Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
-June 6, 2019
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Reports:
Commissioner Printz reported attending the planning/needs assessment meeting with the architect for the future Justice Center.
Commissioner Canda reported that Aught-Six Ranch is waiting for the airport grant in order to itemize the work to be done. He had a fruitful conversation with the BLM Director at the CCI conference and learned of a better way to do land swaps with the BLM. He also reported that Silver Cliff will be doing a broadband study.
Chairman Flower expressed his gratitude that our county does not have to struggle with many of the issues that other counties do. He is dismayed by the “tyranny of the state” following the latest legislative session. He stated that the short term rental situation needs to be addressed sooner rather than later due to the unintended consequences involved and is of the opinion that these properties are commercial in nature and require special use permits. Mr. Printz, as attorney for the Town of Westcliffe, will forward the ordinance that the town will be considering.
The next meeting of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District will be on June 13th. Possible dates for the USGS water balance study were discussed.
Attorney Items:
Attorney Smith has been working together with Jackie Hobby and reports that the Planning Commission is studying the short-term rental issue.
Public Comment:
A citizen reported that
outside investment is now allowed in the marijuana and hemp industries and this will change the industry. She also spoke up on the short-term rental situation, having a parcel next to her purchased for the express purpose of putting up a cheap cabin for summer rentals.
Staff Reports:
Laura Lockhart gave the Human Services report. There are 243 households in the county which receive food assistance (SNAP)
totaling $52,426 per month. That averages out to about $215 per household. She also reported that her
department has hired Dan Slater as their attorney
after Greg Watkins stepped down.
Gary Hyde reported for the Road & Bridge Department and will put tree removal on CR 389 on the schedule. When he asked about whether his department would be required to pay additional money for dispatch services, Mr. Flower assured him that was not the case. 80% of the funding for dispatch is paid by the county and the proposed funding change would involve other entities, not those under the county umbrella.
Public Health Nurse Elisa Livengood, reported that sports physicals will be scheduled one day each month during June, July
and August.
The carpet in the new offices will be laid on the 12th and then the move will begin. An open house was scheduled for Monday, July 1st from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Board approved the May Treasurer’s report.
Other staff reports included IT/GIS and Extension.
New Business
The Board approved the invoice for the SCRETAC reimbursement for the Sheriff’s Office for AED batteries and pads.
The Board discussed Mr. Printz’s policy recommendation for comp time for exempt employees. Problems include the issues of getting comp time approved by the BOCC when they only meeting four times a month, the arbitrary nature of getting approved for comp time, and whether there should even be comp time allowed. The Board didn’t make any decisions.
At the last meeting on May 31st, it was announced that Cindy Howard was resigning from the OEM position. As reported in the article from that meeting, Mr. Flower suggested that the position be advertised only internally. But when a citizen spoke up saying that this would do a disservice to the county by not getting more applicants from which to choose, Mr. Flower changed his mind and rescinded his motion. As the commissioner liaison with the Human resources department, Mr. Printz was tasked by the Board to work with Dawna Hobby to bring back a salary range for the Board to discuss.

Instead, Mr. Printz went ahead and had the position announced internally and reported to the Board that there were two people interested in the position. He interacted with each asking for further information on why they felt they were the right person for the job. He then suggested that there was one person working for the county that was highly qualified and could step into the position and suggested that they move forward with hiring her. (Though he did not name this person, everyone knew he was referring to Meredith Nichols, the current BOCC administrative assistant. Before getting this position, she worked for several years with Cindy Howard on a contract basis and only came to her current position because money to fund her work with OEM ran out. She may, indeed be the best person for the job, but that was not the issue at hand.)
Needless to say, the other two commissioners were not pleased that Mr. Printz had made a decision to advertise the job internally without their voting on it. Printz responded that the policy states that positions be filled from within if possible. Mr. Flower read the policy that states, “Recognizing the need to fill available positions with the best-qualified people, the County may recruit from outside as well as an existing County employee.” Mr. Printz apologized if he had overstepped but felt his actions were within his purview. Mr. Flower suggested that this position be treated no differently than any other position in the county. Mr. Printz continued to put forth his preference to offer the job to “the person who has shown that she can do it.” After animated discussion about what to do now, it was decided that the position would be advertised in the local paper and on the website with a closing date of June 21st.

Ms. Drew,  Administrator, and Theresa Kennedy, Finance Manager for the Clinic were present to again discuss the ambulance coverage for the Wetmore area. The Florence ambulance, that has been covering Wetmore, will no longer be doing so. Ms. Drew stated that they would continue to respond to areas outside the district for the next 90 days, ceasing response on 9/5/2019. The research done by the clinic showed that, in the previous seventeen month period, there were fifty-four ambulance runs outside the district boundaries. 30% of the ambulance calls are non-transports in which no bill is generated. If a patient is given any treatment but not transported, they are charged a flat fee of $150.

Several options were discussed including having Custer County residents outside the district vote to become part of the district and pay the taxes required or having the County pay the ambulance costs for services rendered outside the district. Each of these options was presented with estimated costs. By the end of the meeting, Ms. Drew seemed to have walked back the hard and fast cutoff date and further exploration of options will be done.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:25 p.m.

(Editor/GG: Lisa Drew, Executive Director of the West Custer County Hospital District, sent a letter to the BOCC with two fairly expensive options to serve Wetmore.  Here’s the letter.