Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)

–October 4, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, Colorado

by Jackie Bubis, Reporter

The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Commissioner Items:
Commissioner Hood reported that the training will take place on October 16th for streaming the meetings of the BOCC and the first live streaming will be the October 31st meeting.
Commissioner Printz talked with Jackie Hobby regarding the Kohl request from yesterday’s meeting. Mr. Kattnig again stressed that giving this piece to private owners would set precedent that he was not comfortable with. Again, the county has only owned this small parcel for a few months after it was deeded to them by Jane McCarty.
Commissioner Kattnig will be attending the Action 22 meeting on Friday as will Mrs. Hood. Mr. Printz will attend what he can after a funeral. Mr. Kattnig spent some time with Road and Bridge going over some roads last evening.

Attorney Items:
Attorney Smith sent a letter to San Isabel Electric, giving them a new point of contact and urged them to finish burying the wires that are still hanging in the trees at the Wetmore Community Center. He also read Resolution 17-19 regarding membership in the county health insurance pool at CTSI. The resolution was adopted unanimously.
Administrative Assistant Items:
Mrs. Gaide brought some information to the board regarding an account they’d asked about during yesterday’s Treasurer’s report. The weigh scale needs to be re-certified and she put a call in to the man who does that work. She provided the Board with emails from Beth Archuletta and from Cindy Howard with recommendations for the RETAC board.
Staff Reports:
The Airport Advisory Board report was presented by Dallas Anderson. He reported that the Fly-In was successful, but was lightly attended due to an advertising glitch. The hangar out at the airport is still not repaired – Mr. Printz insisted that it be done post-haste. Mrs. Hood mentioned that it was hard to hold a volunteer accountable.
Beth Greene gave the Public Health Report. There are no reported cases of the flu in the county at this time and flu shots are being given.
Laura Lockhart reported on the Human Services department.
New Business:
Mr. Piquette and Mrs. Dawna Hobby (Finance department) brought in the preliminary budget for hearings next week. Due to a decrease in assessed values in the county, there will be less revenue for the Board to work with. He stated that the preliminary budget is $1.5M over expected revenues going into next week. He also explained that the county has about $1M in reserves. Mrs. Hood got clarification on that money being available if it was needed for the budget.
Beth Archuletta – EMS director – came before the board to make recommendations for the RETAC board. The Board also had other recommendations from Cindy Howard. They requested that Ms. Archuletta have any prospective member send letters of interest to the Administrative Assistant. During the discussion Mr. Printz asked if the ambulance could charge for “frequent fliers” or for people who refused transport. Ms. Archuletta expressed understanding of his comment, said the ambulance was losing money, and that they were looking at charging for bandaging and other services performed when there is no transport. It is unclear how the ambulance can be losing money when it has two bond issues supporting it.
Roger Camper came before the Board to ask that a tiny triangle of land be donated to the Zeb Pike historical project for their kiosk. CDOT requires that they have control of the property. This piece is less than 100×100 feet that runs along CR 255. After discussion, Kelley Camper was able to find the old document leasing this land to the group. That was sufficient and the request was rescinded.
The county health insurance contract was approved and signed.
Public Comments:
During public comments, this reporter asked why the public comments had been moved to the end of the meeting. The reasoning was that, with public comment times getting longer and longer, the staff often is waiting for their report time, costing the county money. The Board stressed that public comments sometimes go on for over an hour. (Reporter’s note: while I understand the problem with staff being paid to wait in the hallway, I had to ask why this is a problem that has never come up before. The only thing I could think was that the controversies that this Board has created have caused an abundance of comment from the public – who the Board works for.)
The meeting was adjourned at 11:24 a.m.