[4:13] Good morning. We will begin this, uh, Board of County Commissioners regular

[4:19] Board of County Commissioners regular meeting.

[4:19] It is Tuesday, officially September. Can't believe it.

[4:23] We begin each meeting with an invocation,

[4:26] and Pastor Raymond Pettit from Outside the Gates Worship is here to, um,

[4:31] share with us. We invite you to join and stand with us in this invocation.

[4:37] Good morning, all.

[4:39] Thank you Most gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you with a heart heavy.

[4:43] Lord, this year has gone by, it's flown by, but Father,

[4:47] we're still doing your work here in the County Commission.

[4:50] They've made so many decisions.

[4:52] I pray that you just continue to give them the guidance and wisdom to continue the

[4:57] work you've set before them.

[4:59] Father, as the leaves change and they're turning beautiful,

[5:03] let our hearts be the same.

[5:05] And Father, we just pray that as we approach Labor Day,

[5:08] that you would just give us an ability to look into what you're doing through us and

[5:13] for us, with us. Father,

[5:15] we give you the glory and the honor because it's all yours anyways.

[5:19] We ask these in Jesus' name. Amen.

[5:21] Commissioner Williams, would you lead us in the pledge?

[5:31] United States of America.

[5:32] Item 3. Item number 3 is staff emergency items,

[5:38] and I'm unaware of any staff emergency items today. Item 4.

[5:45] Item number 4 is changes, postponements,

[5:50] and notice of the next meeting.

[5:54] I'm unaware of any changes or postponements to today's

[6:01] agenda, and the next meeting will be September 8th at 9:00

[6:08] AM.

[6:08] Item 5.

[6:12] Item number 5 is the consent calendar,

[6:15] including items 5A through 5T2.

[6:18] Okay, do we have anyone here wishes to speak on an item on the

[6:24] consent calendar today? Any public comment?

[6:28] All right, seeing none,

[6:30] I will move it up to the dais for a motion or any discussion.

[6:36] Move approval of the consent calendar.

[6:38] Second.

[6:39] Okay, that has been moved and seconded. I'll call the roll. Commissioner Wysong?

[6:44] Aye.

[6:45] Commissioner Applegate?

[6:46] Aye.

[6:47] Commissioner Williams?

[6:49] Aye.

[6:50] And the vice chair votes aye. That passes 4-0.

[6:54] Item 6.

[6:55] Item number 6 is comments by elected officials and commissioner liaison

[7:00] reports. Do we have any elected officials who would like to share today?

[7:05] Seeing none, we'll move up to the dais starting with Commissioner Wysong.

[7:11] Thank you, Madam, uh, Vice Chair, Acting Chair.

[7:15] Um, last week was a, uh, busy week.

[7:19] BPACG Water Quality Board meeting, urban renewal.

[7:24] We had a MAC hail and farewell for greeting new command personnel into

[7:31] the various bases and those that are leaving.

[7:35] And then the Fountain Creek Watershed District board meeting on Friday.

[7:43] This week there's the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum.

[7:48] Fountain Creek Watershed District TAC meeting.

[7:53] We've got a budget meeting for the county and also a financial committee

[8:00] meeting for Fountain Creek Watershed District.

[8:05] And I just always like, you know,

[8:08] showing there's this manual that is the 2025 Popular Annual Financial

[8:15] Report.

[8:15] Thank you.

[8:17] And it's, it's a very interesting short document that kind of gives an overview of

[8:23] everything that's going on with the county.

[8:27] And probably the best thing is it has a photo of a dollar bill that's been parsed,

[8:33] and it shows basically where the money goes in the county.

[8:38] And for all the property taxes that, you know, that we collect,

[8:42] the county itself only gets to use about almost 10 cents out of every dollar.

[8:49] So it's very interesting to see where that money, where it goes to other places,

[8:55] whether it's school districts, library, the city, etc., etc.

[8:59] So it's a neat little pamphlet and gives you a very good overview of county

[9:05] financial operations. Thank you.

[9:08] Commissioner Applegate?

[9:11] Yes, and to reflect what Commissioner Wysong said, yeah, the MAC,

[9:14] their Hail and Farewell Wednesday was a very good event, and you did well on that,

[9:19] Commissioner Wysong, as well as the people that organized that for that event.

[9:23] So Friday I was down in Pueblo all day for, first of all,

[9:26] in the morning for the Front Range Passenger Rail, their vote.

[9:29] So 13 or 14 to 1, they're going to send it to the ballot and it's going to be a

[9:34] sales tax increase. So keep that in mind on your November ballot.

[9:37] And I also, later on, I was at— later that evening,

[9:40] I was at the state fair for the legislative barbecue.

[9:43] So, I got to see some of our state legislators,

[9:45] some of our conservatives from the area, and it was really good.

[9:49] Good to interact and good to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while.

[9:52] On Saturday, I actually ran in a 5K.

[9:54] I did the Run for Hope with the Hope Is Alive nonprofit,

[9:57] and I talk about this one quite a bit.

[9:59] They're a very unique nonprofit because they focus on homelessness,

[10:03] but they also focus on what's the root cause of homelessness,

[10:06] and a lot of times that's addiction.

[10:08] And so, before they put people up in some sort of housing,

[10:11] set them up with some kind of like structure to help them continue to live

[10:15] structure to help them continue to live their

[10:16] lives. They focus on their drug abuse and their alcohol abuse and wean them off of

[10:20] those horrible things and get them back to like sober living.

[10:23] So it's really a good organization and I enjoyed—

[10:26] didn't enjoy necessarily running the 5K, but I enjoy supporting the organization.

[10:30] So that was all I had for last week.

[10:32] Commissioner Williams.

[10:37] Yes, I have a few meetings tomorrow, but other than that, no meetings to report.

[10:42] Friday, I was at the legislative barbecue.

[10:45] I have 2 issues that I wanted to point out.

[10:49] That the vote to put the Front Range Passenger Rail on the ballot at 0.33 sales

[10:54] Passenger Rail on the ballot at 0.33 sales tax,

[10:55] the no vote was Commissioner Cory Applegate. We're very proud of him.

[11:00] The reason being, and I think it was stated well in an article I read this

[11:05] stated well in an article I read this morning,

[11:06] You know, at a very time the Denver RTD is cutting back and the voters are very

[11:11] upset about the level of services they have provided and failed to provide over

[11:17] have provided and failed to provide over the

[11:17] year, we're trying to sell a train to do essentially the same thing.

[11:22] And this train is mostly designed for everybody to pay the tax to complete the

[11:28] Denver to Boulder route of the RTD.

[11:30] And so this is very much a shell game, very much a tax that I am against,

[11:36] because so far there has not seemed to be a demand for people to ride the Denver

[11:41] RTD. So I don't know exactly why there would be a demand for people to ride the

[11:47] Front Range Passenger Rail.

