BOCC: DHS – Upcoming Work Requirement,
Hold Up on Visionary Broadband ‘s New Tower

by Michael Foster
The September 17th Board of County Commissioners meeting was held at All Aboard Westcliffe. Canda and Vogelsong were in person while Epp attended via Zoom. Vogelsong highlighted attending a meeting about fire mitigation and the importance of home defense zones for protecting your property. Epp discussed finishing up the audit with Sam DaNardo. Epp and county Finance Director Vernon Roth are working through filing the final paperwork online with the IRS but the system is problematic, freezing up and/or kicking them off. They are continuing to move the issues up the chain for assistance and to hopefully get everything done online. Epp suggests also sending the report via certified mail for proof of submission.
Canda reported that the Airport Board is working to get the survey completed using a surveyor and that they are finishing up within budget. Canda met with Mesa County Commissioners on an initiative to ban pornography for children under 18. There are several steps to the initiative since the county is going to work to ban it. How do you enforce it? How do you prevent it from getting into school and municipal buildings? The technology does exist to block this type of content and hold the provider accountable. Mesa County is on board to champion and implement this bipartisan issue.
Attorney Dan Slater had nothing to cover outside of the agenda. He will be online for an Executive Session for legal advice regarding pending employment litigation.
The County Treasurer’s Report from Virginia Trujillo was accepted as printed.
Vicki from Human Services appeared before the commissioners to highlight and explain some increases in one section of her department’s Issuance which is typically the same amount every month. However, there was a big increase in August for out-of-home placements. $46,823 was issued in August for foster care out-of-home placements instead of the prior month’s averages of $5,700-$6,300. The August amount came about because of the increase from one child needing placement to seven. The department is paying additional individual homes to care for the seven children who needed a place to go. The Burial Issuance for the month was $1,500 for those who qualified.
Medical assistance payouts were $135,610 for the month of August. The number of cases of medical assistance/services for Custer County is 543 households or 1,329 individuals through the Department of Human Services. There was no specific report on which Medicaid medical services were paid as there are many many different Medicaid programs and as such are not delineated in the report. The department serviced four ongoing cases of adult protection services and evaluated seven referrals. Child support services received the August child support payments from the state.
DHS is currently waiting on FNS guidance for food assistance. Guidelines reportedly in the works are that all able-bodied adults without a disability ages 55-65 will have to work 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month to continue to receive food assistance. If this is implemented, then 47 people in our county will be affected. Vicki reported that it is “Up in the air how things are going to work.” EEBT / LEAP is credited toward food assistance. $21, goes to anyone on food assistance. If they have no elderly or disabled in their household, they will potentially lose this benefit.
Vicki asked the Commissioners for a contract cancellation for the child welfare adult protection services supervisor, and permission to instead hire her as a part-time employee. There was no discussion about why the request was made and how it impacts/benefits the county, the department or the employee.
The Commissioners approved a Special Event Permit request for Greenhorn Valley Chamber of Commerce. The request was for a Vegas Night event at San Isabel campground. The fees were paid for use on October 11, 2025 4-10 p.m. Vogelsong commented that the Sheriff requested that his office be notified of any special permit events and that the requesting and hosting organization be signed up with Everbridge for any emergency notifications.
Delenna Crofford, Planning and Zoning Director, briefed that on September 8th, the Planning Commission met to hear a request from Sangre De Cristo Electric Association, who is leasing land to Visionary Broadband. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the special use permit for Visionary Broadband to build and install a new 60-foot tower at the substation off of Kettle. The new tower will provide new service to approximately 100 residents and upgrade service to an additional 800 residents. Commissioners were in agreement to hold a workshop to discuss fiber and secondary lines in the County and how to move forward on this special use permit. They took no action. Epp said he would support the workshop, “On how this is going to effect and where we are currently with bringing up a secondary fiber line to our main communities and our hopes around Silver Cliff and Westcliffe.” He said he supports this but he has one question “Is this going to affect us getting any money to bring fiber up into the County? ”
The Commissioners unanimously approved selling the landfill’s old garbage truck and the airport’s old 2001 GMC Yukon through Purple Wave. They also voted no on paying the Southern Colorado Economic District dues and rate increase. The Commissioners will do more research on the costs and benefits of being a part of the organization.
A motion was made to move into Executive Session for the purpose of receiving legal advice from our attorney (Dan Slater) on pending employment litigation pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-42(4)(B) with the following joining the Board for this session: the County Attorney, the County Clerk, the BOCC Admin, and the county HR Director. The motion passed unanimously and the public portion of the meeting ended.