County Beat: May 17, 2018

Deputy accepted to FBI academy
Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Jeremy Muxlow has been accepted to the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., for a 10-week training program this summer. He’ll be the first RBC law enforcement officer to attend the program since the 1970s, when former Sheriff Bob Kracht went.One of the requirements for someone to attend is that they had to be a rank of lieutenant or higher in order to attend.
According to the National Academy website, Muxlow will have the opportunity to take classes in “law, behavioral science, forensic science, understanding terrorism/terrorist mindsets, leadership, communication, and health/fitness.” The final test of the fitness challenge, called “The Yellow Brick Road” is a 6.1 mile obstacle course built by the Marines.
“I’m pretty honored and humbled to get the official nomination from the sheriff,” Muxlow told the county commissioners Monday. “I’ve wanted to do this since I started in law enforcement.”
Selle presents facility needs plan
Meeker School District Superintendent Chris Selle has been visiting “as many community groups as possible to get accurate information to them” in regard to facility needs facing the district, specifically the bus garage and the high school. He also gave the same presentation to the Meeker Town Board of Trustees Tuesday.
Selle said he would be presenting the district’s grant proposal for a BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grant in Denver on Thursday. If awarded in full, the grant would fund a maximum of 38 percent—about $19.5 million—of the total cost. A bond measure of $31.62 million would be required for the other 62 percent of the project.
“We should know by Thursday afternoon if we’re on the short list [for the BEST grant],” Selle said, adding, “Whether we get a grant or not, the facilities issues are still there.”
Security issues top the list of concerns for the high school, which has 39 exterior doors. By way of comparison, the elementary school, built according to safety specs created after the Columbine shooting, has 14 exterior entrances.
The district will hold one more open house and facility tour on June 7 at 6 p.m.
Broadband counting concerns
Local Access Internet (LAI) owners Dale Smith and Joy Clymer expressed concerns about their contract with the county, stating the contract’s limitations on what they are allowed to charge has caused them to lose business to Spectrum.
LAI pays the county a set wholesale rate for each internet account they service. The county also expressed concerns, via an official notice of violation, in the calculation of payments to the county from LAI, giving LAI a limited time to clear up missing accounts that are using the county’s infrastructure but not being billed, and customers within the fiber network “footprint” who are accessing the network wirelessly.
The county can check bandwidth usage for every internet user on the fiber network, and can shut down service for IP addresses that don’t appear on the county’s records. The county’s concern? Addresses receiving internet service without payment going back to the county. Addresses, for example, where multiple customers are accessing the fiber network and the county is only receiving payment for one customer. The county receives $30 of $55 on the 100 Mbps package and $40 on the 1GB (gig) package.
Support for CNCC president
The commissioners approved a letter of support for Colorado Northwestern Community College President Ron Granger, who has been the subject of criticism from the mayor of Craig, Craig campus staff and the Moffat County Affiliated Junior College District Board of Control.
The commissioner’s letter, directed to Colorado Community College President Nancy McCallum, states in part, “In our opinion, President Granger is providing outstanding leadership and vision for CNCC. Under his leadership there has been an expansion of programs, development of new offerings for students and community members, and greater community engagement, then we have seen in the past. President Granger is deeply involved in community and economic development initiatives. This is of utmost importance to Rio Blanco County as CNCC is one of the largest employers in Rio Blanco County and provides a significant economic impact in the Northwest region of Colorado.”
Other business:
– Agreed to continue the discussion of amendments to the county’s impact fees until June 11, and moved to maintain the current moratorium. The proposed amendment would end the county’s impact fees, which provide funding for things like repair and maintenance for roads impacted by energy and gas production, in an effort to attract production back to the county.
– Impact fees haven’t been imposed on energy companies since a moratorium was established in 2015.