[11:49] The only success that I've seen in some of our transit operations truly is the bus

[11:55] sting. which is very popular going from Woodman Road up to downtown Denver,

[12:01] and especially during the business travel hours. And that's been extremely popular.

[12:07] I have a family member who's ridden that many times.

[12:10] So we're glad that there was at least one opposition vote against that.

[12:15] I did hear of another person who wanted to vote no but was threatened and actually

[12:21] left the meeting prior to her vote. So that she did not have to abstain or vote

[12:27] that she did not have to abstain or vote yes.

[12:27] So the other thing I wanted to comment about was the loss of data again by our

[12:33] Secretary of State of Colorado.

[12:35] It is one thing to place elected officials in positions of power and they can prove

[12:41] their competence and then move on to another position.

[12:45] It is another as There have been 5 separate times, at least in the past 8

[12:51] separate times, at least in the past 8 years,

[12:51] where she has made major, major leak— leaks in her office.

[12:55] She's blamed it on her employees, but let's state the fact, the buck stops with

[13:01] let's state the fact, the buck stops with her.

[13:01] It's a revolving door of leaking information, compromising our safety,

[13:06] compromising our voter elections, and frankly,

[13:10] compromising the safety of our own district attorney.

[13:14] and other law enforcement officers in the region.

[13:17] It has not been that long ago, maybe 10,

[13:20] 12 years since we lost the life of the Colorado Department of Corrections

[13:25] Colorado Department of Corrections Director

[13:26] Tom Clemens when he opened his door after the doorbell rang and his information had

[13:32] been leaked and he was shot to death right there in his front room.

[13:37] So Some of these individuals, George Brockler, Michael Allen,

[13:41] many of our police officers, really go after criminals in our community,

[13:46] despite the fact that we live in Colorado where many in the Democrat Socialist Party

[13:52] want to release all these criminals on the street.

[13:56] And when we have a district attorney or a sheriff's deputy or a Colorado Springs

[14:02] police officer who will stand up and go against those who have wronged us with

[14:08] either very bad crimes or just even little crimes.

[14:11] It is our utmost responsibility to protect those individuals in their safety.

[14:17] I don't even know District Attorney Allen's address,

[14:21] and his wife is a member of one of my social clubs.

[14:24] We still send it to the same place that everyone else.

[14:28] has to send it if they have access to the voter database,

[14:32] which is like a UPS store or postal annex somewhere.

[14:36] So it's just important to know,

[14:38] I think even former district attorneys have this power,

[14:42] that they're placed into a secure, confidential voting system.

[14:47] At some point, the people they put in prison do get out,

[14:51] and there could be some retribution on that person's mind.

[14:55] And so this is a huge disappointment to me. It is a revolving door of glitches.

[15:01] and getting rid of information, then blaming it on the staff,

[15:05] or saying it was only 58 people, not 130,000 people who were leaked.

[15:10] And so as we come up to this fall,

[15:13] in one of my rare occasions of stating something political,

[15:17] I do not think that this person is capable of being Attorney General.

[15:22] I don't think she's capable of keeping the confidence of the cases she's filing.

[15:28] I don't think she's capable of meeting deadlines.

[15:31] Thank you.

[15:32] And I don't think she's capable of running one of the largest law firms in the

[15:35] state. Thank you.

[15:36] Good morning. I will just note that Chair Geithner is taking some well-deserved time

[15:43] off this week. She attempted to do so in July and got pulled in.

[15:48] So we're going to try really hard to respect her time and give her that rest

[15:53] respect her time and give her that rest that is

[15:54] much deserved and needed,

[15:56] and grateful for all the hard work she puts in on behalf of El Paso County.

[16:02] So I will just share that, um, I really want to take a moment to thank our staff.

[16:08] They put a lot of thought and time into organizing our land use meeting last

[16:14] Thursday, and I'm so grateful for everyone.

[16:17] Just, we received many comments after the fact at how well-run and efficient We

[16:23] moved through hearing testimony from members of the public and just that

[16:29] members of the public and just that respect for

[16:29] everyone's time. And so I'm just amazed at how smoothly that proceeding went and

[16:36] wanted to just publicly say thank you to all of our staff that worked really hard

[16:42] all of our staff that worked really hard to

[16:42] make sure that hearing moved— proceedings moved well.

[16:46] And with that, we will move on to item 7.

[16:49] Item number 7 is community service organization reports, and there are none.

[16:55] organization reports, and there are none. Item 8.

[16:56] Item number 8 is public comment on items not scheduled on the agenda.

[17:01] The commissioners welcome communication in various forms.

[17:05] However, the public comment period is not intended for dialogue,

[17:10] and commissioners do not engage in conversation during this time.

[17:15] Members of the public seeking responses to specific questions are encouraged to

[17:21] submit inquiries through Citizen Connect.

[17:24] And Madam Vice Chair, I'm aware of several people signing in to speak today.

[17:30] Okay, if you wish to speak on an item not scheduled on the agenda,

[17:35] we just ask that you would move forward closer to the podium and state your name

[17:42] closer to the podium and state your name for

[17:42] the record, and you will have 3 minutes.

[17:47] Good morning.

[17:47] And if you have— I'm sorry, if you have not signed in, we'll need you to do so.

[17:50] Thank you.

[17:51] Sorry.

[17:53] Good morning. Lynette Persauda.

[17:55] Commissioners, thank— there is a distinct difference between evidence and opinion.

[18:00] Evidence can be reviewed, verified, and is admissible in court.

[18:04] An opinion is a personal view that others may disagree with and may not be

[18:09] verifiable. For example, CDOT has certified I-25 as a highway in Colorado.

[18:13] They have evidentiary documentation proving the road's ability to carry

[18:18] proving the road's ability to carry high-volume

[18:18] traffic and tonnage. The following is opinion.

[18:21] 4 out of the 5 El Paso County commissioners believe I-25's north and

[18:25] commissioners believe I-25's north and southbound

[18:26] lanes are a neighborhood.

[18:27] For the record, I have not provided opinions regarding Beacon Light Road.

[18:32] These commissioned engineering reports define Beacon Light Road existing as a

[18:37] define Beacon Light Road existing as a rural

[18:37] connector for its future.

[18:39] How could this be when the dynamics of the 80,000 autos and heavies in the I-25

[18:44] neighborhood flow adjacently?

[18:45] How could these reports ignore the adoption of the Pikes Peak Area Council's

[18:50] adoption of the Pikes Peak Area Council's 2050

[18:50] long-range plan that would add over 50,000 residents to the Tri-Lakes area?

[18:55] Today, I have given a copy of those evidentiary reports to the clerk on a

[19:00] evidentiary reports to the clerk on a thumb

[19:00] drive for your review. So I have some straightforward questions.

