Up and Down El Rio Blanco: Get Involved

Get involved seems to be a common theme in the county of recent, as there is a lot to do. Hopefully we all heed the call.
Our county commissioners Shawn Bolton, Ken Parsons and Kai Turner recently started talking with the energy operators in hopes of finding solutions to common issues, so more people can work in the area.
Our county administrator, Kimberly Bullen, has meet with chamber of commerce directors Katelin Cook and Brooke Loshe, town managers Sharon Day and Peter Brixius to talk about economic development and has arranged for a person from the Colorado Office of Economic Development to facilitate future discussions.
Superintendent of Rangely schools Todd Cordrey spoke at the recent Rangely Community Networking meeting (a great place to network) and invited all citizens in the Rangely school district to public discussions every Monday at 6 p.m., at the EEC Building. Cordrey said the school district and Western Rio Blanco Metropolitan Recreation and Parks District have been talking for almost two years about partnering together and will ask voters to approve a mill levy increase to the WRBM District to provide funding for the school district’s sports and activities, leaving the school district to focus funds for academic achievement, which he said is on a “positive trajectory” in his district.
Peggy Rector credited WRBM director Tim Webber for “thinking outside the box,” for a solution.
CNCC president Russell George said that the WRBM is demonstrating “on behalf of our students they care about sports and activities.”
Cordrey said the district is currently working on two budgets, one if the .73 mill levy ($11 increase for a house valued at $200,000) passes and another if it does not and said “transparency is key.”
At the same meeting, White River National Forest, Blanco District ranger Ken Coffin invited everyone to get involved in the celebration of the Capitol Christmas tree coming from our forrest.
And our Governor John Hickenlooper has initiated TBD Colorado, a nonpartisan collaborative effort designed to create informed and constructive conversations among all Coloradans about some of our state’s biggest issues and has invited people to nominate themselves to participate by logging in to www.tbdcolorado.org, to get involved.