PUBLIC COMMENT CHANGES
Rio Blanco County Commissioners discussed changes to the public comment section of meetings during a work session Tuesday. Currently, the board holds public comment at the end of official board meetings following all other agenda items except for commissioner updates. Executive sessions, which are not open to the public, are also typically held after public comment and other agenda items. In the past the board has also allowed public comment on individual agenda items.
Under the proposed change, public comment will take place at the beginning of official meetings instead of the end. Members of the public would also sign up to speak during public comment, so that county staff could keep a more accurate account in official records.
The discussion stemmed from ADA compliance requirements set to take effect in 2024. New legislation stipulates that live-streamed meetings and videos, public websites and other forms of digital media are accessible to people with disabilities. For county meetings specifically, this means having closed captions available for people who are deaf, using screen readers or other accessibility equipment to access meeting recordings. RBC attorney Don Steerman explained another potential motivation for the proposed change — the potential risk of litigation if closed captions during live meetings are inaccurate. Avoiding such a lawsuit may require moving public comments to work sessions, and ceasing live broadcasts of those work sessions. If adopted, work session attendance would be limited to in-person and via phone call. It would also mean that moving forward, work session recordings would no longer be available for playback on-demand on the county’s YouTube channel.
While the BOCC does plan to move public comments to the beginning of meetings, they have not made a decision regarding work session broadcasts yet, pending new legislation that may update or “clean up” new requirements for ADA compliance.
911 BOARD
Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office dispatch supervisor Rhawnie McGruder, Eastern 911 Board President Luke Pelloni and Sheriff Anthony Mazzola presented their yearly report to commissioners this week, reviewing budget data, emergency preparedness for wildfires and other subjects.
The Eastern 911 board has $201K in the bank and an additional $40K in two CD accounts. “So last year, we were right on budget,” said McGruder, noting the board’s main expense was $40K to purchase new consolettes for dispatch. She explained the consolettes act as backups for other equipment failures, the new ones replaced 25-year-old systems, one of which recently failed. They also placed $50K into another CD account to hopefully fund replacements of dispatch radios at their end of life.
Surcharge fees for cell phones are increasing from $1.81 per line to $1.97.
Dispatch is also planning to switch to a new reverse 911 emergency notification system. Citizens need to sign up for the new service if they have moved, or if their data doesn’t get migrated over during the switch. McGruder emphasized that citizens need to stay on top of signing up for alerts when they move locations in the county, since the system is “geo-based.”
BROADBAND
IT and Communications Director Trevor Nielson presented the first part of a broadband expansion project that was approved in last year’s budget. He explained that “frontloading” new systems and equipment would be necessary to ensure a smooth process. The expansion would involve purchasing new tools that can help develop a robust internal system for mapping fiber connections and specifications, managing end-user connections and identifying/troubleshooting outages/breaks. In addition to new tools, the project also involves purchasing large amounts of fiber, conduit and other supplies for the project, which would include expansion of service into Buckskin Valley and other areas.
REGULAR MEETING
During their regular business meeting, the board:
– Approved an extension to a service contract with Joy Thompson for foster home recruitment, training, home studies and follow-up
– Appointed Jennifer O’Hearon to CTSI as the Worker’s Compensation and Casualty and Property Pools representative
– Appointed Makayla Sheridan as the Rio Blanco County Department of Public Health and Environment Director
– Approved a VAR Wholesale Agreement Rate with Cimarron for the Rio Blanco County Broadband Project
– The board also approved an amendment to the CCITF agreement with the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District, adding language to require the conservancy district to segregate any interest earned from the $4 million county funds the board gave out last year.
The board entered executive session for legal advice and determining positions/strategy on negotiations regarding Rio Blanco County housing, building regulations, permits and potential broadband expansion.
By Lucas Turner | [email protected]
