BOCC: 11th Dist. DA Lindsey Briefing, Marketplace Grant, Lodging Tax Increase Discussion
by Sentinel Staff
The July 23, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting started at 9 a.m. in the meeting room at All Aboard Westcliffe. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
Under Commissioner Items, Vogelsong and Epp both commended the Fair Board , Extension Office, 4-H Coordinator. and FFA leader for their work on the County Fair. Sales were over $300K this year and 60% were over prime, which is unheard of, said Epp.
Canda said the current chip seal project went well. The new roller popped off during the project. It is however under warranty. More 30mph signs are going to be put up.
Under Unfinished Business, the purchase of Chip Sealer was discussed briefly. They are still trying to purchase one.
Under New Business, 11th District DA, Jeff Lindsey gave a briefing on what his office has accomplished so far. He said the Counties gave a good budget to the DA’s office.
DA Linsdey said there is a lot of training and adjustments. He has put a new investigation team together including a 40-year experienced Lt. from Albuquerque, a Lt. from Colorado Springs Police Dept. and a 30-year experience homicide detective from the Pueblo PD who also recently retired. A Chief Deputy has been assigned to Chaffee County.
His office has managed to recuperate from the turnover. He has created an office manager position, adjusted salaries, corrected past favoritism and some of the poverty level salaries.
Asst. DA Stacy Turner is on the Triple Murder case that originated in Custer County.
Previously the DA’s Office had some cases dismissed, partly due to discovery and discovery dissemination issues. They have revamped the Discovery Dept. “What had happened was they were not working as a team. Process was too slow, they’ve streamlined that process…. And got new computers for those dealing most with discovery,” Lindsey said.
DA Lindsey said his office is concerned about revolving offenders and is trying to be more aggressive on these cases.
He spent some time on the office’s finances. Four old police cruisers were gotten rid of. The DA’s Office is working on the budget. In 2020 there was a $400K surplus. When he came in at the end of 2024. All of that was gone. “We’re looking to replenish some of that over time.” he said. They used to have an automated message system which is a pet peeve of his. There is now someone answering phones in all their offices and have shifted to a five-day work week. There was no process in place for on-call. Now they have an attorney available 24/7. There is going to be some new law training in September.
“There hasn’t been updates to the policy manual since 2010, so I’ve updated that.”
Also under New Business, the Seifert Enterprises Agreement was approved.
Next was discussion on Acceptance of the REDI 25-348 for 100K. Epp read the project description and thanked Bianca Trencker and Mr. VanDorn for going after the grant. (A Presentation was given describing the trend of Food Hubs noting that there are software platforms to support this endeavor, so they won’t have to start from scratch. VanDorn discussed the proposed main street market as an economic development project. They want to promote young farmers by creating a marketplace and help keep agriculture monies in the area.) The grant, if accepted, for the Valley Agricultural Marketplace requires some matching funds, 69/31, which equates to a 20K match. The owner of the building they would rent/lease, Mr. Betcher, has offered them six months free rent which could be considered in kind as part of the match. The grant is to start the project with a 24-month run and be able to turn it over to a group TBA, with a working business plan so that the county isn’t in the business. The Trustees voted 3-0 to approve to accept the grant. It was unclear what this will cost Custer County on the matching funds.
Next, Deb Adams of the Tourism Board asked permission to apply for a Colorado Tourism Office’s ‘Tourism Marketing Grant’ which the Tourism Board would spend on a website redo, and work on county 150-year and nation 250-year events 10K/$2,500 match. Permission and letter of support were approved.
A Special Event Permit for the American Legion for Blues, Brews and BBQ event at Beckwith Ranch was approved.
There was an update on Custer County Sheriff’s Vehicles. Nothing new from the last report except the good news that the vehicles they got through donations also have police packages with equipment and dashcams in them, saving them a ton of money. Installers are putting the SO graphics on. Walsenburg Police Department will buy two of the high mileage Durangos in the current fleet. and have asked about two more vehicles which the CCSO wants to part with.
The Deputy said he will put a list together of vehicles donated to the SO, so that the County can accept the donations and then decide what to do with them.
Last on the list for the day was the newly passed state bill, HB25-1247 Lodging Tax Increase. This took up at least an hour. It was a tax happy fest with all the reasons why we should raise the lodging tax.
Deb from Tourism doesn’t think the Tourism Board will necessarily need a larger percent from the tax.
The Affordable Housing folks would like to see money allocated to their endeavors and Tracy with CCKC would like to see more monies go toward affordable daycare/childcare.
The idea being, that both of the above could help the County
retain/gain young families for the sake of population stability, workforce, and facilitating our young people who desire to stay and make a life here.
Increased stays in the County directly impact policing and the roads. Chair Canda said he would like to look into allocating the tax to other areas like this and wanted more input. They decided to schedule a time for that. The Board will look at how an increased tax will influence vacationer’s decision to stay here and whether the tax could be detrimental to rental/lodging owners and businesses. An already slightly lower number of vacationers is being felt this year. It may be that the County will not put the tax issue on the ballot.
The Board put this on the agenda for Wednesday July 30th for another presentation of information and more input. Decisions on whether or not to get it on the ballot, and for what amount of increase% and allocations must be made soon, to get ballot language submitted for approval and get it on the ballot.
And that was it.
Update: At the next meeting the Board settled on 4% increase for the ballot issue language on the Lodging Tax Increase with monies going to with monies going to childcare, tourism, and workforce housing.