went over the numbers for the Road and Bridge proposal to raise wages. The Board voted unanimously to adopt the new R&B payroll schedule effective March 1st.
In New Business, Greg Smith was moved from ex-officio member to full member of the Tourism Board to fill the position vacated by Brian Clince.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m.