[19:04] With the projected traffic and the known geotechnical conditions dating back to the

[19:09] 1970s, what evidence or state waivers show that Beacon Lake can safely handle 20,000

[19:14] autos and vehicles weighing 60,000 to 80,000 pounds?

[19:17] What evidence shows that the plans meet CRS 43-2-147,

[19:21] requiring access decisions to consider traffic volume and highway function?

[19:25] What evidence shows that plans meet CRS 43-1-1103,

[19:29] which would highlight the environmental impacts for building a neighborhood

[19:33] convenience store? What evidence shows that turn lanes will be provided on Beacon

[19:38] Lake for the mobile home park?

[19:40] What evidence shows that emergency lanes are planned for Beacon Lake Road when the

[19:45] highway is blocked. Ms.

[19:47] Williams' opinion of hoping Beacon Lake Road will not be used was frankly shocking

[19:52] to hear at a land use meeting.

[19:54] Hoping does not relieve you as commissioners of your duty of care.

[19:58] We need evidentiary documentation that the road can safely handle the projected

[20:03] volumes. Lack of accounting for the planned growth of an additional 50,000

[20:07] planned growth of an additional 50,000 residents

[20:08] and our 80,000 daily I-25 neighbors without providing evidentiary

[20:12] without providing evidentiary documentation

[20:13] constitutes willful neglect.

[20:14] Willful neglect is a conscious,

[20:16] intentional failure or reckless indifference towards fulfilling a known

[20:21] indifference towards fulfilling a known legal duty

[20:21] or obligation, such as compliance with administrative requirements under CRS

[20:26] 2422-108. Thank you.

[20:27] Good morning, Commissioners.

[20:29] We are still trying to comprehend what happened here with Buc-ee's.

[20:35] 4 members of the board looked at approximately 120 fueling stations,

[20:40] a 74,000-square-foot travel center,

[20:43] and a development whose own filings describe its fueling component And somehow

[20:49] describe its fueling component And somehow you

[20:49] arrived at an extraordinary conclusion. It's not a gas station. Not a gas station.

[20:55] Apparently, if you make the gas station big enough, add enough pumps,

[21:01] sell enough food, t-shirts, stuffed beavers, and cheap merchandise,

[21:06] it magically becomes a convenience store. That isn't land use analysis.

[21:11] That's redefining reality to reach a predetermined result.

[21:16] And then we heard about property rights. So let's talk about property rights.

[21:22] Of course, the Buc-ee's property has property rights,

[21:26] but property rights do not stop at the developer's property line.

[21:31] The people who already live here have property rights too.

[21:36] The homeowner whose property and quality of life are affected has property rights.

[21:42] The family whose well depends upon groundwater has property rights.

[21:47] The rancher and neighboring landowner has property rights,

[21:52] and every citizen has the right to expect the county to honestly and consistently

[21:58] apply its own land use regulations.

[22:01] Owning property doesn't give someone an unlimited right to put absolutely anything

[22:07] on it regardless of the consequences to everyone else.

[22:11] If it did, we wouldn't need zoning, we wouldn't need a land development code,

[22:17] we wouldn't need public hearings, and frankly,

[22:21] we wouldn't need county commissioners. We could put a rubber stamp on everything.

[22:27] Approved. Your responsibility isn't merely to protect an applicant's ability to

[22:33] maximize the use of the property.

[22:36] Your responsibility is protect the health, safety, and welfare of El Paso County—

[22:42] our roads, our water, our evacuation capacity, our neighborhoods, etc.

[22:47] Which brings me back to the 4 commissioners who somehow concluded not a

[22:53] commissioners who somehow concluded not a gas station.

[22:54] How pathetic. I brought something with me today for the 4 of you that did vote in

[23:00] favor of this. 4 blank mental health commitment forms,

[23:04] one for each commissioner who voted for this decision. Now they're blank.

[23:10] I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not diagnosing anyone.

[23:14] I'm certainly not filing anything with the court. This is political satire.

[23:20] And in this day and age, we need this.

[23:23] But when 4 elected officials can look at approximately 120 fueling stations and

[23:29] approximately 120 fueling stations and look

[23:29] at 74,000 square feet travel center, look at the applicant's own filings.

[23:35] This is not a gas station.

[23:37] We the people are entitled to question the soundness of the decision-making

[23:43] occurring in this room. I have to question your level of intelligence.

[23:48] Are the 4 of you of sound mind and body? This isn't funny.

[23:53] When your decisions affect water traffic—

[23:56] wrap up your comment. Your time has come to a conclusion.

[23:59] Well, I'm not done yet. I got 3 more sentences. We the people are horrified.

[24:04] The people of Colorado and the nation is as well.

[24:08] After 4 El Paso County commissioners decided that 120 fueling stations is a gas

[24:13] station, these applications right here are blank.

[24:17] And whether they should remain that way I'll leave that diagnosis up to the

[24:22] I'll leave that diagnosis up to the voters.

[24:24] Thank you.

[24:24] Commissioners, I come before you today sad and deeply disappointed in this board.

[24:32] Last Thursday, this community brought you the code, the definitions,

[24:38] and the applicant's own documents. You granted the appeal.

[24:43] How did a project like this ever reach this point?

[24:48] In 2017, Craig Dossey led planning when LDC 17003 was presented as a cleanup

[24:55] measure. Its stated purpose ended and allow additional administrative authority.

[25:02] He later, later led the 2021 master plan,

[25:06] replacing 10 citizen-written small area plans with a countywide place type map.

[25:13] He left the county in April 2022. Vertex was incorporated 4 months later.

[25:20] Last Thursday, Vertex represented Buc-ee's before you.

[25:25] That history shows the structure through which a project the applicant's own

[25:32] engineers described to the Federal Highway Administration as a 120-fueling-position

[25:40] Buc-ee's gas station could reach you as an administrative determination.

[25:46] No rezoning, no planning commission.

[25:49] Commissioner Nelson said,

[25:52] just because we couldn't conceptualize that doesn't mean that we shouldn't allow

[25:59] that doesn't mean that we shouldn't allow it

[25:59] to exist today. Chair Geithner said government does not exist to control and

[26:06] government does not exist to control and plan

[26:07] everything. We are a free nation. We are a free economy.

[26:12] Nobody at those microphones asked you to control anything.

[26:17] They read you your own definition and asked you to apply it. So what comes next?

[26:25] The master plan is 5 years old. Will residents have a role in its review?

[26:31] Yesterday, Modules 1 and 2 of the code rewrite went out as a 513-page draft,

[26:38] with the procedures module still to come.

[26:42] How are residents supposed to find what changed?

[26:46] Will the rewrite correct Thursday's results or write it permanently into the

[26:53] results or write it permanently into the code?

