Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—March 21, 2018
Wetmore, 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.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz reported his attendance at an Early Childhood Development meeting, the DOLA grant meeting in Golden and the Tourism Board meeting. He sent a firmly worded letter regarding the toilet in the Wetmore Community Center that has never worked properly. He reiterated that the mop sink was going to have to simply remain as is.
Commissioner Canda expressed kudos to the Airport Authority Board members present. He met with Fire Chief Shy regarding the truck to be stationed at the airport and reported that there will be training for the airport board members so they can pull the truck out of the garage if need be. That truck is not in place yet. He reported on conversations he’s had regarding the landfill and commented that at this time, the county owns plenty of land for expansion. He also spoke with Jerry Pickerill regarding some options for the county to do something with the golf course. He reported from Road & Bridge that all the water trucks have weight issues – that they can only legally carry a half load of water – and that Gary Hyde is looking into leasing three new water trucks. Next he addressed the historic use of road/lane names and the options we might have in having dual signage – both county road numbers and road names like Hermit Road. Last, he mentioned upcoming meetings with stakeholders for the Hibb’s Peak tower and an Action 22 meeting regarding broadband.
Chairman Flower reported attending a SAR meeting, an Upper Arkansas Water Conservation meeting, the DOLA grant meeting in Golden, an Arkansas River Basin Roundtable meeting, the CART Summit Roundtable, the Tourism sector meeting, the Custer Emergency Services meeting and a meeting he mediated between the Fair Board and Bill Baker. He reported on a microwave oven malfunction recently that filled the county building with smoke and that not a single smoke detector went off. This led to a decision to work with Fire Chief Shy to replace the smoke detectors as soon as possible.
Attorney Items
Attorney Smith reported on working with Jackie Hobby to prepare compliance letters. He also prepared several resolutions that will be upcoming.
Administrative Assistant Items
Brenda Gaide reported that she has hard copies of a tourism survey in her office to pick up. (I tracked down the online survey that can be accessed here: https://goo.gl/7U1rkv)
Old Business
Nan Davenport, from the Wetmore Library brought her proposal to the BOCC to get funding for her library to join AspenCat. As she told the Board last month, she is using software that was discontinued eighteen years ago and the AspenCat system would be a huge benefit to both staff and patrons of the Wetmore Library. The initial cost to get on the system is $3,000 with an ongoing yearly cost of $2,000. (Note: She had included this $3K in her budget proposal but the former commissioners expressly turned the request down.) The Board approved the expenditure.
New Business
Sheriff Byerly requested and received a Stage 2 fire ban for 30 days.
Jackie Hobby, Director of Planning and Zoning, requested an increase in the price of the zoning permits for new construction of residences and accessory buildings. She reported that, when the economy took a downturn, her office lowered fees by ten cents per square foot. She requested that those fees be increased by that same ten center per square foot. A long discussion followed. One citizen, who is in the process of building, stated that all his material costs were going up quickly due to tariffs and that he hoped this would not be passed. Another citizen expressed that the Planning and Zoning Office should be working toward self-funding so that those who are using the services of that office would be footing the bill. In the end, it was a split decision with Flower voting aye and Printz and Canda voting nay.
The Airport Advisory Board name change issue was discussed with the majority of the Board present. It was finally agreed that the name of the board would be changed to Custer County Airport Board with no changes in how the board operates. Attorney Smith will bring the resolution to the end of the month meeting for the commissioners’ signatures.
CSU Extension Agent Shannon Auth was present for a discussion on the reinstatement of the Weed Advisory Board. She reported that the county is way behind on weed eradication and that we’ve already lost many acres to invasive weeds. She will set up a meeting on April 4th at 2 p.m. with Commissioner Flower and possible members for that board. The Weed Advisory Board resolution was tabled.
Charles Bogle, from the CCEDC, came before the Board for two items. The first was to request a letter of recommendation from the Board for their Certified Small Business Community grant proposal. This is a free service to local small businesses to help them become successful. The Board approved this letter with a few editing changes. The second request was for the support of a DOLA REDI grant to develop an Economic Development strategic plan for the county. The grant is for $31K. $29,500 will be paid to a company from northern Colorado to hold the meetings and write the plan. The remainder will primarily be for advertisement. The Board approved moving forward with this grant request. There is no financial match from the county on this grant but Brenda Gaide will be helping the CCEDC with the grant request.
A donation was requested from the BOCC for the After Prom program. While each of the commissioners saw a benefit to this program, they felt it was not an appropriate use of county funds. They took no action on the request.
Mr. Printz brought up the work to be done on the sidewalk in front of the county building. Most of the work will be contracted and paid for by the Town of Westcliffe. But the Board saw this as a good time to do some dirt work that will alleviate some drainage issues and will work with Westcliffe to get this work done at that time.
The meeting adjourned at 12:57 p.m.