BOCC: Recycling Woes, Rosita Property
Sale Bungled, LEAP Starting up, and Yes,
Virtue Signaling

Custer County Board of Commisioners (BOCC)
—October 6, 2020
by George Gramlich
The laborious three hour Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting started with Commissioner Printz reporting that the Upper Arkansas Council of Governments has canceled its very effective recycling program in Custer County. The primary reason being the contractor who picked up the materials canceled on Upper Ark as their buyer quit buying recyclables. The major factor being China has stopped taking recycled plastics. Cardboard can still be recycled at the landfill. This will be discussed again in a following BOCC meeting.
The bids to fix the roof at Search and Rescue were then discussed. Two bids were submitted with one local contractor’s bid being accepted. However, the project cannot commence until the contractor obtains insurance. Much time was wasted discussing the
science of roof leaks.
A Rosita property that the county owns was put up for sale. It turns out the bid request did not disclose the fact that the county would encumber the deed with an easement for one of the picturesque broad band towers that Printz and Commissioner Flower want planted all over Happy Valley. The one bid that was initially accepted was rejected and the Commissioners will re-offer the sale once the proper easement language is provided in the bid request.
The Corona Virus Relief Fund report was moved to a future agenda item.
The Human Resources: Laura Lockhart reported that LEAP will be starting up again in November. However, with less money.
The Extension Office reported that the Cuerno Verde Fire Mitigation is moving forward.
Gary Hyde from Road and Bridge reported he needs two new pickup trucks so that the graders can be parked in the field and the drivers picked up which would save a ton of time and money. He has the money in this year’s budget to buy one but needs a supplemental appropriation resolution to get a second one this year. Approved. Flower wants more magnesium chloride to be used on the roads. All agreed.
Hyde noted that Round Mountain Water is going to up the rate they charge the county for filling the water trucks at Lake DeWeese from the current $2.50 for a 4,000-gallon load to $20 a load. This, of course, caused a meltdown. Hyde said he will pursue buying water from the Upper Arkansas Water Conservation District which has water rights at Lake DeWeese.
The Tourism Board:
Debbie Adams reported via telephone that it had revamped the Custer County Chamber of Commerce’s building which it took over. It also reported that 20 articles about Custer County or referencing it has placed in various periodicals this year.
Some interesting discussions took place during the Public Comment period.
Commissioner Canda, who is the Chair of the Board of Health (BOH) said there were requests from the public to have the meetings open to the public to attend. He said there were various venues in the county where that could be held. Printz got visibly agitated at this request and stated again he would not go to any meetings where the public (quote: “warm bodies”) was in attendance until the Center for Disease Control says the pandemic “is over”.  (Editor/GG: Which will, of course, be never.) He said he would “attend” via Zoom or telephone.The time for the next BOH meeting was brought up with Canda noting that an evening meeting would allow more of the public to show up. Flower got all worked up at this stating that the public “has no business” when the BOH meetings are scheduled.
Local landowner, Matt Miles, who is a partner in a prestigious Florida law firm, who waited three hours to speak, told the commissioners that two recent Federal District Court decisions (one in Pennsylvania and one in Michigan) found that the state COVID restriction policies violated the civil rights of the citizens of those two states thus invalidating the orders and exposing the state and local governments to possible monetary damages by aggrieved citizens. Flower got a bit aggressive stating that those decisions didn’t apply to Colorado so we should not worry about it. Mr. Miles stated they should be worried as the cases were based on U.S. Constitutional law and that there were many more of them out there now. It appeared Mr. Miles gave up trying to convey the issue and he sat down.
(Editor/GG: Pathetic Virtue Signaling Alert!!! Printz and Flower started the meeting wearing bandana type masks. Canda was maskless. Literally every minute to a minute and a half, Flower would have to adjust his mask as it fell down, throughout the whole meeting. Plus, there were extended periods when he took the mask off and, of course, launched into another painful diatribe. What good is it having a mask on only part of the time? Every time his mask dropped or was taken down, Flower pollen filled the room possibly depopulating the entire courthouse. Printz, who refuses to meet with the public, and who has temper tantrums at people who don’t wear a mask, was seen dropping his mask during the meeting multiple times to drink coffee. What topped that was four or five times Printz turned his chair, pulled down his mask, reached for a tissue and blew his nose right
at the Commissioner’s table. He then rolled up the COVID glowing mass and THREW it in the waste can next to Flower. He then put his mask back on. Printz at one point chastised Canda, “And you don’t wear a mask!”
This, folks, is what a Monty Python movie looks like and it’s a disgrace to our community. It’s time for a change.)