[26:54] The applicant's project—

[26:56] the applicant projects 22,150 daily trips onto County Line Road,

[27:02] more than 93% assigned to Interstate 25. I said this in April, and it's truer today.

[27:10] A Buc-ee's at this location and the infrastructure required to sustain it

[27:16] infrastructure required to sustain it would tear

[27:17] to shreds the fabric of a community.

[27:21] It would permanently erase the corridor that links neighborhoods across the

[27:28] Tri-Lakes region, disrupting a rhythm of daily life that has existed here for

[27:35] generations, and it would turn our road home into just another entry ramp to

[27:42] commercial development.

[27:44] Is there anyone else that wishes to speak on an item not scheduled on the

[27:50] agenda today? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to agenda item number 9.

[27:56] Item number 9 is the called-up consent calendar,

[28:01] and there are no items called up today.

[28:04] Number 10.

[28:06] Item number 10 is department and committee reports, non-action items.

[28:11] 10A, 2027 Public Health preliminary balance budget and statutory presentation

[28:16] balance budget and statutory presentation of the

[28:16] 2027 preliminary balance budget.

[28:19] Deanne Ryberg, Executive Director, Department of Public Health.

[28:23] Good morning and welcome. Look forward to hearing this presentation.

[28:28] Whenever you're ready, you may begin.

[28:30] Wonderful, thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. Deanne Ryberg.

[28:35] I serve as the Executive Director of El Paso County Public Health,

[28:40] and I am here this morning to, uh,

[28:43] present our 2027 preliminary balanced budget information.

[28:47] Um, coming to you this morning,

[28:50] I would like to spend just a little bit of time providing some context regarding our

[28:56] agency, our governance efforts that we've made in recent years to examine our

[29:02] financial stewardship, look at risks for our organization and our funding,

[29:08] as well as reviewing revenues, expenditures,

[29:11] and particularly some strategic investments that we want to make this year

[29:17] investments that we want to make this year in the

[29:17] 2027 budget that will support our organization moving forward.

[29:22] Um, I wanted to just reflect a little bit.

[29:25] Last year when I came before the Board of County Commissioners regarding our budget,

[29:31] it was a very different circumstance.

[29:34] We had experienced significant funding disruptions.

[29:38] We were also transitioning from funding associated with a global pandemic and an

[29:44] influx of funding into the public health system.

[29:48] And last year our theme was around mitigating some of those changes,

[29:53] looking at our operations,

[29:55] and finding ways to position the organization to be more sustainable into

[30:01] organization to be more sustainable into the

[30:01] future. Today, I'm excited to share that we are moving past that risk mitigation

[30:07] stage and looking ahead into how we can position our organization not just for the

[30:13] work that we have today,

[30:15] but what we will need for public health in the future as well.

[30:20] Before we go into the budget,

[30:22] I'd just like to reflect a moment on the governance of El Paso County Public

[30:28] governance of El Paso County Public Health.

[30:29] We are governed by our Board of Health,

[30:31] appointed by you as the Board of County Commissioners.

[30:36] We have a 9-member board currently that has a role in our priorities, our policy,

[30:42] and approval of our budget.

[30:44] Our current board members include President Hunter Barnett, Dr. Deborah

[30:49] President Hunter Barnett, Dr. Deborah Chan, Dr.

[30:50] Gregory Collins, Todd Dixon as the mayor of Green Mountain Falls.

[30:55] And we are very pleased to have both the chair and vice chair serve as board

[31:01] liaisons to our Board of Health, and also our vice president, Courtney Salt,

[31:07] who I appreciate is here with us today as well.

[31:10] This provides you with an overview of our organization and You can see reflected in

[31:17] this organizational chart the breadth of services that we provide at El Paso County

[31:23] Public Health. Environmental Health serves as our regulatory division that has a

[31:29] role in inspecting and licensing retail food establishments,

[31:34] body art establishments, as well as onsite wastewater treatment systems.

[31:39] We also have a Clinical Services Division.

[31:42] That division provides direct services to residents of El Paso County through

[31:48] immunizations, chronic disease, and reproductive health clinical services,

[31:54] as well as our Nurse-Family Partnership Program that supports families and

[32:00] Program that supports families and children.

[32:00] We have our Disease Prevention and Response Division.

[32:04] This division serves as our Emergency Services Function 8 group that has

[32:10] responsibilities as responders in our community for communicable disease

[32:15] community for communicable disease outbreak

[32:16] response, and other hazard response.

[32:19] And that includes our communicable disease program,

[32:23] emergency preparedness and response, as well as a public health laboratory.

[32:28] We also have a Community Health Promotion Division.

[32:32] This division works on health education and health promotion activities in the

[32:38] community. They also work on chronic disease, health education,

[32:43] as well as working very closely with children and families throughout El Paso

[32:49] County, providing nutritional services through our Women, Infants,

[32:54] and Children nutritional program.

[32:56] And then we have our Strategy, Data, and Communications Division,

[33:01] and that includes work that we do around planning, communications, and data,

[33:07] as well as our vital records and operations team.

[33:11] So as you can see from this chart, we do a wide variety of work.

[33:16] Some of it is direct service, Some of it is supportive education,

[33:21] and some of it is regulatory as well.

[33:24] As your local public health agency,

[33:26] we have specific statutory responsibilities that we are responsible

[33:32] responsibilities that we are responsible for.

[33:32] The first one that you'll see before you is our responsibility to bring our budget

[33:38] to you by September 1st.

[33:40] So I thank you for the opportunity to be here today to share this information with

[33:46] you. We also, in 2008, Colorado passed the Public Health Act,

[33:51] and that established the core public health services that each county and

[33:56] health services that each county and district

[33:57] public health agency must provide or ensure.

[34:00] And additionally, state regulation established 7 foundational capabilities

[34:06] established 7 foundational capabilities and 5

[34:06] foundational services that our agency is responsible for.

[34:11] Related to our required services,

[34:13] we have 5 areas that we are required to provide in El Paso County.

[34:18] Those include communicable disease prevention, investigation, and control,

[34:24] chronic disease injury prevention and behavioral health promotion,

[34:29] environmental health access and linkage to care, and maternal, adolescent,

[34:35] and family health. Additionally,

[34:37] we are responsible for ensuring that we have cross-cutting capacities and

[34:43] have cross-cutting capacities and expertise

[34:44] within our department to address areas that support the delivery of our services.

[34:50] This includes assessment and planning, communication functions,

[34:55] organizational competencies, and emergency preparedness, among others.

[35:00] And before we go into the budget,

[35:02] I'd like to spend just a moment to reflect on what makes our funding dynamic and

[35:09] variable. As a public health agency,

[35:11] about 50% of the funding we receive is tied to specific programmatic grants that

[35:17] tied to specific programmatic grants that can

[35:18] only be utilized for those specific activities and are restricted funds.

