RBC | In what was one of the very last board of county commissioners (BOCC) meetings left for outgoing commissioner and current board chair Shawn Bolton, the BOCC held a special meeting at the courthouse in Meeker Thursday, Nov. 28. The gathering began with a couple work session topics. Bolton was joined by his fellow commissioners Jeff Rector and Si Woodruff. The BOCC explained they needed to schedule this special meeting to accommodate conflicting events and their necessary business items.
Dave Overton and John Taylor, representatives of the Meeker Sportsman’s Club, updated the commission on the Club’s ongoing efforts to purchase their Shooting Range on Highway 13 two miles south of the Highway 64 intersection or to secure a lease arrangement with the likely new ownership. The county has interest in the range given its importance to law enforcement agencies in the area.
Cody Crooks, county communications department director, updated the board on the county’s broadband infrastructure deployment. Crooks indicated that his office was identifying every site they would need for secondary and tertiary towers in order to reach every address. The county will start installing these towers in the spring of 2019. Crooks said these towers would be less expensive than those originally contemplated.
Crooks also reported that T-Mobile has proposed a 130 foot extension on the existing Teepee Park tower near Devil’s Hole Mountain. The county is very interested in this possibility as it would significantly expand the reach of that tower.
In routine business, the board approved: 1) the county retail hotel and restaurant liquor license for the Elk Creek Ranch Restaurant; 2) the engagement of Paul D. Miller, LLC, certified public accountant, to audit and review fiscal year 2018 accounting; and 3) a Colorado Department of Local Affairs Energy/Mineral Impact Assistance Fund grant application for their County Road 5 (Piceance Creek) stock pass replacement project.
Regarding contract agreements, the board approved: 1) a temporary easement agreement with Nona Powell for their County Road 27 (East Douglas) culvert replacement project; 2) increasing the 2018 Wray Gulch Landfill Cell A construction project, being done by Moody Construction LLC, maximum limit by $3,933 to $421,645; 3) adjusting their agreement with Resa Hayes, Theraplay Institute, to the benefit of the county Department of Human Services, allowing for $75 “no show/cancellation” fees; 4) an ongoing joint agreement with USGS for their streamflow gauging and water quality monitoring stations on the White River in 2019 for $12,318; 5) an ongoing joint agreement with USGS for streamflow and water-quality sampling on Piceance, Corral Gulch and Yellow Creek for 2019 for $89,638; 6) a grant agreement with the Aeronautical Board, Colorado Division of Aeronautics, for use at Meeker’s Coulter Field Airport for $8,333; and 7) a contract modification with Ducey’s Electric, increasing the maximum limit by $10,685 to $44,635, for replacement of lighting, receptacles, control boards, and general electrical work involving the county’s Fairfield Center Remodel Project.
Following these business items, the board voted to go into executive session for the purpose of receiving legal advice from the county attorney on a specific legal question which, they said, was personnel related. Chairman Bolton reported that this is the first time the board had gone into executive session in his now almost eight years as a commissioner. Following a period of about an hour, the board returned to public meeting order stating that there was nothing to report from their consultation (executive) session with county attorney Kent Borchard. Borchard confirmed to the Herald Times that the matters discussed were, at this point, purely information sharing with the commissioners and did not involve any ongoing or threatened legal action.
In the afternoon on Nov. 28, the commissioners engaged in an unnoticed work session discussion with county budget director Janae Stanworth and other staff regarding final details for the proposed 2019 county budget. This budget proposal will be considered for adoption at a public meeting in the commissioners’ meeting room (the old courtroom) in the courthouse at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11.
By REED KELLEY | [email protected]
