BOCC: Flower not happy with Trib’s Article, Trib CORAs Docs, Board to Talk about Vacation Rentals, More Money Tossed at Implementation of the Strategic plan?

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—December 5, 2019
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis

The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Items:
Commissioner Printz expressed that the CCI (Colorado Counties, Incorporated) conference that the three commissioners just returned from was profitable and suggested that the time to talk about short-term vacation rentals is sooner rather than later.
Commissioner Canda reported that Sally Clark from USDA will be here on Thursday the 12th at 10:30 a.m. to meet with the commissioners regarding fiber and broadband. He also appreciated the CCI conference and came home with more knowledge and information.
Chairman Flower agreed that the discussion of short-term rentals should be considered. Then, he commented on the untruths included in the front-page Tribune article on the hospital district (November 28th issue) and was hoping the reporter would be present at this meeting. She was not. He has spoken with the clinic and they acknowledged inaccuracies in that article.
Mr. Printz expressed his thanks to Mr. Flower for the work done in the DHS office over Thanksgiving weekend. The Board approved paying Ivan Marrs and Steve Peterman for their work on the project. Mr. Flower noted that the job was put out for bid in the papers and there were no takers.
The Board acknowledged the excellent work of John Carroll (VSO) for the holiday meals that were handed out.
Attorney Items
Attorney Smith has worked on the title insurance for the purchase by the county of the lots in Silver Cliff owned by Colorado College. And he discussed with the Board the CORA request from Jordan Hedberg (The Tribune) for all emails between the commissioners and the hospital district. These will be gathered and Mr. Hedberg will come in to get them. Mr. Smith verified that there could be a charge for any work done (after the first hour) of gathering information for a CORA request.
Staff Reports
Rusty Christensen announced that he will be retiring from the Landfill in the spring of 2020. Since he has an employee that may be out up to 12 weeks after surgery, he suggested that a person be selected to fill in for that employee and then move into the manager position. The Board noted that they cannot advertise a position until they have a
formal notification of his retirement. The topic was added to the mid-month meeting agenda.
Gary Hyde from Road & Bridge gave his report. The Board agreed to an outright purchase of a water truck at $158,065.
Laura Lockhart gave the DHS report. Vernon Roth presented the IT report.
John Carroll gave the VSO report. The Board gave him kudos again for the food distribution and he reported that 100 meals were giving out that day. Because the VFW has raised enough money to do so, there will be another meal distribution at Lange Hall on December 21st. The Board agreed unanimously to donate $1,000 to the Veterans Trust Fund from their community outreach budget. The VFW is seeking room in the basement of the annex building to store food. Mr. Carroll made it clear that his office was not able to become the food bank and there was discussion on the best way to handle food donations.
Dawna Hobby brought the HR/Finance report including the 2020 budget for final approval. She also had four resolutions for the Board to approve. Three were annual end of year resolutions (including setting and approving all the mill levies in the county) and one was regarding the insurance payment for the Sheriff’s Office vehicle which was totaled recently. The question arose over the hospital mill levy being combined with the ambulance mill levy. The Board and Mr. Smith wondered if these could be separated in the future.
New Business
Mr. Bogle from the Custer County Economic Development Corporation discussed the implementation of the strategic plan that was written this year. He suggested a contract be made with Cheryl Trent (who facilitated and wrote the strategic plan) for $10K to have four meetings in 2020 and direct the implementation. Mr. Printz expressed that it would be a waste of the taxpayer money spent on the plan to not spend this money to implement the plan. The Board asked Mr. Bogle to get a proposal/contract from Ms. Trent to consider at a future meeting. (Note: this money was not budgeted in the 2020 budget.)
The Board approved the temporary contract with FreCom for dispatch services through December 31, 2020. The Sheriff reported that the county was
approved for $14K from the Black & Grey Marijuana grant, which helps defray expenses of marijuana enforcement.
The Board approved sending a letter to the hospital district. The letter outlined that Attorney Smith found that the hospital district has the authority, without the BOCC, to set up ambulance service both inside and outside its district. The letter also points to the original contract from 1989, in which the entire county is covered for ambulance service, and states that it is still legally binding. It also reiterates the Board’s commitment to work together with the hospital board in the best interests of the citizens of the county.
The Board approved the transfer of $30K from the general fund to the emergency services fund. They also approved the purchase and installation of fire extinguishers for the Wetmore Community Center.