BOCC February 6th
Commissioner Kerfuffle over hearsay? Printz on Commissioner Protocol, Resident on CR 271 Discusses Ongoing Problem of Semi Truck Traffic

by Jackie Bubis
Reporters Note: Since I was headed in to this meeting and my car wouldn’t start, I took the opportunity to watch live streaming. It worked very well. During the staff reports, the person with his back to the camera was a little difficult to hear. I had my volume maxed out. It was also interesting to watch facial expressions and body language.

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—February 6, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, CO

The meeting started at 9:00 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Minutes from January 31st were approved.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Canda reported working with Road & Bridge, particularly on the Hermit Bridge project.
Commissioner Printz reported attending a Regional Housing meeting, the Dennis Hunt meeting (CTSI), CART’s Person of the Year event (which he said was a great handshake opportunity).
Printz then engaged Mr. Canda, accusing him of “usurping your power as a commissioner” on two occasions. He went on to state that Canda had instructed the Planning and Zoning office to take out references to light pollution in the Zoning Resolution and had instructed Planning Commission Chairman Vic Barnes to make an announcement in their meeting that the commissioners were not going to speak. Printz stated that he’d heard about these things “second and third hand” and said, “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Mr. Canda responded that he had gotten the rough draft of the Zoning Resolution and was merely speaking for himself with input on the draft. He suggested that anything not enforceable should be taken out of the draft. Regarding the conversation, he believes that Barnes misunderstood him, and that if he attended, it would be only to listen.
There was a bit of further discussion about whether the commissioners were allowed or should be speaking at meetings of the boards they [are] appointed [to]. Printz stated “I did speak and I have the authority to speak.” Chairman Flower stated that he agreed that the commissioners were not gagged when they attended these meetings. Mr. Canda has often expressed his feeling that the commissioners should allow their boards to do their work without undue influence from them.
Moving on, Mr. Printz reported on meeting with the Wetmore residents at their normal monthly meeting. He suggested that the maintenance person go down there once a month or contact them regularly in case there are issues they can’t take care of themselves. He said that the Wetmore folks “wanted the same services that we have up here.” Mr. Flower will speak to Ed about that. Printz also passed on that the Wetmore people would like asphalt laid in front of the community center when Road & Bridge is doing that work elsewhere. Mr. Canda will speak with Gary Hyde about it.
Mr. Flower attended a Homeland Security Advisory Committee in Pueblo. He and Mr. Canda went to Denver (separate vehicles) to meet with Chip Taylor of CCI to go over more county commissioner training. Mr. Flower, Tony Supan and Jake Shy continue work on the door into the courtroom. He also attended the Dennis Hunt meeting, the Planning Commission meeting and the Silver Cliff town board meeting. Mr. Flower read a thank you letter from Kathy Griffin from Trails for All.
Attorney Items
Attorney Smith will start working on familiarizing himself with 1986 resolution re: Bunker Hill Road.
Admin Assistant
Brenda Gaide asked for permission to attend an EOC meeting on the 21st.
Staff Reports
Road and Bridge’s Gary Hyde attended. He asked about the procedure to get rid of surplus equipment. He will get more information from Dawna Hobby. Hyde wants to buy two AED’s for his department. Mr. Printz suggested he talk with the county health nurse. There was more discussion about the Hermit Bridge project.
Mr. Flower brought up a conversation he had with Mike Langston about the trucks he has hauling fill material to his house. Langston said this was a good time to do this work so he didn’t have trucks just sitting around and could keep his employees working during this slow time. Langston also spoke with Flower about the use of aluminum box culverts (regarding the Hermit Bridge project) and Flower urged him to speak with Gary Hyde about his thoughts on the matter.
Hyde presented traffic reports from August.
Amy Finger, from Bear Basin was present to discuss Langston’s trucks that she said were going up and down the road every few minutes. She brought regulations from elsewhere regarding permits for trucks to use roads. Mr. Printz suggested that perhaps we needed such regulations at some point. Mr. Flower assured her, from his conversation with Langston, that this was a short term project and would be done well before summer. (Editor/llv: The Langston trucks hauled all day, most days, all summer of 2017 on CR 271 as well.)
Mr. Flower brought up the subject of safety meetings at Road & Bridge. Mr. Hyde stated that they have them every 60 days because of the experience level of his employees. “I’m out there with them and they do a good job with safety rules.”
Rusty Christensen from the Landfill gave his report. The three new wells should be dug fairly soon, but he did not have firm dates. There was a discussion about discounts given to Oak Disposal and the money the county pays to CDPHE for each load. The Board has scheduled a Landfill workshop on February 28th at 1 p.m., open to the public. Mr. Flower wants regular safety reports to be included in the monthly report.
During a lull, while waiting for the next staff report, Mr. Flower commented that he thinks the county is falling short on safety training at Road & Bridge. Mr. Canda will discuss it with Gary Hyde.
Dawna Hobby, from HR & Finance, presented the financial reports.
The OEM report was rescheduled to a future date.
The Board accepted the minor changes in the IGA between the fire department and the airport for keeping a truck there.
There was no new business.
Mr. Canda asked to follow up with the discussion that started the meeting. He spoke about teamwork, stated that he might be a rookie but that he wasn’t stupid. He asked Mr. Printz to come to him directly if he heard things that concerned him. Mr. Printz said he’d gotten a call from a newspaper reporter asking for a comment about Mr. Canda going in to the Planning and Zoning office telling them to take out the light pollution and that he was furious. Mr. Canda again stressed that he would never speak for the Board and that integrity was number one for him.
Mr. Printz requested an executive session to get attorney advice on two issues. When they returned, Mr. Printz stated for the record that he chose not to move forward on either of the things they discussed.
Mr. Flower asked about the possibility of having only one commissioner work with the county building needs assessment steering committee (formerly known as the courthouse security committee). Mr. Printz disagreed and asked that these meetings be posted as public workshops. The Board agreed to post them that way in the future.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:07 p.m.