[35:23] Also impacting our funding is the fact that many of the fees that we charge for

[35:29] services, whether that's licensing permits, birth certificates,

[35:34] some of our clinical services,

[35:36] those fees are not set or the reimbursement is not set at our level.

[35:41] So that is also a dynamic part of our budget that we work with is calculating

[35:47] budget that we work with is calculating fees

[35:48] and addressing those that we control locally and working within fee structures

[35:54] locally and working within fee structures that

[35:54] we do not control locally.

[35:56] In public health, we also have grants from federal and state partners as well.

[36:02] So we work across multiple fiscal years.

[36:05] So our budget is a continuous evaluation cycle as those different funding years

[36:11] impact our budget as we move through the year.

[36:15] Also, with significant grant funding, there's variable—

[36:19] variability in how that funding comes to us.

[36:22] Some of it may be one-time in initiative funding.

[36:26] Some of it is renewable and some is ongoing.

[36:29] Also within our statutory requirements,

[36:32] we have several core governmental responsibilities that we are required to

[36:38] responsibilities that we are required to provide

[36:38] by statute. Many of those do not come with a dedicated funding stream.

[36:44] So this is why much of our flexible funding is very important to us because it

[36:50] funding is very important to us because it helps

[36:50] us weave together our various funding sources to make sure that we can fund

[36:56] sources to make sure that we can fund those

[36:56] core required statutory responsibilities while also having flexibility in

[37:02] while also having flexibility in mobilizing

[37:03] our funding to support how our agency brings this work together.

[37:07] And the realities of that dynamic funding is also why we have spent so much time in

[37:14] the past year strengthening how we approach financial stewardship,

[37:19] and examining the work that our teams undertake.

[37:23] We've undertaken the budget with the perspective that it should not just

[37:28] perspective that it should not just reflect

[37:29] what we have always done.

[37:31] It should reflect focus, discipline,

[37:33] and structure necessary to position us for the future.

[37:37] We're balancing today's operational needs with sustainability and considering our

[37:44] financial landscape that includes funding variability.

[37:48] It includes being able to recruit and retain the talent contained in our

[37:53] retain the talent contained in our workforce

[37:54] and also looking for opportunities to examine our operation and look for areas

[38:00] examine our operation and look for areas of

[38:00] efficiency. And also recognizing that the budget decisions that we make create both

[38:06] opportunities as well as obligations that can extend well past the single fiscal

[38:13] year. So throughout this year,

[38:15] we have been evaluating our approach and evaluating those decisions.

[38:20] And these principles have helped move us past a budget process that focuses on

[38:26] developing an annual budget really into a continuous management process.

[38:31] And over the last year and a half,

[38:34] financial stewardship has been at the center of the work we've been undertaking.

[38:40] That includes planning.

[38:42] And making intentional decisions before resources are allocated,

[38:47] examining our operations and building reliable systems that support the work of

[38:53] reliable systems that support the work of the

[38:53] organization, looking at accountability and using our public resources

[38:58] and using our public resources responsibly,

[38:59] reviewing programs, positions,

[39:02] and structure to ensure resources remain aligned with our mission and priorities,

[39:08] and looking at sustainability and making decisions that strengthen our organization

[39:14] not just for the immediate, but for the future as well.

[39:18] Examples of this work include we have a new opportunity to address chronic disease

[39:25] via a grant from the state.

[39:27] And as we have accepted that grant,

[39:29] we are working diligently to embed this work into our existing structure versus

[39:36] creating an additional siloed program as a way that we can weave chronic disease

[39:42] across our organizational structure.

[39:44] We're also investing in new technology that makes our work more efficient,

[39:50] more transparent, and improves our ability to monitor that work.

[39:55] All of this work is being undertaken with a common objective:

[40:00] to strengthen our ability to fulfill our mission in an increasingly complex and

[40:06] changing environment.

[40:07] And also, we discuss trying to improve the resiliency of our organization.

[40:13] And being resilient doesn't mean that we can mitigate every unknown or every risk

[40:19] and uncertainty. We can't.

[40:21] But what we are trying to do is build our capacity to navigate it.

[40:26] And that is the mindset that we have brought to today's budget.

[40:31] So moving into our budget,

[40:33] wanted to provide you with a historical perspective on what our funding has looked

[40:39] like in recent years,

[40:41] because certainly there has been quite a bit of change over the years,

[40:46] especially as we spent multiple years in pandemic response with an influx of funds

[40:52] related to COVID-19.

[40:54] As we have moved out of that response, some of those pandemic-era funds have

[41:00] some of those pandemic-era funds have sunset,

[41:00] and our budget continues to normalize.

[41:03] Currently, for our 2027 preliminary balanced budget,

[41:07] we are anticipating revenues and expenditures of $26.4 million.

[41:12] I will acknowledge, however, those are preliminary figures.

[41:17] We still will move through our federal contract cycle as well as determinations

[41:23] regarding the county compensation plan that will continue to refine those

[41:28] that will continue to refine those numbers.

[41:29] Also, over time, we have had significant variability in our staffing in public

[41:35] health. Certainly, we grew rapidly during the pandemic response and have had to look

[41:41] at our structure closely to align the organization with the financial realities

[41:47] organization with the financial realities of

[41:47] our current status. Particularly starting in 2025,

[41:51] we have been working diligently to make sure the organization is poised with more

[41:57] sustainability. Ability to match financial resources.

[42:01] You will note that we have had a decrease in staffing.

[42:06] And through that process,

[42:08] we have prioritized our statutory and core responsibilities,

[42:12] looked at our structure to remove programmatic silos,

[42:16] reassessed how work is allocated,

[42:19] and reviewed our operating expenses across the agency.

[42:23] As much as possible,

[42:24] we have worked to manage this transition through Restructure and vacancies and

[42:30] attrition while redesigning the organization to preserve essential

[42:35] organization to preserve essential services,

[42:36] even though we are working with a smaller workforce.

[42:40] And this graph gives you a preliminary overview of our division and budgets

[42:46] overview of our division and budgets moving

[42:46] forward into 2027. I will note that the administrative division is our largest

[42:52] division with 27% of our budget allocated to administration.

[42:57] And I would just like to add that that should not be interpreted as

[43:02] should not be interpreted as administrative

[43:03] staff and overhead. That administrative division really serves as our agency-wide

[43:09] funding and cost center.

[43:11] Several cross-department revenue sources are budgeted into administration.

[43:17] That includes state LPHA funding we receive,

[43:20] federal public health infrastructure funding,

[43:23] as well as support from El Paso County.

[43:26] It also includes shared costs that support the entire agency.

[43:31] That includes our costs for financial services, technology, rents,

[43:36] and common area maintenance, among others.

