by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The March 27, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting started at 9 a.m. at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Epp said he attended a Colorado Wildfire Fire Protection Plan meeting where the attendees reviewed maps and zones in Custer County. County Interim Attorney Dan Slater said another ex county employee is suing the County. He doesn’t think this lawsuit “has a lot of merit”.
In New Business, Accounts Payable was first up. Epp led the discussion noting that this AP (which covers just the first two weeks of March) was high due to a lot of normal, annual expenses that come in around this time. Epp reviewed all the expense items greater than $5k. The total of $567k was approved.
Next was the announcement that the annual Towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff Clean Up day will be May 10th. Residents of the two towns can put out items on the curb to be taken away. No batteries, tires or household trash. No appliances that use freon. All county residents can bring their electronic items
to the Dome in Silver Cliff to
be recycled.
Eight County Resolutions were next. These supplemental resolutions were to approve money to pay for expenses that were above the budgeted amounts. The Commissioners
Health Insurance got $13.6k. The VSO got $6k for training. The VSO got another $20.8k for the new assistant. Road & Bridge received $66k for the newly acquired used roller/compactor. $49.5k was allocated for the infamous chipper.
The County Clerk got $69k for recording services and the airport was on the receiving end of $125k for improvements to the
fuel system there.
The last Agenda Item was a Resolution for a Moratorium on
new Short Term Rental applications and permits. This would last until December 31, 2026. Planning & Zoning needs time to adjust the regulations based on issues that came up in the last few years plus new state laws are coming down. (A new state regulation will control the size of the STR septics and will use the number of beds, instead of bedrooms, as the measurement tool.) The Resolution was approved.
And that was it.
Tag Archives: BOCC
March 20 BOCC: Some Fatal Fire Facts, P&Z Stats, Sludge/Fertilizer Comments
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The March 20, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting was held at the All
Aboard Westcliffe meeting room and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members
Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items all three Commissioners reported attending several meetings. Canda noted that he is setting up a town hall meeting with the Upper Arkansas Water people to discuss Upper Ark’s plans for our county (including raising the water lever at Lake DeWeese). Continue reading March 20 BOCC: Some Fatal Fire Facts, P&Z Stats, Sludge/Fertilizer Comments
February 27, 2025 BOCC: Tourism, Finance resolutions, Politics
BOCC: New Tourism AG Effort, Money
for Nothing, Epp and Politics
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
L to R Vogelsong, Canda, Epp
The February 27, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting was held at the meeting room at All Aboard Westcliffe and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Vogelsong said he had attended a Weed Board meeting. Canda noted that Road & Bridge is building a secondary parking lot next to the courthouse for employees freeing up space for visitors in the regular parking lot. Canda also said that the Public Comments segments are not for debate but for comments and he will be enforcing that. Continue reading February 27, 2025 BOCC: Tourism, Finance resolutions, Politics
BOCC: County Attorney Showdown
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The February 13, 2025 Custer County Board of County Com-missioners’ (BOCC) meeting took place at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were in attendance: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Comments, Epp mentioned a bunch of meetings he attended since the last BOCC gabfest: CCI (a lobbying group for counties who are a member), a wages workshop with Human Resources, a Public Health meeting to talk about the impact of grants disappearing, met with CDOT on the courthouse sidewalk project and with Redmonds Consulting re: audit strategy. Epp noted as part of the courthouse sidewalk project, a new county employee parking lot will be built which would help with citizen parking next to the courthouse.
In New Business, the monthly Accounts Payable amount ($291k for January) was approved.
Resolution 25-03, Moving $146k
from the Tourism Fund to the Tourism Board was approved.
Next up was Resolution 25-04, approving $5,560 to the Airport from the Capital Improvement fund was ok’d. This was for the three airport gate upgrades.
Vernon Yoder’s Short Term Rental (STR) application was then approved.
