BOCC: Meetings Are Much “Nicer”
Land Swap, New AT&T Tower,
Stage II Fire Ban Continues
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—July 18, 2018
WETMORE, Colo.
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Commissioner Canda joined the meeting by phone. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Items:
All Commissioners reported on meetings they attended.
Commissioner Canda continues to speak with Veronica Logan of the BLM regarding a land swap for the five acre tower property on Lookout Mountain. He reported that the load testing of the airport runway showed that it’s more than adequate for the planes in question. There is a survey that needs to be done before moving forward formally on upgrades to the airport – paid for to a great extent by users of the airport. Mr. Canda also has been in touch with Park County Commissioner Dick Elsner to have him come to Custer to speak with the BOCC about a recent building project they did – what they learned in the process. He reported that the property lease/purchase of land owned by the Chet Haga trust for use in a future justice center was moving along.
Commissioner Printz attended a housing study meeting and reported that the company doing the study was interested in learning more about the tiny house village in Silver Cliff. He commended the owners of that park for the nice job done there and for how clean and nice it is.
Chairman Flower reported on the recent weed tour – fifteen people attended and he told the audience about hunting down the small family of Bouncing Betty weed/flower in the county. He toured parts of South Hardscrabble Road with Bill Donley and reported that the phone lines that were damaged before are completely torn up after
recent flooding.
Attorney Items:
Attorney Smith apologized for missing the courthouse staff pie tasting which he was supposed to judge. Mr. Flower elaborated on the festivity and congratulated Brenda Gaide for winning the $60 pot which she graciously split with the other bakers. He also reported on working on the Haga land paperwork and also firmed up the Board’s desire to move forward with AT&T for the tower they want to build just south of the jail exercise area. The Board directed him – by way of a vote – to move forward with that. This allows AT&T to do survey work that must be done before the contract can be written.
Administrative Assistant Items –
Brenda presented the updated emergency tower IGA that has finally been done. After Mr. Flower’s signature, it will go to the other entities for their signature.
The Board voted to extend the Stage II fire restrictions. Attorney Smith reported that some other counties have delegated their sheriff to control fire restrictions. Mr. Smith stated that he questioned the legality of the BOCC delegating their legislative decisions to another entity but said that since others are doing it, our Board may want to
consider it.
The Board approved the five RETAC grant applications. (RETAC – Regional Emergency Trauma
Advisory Committee.)
Margaret Storm, representing the Wetmore Historical Society, came before the board with the historical society request for space in the Wetmore Community Center(WCC). The WCC Board is, by its bylaws, completely in charge of the building and it seemed that the board members present were annoyed that the historical society went over their heads to the BOCC. After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Printz will mediate a meeting of the two organizations to hammer out an agreement for them to put in writing. (The former agreement offered by the WCC Board did not meet with the approval of the historical society.)
The Board discussed the issue brought up recently by Louis Devaney about moving the public comment to the beginning of the meeting. The Board decided to try a fifteen minute public comment time at the beginning of the meeting in order to be more accommodating to citizens. Comment time will be limited according to the number of citizens wanting to speak. (Note: this is actually a return to the way it was done prior to the actions of the former board – starting with removing Robin Young as extension agent. As more and more citizens got vocal about the ongoing issues, Mr. Kattnig moved the comment time to the end of the meeting.)
The Board instructed Ms. Gaide and IT Director Roth to investigate the right equipment for times when people need to phone in to the public meetings.
The Board approved a contract proposal from Roger Watkins to work up to twenty hours a week as an interim VSO while Tim Swartz’ health precludes him from working.
During public comment time, a lively discussion ensued regarding the suggestion that the Board give a very brief summation of each item they are discussing. This is so that the public in the room and online will not be in the dark about each topic. The Board agreed that they would do better in this area while keeping the meeting moving. One Wetmore citizen reflected that this was her first meeting since the 2/3 of the old board was recalled. She stated that meetings with that former board were “very uncomfortable” and that the feel of this meeting was much nicer.
The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.