[43:39] Moving through, This diagram, the next division that you see there is our

[43:45] division that you see there is our Strategy,

[43:46] Data, and Communications team. This team supports many of our cross-agency efforts.

[43:52] So that's where we have our communications team, our operations team, our—

[43:58] and as well as our data team.

[44:00] Clinical Services and Community Health Promotion both comprise 22% of our budget.

[44:06] providing a variety of direct services to the community.

[44:10] Our environmental health team that does our regulatory work in the community

[44:16] comprises approximately 14% of our planned budget.

[44:20] And our disease response and disease prevention and response team reflects

[44:26] approximately 9% of our overall budget.

[44:29] I'd also like to share a bit about how we are funded as a local public health

[44:35] agency. We receive a mix of funding from different governmental sources.

[44:40] Each of our state, federal, and local levels of government contribute to our

[44:46] levels of government contribute to our budget,

[44:46] with federal having the highest portion at 29%, El Paso County at 28%,

[44:52] and state at 25%. And we collect license fees and permits for services we provide

[44:58] fees and permits for services we provide in

[44:58] the amount of approximately 17% of our revenues.

[45:02] We have benchmarked this funding mix with information available to us from national

[45:08] surveys, and this reflects a very common funding pattern for local public health

[45:14] agencies, with the vast majority of funding coming from various levels of

[45:20] governmental funding sources and Our fee capture may be just slightly higher than

[45:26] the most recent national averages that place that at approximately 10%.

[45:31] But there is considerable variation across the nation in how local public health

[45:38] agencies are structured and their ability to bill for some of the services.

[45:43] But that gives you a sense of how we are funded and the various funding sources

[45:49] funded and the various funding sources that

[45:50] contribute to our budget.

[45:52] So with those funding sources and those revenues, where,

[45:56] where do we expend those revenues?

[45:58] As a service delivery organization that provides direct services to the community,

[46:05] the vast majority of our funding goes to support the personnel and our employees at

[46:11] local public health.

[46:13] Our operating is a much smaller percentage of our overall budget at 20%.

[46:18] And we do have a small remodel and capital project planned for our offices in 2027.

[46:25] And this again, we have benchmarked ourselves with other large local public

[46:30] ourselves with other large local public health

[46:31] agencies in the Front Range in Colorado.

[46:34] And this funding mix with approximately 80% of our funding going to personnel

[46:40] remains consistent with what we see with other local public health agencies of our

[46:46] size. And within our operating,

[46:48] we are looking forward to opportunities to invest in the future of our agency and

[46:54] our ability to deliver efficient and effective services to El Paso County

[47:00] effective services to El Paso County residents

[47:01] through some strategic investments that we have planned in the 2027 budget.

[47:07] These are prioritized for us because they help us maintain service quality.

[47:12] They help us to operate effectively within the workforce constraints that we have,

[47:19] and they reflect process improvement and service delivery assessments that will

[47:25] service delivery assessments that will help

[47:25] us streamline our work and have more modern tools and systems to assist with

[47:31] modern tools and systems to assist with that.

[47:31] Examples of this, we are working to implement a grant management system For

[47:37] implement a grant management system For us,

[47:37] with more than 50% of our funding coming from grants,

[47:41] managing that is very important to us.

[47:44] The impact of remaining in compliance with grant standards and expectations is very

[47:50] important for us to be able to seek future funding opportunities.

[47:55] And to date, we have had a very decentralized system.

[47:59] A modern grant management system helps us put that information into a consolidated

[48:06] place. It helps us mitigate against institutional knowledge loss when

[48:11] institutional knowledge loss when positions

[48:12] change and provides us with opportunities for enhanced grant seeking as well as

[48:18] dashboarding our, our progress with our existing grants.

[48:22] We are also looking to invest in a new electronic health record.

[48:27] We do provide direct clinical services,

[48:30] and part of that is to have a robust electronic health record that helps us

[48:36] electronic health record that helps us mitigate

[48:36] any risks, helps us have modern information available to us,

[48:41] and integrates well within our services and our pharmacy services as well.

[48:46] So, that is also something that we've identified that will help us do our work

[48:52] identified that will help us do our work more

[48:53] efficiently and effectively.

[48:55] One of the other strategic investments that we're excited about is to use our

[49:01] federal public health infrastructure grant to do a service delivery assessment with

[49:07] an external contractor to look at our WIC service delivery model.

[49:12] WIC is a program that provides supplemental nutrition to families in our

[49:18] supplemental nutrition to families in our community.

[49:18] And although demand for those services continue to increase,

[49:23] funding has remained flat over multiple years.

[49:26] So this is a great opportunity for us to look at what we can do to work more

[49:32] effectively within the resources that we have.

[49:36] We are also working on environmental health.

[49:39] We know that our community wants better information about status of permits and

[49:45] better communication regarding that.

[49:48] So we will be undertaking a process mapping project to help us identify areas

[49:54] mapping project to help us identify areas where

[49:54] we can improve, as well as looking at opportunities to make that information

[50:00] opportunities to make that information more

[50:00] visible and accessible to the public.

[50:03] And finally, we are working on a community health assessment data project.

[50:09] We are required to conduct a community health assessment for our county,

[50:14] and that project will be undertaken with additional support to give us better data

[50:21] regarding our, our community so that we can have a more robust process for that.

[50:27] And then moving to El Paso County support over time,

[50:31] you will see here that El Paso County support to local public health has

[50:36] support to local public health has increased

[50:37] over time. Increases in 2021 and 2022 were part of a planned increase that was

[50:43] approved by the Board of County Commissioners as a multi-year investment

[50:48] Commissioners as a multi-year investment into local

[50:49] public health.

[50:50] Thank you.

[50:52] In 2023, we were part of a compensation study with the county and made some

[50:57] adjustments in 2023.

[50:59] And as we have moved forward,

[51:01] I appreciate that we have had consistent support from El Paso County for

[51:07] support from El Paso County for allocations

[51:08] for compensation plan as we have moved through those years.

[51:12] In 2027, we are planning for, again,

[51:15] to be part of the county's compensation plan where a portion will be allocated to

[51:21] public health. And right now we are estimating that at $250,000.

[51:26] That does not cover all of the costs of our increased compensation as we also

[51:32] receive grant funding, but does help offset those increases over time.

[51:38] And the ability to be part of the county's compensation plan has been very impactful

[51:44] for our agency as it has helped us to recruit and retain talent within our

[51:50] recruit and retain talent within our public

[51:50] health team. Other areas where county support to our budget is very important to

[51:57] support to our budget is very important to us

[51:57] is that given our reliance on grant funding,

[52:00] We also have considerable costs associated with running the organization that are

[52:06] not funded through those grants in their entirety.

[52:10] Examples of this include investments in our rent, our common area maintenance,

[52:16] county support for functions that we rely on as a team that include DST,

[52:22] human resources, benefits, and finance,

[52:25] as well as supporting elements of our agency through communications and data

[52:31] analytics that support our programs as a whole.