The Horton STR application was recommended to be not approved by the Planning Commission, but the Commissioners approved it anyway. Some of the issues surrounding the application was that there were too many STR’s already in the area, the septic size and the shared driveway access. Continue reading BOCC: County Attorney Showdown
Jan 30 BOCC: Lawsuit, Roth Get FD Position, Attorney Drama
Decline Rumblings,
$60k Lawsuit Payment, Roth Gets the Finance Director’s Position, More County Attorney Drama
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The January 30, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) meeting started at 9:01 a.m. at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room in Westcliffe. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Epp said the Commissioners were “mandatory” reporters for the Department of Human Services re child protective services and they must undergo training because of that mandate. Epp also said he had talked to our Public Health Department about their grant funding and what level of services that could provide if their state and federal grant for income declines. (And it will. All of Custer County’s departments and offices should prepare contingency plans for a probate grant income decline.) He noted that the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments (UAACOG) (a government grant dispensing non-profit machine in Cañon City) might also have some serious funding issues going forward. Epp commented, “Grants are up in the air. If certain things go away, what are we going to do and what is it going to look like?)
( It’s called small, efficient, prioritized government focusing on the essentials.)
Canda chimed in, “Fed funding is the issue. We need to know what grants are federal.” (Note a LOT of “state” grants are actually fed money that was given to the state…)
In New Business, Accounts Payable was first up. Epp stated that the monthly AP amount was high as it is in the beginning of the year and also it contained a $60k bill from the county’s insurer (CTSI) for the deductible amount we have to pay for the settlement of the tasing lawsuit brought by a minor who
was in custody by the Sheriff’s Office. (This was before Sheriff Smith came on board. Rumor has it the settlement was for around $700k.) The incident occurred in 2022 and involved alleged excessive force. The total A/P for January was $365k and it was approved.
The next report was from the Wet Mountain Fire District. It was reported that the District received the most calls for service ever last year, 340 calls. There were 16 fires responded to.
The Tourism Bureau’s report involved a slide presentation. They said they were doing a good job as the Lodging Tax was up for last year. The online Zoom system went out during their report so much
was missed.
Our County Clerk and Recorder, Kelley Camper, then was up requesting the ok form the Commissioners to apply for a $144k grant from the state fund that grabs $2 from every electronic document recording the Clerk’s Office does. The Commissioners gave their approval.
Brian Anderson gave the Airport report. The $650k eight-foot fence that a donor put up and paid for was about completed. However, the three access gates to the airport need to be upgraded to keep deer and other pesky critters out. The Airport has a $50k grant it can use. They received a local bid to fix the gates for around $21k. This passed.
Next Agenda Item was, “Consideration of the Finance Director’s Position”. Epp handled this. (As you know, we haven’t had a Finance Director for over a year after the big County Manager debacle. The Commissioners were only offering $125k for the job and the real-world price to get anybody decent is over $200k. Vernon Roth, our IT Director has been basically doing the job (with help from Redlands Accounting) and all reports say he is doing a great job. So, after a year, something finally happened….) Epp kind of laid out some background on where we are re the position saying we had an employee (Roth) in this position (on an interim basis) now for a year. Epp proposed to “move that employee into this Finance Director’s position” and we “will keep Redlands or another consultant here as backup.” Epp proposed a salary of $95k. Epp then read a letter from a local citizen who is a very high-speed accountant saying Vernon can do the job. Vogelsong commented that if we bring somebody new in it “would be a big learning curve.” A couple of peasants then spoke up supporting Vernon. The vote was then taken and all three Commissioners voted to give Vernon the job. (Good move. Vernon is super smart and a very hard worker.)
The next subject was pretty controversial, “Review and Consideration of the Contract for County Attorney”. (Remember there was a personnel issue with our County Attorney, Dan Slater, and a county employee. The Commissioners voted to fire Slater for it. They took away Slater’s contract with the department where the issue occurred but kept him on for the BOCC and the Sheriff’s Office until they found a replacement. Until now, they haven’t found anybody.
This Item is Canda’s baby. He said he has an attorney, Rachel Maxam, who just moved here and has a practice in Colorado Springs and she wants the job. She wants $5k a month and $100 per hour for
extra hours.
