COUNTY VALUATION
County assessor Renae Neilson updated the board on county valuation. She said her office expects an increased number of appeals this year after notices go out to residents on May 1 (see additional details in Neilson’s letter to the editor this week on page 5.) Neilson attributed the valuation to a record number of sales and increases to residential property values. She noted that her department is still working on valuations for oil & gas/industrial properties which she highlighted still makes up 80% of total county value.
PLUMBING INSPECTIONS
For a third time since September 2022 the board held a long discussion with building inspector Matt Franks and local contractor Luke Renninger about what it would take to have plumbing inspections done at a local level instead of relying on a state inspector. “I’ve scratched my head at this many times to figure out what we can do,” said Franks. In October of 2022, following multiple hours of work sessions and special meetings, the board voted unanimously to stay with the current process of plumbing inspections performed by state inspector Lucas Newman, who lives in Meeker.
Franks reiterated that shifting to local inspections could create a multi-month long gap until he completes a certification process that would allow him to perform plumbing inspections through the building department. He shared solutions for filling that gap, including a previously discussed (but ultimately rejected) MOU with the Town of Meeker to contract their plumbing inspector Carl Padilla. Franks also floated the idea of hiring an outside contractor. Renninger noted that he’d been studying to receive a plumbing certification and could serve as an inspector.
Commissioner Gates asked whether it could create a conflict of interest if Renninger was performing inspections on a building he was also responsible for building. Both Franks and Renninger felt that even if Renninger performed plumbing inspections on his own building projects, it would not be a conflict of interest. “It really isn’t a conflict of interest in my personal opinion, because you’re not inspecting anything that his company is actually doing. It’s somebody else’s work.”
County Attorney Don Steerman disagreed with the analysis. “I see that as the classic conflict of interest even though he would be inspecting a person that he hired to do the job,” he said.
REDISTRICTING
Commissioner district boundary lines need to be redrawn following results of the 2020 census. State election laws require commissioners’ district populations to be within 5% of each other. As of 2020, the populations for each district were:
- District 1 (mid RBC) – 2336
- District 2 (west RBC) – 2130
- District 3 (east RBC) – 2070
Luce said population changes mean the difference between population sizes in the districts is closer to 12%, well above the limit of 5%. The county will release a map with proposed changes to district boundaries made in an effort to bring districts back into compliance. Following that there will be a 30 day period for the public to submit comments or objections for the new districts. The board of commissioners will have final say in whether to consider or reject any objections that RBC residents have.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Sandra Besseghini of the historic preservation board asked the commissioners to consider becoming a “Certified Local Government” (CLG) which would allow them to designate historic buildings and properties following a public process. She said historic designations can provide benefits such as increased tourism and special tax credits for property owners of historic sites. The board questioned the necessity of the certification, since the Meeker and Rangely governments could also apply to become a CLG and do their own historic certifications. Besseghini said it could be more efficient for everyone to go through the county, and added that historic designations could also be used to leverage grant funding opportunities.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mona Avey updated the board on the latest meeting of the Meeker Colorado Civic Improvement Corporation (MCCIC) board of directors. The board:
– discussed negotiations for a sample tenant-lease
– agreed they did not need training on Robert’s Rules of Order to run meetings
– planned to come up with a list of goals to be discussed at the next meeting
– agreed to create a list of important contact information for current and prospective tenants
– appointed Kay Bivens as the “tenant advocate”
Avey said she also proposed the idea to the MCCIC board to hire their own maintenance person, instead of contributing $30K/yr to the county for maintenance work.
REGULAR BUSINESS
The board approved the implementation of a “Virtual Co-responder program” that will allow people in police custody to meeting virtually with a qualified “co-responder” to help de-escalate mental health issues. Stanworth noted part of the grant was to help purchase tablets to facilitate the virtual services.
In other business the board approved:
- application for the 2023 Colorado Courthouse Security Grant
- an agreement with ANEXTER for the 2023 RBC Fiber Material Project for $34,632
- agreement with Patricia Murphy for Senior Nutrition Planning Services
- Agreement between Rio Blanco County Public Health and CU Medicine implementing the BC4U Program to address Reproductive Health
- approved renewal of various road/construction agreements with USDA, Forest Service, White River National Forest
- approved an addition to the employee handbook to formalize the process for employee review
Following their meeting the board entered executive session for “determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiation and instructing negotiators regarding maintenance of various county facilities, and the central square contract.
By LUCAS TURNER | [email protected]om
