Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)

—February 28, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
The room was again packed with folks there to encourage the Board to vote yes on moving forward with the grant for the “broadband” towers.
Approval of the minutes of February 6th and 7th was unanimous.
Commissioner Items:
Commissioner Canda reported on attending the County Needs Assessment meeting as well as the CCEDC Workshop. Commissioner Printz attended both meetings as well.Chairman Flower went to the Fair Board meeting as well as these other two.
Attorney Items:
Mr. Smith advised Mr. Flower on the best practice if the Airport Advisory Board name is changed. He also reminded the Board that the Weed Advisory Board needs to be filled.
Administrative Assistant Items:
Mrs. Gaide asked that any descriptions of agenda items be provided by whoever is asking to be on the agenda.
Old Business
Kelley Camper, heading up the committee to revise the personnel policy has come back to the BOCC with the committee’s recommendations. She stated that there were no significant changes. Mr. Printz said that he wasn’t invited to the meetings and that there were significant changes and that he did not want to vote on these recommendations without further information. The item was tabled until after a workshop.
Mr. Printz and Charles Bogle from the CCEDC brought an application for the Colorado Opportunity Zone project. This was after the last meeting in Wetmore in which Mr. Printz stated that he didn’t think it was something we were interested in. This application needed a signature today and the Chairman balked at having something brought to the Board that needed immediate action without a chance to even read it. The application would have put Custer County on a list to be chosen as an Opportunity Zone and included only infrastructure wishlists. It was unclear if these could be changed at a later date or others might be added. The motion by Mr. Printz to approve the application died for lack of a second. Many in the crowd expressed dismay at not putting in for the possible grant money. Mr. Flower held his ground without losing his temper at the idea of committing the county to something they hadn’t even read.
New Business
The Board approved the vouchers.
Bill Baker, the shooting sports leader for 4-H, came before the Board to address the issue that the Fair Board is not dealing openly as a board under the purview of the BOCC. He stated that the bylaws are frequently changed, that both bylaws and minutes are not available to the public and that “they don’t think they work for the BOCC.” The Board instructed him to get on the Fair Board agenda and address the issues there and, if he didn’t get answers, to then come back to them.
The liquor license for the restaurant at the Lodge at San Isabel was approved.
As agreed previously, the Chairman opened the floor for 15 minutes for public comments on the “broadband” tower vote. The majority in attendance were sold on the ideas of better broadband, better cell service, better communication for emergency services, etc. A few speakers acknowledged that this grant money was only for towers and that there were still many unanswered questions such as cost to citizens, cost to maintain the towers, etc.
The commissioners then had an opportunity to present their thoughts.
Mr. Canda had an extensive educational presentation after speaking with the Wireless Operations Manager at Secom who told Canda that Secom would consider putting their equipment on the towers if they thought there might be 100 new customers available for that tower. This means they would have to have a pool of actual residences from which they can get 100 new accounts. Secom also pushed back at the average $300/tower figure to lease space. He also said that Secom would only sign a 3-5 year contract with the county. The design of these towers may be problematic for the wind load, depending the weight of the equipment. Despite these obstacles, he stated that, if DOLA gives us the grant, we would have a year in which to nail down the contracts both with the service providers and the landowners that would be required to give land and possible easements for these 100 foot towers. If the contracts cannot be secured, then the Board would have to consider further options.
Mr. Printz stated that the county is a “service provider, not a business” and that he doesn’t care even if it costs the county $3K per month to provide this service. He stated that he had sworn an oath to “protect the health and safety of the people of Custer County” and that these towers will support FirstNet (First Responder Network) and cell service. He stated that he was not on the fence and that he was for this proposal.
Finally, Mr. Flower took the floor and covered over a dozen points including that this grant will only provide towers, not broadband, that any internet is line of sight only, that expenses will be paid out of the county coffers and then reimbursed, and that these towers would do nothing for the Wetmore residents.
When the actual vote took place, many in the room held their breath, some held hands and if one didn’t know better, one would have thought that the Oscar for best actor was fixin’ to be announced. A huge scream of jubilation erupted when the vote passed unanimously.
Another unanimous vote held that Charles Bogle would represent the county at the DOLA hearing. (It is also required that at least on BOCC member attend to defend the grant application. Mr. Printz volunteered to do that even before the vote was taken to move forward.)
The Board then held the quarterly staff meeting. It was decided during that meeting that in the future, the staff meetings would not be held as part of the BOCC meeting but as a workshop at 2 p.m. on the appointed days.
Public comments: One citizen had several questions.
She asked what would happen if we get down the road on the tower project, have spent a good deal of money and something happens to end the project – would the funds need to be paid back? The answer was no. Then she asked what would happen if the $2M didn’t cover the project. Mr. Printz assured her that DOLA would not leave the county holding the bag.
She then asked how to find the by-laws and minutes from the Fair Board. Mr. Flower gave her Diane Rose’s email to request those documents. The group also discussed getting all the documents and minutes from the various boards posted on the website in a central area.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m.