[52:35] And we are very grateful for the support that we get through consolidated county

[52:41] services with HR and IT as well as others,

[52:44] because it would be much more challenging if we were not able to be part of those

[52:50] consolidated services with the county.

[52:53] So that is a wonderful way that we can invest flexible dollars into quality

[52:59] invest flexible dollars into quality services

[53:00] for the community. We also have statutory requirements in environmental health,

[53:06] communicable disease,

[53:07] and community health improvement plan that we are required to deliver for the

[53:13] community. They do not come with dedicated funding streams that fully cover the

[53:20] costs of those requirements.

[53:22] So flexible funding from El Paso County also helps us Deliver those services.

[53:28] An example of that is our retail food program within our environmental health

[53:34] program within our environmental health team.

[53:34] Retail food is a delegated program to us from the state,

[53:38] and the fees for that service are set at the state level,

[53:43] and those are revisited every three years by the state legislature.

[53:48] At last year, our cost recovery for environmental health was under fifty

[53:54] environmental health was under fifty percent.

[53:54] It was a About 48%. The state legislature passed a 3-year plan to increase those

[54:00] fees, and at the end of those 3 years,

[54:03] we anticipate our cost recovery will be closer to 75%,

[54:08] which is a significant improvement for our budget.

[54:11] But it also means that we do need flexible funding to make that team whole.

[54:17] And each year, that team does more than 4,000 regulatory inspections.

[54:23] in our community related to delivering that service.

[54:27] Similarly, communicable disease is a very active program investigating more than

[54:33] 2,000 different disease reports each year and responding to hundreds of outbreaks.

[54:39] I believe last year approximately 300 outbreaks that they responded to as a

[54:45] outbreaks that they responded to as a team.

[54:45] Another area where we don't have a dedicated funding stream and flexible

[54:51] dedicated funding stream and flexible funding

[54:52] helps to make that possible.

[54:54] And I would like to close by thanking our team at Public Health.

[54:59] We have done a tremendous amount of work over the last year to examine our

[55:04] programming, how we are doing our work, why we are doing it, and making

[55:10] why we are doing it, and making adjustments.

[55:11] And that has positioned us well to be in a more sustainable place where we can look

[55:17] forward to continuing to improve and not just be mitigating immediate risks and

[55:23] looking at what our immediate needs are.

[55:27] And I'm also thankful for the support of the Board of County Commissioners as we

[55:33] have gone through this process and we continue to work to make a more

[55:38] continue to work to make a more sustainable

[55:39] public health agency for El Paso County. So thank you.

[55:43] Thank you. I will bring it up here for any questions or

[55:48] comments from commissioners. Uh, Commissioner Wysong.

[55:53] Thank you so much, Deanne. Um, appreciate, um, coming and talking to us.

[55:59] I've got a, a number of questions, but I won't ask them all to allow the,

[56:06] the rest of the board to ask.

[56:08] I think one of the big questions,

[56:11] because you can see the budget and a lot of others What are the big lessons

[56:18] learned from COVID that prepares you for the next, you know,

[56:23] some kind of a major outbreak?

[56:26] Thank you. So, after every response, we do an after-action,

[56:31] and there are certainly lessons learned from the COVID pandemic.

[56:36] One of the biggest challenges is when there is that much disruption,

[56:41] there is that much disruption, communication.

[56:42] There are always ways that we can improve how we communicate the information that we

[56:49] share and the coordination.

[56:51] I think some things that stand out to me from that response were the times that we

[56:57] came before this board to share information,

[57:01] work that we did to visualize data for the community,

[57:05] and to share information with sector partners.

[57:08] If we were to encounter a similar situation again in the future,

[57:14] I think some of those successes would certainly carry forward,

[57:18] as well as strengthening some of the work that we do with community members.

[57:24] It can be very challenging when there is that much disruption,

[57:29] and having a flexible team that can mobilize quickly is part of how we can

[57:35] mobilize quickly is part of how we can better

[57:36] serve the community. So we have taken some of those lessons learned.

[57:41] We have done extensive incident command training with our team.

[57:46] We have identified depth in our team and trained up multiple team members so that

[57:52] trained up multiple team members so that we

[57:52] have more depth of bench when those types of things happen.

[57:57] Because one of our challenges as a responding agency is that public health

[58:03] responding agency is that public health responses

[58:04] tend to be long. They're not over quickly.

[58:07] They tend to go through multiple adjustments over a long period of time.

[58:13] It burned out a lot of our staff.

[58:15] And I think we are taking those lessons in how we train, how we plan,

[58:21] and anticipate some of those challenges.

[58:24] Is that built into your kind of your strategic investments? Moving forward?

[58:32] Yeah, there are aspects of that that are.

[58:35] So I think reflected in that, grant management systems that are more modern,

[58:40] efficient, and can allow us to track our progress better.

[58:44] Because as that influx of funding came into public health,

[58:48] managing that sudden change was quite challenging.

[58:52] So a modern grant management system can help us in those situations.

[58:57] We have also invested in or hope to invest into a better electronic health record

[59:03] that increases the ability of our team to work flexibly when we are responding to

[59:08] situations, have better information available to them,

[59:12] and increase the efficiency of our clinical care systems.

[59:16] We also have a small but very talented emergency preparedness team that in this

[59:22] emergency preparedness team that in this year

[59:22] they worked with us on an administrative exercise that brought in partners from

[59:28] across the county, because one of the things that we also learned and would like

[59:34] things that we also learned and would like to

[59:34] improve on is our ability to work with contracts.

[59:37] So when we need to expand our work quickly, to have faster contract

[59:42] quickly, to have faster contract processes,

[59:43] be able to mobilize resources more quickly.

[59:46] And that administrative exercise was part of implementing lessons learned from the

[59:52] pandemic into our forward-looking operations.

[59:57] Very good. Anyone else before I ask another one?

[1:00:03] Your last slide, or your bar slide here on support over time.

[1:00:10] Yes, especially from 2020 to '27, you know, pretty large chunk.

[1:00:17] I believe you said that the '21 and '22 were budget increases

[1:00:24] approved by the BOCC.

[1:00:27] Today's requested the $7.25 million approximately from the

[1:00:34] county. How much is that due to the state statute unfunded

[1:00:41] mandates?

[1:00:42] So the specific amount that we resulted in related to this Is, um,

[1:00:47] is based on compensation increases.

[1:00:50] So in order to maintain our staffing, the, um,

[1:00:54] complexity of how much of that funding goes to these unfunded mandates, um,

[1:01:00] is a little more challenging to answer directly because it's a mix of flexible

[1:01:07] funding that we receive from the county, that we receive from the state. Okay.

