BOCC Double Header: New Bldg. Permit Fees, County Fire Hazard Mitigation Plan,   DA’s Budget Request

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The November 1, 2022 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting: the soirée started at 9 a.m. in the three musketeers richly appointed throne room in the county courthouse with all three muskies attending: Chair Kevin Day, and members Bill Canda and “Traitor” Tom (“TT”) Flower.
In Staff Reports, IT guru Vernon Roth was first up. He said he has been busy with a lot of security work on the county’s systems.
Dorothy Carsten, the Planning & Zoning Director was next. She
announced that she had hired Delenna Crawford as the new zoning clerk. Dorothy gives last month’s statistics: 13 septic inspections, 15 compliance inspections, five violation reviews, 11 new septic permits and 22 new dwelling permits.
Under New Business, the first item discussed was a request by Search and Rescue for $7,500 to fix mold, window air/water leaks and rip out moldy sheet rock. This discussion went on for too long. The money was finally allocated.
Planning & Zoning was next in line. The Director, Dorothy Carsten, wanted to increase the building permit fees. She proposed a two tier system where people who have been living in Happy Valley for at least two years would pay one rate for a building permit
( $.75 per square foot) while people who hadn’t lived here two years would pay a higher rate ( $.90 per square foot). It was noted that the current rate of $.60/sf was set in 2015. Carsten felt that residents should get a break on new building permits.
Traitor Tom (TT) opened the discussion with he “wasn’t comfortable on voting on this today”. He wanted to move the vote to late
November or early December.
Canda said he “was having a hard time with the residency thing” and “ Simple is better”. He said the higher rate discourages people from moving here. Day then chimed in with he was “not too hot on the residency thing”. TT then added that the residency thing is a “reach for me”. This discussion went on and on. Finally, the muskies decided to vote on it and it passed.
The Veterans Service Office was next. They reported that many
veterans were coming in asking for relief under the new veterans PAC Act which allows compensation for “presumptive conditions” especially from the “burn pits” used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And that was that.

The November 2, 2022 Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting. All the musketeers
were present.
Under Commissioner Items Day stated that they needed to formally vote not to be part of Colorado’s new Family Act law. This they did.
The Airport Board was first up under Staff Reports. After they wowed the crowd with the amount of fuel they sold last month they reported that the state electrical inspector still has not inspected the the fuel tank.
Human Resources then reported that they had a ton of new applicants (30) and that was double of what they normally get. They also said they already had 90 applicants for LEAP.
Adrian Washington, the Office of Emergency Management was next on the firing line. He said the County Hazard Mitigation Plan, a FEMA plan, was now available for review. It will go to the state for review in two weeks. Washington said once it is approved, local gov’t agencies can use that as the umbrella to apply for Community Wildfire Preparedness Program (CWPP) grants. It will be posted on the county’s website.
New Business was next on the Agenda. The first major item was the District 11 District Attorney’s budget request. Canda led the discussion. It seems there was supposed to be a budget meeting with the four counties in the district and the DA, Linda Stanley, but that didn’t happen due to the six week or so shutdown of Fremont County’s computer systems due to a hack. So, without that, Canda said what was on the table was the same budget amount they approved for 2021, $125,301.72. Canda said that the muskies should approve this, but put somewhere around 3% in the 2023 General Budget away as a contingency in case the DA asks for more. The reason is inflation. TT then chimed in saying, “She has been a horrible DA”. This discussion went on and on. Finally they approved the $125k and would discuss a rainy day fund during the upcoming budget talks.
And that was that.