John Bernhart, director of the Colorado Division of Child Support Enforcement, drove to Meeker from his Denver office to present Andrea Harmon with a certificate of excellence award at the Rio Blanco County Board of County Commissioners’ meeting held Monday in Meeker.
“Andrea is such a force for our system,” Bernhart told commissioners before presenting Harmon with a plaque. “She is recognized as a leader.”
“It’s nice to be recognized by the state office and have it presented here,” Harmon, who has worked with Rio Blanco County Social Services for more than 26 years, said. Harmon is the child support enforcement administrator for RBC and said at any given time she has more than 300 ongoing cases per month.
Because of Harmon’s efforts, her department has met or exceeded goals established by the state. Only 10 of 64 Colorado counties received such designation.
“She works hard at it and her dedication was recognized and rewarded by the state,” BOCC chairman Kai Turner said. “It’s a nice award for Andrea and credit goes to her and the social services department. What she does, helps save taxpayer’s money.”
In other business, the commissioners adopted a resolution concerning the redrawing of the congressional boundaries and opened several bids, including one for a bridge on RBC Road 27.
After every census, the legislature is charged with redrawing congressional boundaries to make sure each district has roughly the same number of people. Although the 2010 census indicated population changes in the state, RBC commissioners would like to see the western slope “remain whole” in the third congressional district. One of the proposed maps includes Rio Blanco County with Boulder County, currently in the Second Congressional District.
“It will probably be decided by the courts again,” commissioner Ken Parsons said. “I don’t think we have much in common with Boulder,” Parsons said he told a redistricting committee member when asked about including Rio Blanco County with Boulder County.
The commissioners adopted the resolution, which in part read:
“Now, therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of the county of Rio Blanco, Colorado, that Rio Blanco County urges the General Assembly and Governor to support the concept of keeping the western slope, as a ‘community of interest,’ intact to the maximum extent possible and to maintain the western slope within a single congressional district. Be it further resolved that Rio Blanco County opposes any plan for redistricting that would divide the western slope among congressional districts.”
The commissioners also discussed their own districts and have been presented with a new map.
“We’re trying to clean up the commissioner districts and make them more defined and easier to follow,” Turner said of the proposed new division lines.
Commissioners also opened bids for a low trailer, bridge construction on RBC Road 27 over west Douglas Creek and a request for proposal for construction management.
Only two bids came in under the $899,641 budgeted for the bridge, including Precision Excavating from Hayden (low bidder) and GA Westerner from Palisade.
“I would have liked to have seen someone from our county bid on the project,” Turner said of the five bidders.
The BOCC meets in Meeker on the second and fourth Monday of each month and in Rangely on the third Monday of each month. An agenda is published in the Herald Times and can also be read on the county’s informative website at: wwww.co.rio-blanco.co.us/commissioners.