[1:01:14] State as well that helps make that communicable disease program whole or to

[1:01:20] communicable disease program whole or to make the

[1:01:21] environmental health team whole.

[1:01:24] So I think it's critical for our ability to deliver those services.

[1:01:29] And about half of what we receive from the county goes directly into some of those

[1:01:36] consolidated services that I mentioned that include our HR support,

[1:01:42] our legal support, DST, and rent as well.

[1:01:45] So it makes possible, uh, the work that we do across a variety of areas.

[1:01:52] Okay.

[1:01:57] Um, your fees— you were saying that for the

[1:02:02] environmental, you're only getting about 50%

[1:02:07] recovery?

[1:02:08] Yes. So, uh, that is, uh, the The retail food program specifically,

[1:02:13] those fees are set by the state legislature.

[1:02:16] The intent is that those fees are reviewed every 3 years.

[1:02:21] That did not occur during the COVID years.

[1:02:24] And as a result, those fees had been unaddressed for a prolonged period of

[1:02:29] unaddressed for a prolonged period of time.

[1:02:29] So by the time that came up for legislative action,

[1:02:33] those fees were quite out of date.

[1:02:36] And our cost recovery on those fees was at about 48%, I believe.

[1:02:40] 48%.

[1:02:41] It was just under 50%.

[1:02:43] And then the plan is a 3-year stepwise increase that will

[1:02:48] take us closer to 75% cost recovery.

[1:02:51] Okay, thank you.

[1:02:53] Commissioner Williams.

[1:02:56] Yes. So first, I want to thank your staff that's here as well and all of the hard

[1:03:02] work in your office.

[1:03:03] I always start with a compliment of something that happened before I was

[1:03:08] something that happened before I was elected in

[1:03:09] 2018, and that was your suicide prevention group for, for juveniles.

[1:03:14] About a year before, maybe 2 years before I was elected commissioner,

[1:03:18] we'd lost 3 teenagers in the span of 2 months at Discovery Canyon High School.

[1:03:24] And then, then County Health Director Susan Whelan pulled together a great group

[1:03:30] Susan Whelan pulled together a great group of

[1:03:30] people to address those issues. And so I really appreciate that that happened.

[1:03:35] I can't take any credit for it, but just a time when you have to pull together.

[1:03:41] to help individuals in the public health arena.

[1:03:44] Um, I know that unusually when you receive grants, if I'm right,

[1:03:49] you are not subject to taper on those because I think we approved voter-approved

[1:03:54] initiative way back in 2002, and that's an unusual thing in El Paso County.

[1:04:00] But I appreciate your efforts to become more efficient and cost-effective.

[1:04:05] Uh, that's one of our Between being data-driven and transparent at El Paso

[1:04:10] data-driven and transparent at El Paso County,

[1:04:10] that's one of our strategic values is that we try to be efficient and

[1:04:15] cost-effective. I know that also too, with the WIC service delivery assessment,

[1:04:21] there's a lot of pressure to open up offices in other areas of the county.

[1:04:26] And I hope— I'm hoping we can do without having to open up an extra office and

[1:04:32] adding the extra overhead that goes with that.

[1:04:35] Thank you.

[1:04:35] And so, um, but I just wanted to thank you all for everything,

[1:04:39] especially you did during COVID and for the direction of this department.

[1:04:43] Um, as you know, I'm leaving El Paso County at the end of the year,

[1:04:47] so it's been a pleasure working with you for these past 8 years.

[1:04:51] And, um, I, I look forward to watching the Health Department continue to do great

[1:04:56] things in future years. Thank you.

[1:04:58] Thank you.

[1:05:05] Okay, seeing no further comments from my colleagues, I'll just add, Deanne,

[1:05:10] how long have you been in this position?

[1:05:13] And then tell us how long you were an interim.

[1:05:16] I started as interim in March of '25,

[1:05:20] and I have been executive director since

[1:05:25] April.

[1:05:27] So I just want to point out that we have fairly new leadership in this department,

[1:05:33] and you are doing phenomenal work here,

[1:05:36] and we're so grateful for the direction that you have turned this organization.

[1:05:42] And when I think about the challenges of coming off of the COVID cliff,

[1:05:47] where many businesses,

[1:05:49] organizations put those COVID relief dollars towards ongoing expenses,

[1:05:54] and that was something you had to deal with in reducing the number of staffing to

[1:06:00] come back to what was a sustainable budget without those COVID relief dollars.

[1:06:06] And you have been very strategic and intentional in doing that hard work of how

[1:06:12] intentional in doing that hard work of how do

[1:06:12] we bring this organization back to sustainability.

[1:06:16] So just really grateful Um, you have stepped up in an incredible way,

[1:06:21] and I'm thankful for your finance team.

[1:06:24] And, um, just for the commissioner's awareness,

[1:06:27] there is conversations happening with El Paso County Finance.

[1:06:32] And so today isn't necessarily us voting to approve the additional funding that was

[1:06:38] mentioned earlier of $250,000,

[1:06:41] but just meeting that statutory requirement of coming and presenting

[1:06:46] requirement of coming and presenting before the

[1:06:46] board, which previously did not happen in under prior leadership.

[1:06:51] So this is now the second time that this presentation has occurred,

[1:06:56] even though it was required by statute.

[1:06:59] So again, grateful for your leadership in ensuring we're meeting our requirements.

[1:07:05] And I'll just note also that when it comes to the state deciding that certain fees

[1:07:12] should be allocated and That at a Board of Health level,

[1:07:16] we are always wanting to look at the balance of recovering costs of work,

[1:07:21] but also recognizing there are some core functions that government public health is

[1:07:28] serving our community, and that those tax dollars should also be helping to cover.

[1:07:34] And so we want to balance what makes sense for our citizens because When we do

[1:07:40] charge fees, that then gets passed on to the businesses,

[1:07:44] that then gets passed on to the consumers.

[1:07:47] And so it's not something we take lightly that when we do increase fees,

[1:07:52] even if it is required by the state,

[1:07:55] just ensuring we're being intentional with the tax dollars to help offer the

[1:08:01] services that our community needs that are core to public health function.

[1:08:06] So Really grateful for your presentation this morning and, um,

[1:08:11] look forward to approving this in the future when we approve the overall budget

[1:08:17] future when we approve the overall budget for

[1:08:17] El Paso County. Any additional comments for us?

[1:08:21] Thank you, appreciate it.

[1:08:24] Okay, we will move on then to item 11.

[1:08:28] Item number 11 is the addendum,

[1:08:32] and there are no addendums today.

[1:08:37] Item 12.

[1:08:37] Item 12 is the executive session, and there is no request for executive session.

[1:08:42] Okay, so with that, we have come to the conclusion of this agenda,

[1:08:46] and we will adjourn the meeting.

BOCC Regular Meeting

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