CCEDC and Tower Money,
New Pot Ordinance Passed, Dispatcher Salaries

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—April 30, 2019
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.

by Jackie (Muddy) BubisThe meeting started at 9 a.m. with the pledge of allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
The Board approved the minutes from the April 17th meeting.
Commissioner items
While Commissioner Printz and Commissioner Canda took some time off for Easter, Chairman Flower stayed in town. Commissioners Printz and Flower reported meeting with Senator Scott Tipton when he was in town. All three reported attending multiple other meetings.
Mr. Flower brought up the topic of better funding the Sheriff’s dispatch center, stating that the county needs to get more competitive with salaries. Mr. Printz stated that the dispatchers make less money than if they went to work at the dollar store in town, calling that appalling. By consensus, the board agreed to host a workshop with the seven entities that use the dispatch services. The workshop will be held on May 8th at 2pm in the commissioner room.
CTSI (Colorado Technical Services, Inc) will be coming up to do workplace violence training on June 12th. The commissioners will reach out to the supervisors to encourage employees to attend. During this discussion, Sheriff Byerly urged the Board to schedule an evacuation drill in the near future.
Attorney items
Attorney Smith has been in discussion with Bob Johnson of Reilly Johnson Associates (the firm working on the plans for the Justice Center) and will have a contract to review by the end of the day. Later in the meeting, he reported setting up the appointment for the commissioners to meet with the water attorney, David Shohet, at his office on May 14th. Unfortunately, this means that this meeting won’t be open to the public and a recording or transcript likely will not be available. Smith will review a new burn ordinance drafted by Sheriff Byerly. It will be presented at the May 22nd meeting for first reading.
The Board received the report from Treasurer Virginia Trujillo, though she was unavailable to attend. They approved her report.
A special events permit for liquor was approved for the San Isabel Land Trust for the Hardscrabble Mountain Trail Run. In separate items, the landfill fees were waived for both Westcliffe and Silver Cliff for their cleanup days. A letter to our state senators, from the town of Westcliffe regarding the difficulty in getting CDOT to change speed limits in town was presented for the Board’s signature. The letter will go back to the Westcliffe town board and attorney for some editing prior to the Board signing it.
Charles Bogle presented the El Pomar Grant for $40K for attainable housing for the Board’s signature. After discussion, they motion passed unanimously to sign the grant.
The Board considered asking DOLA to advance funds from the $1M grant broadband towers project. This advance is to pay for the requirements by the EDA for applying for the matching $1M grant. As you’ll recall, the CCEDC informed the Board at an earlier meeting that they would need an estimated $36K to complete that second grant application. A motion was made to ask DOLA to advance the county $30K for this purpose. Mr. Printz stated that, while he was in favor of this motion, he was disappointed that there wasn’t a better business plan for this project. Mr. Bogle expressed that the process has been a frustration to them as well.
Dale Mullen interjected that he felt that $30K was too low and denied setting an amount for the remaining items required for that grant application. He asked the Board to increase the amount to $50K. The motion was amended to $50K for discussion. Mr. Flower pulled up and read the minutes from the April 3rd meeting, stating that the CCEDC asked for $11,500 for two of the items and an estimated $25K for the other two. The amendment to increase failed by a 2-1 vote (Mr. Printz voted Yes, Mr. Flower and Mr. Canda voted No.) Mr. Flower reported that he is getting more pressure every day to bail out of the tower project.
The main motion to ask DOLA to advance the county $30K passed by a 2-1 vote (Mr. Canda voted No, Mr. Printz and Mr. Flower voted Yes.) Mr. Printz commended the members of the CCEDC on their work on this project, also mentioning the $100K management fee they are asking for as the project moves forward. Mr. Printz wondered why the Board made the amount $30K vs the $36K talked about earlier. Mr. Flower expressed that it was an estimate and that the CCEDC will have to make it work. Mr. Mullen, obviously angry at the vote, stated “You’ve set us up to probably not be able to finish this submittal and, if that makes you feel good, so be it.”
The Board approved supporting the E-911 DOLA grant for $32K for DTR Radios.

After discussion, Mr. Printz agreed to work with Dawna Hobby to draft a form and process for comp time for employees.

Vouchers were approved and signed.

After the final reading of Ordinance 19-01, Regulating Residential Growing, Cultivating, and Processing of MJ in the Unincorporated Areas of said County, the Board voted unanimously to adopt it.

After an executive session for legal advice, the Board agreed to have Mr. Smith send a letter to the clinic notifying them of the expiration of the lease for the county health nurse offices in their building, effective May 31st. It was not stated if that means that this office will be moving and, if so, where it will be going.

The meeting adjourned at 11:50a.m.