BOCC Minutes December 15, 2020

 ROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

MONTEZUMA COUNTY, COLORADO

December 15, 2020

STATE OF COLORADO           )

                                                     ) ss.

COUNTY OF MONTEZUMA   )

At a regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Montezuma County, Colorado, held on Tuesday December 15, 2020 at the Montezuma County Administration building in Cortez, Colorado, there were present:

Larry Don Suckla, Chairman,

Jim Candelaria, Vice Chairman

Keenan Ertel, Commissioner of Deeds

Shalako Powers, County Administrator

John C. Baxter, County Attorney

Kim Percell, County Clerk

CHAIRMAN, SUCKLA opened the meeting of December 15, 2020 with the Pledge of Allegiance.

MINUTES: Commissioner Ertel moved to accept the minutes of the Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners Montezuma County, Colorado dated December 8, 2020 as presented.  Motion was seconded by Commissioner Candelaria and carried.

PLANNING: Planning Director, Haley with Assistant, Duncan presented for signatures for High Impact Permit and Special Use Permit with Rezoning, submitted by Jovian Petroleum Corp; in conjunction with the contracted buyer Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, LLC, agent: Kevin McCarthy, located at 7006 Hwy 160-491, Cortez, CO, consisting of 5.16 acres, more or less, situated in S.3, T.35N, R.16W, N.M.P.M., located east of Hwy 160-491, north of Road G.

Director, Haley with Assistant, Duncan presented for signatures of an Amendment to the High Impact Permit #665 and Special Use Permit, submitted by Commnet Four Corners, Agent Cynthia VanDeMark, for the purpose of an upgrade to the existing cell tower and installation of FirstNet, a dedicated network for First Responders, on property owned by Ernest Allsup, located at 27591 Hwy 145, Dolores, CO, consisting of 39.10 acres, more or less, situated in S.3, T.38N, R.12W, N.M.P.M., located south and north of Hwy 145.

PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comments were made.

LIQUOR LICENSE: Deputy Clerk, Jerri Frizzell presented for approval a liquor license renewal application for, Double R Liquors, LLC, DBA Double R Liquors, located at 18794 Hwy 491, Lewis Co. 81327.  Commissioner Ertel moved that the Board of Montezuma County Commissioners grant the Double R Liquors, LLC, located at 18794 Hwy 491, Lewis Co., a retail liquor license renewal.  Second by Commissioner Candelaria and carried.  (See attached)

IT: IT Director, Jim McClain met with the Commissioners to present his monthly report.  Director McClain presented a Memo of Understanding (MOU) between the Cortez Community Network Enterprise and Montezuma County.  Commissioner Candelaria moved to accept the MOU between the Cortez Community Network Enterprise and Montezuma County.  Second by Commissioner Ertel and carried.  Other topics discussed included; the additional VXRail, cameras for the proposed Social Services lobby remodel project and the Fairground’s door reader.  (See attached)

VEHICLE MAINTENANCE: Road & Bridge Equipment Manager, Shane Higman met with the Commissioners to give a monthly report.  Manager Higman presented a year end vehicle report.  Topics within the report included; re-serviced vehicles, sold or pending sell vehicles, the Road Department vehicles that have been sold and purchased fleet units.  (See attached)  

GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS: On behalf of Maintenance Supervisor, Mike Chenard, Administrator Powers gave updates on the grounds and buildings projects.  Topics discussed included; the Fairgrounds Kitchen / Bathroom remodel, the Annex III roof project, the EV charger at Annex I and sidewalk snow removal from the recent snow storm. 

GIS MAPPING: GIS Manager, Doug Roth and Mapping Specialist, Rachel Medina met with the Commissioners to give a monthly report.  Topics discussed included; a County GIS customer review statistics for the years 2016-2020, collected General Land Office (GLO) maps, an inventory of unutilized buildings in the Road G / Hwy 491 intersection corridor, a 2018 Wildfire Risk Management analysis map, a 2020 Wildfire Risk to Community 2020 analysis map, and Wildfire Risk maps with risk values.  (See attached)

PUBLIC LANDS: Forrest Service District Ranger, Derek Padilla met with the Commissioners to give updates on various projects.  Topics discussed included; condition based road closures, the wildlife critical winter range road closures, the extension of the release date for the Saulter Environmental Analysis, road use estimates for the Dolores Norwood Road, collected road use fees, vegetation management and timber sales.

DISCUSSION: Southwest Basin Round Table, Montezuma County Representative, Ed Millard, along with Dolores Water Conservation District, General Manager, Ken Curtis met with the Commissioners to discuss the proposed #2 Revised Op-Ed rebuttal to an article included in the Colorado Sun newspaper.  Topics discussed included; demand management, fallowing fields and ranches, State funding for demand management, support from the DWCD manager Ken Curtis, protection of the Colorado River portions and legal the allocations.  The Commissioners were in agreement to move forward with Opt-Ed rebuttal.   (See attached)

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT: Administrator, Powers gave his weekly report.  Topics discussed included: an invitation to struggling La Plata County businesses to move to Montezuma County and the draft 2021 budget.  The budget will be posted on the County website for review and the Resolution to adopt the budget will be presented for approval on December 29, 2020. 

COUNTY ATTORNEY REPORT: County Attorney, John Baxter, along with Resource Director, James Dietrich, GIS Manager, Doug Roth and Dennis Atwater met with the Commissioners to present, Resolution #24-2020, a supplement to resolution #8-2018: County rights-of-ways established over public lands under R.S. 2477 as public rights-of-way and public highways.   Commissioner Ertel moved that Resolution #24-2020 a supplement to resolution #8-2018: County rights-of-ways established over public lands under R.S. 2477 as public rights-of-way and public highways be approved.  Second by Commissioner Candelaria and carried.  (See attached)

NATURAL RESOURCES, PLANNING & PUBLIC LANDS: Resource Director, James Dietrich, presented a General Services Agreement in the amount of $478,850.00 between Montezuma County and OTAK.  Commissioner Candelaria moved to accept the General Service Agreement, between Montezuma County #23783, for the Paths to Mesa Verde, Phase II with OTAK, with authorization for the County Administrator to sign the agreement.  Second by Commissioner Ertel and carried.   Other topics discussed included, updates on the Mesa Verde side for the Path to Mesa Verde project, the Flowdine and Yellow Jacket allotment rebuttal and an award received from the Scenic Byways for Outstanding Public Partnership on the Mc Elmo Flume project. (See attached) 

COUNTY COMMISSIONER REPORT: Topics discussed within the Commissioners reports included; the Annex III roof project, Committee reassignments for the incoming Commissioners, the attended Transportation meeting, the attended Lewis Arriola School / CDOT meeting, DOLA training for the incoming Commissioners, the County Road G Soil Slippage, the local schools athletic programs shutdown and the CCI five star variance COVID-19 program. 

PUBLIC COMMENT: Dexter Gill thanked Commissioners Suckla and Ertel for their service to the County. 

CORRESPONDENCE: The following correspondence was read and noted:

MOTION TO ADJOURN: was made by Commissioner Candelaria seconded by Commissioner Ertel and carried.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 11:15 a.m.

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 Clerk                         December 15, 2020                  Chairman