BOCC: Coroner: A Lot of Suicides in 2024, Auditor Change Delay, P&Z Activity Down
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The January 23, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting took place at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room.
It started around 9 a.m. and all three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda, and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
Before Commissioner Items, Canda
asked the Board whether the Commissioners should verbally summarize what was in the written reports submitted by various officials and department heads. (Instead of just reading them silently in front of the audience). Epp concurred. (This is a good thing as the public didn’t know what was going on. And, as shown below, it worked quite well. Thank you, Canda and Epp.)
In Commissioner Items, Vogelsong noted that he and Epp went to CCI for Commissioner training.
Staff Reports were next. First up was our Veterans Service Officer, Dominic Edginton. Dominic said he had 39 scheduled appointments in December and eleven walk-ins. He filed nine new claims and had a total of 366 claims filed last year. He said at the end of 2024, our veterans were getting an increase of $160k monthly. Also, since he started about 18 months ago, he had gotten $1.2 million in retro payments for the veterans. And, at the end of 2024, he had managed to get a total of $2.4 million in payments.
The first Elected Officials Report was from the Sheriff’s Office (SO). Epp gave the highlights: the Posse members donated 5,663 hours last year with 404 hours being prisoner transport. The SO also finished the year under budget. There were 966 traffic stops in 2024 with 142 tickets being issued. Forty-one traffic accidents occurred last year which was a 41% reduction from 2023. There was one traffic fatality.
Treasurer Virginia Trujillo gave the Treasurer’s report. The usual stuff. All good.
The Coroner’s Office report was delivered by Coroner Brad Baltzly. Brad opened with the 2024 death totals: 13 natural, 1 accidental, 7 suicides, no homicides and no undetermined. Brad noted that the suicide number was more than double from 2023 (3). He said there was “no specific demographic” and “They were all over the board.” So, there was a total of 21 deaths in 2024 compared to 18 in 2023. (Hospice deaths are not counted.) Brad reported that the Coroner’s Office was under budget for 2024 by $47k and that his autopsy costs have risen to $1,750 per autopsy. He also remarked that two of the suicides were out of town people. Only one suicide was a veteran. Brad said the latest suicide was a “transgender” person and there were some difficulties with that person’s real name. He noted that “transgenders have a lot higher rate for suicide” than non-trans people and that, “Those folks are more prone to that for some reason.”
Human Resources Director Bob Smith then gave his report. He stated the county employees Annual Open Enrollment period is over (for benefits). Bob said there are currently four open workers compensation claims. HR’s new Technician person, Monique Reed, has started and she is a big help. Bob then talked about his work on department policies and procedures. He wants a work session with the Board on his draft of the new county employee handbook. He is also working on a uniform “wage structure” for the county.
Epp then reviewed the Information Technology Department’s submitted report. There is a new IT employee, John TXXXX who is doing good and getting a lot done. IT did a lot of work on the Sheriff’s Office “Tyler” communication system which has had some issues. It looks like this might finally be working well.
In Finance, Epp reviewed the written report. Most of it was noting the items worked on by our accounting consultant, Lisa Hammon, from Redland’s Consulting. At the end of the report, citizen Jimmy “The Plumber” McMahon asked how long has our current county auditor (DiNardo) been auditing the county’s books. Epp answered “10 years”. Epp then said the “state” says five years is the max and they will be looking for one August 1. Epp said they tried to get a new one for this year, but they started too late and everybody they talked to was booked. Jimmy asked about how much our auditor has been charging us and Epp said last year it was around $80k and normal should be about $20k. Epp also stated that he wanted to keep Redland’s Accounting around as “watch dog” over our Finance Department and our auditors. (Good idea.)
The Human Services report was the usual stuff. Epp reviewed that.
The Planning & Zoning report showed a slowing down of activity over 2023. The report noted that there were 172 “compliance issues” in 2024 and 15 have been sent to the county attorney. Of the 172, 76 have complied. 2024 permit revenue was down last year, and the Use Tax was also down by $155k. Last year there were 107 septic permits, 91 dwelling permits and 71 non-dwelling permits. Total 2024 permits issued were down a lot from 2023. County Attorney Slater than reviewed the status of the 15 he received for action. He said he sent “letters” to all of them and eight have reached some sort of “resolution”. Slater said he just filed two suits in county court and will be filing the other five next week.
Canda then reviewed the Airport Report. He said the Jet A fuel tank Is there and it still needs some work to get operational. He noted that the land survey of the airport is underway. The new “gang fence” surrounding the airport to keep out large animals is about done. It was totally paid for by the Ought Six Ranch. The cost was $650K. Some of the gates though still need work.
The Landfill Report was brief. Their 2024 budget was $399k and they bought in $313k in fees. The state inspector was there recently and there were no violations.
Not too much in the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) (grants, grants, grants) and the CSU Cooperative Extension (lots of programs, 78 kids in 4H).
In New Business, the first item was the Managing Commissioner Departments/Boards assignments. Here’s who got what:
Vogelsong: P&Z, Human Services, CSU Extension, Weed Board, Useful Public Service, Human Resources, Landfill.
Epp: Finance, CC Kids Council, Workforce Housing Board, Upper Ark Water, Recycling, Public Health, Grounds, Tourism Board.
Canda: Road & Bridge, IT, Fair Board, Airport Board, EOM, and BOCC Admin.
The Board then went into Executive Session over some personnel matter.
The reconvened after the ES. The meeting took over four hours.
Another chapter down in the Happy Valley saga. At least no rudeness from the lefties in this one. See you next week.
Kirkpatrick Bank names Mike Steppenbacker as Colorado Market President and Head of Colorado Lending. He brings over twenty four years of experience to the role.
If it’s true that everyone leaves behind a legacy, then Joan Marie Kelly Barnett’s legacy is Love. Born May 16, 1938, in Miller’s Crossing, Newfoundland, Canada, Joan passed away peacefully on February 6, 2025, in Cotopaxi, Colorado. In her final days, she was surrounded by loving family members and caregivers, all of whom adored her.
Cosme Daniel “Danny” Hernandez left us February 8, 2025. Danny was born in Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, in 1927, and from a very young age learned to be resourceful and quite the entrepreneur. His careers in Cuba included serving as a police officer, the Cuban Navy/Coast Guardsman which they call a Marine and he worked at an American electric company. It was the day he was handed a communist newspaper and told this is what he now was to read that he tore it into two pieces and knew it was time to go to the United States. Unfortunately, his family stayed behind in Cuba. He landed in New Jersey and once again his entrepreneurial spirit prevailed working multiple jobs, one of which was selling quality women’s dresses and jewelry. This would be his most important job as he met the love of his life when he sold several dresses to Hildalisa Chavez.
by George Gramlich, 
Beloved Longtime Custer County
