Feb. 3rd BOCC: Grants, Grants, Grants, Grants
and Then Bonds – Manna From Heaven

by George Gramlich,
News and Ribaldness
The February 3, 2021 Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting commenced at 9 a.m. All three commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and Board members Tom Flower and Kevin Day. County Attorney Clint Smith was in the peanut gallery.
Silver West Airport: Airport Manager Bryan Anderson representing the Airport Board talked about the new fuel tank installation and that the Air Fest will be held some time in August.
The Information Technology (IT) report was presented by head geek, Vernon Roth. He said he did a lot of work helping the Health and OEM folks set up and operate the vaccination clinic at Lange Hall (thanks Vernon, good job). There are new computers for some departments and the Sheriff’s Office. The commissioners throne room will get a dedicated computer for Zoom. He is also helping with the county’s payroll software conversion (from “ASC” to CIC” software).
OEM chief, Adrian Washington gave his report. Grants for this. Grants for that. Grants, grants, grants. He also got a trailer so he can put his OEM equipment in it for a mobile platform. He said there was no first shot vaccine in the county right now and we don’t know when we will get more. We do have enough for the people who need the second dose.
The Early Childhood Council: Stacy Terrill gave her report over Zoom. She talked about the lack of childcare in the county (the county is a “childcare desert”) and other childcare issues. She is working with the school to try to set up an early childhood center there.
Citizen Ann Barthrop was up next concerning the proposed new Custer County Justice Center (the Wet Mountain Valley Taj Mahal). She said that the contract they signed with a financial company to help secure, if needed, bonds for the project should be canceled as the contract focuses solely on bond financing and that they wanted a multi finance approach, e.g., raising property and/or sales taxes, grants, etc. and they needed an outreach publicity campaign to sell this incredibly expensive project to the people who will pay for it (us peasants). She said she has a meeting scheduled with the bond folks (Piper Sandler) to see if they can do these other tasks and if not, she is recommending they cancel the contract. The Commish will look at it again after the committee’s meeting.
New Business:
OEM Washington was back with a detailed proposal to replace his OEM pickup truck with a new one as the current one blew its engine due to a defective oil pan/oil issue and even though they put in a rebuilt one from Ford, the Faricy Ford boys in Cañon City said that this engine model is defective, and they will have problems with it. Being a good bureaucrat, Washington tracked down a $50K DOLA grant that would help them get a new truck. By selling the old truck and with the grant they can get a new truck and move over all the communication and other gear to the new truck and have some moolah left over. “Free” money equals much joy.
Faulty Towers Episode 109: Flower then discussed a problem re the bunch of broadband/internet towers the county and the Economic Development crew (Charles Bogle and the merry grant folks) want to plant in the county. These are 100’ to 130’ towers. There has been a LOT of resistance from neighboring landowners next to the proposed sites. This project has been going on FOR YEARS yet nothing seems to get finished. Flower said the $1M grant from Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) (which they haven’t gotten the money for yet because they haven’t fulfilled the pre-requisite conditions) will expire in March and that it is too late to ask for an extension. There then was, as expected, a ton of “discussion”. It was finally decided to try to ask for an extension, and if that is not granted, re-apply. At the end, Canda, appropriately, gently, reminded the other two that the towers could well be obsolete very shortly as multiple companies are launching thousands of low-level internet satellites which will provide high speed, low-cost internet to virtually everybody. Thus, the towers are a waste of money. He also again brought up the point of how the county is going to pay for upkeep as no internet service provider has signed an actual contract to use them and that the Economic Development posse has not supplied them with any income figures to pay for this.
Lastly, Flower said a citizen sent him an email stating that the Custer Board of Health’s (BoH) Facebook page says the mask mandate is lifted for the whole county and is now only recommended. He said, and Day and Canda confirmed, that they only voted at the last meeting to change the mandate for the courthouse, and not the whole county. Flower did not like the fact, if true, that the BoH changed the mandate for the whole county. Canda responded that the King Polis’s edicts are recommendations and not rules. Flower was not happy. (Note: none of the musketeers had a mask on in this small room, but apparently us peasants have a different set of rules to be crushed under.) This will be a major topic at the upcoming BoH meeting with The Flowers again leading the mask crackdown on the citizens of this county.
(Note: Kudos to the Board of Health if they indeed change the mandate. If the commissioners can stay cooped up in the closet like meeting room for THREE hours with no masks, why can’t we be free of this mark of the beast?)
Meeting adjourned.