County, County Beat

COUNTY BEAT – Commissioners review public comment policies; recognize Commissioner Overton

RBC | Last week, the Rio Blanco Board of County Commissioners held their regular monthly meeting in the town of Meeker, Colorado.

All three commissioners were present for the meeting, which began with a public comment period. There were no public comments in person or online, so the BOCC moved on to approving the agenda for the day. A change was made to the agenda, moving a special work session regarding staff direction to an executive session following the regular meeting.

After making the change, the board approved the agenda and moved on to the consent items. Once the motion passed, the BOCC moved on to business line item A, where they held a presentation award for Commissioner Doug Overton. The presentation was a recognition for Overton for serving as chair of the board the previous year. Commissioners thanked Overton for the leadership he provided during that time.

After Commissioner Overton accepted his award, the BOCC began reviewing a current draft of their public comment policy. All agreed it would be wise to go through the policy line by line so the public could follow along and edits could be made that day. 

Commissioner O’Hearon explained the reason for the detailed review. “We have been asked to be more consistent with our public comment policy, and this will make us more consistent with that.”

The first line stated that the public may provide comments to the BOCC at the beginning of each meeting. Commissioner Scritchfield suggested adding, “as noted on the agenda,” to the end of that sentence. Her reasoning was that the commissioners would know exactly where it was, and the public would know where on the agenda to comment.

“Without that note, it says at the beginning of each meeting, so would that be before the Pledge of Allegiance or after the Pledge of Allegiance? I just want it so it says ‘as noted on the agenda,’” Scritchfield stated.

To be more specific: wherever it lands on the agenda is where the public will make their comment. County Administrator Vicky Edwards suggested that the public comment section should occur after the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the meeting, unless the commissioners decide to change it.

The next line of the policy stated this is a time is for the public to express their views and ask questions, however, the BOCC will not provide answers during this time. Scritchfield referred to a goal listed later in the document under “Information/Questions,” which stated that questions would be taken under advisement and followed up on later as time allows. She recommended adding that language to the second line.

“Just so that people understand it’s not falling on deaf ears — we will address it, just not right now,” said Scritchfield.

She elaborated further, offering an example from national-level meetings.

“Sometimes there is misinformation provided during those public comments, and the board nor the staff responded to any individual comment. At the end of the comments, if there was something that was significant that needed to be clarified — like by law or by what BLM had done or whatever — then it was addressed at that point, just not to a specific person. The difference there is oftentimes you only have one person commenting versus a whole slew of people,” Scritchfield said.

The BOCC continued to review the language around public comments, discussing how to phrase whether the BOCC responds to comments. After some discussion, they agreed to use the wording, “The BOCC may not provide answers during this time,” which would give the board flexibility while also avoiding expectations of immediate responses and preventing back-and-forth exchanges.

They then moved on to discussing the time limit for public comments, which is typically three minutes per person or five minutes per group. O’Hearon suggested allowing extended time for special cases or special circumstances. Attorney Don Steerman offered input.

“Maybe the commissioners hold the right to extend the time under special circumstances,” stated Steerman.

The BOCC debated whether to keep the language general or be more specific but ultimately agreed to leave it general, recognizing they could still grant extra time when appropriate.

Next, the board discussed public comment procedures for people joining meetings remotely. They agreed that commenters must join via Google Meet, not just watch the livestream. To avoid last-minute technical issues, commenters must notify staff member Chrissy Nielsen no earlier than 72 hours and no later than 24 hours before the meeting to receive the link.

This change was added to the official policy. The board then looked at the order and procedure section. They agreed that in-person commenters will be called first, followed by remote commenters who are properly registered. They also agreed to keep a clause requiring online commenters to sign off after speaking.

The board also agreed that commenters will now be asked to state their name and contact information rather than give their full address.

Next, the BOCC moved on to the recording and YouTube section of the policy. O’Hearon read the current policy, which states: “BOCC meetings are always recorded on a tape by the clerk and recorder for official record. Recordings of BOCC meetings are typically live streamed. If technical difficulties arise they may not be straight,” and she suggested removing that language.

She continued reading: “Recordings, video recordings may be posted on the county YouTube channel for up to ‘blank’ months,” and noted that there was no specified duration for how long videos would remain posted. She questioned whether there should be a limit.

“I guess the question I would have is, are we being charged? Are we being charged by video — why would we limit them?” O’Hearon asked.

Commissioner Overton shared a different perspective. “I think that is stored here and it’s just a link, so YouTube stores that, stored here, and then they have a link to it — or is it stored online?” he asked.

Operations Administrator Eric Jaquez clarified where the videos are stored and suggested a retention limit.

“It is stored within our account setting within YouTube, and then we publish the videos through the YouTube platform. I like the idea of purging at certain points just because it stacks up over time. It’s not the official recording of the board meeting — that has to be done through the clerk and recorder — and so I like the year. We clear it out at the end of the year and then we reset for the new year,” said Jaquez.

The board agreed that the videos should be posted to the county YouTube channel with a proposed retention limit of 24 months.

Vicky Edwards reminded the BOCC of House Bill 21-1110, which relates to ADA accessibility requirements, and expressed concern.

“We are not currently posting that with anyone checking to make sure that the verbiage and information is correct… And from all the information I received, that is a responsibility. But again, if you choose not to, that’s fine — just be aware of that. I think it could change,” stated Edwards.

Commissioner Overton acknowledged that the county will need to learn where its responsibilities lie under the law. Scritchfield added that the communications position — once filled — would likely be in charge of ensuring compliance.

After completing the public comment policy updates, the BOCC approved the 2025 RBC Fairfield Center Painting Project bid award to Painting Plus. They also approved a permission letter for the Rio Blanco County Fair Board and Sale Committee to sell beer, wine, or liquor at the Rio Blanco County Fair on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, 2025.

Near the end of the meeting, updates were given, though there was nothing significant to report. The board then moved into executive session to discuss personnel matters pursuant to Section 24-6-402(4)(f), Colorado Revised Statutes, to discuss commissioner direction with staff, including HR Director Laura Smith, County Administrator Vicky Edwards, and Administrative Assistant Chrissy Nielsen.

The next BOCC meeting is scheduled for June 24 in the town of Rangely at 9 a.m. in the Annex Board Room.

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