[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.