March 5 BOCC: Debt Collector, Landfill Not Leaking, Water Truck Borrowing, Clinic “Beaming”

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—March 5, 2019
Westcliffe, CO
by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Items
All three Commissioners listed meetings they had attended.
Commissioner Canda reported on airport grants, the strategic plan, and had some ideas about a possible volunteer water board.
Chairman Flower reported that the Board will put together a letter to go with the final draft of the strategic plan. He also discussed the $345 that was not paid on the CenturyLink bill for damages that occurred last fall. He will have Gary Hyde check again to make sure that there was no earlier invoice than the one the County paid. The $345 appeared to be a service charge from a collection agency and the Board felt it was not responsible for paying it.
Commissioner Printz reported that the attainable housing committee has received a $40,000 grant, but because there was no quorum at their meeting, no action could be taken. He mentioned that there were Silver Cliff properties that likely could be purchased for a nominal fee. He also reported that he met with the marijuana growers (from the February 28th meeting) and they went through Ordinance 19 – 01 Regulating Residential Growing, Cultivating and Processing of Marijuana. Another meeting is set for Thursday, and the Sheriff will be present to give his input. Mr. Printz will have a draft of the changes prior to the meeting at the end of the month.
Attorney Items
Attorney Smith verified that the $345 on the CenturyLink invoice was a two percent fee and that J and R is indeed a debt collection agency. He agreed that collection of invoices was just a part of doing business and should not be an extra charge. He will write a letter to CenturyLink. He also has been working with the Wet Mountain Valley Saddle Club to draft an MOU regarding repayment of a water bill.
In addition to her other work, the Administrative Assistant to the Board, Meredith Nichols has been working on two grants, one for the landfill and one for the airport.
Staff Reports
Rusty Christensen and Dennis Sprecher reported for the landfill and recycling. Christensen thanked administrative assistant Meredith Nichols for help with his grant. He also reported that the recent survey at the landfill showed no impact to groundwater. There is one more sample coming and if it shows no impact, he will be able to move ahead with landfill expansion. Mr. Sprecher reported that fees for recycling are, in general. flat and that there is no place that is taking plastic for recycling at this time.
Gary Hyde gave the Road & Bridge Report. Plugged culverts are putting water over roads in places in the county. Mr. Hyde verified that the county did indeed pay the first invoice it received from CenturyLink. There was a discussion about maintenance on South Hardscrabble since the Forest Service now wants to reopen the top and bottom sections of that road. A question remains whether it will be open just in the summer or whether there will be winter maintenance required as well.
Mr. Hyde reported that the Wet Mountain Fire Protection District Board (WMFPD) member Dave Tonsing requested that the fire department be able to borrow a water truck for approximately eight weeks as they shop for their own water tender. They have re-evaluation of their insurance ratings in the works that will lower insurance rates for a good percentage of the citizens of Custer County. After discussion, it was decided that the fire department would need to come to the Board to make the request. The earliest available time for that would be at the midmonth meeting on the 20th in Wetmore.
Note: Captain Tonsing, in a phone conversation, clarified some of the information that Hyde gave to the Board. He reported that, with two additional water tenders, the ISO rating be lowered significantly. The savings to citizens is likely to offset the mill levy increase. Silver Cliff has agreed to loan theirs to the fire department but one more is needed for this deal to go through. He is hoping for the cooperation of the county. WMFPD is currently shopping for two water tenders that can run from $20K – $40K.
Laura Lockhart gave the Department of Human Services report. She stated that LEAP requests were down and her office was sending out notices to remind people to apply. She also mentioned that there are a good number of people moving to the county without jobs or places to live and calling her office for assistance.
IT Director Vernon Roth reported that the high-speed internet the county would be “beaming” to Search and Rescue and Veteran Services should be finished shortly. He ran into a snag at the clinic but their high-speed Internet, also “beamed” by the county, should be done by the end of the week. This brought up a discussion regarding whether it was appropriate for the county to provide Internet to the clinic at no charge – especially since part of the rent the clinic is charging to the County Health Nurse is for internet. Chairman Flower suggested that the county help the clinic until the subscription fee for their current Internet expires in June. The subject can be looked at again then.
Roger Watkins, interim Veteran Services Officer, expressed that it has been a real pleasure for him working in Custer County. The office has remained very busy. He will sit in on interviews for the permanent VSO position tomorrow afternoon.
Extension Agent Guinevere Nelson is focused on 4-H at the moment. She completed County Area Director training and will be participating in meat quality assurance training with the 4-H kids this evening.
New Business
The Board adopted new guidelines to clarify how and when their administrative assistant, Meredith Reynolds, will be available to help with grant writing. The MOU with the Saddle Club passed unanimously. The Board appointed five members to the Extension Advisory Board: Mary Gompf, Kelley Camper, Janet Freeberg, Jordan Hedberg and Kyle Evans.
The morning meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m.