Canda went on a bit about Maxam then Slater rose to his defense saying she would cost 43% more than what he was getting. Epp said he thought her flat fee was way too high and was concerned that we would normally not use that many hours. Slater said his average monthly fee for 2024 was $3,290 per month and her proposed contract doesn’t cover “litigation” which his does and this could cost a ton more. Slater then said he “continues to have questions to why you still want to change.” Epp responded something about, “legalities of conflict of interest”. At some point in the discussion, Slater said the “issue” had been resolved (so no point in trying to get rid of him.) This went on and on. Finally, as it is a personnel issue, the Commissioners decided to have an Executive Session on it (date to be decided). So, Slater is still our County Attorney. (Well, Slater was removed re his “personnel issue” from one of his contracts with the county and apparently the “issue” is resolved now. The problem is, getting an attorney who really knows county/municipal law is difficult. And the gov’t legal arena is complex and complicated. You need a lot of experience to get good at it. Watching Slater now for years, he knows his stuff. The only real blem on his work here was the County Manager vignette where he did not give the Commissioners proper advice on how to follow the law regarding setting up a County Manager position and filling it. Other than that, he has done a good job. He had his hand slapped over the personnel issue. It is going to be real difficult to find someone with his experience who will charge us a reasonable rate…. Maybe change your minds mighty Commissioners and give him a second chance?)
And that was it. Pretty good drama quotient. Stay tuned for the next chapter of “Happy Valley”. Continue reading Jan 30 BOCC: Lawsuit, Roth Get FD Position, Attorney Drama
BOCC Jan 23: Suicides high in 2024, Auditor Change Delay
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.
Custer County: Now Under New Management
Paul Vogelsong being sworn in by County Judge Mike Halpin.
Custer County: Now Under New Management
Commissioners Vogelsong and Epp Sworn In 01/14/25
New Commissioners with the honorable Judge Halpin.
by Fred Hernandez
In a simple ceremony at Lange Hall on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 10 o’clock in the morning, County Judge Mike Halpin presided over the official swearing-in of the commissioners elected in the November 2024 Election.
First up was Lucas Epp who had already been serving as commissioner, having won the seat following the recall of a former commissioner. After swearing in, Commissioner Epp made a few short remarks to remind his supporters that he is a working man who dresses simply and works “in the trenches” to solve problems. He received a warm applause from the audience of approximately fifty county residents.
Paul Vogelsong was next and after swearing in he also spoke briefly to assure his supporters that having sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution many times in his career, he has every intention of doing so as Commissioner Vogelsong. He also received a warm round of applause.
Among the dignitaries who were present were County Commissioner Bill Canda, Sheriff Rich Smith, Coroner Brad Baltzly, County IT and interim Finance Director Vernon Roth and county business owners and residents. The quick ceremony was over in twenty minutes and the attendees were treated to refreshments of fruit, cake and coffee. The County welcomes the new team of commissioners and sincerely wishes them all the best in their work for the community. Congratulations!
BOCC: Epp Makes a HUGE Finance Director Position Move, Chaos Ensues
BOCC: Epp Makes a HUGE Finance Director Position Move, Chaos Ensues
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
Custer County Board of County Commissioner’s (BOCC) first meeting of the new year took place at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room in downtown Westcliffe. The January 9, 2025 meeting started at 9 a.m. and all three Commissioners were present: Bill Canda, Lucas Epp and Kevin Day. Continue reading BOCC: Epp Makes a HUGE Finance Director Position Move, Chaos Ensues
BOCC Dec. 19 Mtg: Special Dist. Tax Levies Approved, IT meeting with Feds
BOCC: Special District Tax Levies Approved,
IT Meets with “the Feds”, BOCC Meetings at All Aboard Westcliffe in 2025
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The Custer County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) December 19, 2024 regular meeting was held at their regal throne room (the “Annex”) across from the court house. The meeting started at around 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were present: Bill Canda, Lucas Epp and Kevin Day.
No real important Commissioner Items. Continue reading BOCC Dec. 19 Mtg: Special Dist. Tax Levies Approved, IT meeting with Feds
BOCC Dec 12: Good news on Budget
BOCC: Good News of 2025 County Budget, New SO
Vehicles, More OEM/Mitigation Drama
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The December 12, 2024 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting started at around 9 a.m. at their regally appointed throne room (the “Annex”) across from the courthouse. All three mighty commissioners were present: Bill Canda, Lucas Epp and Kevin Day.
In Commissioner Items, Epp noted at the CCI conference he attended last week, our lib Governor, Polis, focused his speech on the Denver to Fort Collins wasteland and ignored the rest of the state. Canda said that the county airport MIGHT be able to get a decommissioned Apache helicopter and also a Blackhawk for display purposes only. Continue reading BOCC Dec 12: Good news on Budget