PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MONTEZUMA COUNTY, COLORADO

April 13, 2021

STATE OF COLORADO           )

                                                     ) ss.

COUNTY OF MONTEZUMA   )

At a regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Montezuma County, Colorado, held on Tuesday April 13, 2021 at the Montezuma County Administration building in Cortez, Colorado, there were present:

Jim Candelaria, Chairman

Kent Lindsay, Vice Chairman

Joel Stevenson, Commissioner of Deeds

Shalako Powers, County Administrator

John C. Baxter, County Attorney

Kim Percell, County Clerk,

CHAIRMAN, CANDELARIA opened the meeting of April 13, 2021 with the Pledge of Allegiance.

MINUTES: Commissioner Stevenson moved to accept the minutes of the Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners Montezuma County, Colorado dated April 6, 2021 as amended.  Motion was seconded by Commissioner Lindsay and carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Eric Broyels discussed local propane prices.  (See attached) Allen Maez made a clarification of comments regarding voter integrity.  Don Harwood and Jason Herod discussed his concerns with road access to Puett Reservoir and road maintenance for Road P.2.

ROAD P.2 DISCUSSION: A continued discussion was held regarding property owner concerns with maintenance and access on Road P.2.  Adrian Archuleta, Area Wildlife Manger with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, discussed a proposed equipment operator position to cover the Southwest Colorado area and reviewed the history of the public access grant right of way agreement to the State of Colorado.  County GIS Manager, Doug Roth gave an overview of the county history and research he had completed for Road P.2.  Public Comments were made by property owners, Vanessa Velasquez, True Kirk, Roy Gelbhaus, Frank Lopez, Don Lee (by Zoom), Tara Graf, Patty Winger and Arch Shero. Email comments were received by Rick Shipp and Michael Just.  The Commissioners were in agreement that the County are not asserting jurisdiction of the road.    (See attached) 

ROAD & BRIDGE DEPARTMENT: Road Superintendent, Rob Englehart met with the Commissioners to present for approval Change Order #1 to the Four Corners Materials, paving contract.  Commissioner Lindsay moved to approve Change Order #1.  Seconded by Commissioner Stevenson and carried.  (See attached)  

IT: IT Director, Jim McClain met with the Commissioners to present his monthly report.  Director McClain discussed the Fairground’s wireless internet bandwidth upgrade and gave a Fiber Project update.  Director McClain presented for review a draft Easement agreement for the Fiber Project.  Attorney Baxter and Director McClain will review the document together.   (See attached)

VEHICLE MAINTENANCE: Road & Bridge Equipment Manager, Shane Higman met with the Commissioners to give a monthly report.  Manager Higman presented the 2021 Fleet Replacement bids for approval.  Commissioner Lindsay moved to approve the 2021 Fleet Replacement bids.  Seconded by Commissioner Stevenson and carried.  Manager Higman reported that there would be five units taken to the local farm auction.  Other topics discussed included; the Town of Dolores unit, GSA bidding and the Public Surplus auction.  (See attached)

GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS: Maintenance Supervisor, Mike Chenard met with the Commissioner to give a monthly report.  Supervisor Chenard discussed a bid received for the Jail’s air conditioner replacement and the bidding process for the floor replacement projects.  Topics discussed included; the County Procurement Policy, sole sourcing, the County’s (RFP) Request for Products process, advertising, the addition of a force account and not to exceed within the RFP process.  

GIS MAPPING: GIS Manager, Doug Roth and Mapping Specialist, Rachel Medina met with the Commissioners to give a monthly report.  Manager Roth discussed the New LIDAR Data collected in 2019.  Specialist Medina discussed a developed Cortez Fire District response time data map for all three of the Cortez fire stations.  Other topics discussed included; a radar weather site located within the county and attended Hazard Mitigation and EOC meetings.  (See attached)

Chairman Candelaria announced the adjournment of the meeting for the LUNCH break.

Chairman Candelaria announced the meeting would reconvene.

BENEFITS ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSION: County employees serving on the Benefits Advisory Committee; Virginia McKinney Road & Bridge Office Manager, Gary Nelson, Landfill Foreman, Stacie Connor, Transfer Clerk from the Assessor’s Office, Clarissa Fueilly, District Attorney’s Office Manager, Tyson Cox, Sheriff Detective Lieutenant, Jennifer Morris, MOCO Transportation Manager, Laurel Schaeffer Public Health Assistant Director. Billye Morgan, Human Resources Assistant, along with the County Assessor, Leslie Bugg and County Treasurer, Ellen Black met with the Commissioner for a discussion regarding the County Employees Insurance Benefits plan.  Topics in the discussion included; a proposed employee survey, individual employee insurance plans, employee retention, other local agencies benefit packages, employee dependent costs, employee recruitment, employee training, a 20% employee turnover rate, a proposed pay plan, an employee wage comparison, health care deductibles, claims history, Required statutes for business insurance, employee premiums, network coverage, group policy numbers, the 2020 national average of 67% that employers contributed for family coverage, the number of county employees that utilize the current family coverage and the development of a County plan to address the issues discussed. 

NATURAL RESOURCES, PLANNING & PUBLIC LANDS: Resource Director, James Dietrich; had no report at this time.

COUNTY ATTORNEY REPORT: County Attorney, John Baxter, discussed the Mancos airport / gravel pit reclamation project, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe / Montezuma County right of way through McElmo canyon and a letter sent to a property owner regarding a Planning & Zoning violation.      

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT: Administrator Shak Powers reported that the Southwest Colorado Region Virtual Townhall meeting with Attorney General, Phil Weiser, to discuss the opioid settlement, had been rescheduled to April 22, 2021 at 2:00 p.m.  (See attached)

COUNTY COMMISSIONER REPORT: Topics discussed within the Commissioners reports included: Commissioner Lindsay discussed constituent phone calls, the scheduled Cortez City Council meeting and attendance at the Home and Garden show. Commissioner Stevenson discussed the attended Native Fish Monitoring meeting, an in person review of Road P.2, attendance at the Home and Garden Show, constituent phone calls and reading.  Commissioner Candelaria discussed the attended TPR meeting, an in person review of Road P.2, the attended (STAC) Statewide Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, the attended Dolores Town Council meeting and the Recovery Resiliency Grant letter of support. 

CORRESPONDENCE: The following correspondence was read and noted:

MOTION TO ADJOURN: was made by Commissioner Stevenson seconded by Commissioner Lindsay and carried.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 2:30 p.m.