Letter to the Editor: My two cents

Dear Editor:
In reference to fact and myth, Mr. Madison, Moffat, Routt, Garfield, Mesa, Weld counties etc., are working, not like they were but way more than we are. The commissioners should be working on streamlining the process, and it should have been tended to already years ago when we were rocking and everybody was working. Cost controls everything, everybody knows that. You cannot have a solid number, it depends on what is in the gas, hello.
God bless you on your speedy process, you giving them a ticket to drill is nowhere near what you need to do but it’s a start, and the two to three day process is only after you decide you have everything you need to process the permit. I have personally seen this take one to two years. Trust me, these folks have been dealing with the feds and states long before they got here. Impact fees are fine, it is just all the other fees and permits that go along with it. That doesn’t settle well with the industry.
Oh my goodness, we knew in 2005 that County Road 5 was an issue. Seven years ago, and we are now visiting with the gas industry about modifying fees to fix it and it’s being said that we maybe should just do major maintenance versus the $140 million reconstruction. After all, there isn’t anything going on at Piceance.
And last but not least, rewriting the land use regulations: it has been a long time coming and it is a good thing, although the buzz is there needs to be a lot of stuff go away. For most of us worker bees, 3 o’clock in the afternoon on the first and third Wednesday of the month is a little difficult to make … just a thought.
I would like to top this off with one more thing — I get asked by a lot of folks, “Randy, what do we need to do to get our jobs back, to get people to come here, to help our town and economy grow?” I tell them a good start would be three words “Welcome to Meeker” and mean it! We have got to help people who want to be here, not make them feel like their hands are tied, but instead help them in the best interest of the town and county, for the future of our children and long-term economic growth, and that’s my two cents worth.
Please, Jeff, or anyone who would like to comment, email me at [email protected]. Please do it on your time and your dime. Thank you and God bless Meeker, Colo.
Randy Ridgeway
Meeker