Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—January 15, 2020
Westcliffe, Colo.
by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis
The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Printz presented Chairman Flower with a certificate of appreciation for all the hard work he’s done to include remodeling the Public Health office, the VSO, and the Human Services office as well as the new table for the BOCC.
Chairman Flower called attention to the new microphone system that will allow both the audience in the room and the audience on streaming to hear the speakers.
The Board approved minutes from December 31st and January 8th.
Commissioner Items
Mr. Printz attended the Wet Mountain Fire Protection District Board meeting where the issue with Engine 32 was resolved. (It was resolved by the Fire Department paying for the entire engine and letting the reluctant HOAs off the hook.) He also attended the SCED (Southern Colorado Economic Development) meeting, the Beckwith Ranch meeting, the Tourism Board meeting as well as the Board Workshop for EMS and two additional EMS meetings. He reported
on those meetings later in the agenda.
Commissioner Canda commended the Fire Department for “standing tall” on the Engine 32 issue. He reported on the concrete repair at the airport and spoke with Aught-Six to schedule work to be done at the airport. He met with CenturyLink regarding the phone issues in Wetmore and reported that, of the 22 residences with outages, 10 took CenturyLink up on the VOIP phones and seem to be satisfied with those. There will be an Upper Ark Blue Line committee meeting on the 24th at 10 a.m. in Salida. He requested a weekly activity report from Carmel Associates on the fiber project.
Mr. Flower listed the same meetings the other two commissioners mentioned and also reported attending the GOP central committee meeting. He stated also that the hospital district has three board positions up for re-election in May and that March 20th is the last day to file intent to run for one of those positions. He reported that the Rotary van was recovered in Walsenburg. He put the consideration of the $10K for Cheryl Trent for the Strategic Plan implementation on an upcoming agenda, noting that this expense was not budgeted for.
Attorney Items
Attorney Smith attended the EMS workshop held by the BOCC and is working with Planning and Zoning.
Public Comment
Centennial Ranch resident Rob Klein began his comment by asking the Board how they defined their jobs. Mr. Printz again stated that his job is to ensure the “health, safety and welfare of the citizens.” Mr. Klein thanked Mr. Printz for that and zeroed in on the ongoing issues in Centennial Ranch with roads not plowed and people unable to get out to get food and emergency vehicles inability to get in.
With Mr. Printz’s statement, Klein expressed that the commissioners had not fulfilled their responsibility to citizens and visitors. “We’re left for dead out there,” he said. And also “The integrity of the county has gone to hell.” He quoted portions of the County Homeowner’s packet.
Mr. Flower stated unequivocally that it was the Homeowners Association’s responsibility to take care of the roads. It only becomes the
responsibility of the county once roads are brought up to county standards and accepted for maintenance. Mr. Printz stated that he felt Mr. Klein’s pain and believes that the BOCC doesn’t have a right (note: governments don’t have rights, individual citizens do) to interfere in a private HOA. (It is unclear where Mr. Printz draws the line in his belief that it is his job to insure the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the county.) Mr. Flower further defined
“public roads” as those that have a public right of way and took exception to Mr. Klein’s calling the county “derelict.”
New Business
The Board approved the 2020 Custer County Annual Operating Plan with the Forest Service and the Division of Fire Prevention and Control. They approved the liquor license for the Lodge at San
Isabel and ratified the chairman’s signature on the handwritten checks.
The consideration of formal acceptance of the roads in subdivisions that are being maintained by the county was postponed until Gary Hyde (Road & Bridge boss)
can get that list together.
The Board approved Resolution 20-02 which formally accepted 27 roads (18.91 miles) in the Cuerno Verde Subdivision. Though these roads have been county maintained for some time, there was never a formal resolution accepting them.
The Board approved Resolution 20-03 opposing forced reintroduction of the wolf into the state of Colorado. There was a long discussion about wolves in rural areas and Mr. Flower reported that, as recently as a week ago, an elk in Northern Colorado was taken down by wolves. Former commissioner Shy stated that the experts in Fish and Wildlife knew what they were doing and an issue like this should not be decided by a vote of people not affected. It was clear that the audience agreed with the adoption of the resolution and felt this was a classic example of city dwellers making decisions for rural areas without having any idea the effects on rural citizens.
The Board approved a letter of support for Scenic Byways.
Jackie Hobby from Planning and Zoning asked the Board to instruct the Planning Commission to update in the Zoning Resolution regarding camping on property without a septic and regarding official completion
status of homes. She suggested a time limit of two years for a home to be dried in and three years for the home to be considered 100% complete for tax purposes.
Apparently folks are living in their homes without being 100% complete and paying taxes that are not what they would be if the home was complete. The Board agreed and, by consensus asked the Planning Commission to update the document. While Ms. Hobby was there, they also updated the Planning and Zoning appointments.
The contract with the Fremont County Humane Society will be sent back for corrections and considered in a future meeting.
The Board considered action based on the workshop on Monday regarding the EMS issue. Lisa Drew, from the clinic, was present for that discussion. First, there was a motion made to select AMR for Emergency Services in the county and for a letter to be written inviting the clinic to help develop the path forward with this solution. During discussion of the motion, Mr. Printz updated the other commissioners on two meetings he had since the workshop on Monday. First, he met with Mr. Tobin and Mr. Shepherd from the Clinic Board (Sunshine Law violation?) and said they were not opposed to giving the contract to AMR. The question was simply who would oversee the contract. Then Mr. Printz met with EMS staff and Board member Candelaria who vehemently stood against working at all with AMR. Mr. Printz stated that if the current EMS staff can’t meet the requirements to work for AMR, “maybe they shouldn’t be on our ambulance corps.” The group in this meeting is only interested in our ambulance service remaining as it is now and the people of Wetmore paying the 3% mil levy for service. Mr. Tobin told the group to get proof that AMR is not a good choice. Mr. Printz felt like the EMS staff believes that the commissioners don’t know what they’re talking about and should get out of their business.
Ms. Drew asked the commissioners if they had bids from anyservices other than AMR. The commissioners said they did not and Mr. Flower conceded the point that other bids should be solicited. Ms. Drew insisted that other neighboring ambulance services could provide service in Custer County. Mr. Printz was reluctant to agree since none of these neighboring services were willing to bid on service for Wetmore. She stated that she had a number of questions that should be asked of AMR prior to contracting their service. She also suggested that a special EMS taxing district was a possible solution.
After several amendments to that motion, Mr. Canda pulled the motion and made a new one. This motion stated that the BOCC supported a public or private option for emergency services and that a letter be sent encouraging the clinic to work with the BOCC to that end. A member in the audience stated that this is what has been tried for the last six months or so and that the motion really said nothing new and was wimpy. Ms. Drew agreed that working relationship between the two boards was problematic. The motion passed and a letter was worked up to go to the Clinic Board right away. This letter called for the selection of AMR or a comparable service to be contracted and invited the Clinic Board to work with the commissioners on implementation. The Clinic Board meeting is on the 30th at which time they should address this proposal.
The first reading of Ordinance 20-01 – Fire Burn Regulations – was approved. The second reading was scheduled for February 4th.
The meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m.