March 6 BOCC: Justice Center, Coroner Vehicle, Vaccinations, Water

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—March 6, 2019
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Items
All three Commissioners attended a review of the architectural proposals for the justice center. The justice center committee selected several RFP’s for further interviews. Attorney Smith also attended the justice center RFP meeting and stated that if this project were to get stalled, the state could force the issue.
Commissioner Canda announced that the last community meeting for the prosperity plan will be at Tony’s Mountain Pizza on March 19th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Commissioner Printz reported from the Westcliffe town meeting that the town was concerned about the county re-opening the marijuana ordinance as they have already passed it. Silver Cliff has not. However, Mr. Printz did mention that the town can modify theirs if necessary. He also reported meeting with the growers who suggested that they would like to put together a growers association so that Sheriff Byerly will know who is growing legally. Attorney Smith interjected the answer to a previous question whether Douglas County’s ordinance, upon which ours was based, had been challenged. He stated that it has been challenged and is still on the books.
Staff Reports
Lynn LaGree reported from the Airport Board. There is a problem with the concrete where the fire truck is now parked that needs repair. The commissioners instructed him to get in touch with the fire department to make that happen. Last minute work continues on a grant proposal that needs to be turned in by the 15th.
The OEM report was given by Cindy Howard. She will be putting a Coroner’s vehicle on the Homeland Security grant, which will be about $150K split among five counties.
Elisa Livengood updated the Board on the Public Health Department. She says the jail nursing arrangement is going very well. The 9Health Fair is April 6th so work continues on that. Commissioner Printz asked about the “anti-vax epidemic” and what her office is doing. She does a bit of education and stated that our county shows 93% vaccinated. Anything under 95%, she stated, is considered “at risk.” Mr. Printz asked about requirements in the school for kids to be vaccinated. Ms. Livengood told him that parents can sign waivers and that “probably a third of our school has opted out.” A member of the audience spoke up that there was no need to worry, the state legislature was sure to make certain that parents had no rights to get waivers. Mr. Printz replied, “That’s a different issue.” Finally, there was a discussion about the dangers of vaping.
Dawna Hobby gave the HR/Finance report.
Clerk Kelley Camper discussed a recent glitch in software from the state for license plate renewals. There were some people who overpaid because of the issue and the state will be sending refunds. Ms. Camper also requested to deputize the BOCC Administrator Meredith Nichols so that she can produce minutes of BOCC meetings when Ms. Camper was absent. The Board agreed.
Commissioner Canda brought up the discussion of having a volunteer county water board and maybe reviving the Wet Mountain Valley Water Board. Chairman Flower stated that he’s been approached by several water rights holders that want the county to withdraw from the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District and start our own. During the discussion, there was again an obvious feeling from the Board that the Upper Ark was an adversary to the county. Mr. Printz said as much and alluded to them as a “snake in the grass.” He stated that “certainly our ex-officio member would have reported to us had he had any idea what was going on” regarding the water augmentation plan being submitted “behind our back” – Chairman Flower is the ex-officio member. He went on to say that it would be perfectly acceptable to have our own water augmentation plan and demand that “water will stay in our county, period” and that water cannot leave our valley because it’s not coming back. Attorney Smith reminded the Board that they do not have any authority to regulate water.
After an afternoon executive session took place to interview two people for the Veteran Service Officer position, The Board hired John Carroll, the head of the American Legion for that position.