[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] Thank you, everyone, and welcome to the BLCC regular meeting. Today's date is Tuesday, September the 8th, and the time is 9.02 a.m. We will call this meeting order. First up, we have the pledge of allegiance, Robert. Would you please do the flag? Thank you.
[0:27] We will take attendance beginning with Trish. Trish Turner. Brandon Hirsch. Paul McFeeders.
[0:32] That's where I'm from.
[0:33] Robert Troy.
[0:35] Thank you to everybody else in attendance.
[0:37] Are there any modifications to today's agenda?
[0:39] No, sir.
[0:40] I will ask for a motion to approve today's agenda.
[0:42] So moved.
[0:43] I'll second.
[0:43] I'll have a favor say aye.
[0:44] Aye.
[0:45] I motion passes.
[0:46] That'll bring us into public comment.
[0:48] I did not have anybody on the sheet out there going once, going twice.
[0:53] No public comment this morning.
[0:55] That'll bring us into our consent agenda, Mr. Hersh.
[0:58] We have one consent agenda item today, which is a resolute two a,
[1:01] which is a resolution and mending resolution 26252, appointing a member to the Pueblo West Road Sales Tax Oversight Committee.
[1:09] Okay.
[1:10] You guys got anything?
[1:12] I just want to be clear that this was just clarifying that this is a joint appointment when we appointed Mr. Cleveland.
[1:19] It was intended to be a joint appointment between us and Pueblo West.
[1:23] I don't think the resolution captured that quite accurately.
[1:26] On the first go around, is that the my entire understanding of this?
[1:29] Yes.
[1:29] It says that now.
[1:31] Yes.
[1:32] That's why it's coming back.
[1:37] I was not the attorney that reviewed this.
[1:39] I'm not sure the context behind it, but it does reflect that now if that is, in fact,
[1:43] the issue.
[1:43] Okay.
[1:44] I can almost positive it is.
[1:45] I just want to be clear.
[1:47] So I'm good.
[1:48] I'm good too.
[1:49] I will ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.
[1:51] So moved.
[1:52] I'll second.
[1:52] I'll in favor say aye.
[1:53] Aye.
[1:53] Aye.
[1:54] Motion passes and that will bring us into our regular agenda, Mr. Hirsch.
[1:57] First item 3a is a resolution approving the Fourth Amendment to the Grant Award from the Colorado Department of Human Services, Behavioral Health Administration for the State opioid response grant.
[2:07] Good morning, commissioners.
[2:09] I am bringing you the SOAR grant for this fiscal year 26th to 27 or $52,000.
[2:16] This money goes directly to help the cost of Suboxone and the jail to mediate that for the county to have to cover.
[2:23] So if $52,000 for the next year, this is our third year receiving it.
[2:29] It's a federal cycle, but it's our third year.
[2:32] And we have expended all of it previously.
[2:34] So I plan to expend all of it this year as well.
[2:38] Thank you, Tori.
[2:39] Can you give me a little bit of, I guess, what lessons you've learned in having this grant
[2:43] available to you, what impacts do you think are valuable to the county?
[2:47] And if you feel it's worth continuing to do that?
[2:50] Yes, I do feel it is it helps with the medical cost and the budget in the jail because if not this would be another amount of money that
[2:57] Navcare and the facility would be responsible for paying so it does help that. Thank you. And about how many have you served since this grant's been in section?
[3:06] I don't have that number. I can get it for you. Roughly every month about 20 to 25 individuals are covered for their suboxone, for their induction and continuation until they release.
[3:17] Wow. That's pretty important. Thank you for doing that. I think it's a, again, something people don't realize when we're running a detention center like that, the things that we need to help with.
[3:27] So I appreciate you putting the extra effort into getting that award. And again, I offer my support for it. I think it's an important tool.
[3:35] Thank you, Commissioner.
[3:37] Yes.
[3:38] Ma'am, can you mention what is the effect on the general fund for this grant, meaning
[3:44] are there any county costs that go towards matching this grant, or is it all purely grant
[3:52] fund?
[3:53] Yes, purely grant fund.
[3:53] It's 100%.
[3:55] Yeah.
[3:55] Well, I feel bad for Captain Bocker that I can't grill you too much, but I told him he's not
[4:00] asking for nearly as much money as him.
[4:02] So you're off the hook.
[4:03] Thank you.
[4:03] Yeah.
[4:03] But I have no more questions.
[4:07] Thank you very much.
[4:08] Thank you guys.
[4:10] I will ask for a motion to prevent a three A.
[4:13] So moved.
[4:13] Good.
[4:14] I'll favor say aye.
[4:15] Aye, motion passes.
[4:17] Our next item to be B is a resolution approving the professional services agreement between
[4:22] crossroads turning point ink in public county to provide case management services for the pre-arrest evaluation intervention and linkage program in public county.
[4:30] Good morning, commissioners.
[4:32] I'm Christine Zeifo, go with correctional services.
[4:36] This contract is with crossroads turning points.
[4:38] It's in the amount of 300,301,531 and 80 cents.
[4:45] It covers our case management services for the prevail program for state fiscal year 27.
[4:52] The program is fully grant funded.
[4:54] There's no cost to the general fund.
[4:55] And in fiscal year 26, our reimbursements took an average of 48 days.
[5:01] Do you have any questions?
[5:04] Just a comment.
[5:05] I want to say thank you over the last year and a half.
[5:07] I've learned so much about the work you do and how much these kind of awards are part
[5:12] of that.
[5:13] And so I don't have any specific questions about the arrangement with crossroads, but again,
[5:19] the intervention and help that you provide is super important to, I think not just service
[5:24] to those that are affected, but the cost management that the county needs to see.
[5:30] Thank you for continuing to find ways to do that and very supportive of the work that you all do.
[5:35] I know it's difficult, I know it's challenging and especially in the economic times that we're in to make it work.
[5:41] I know you do have to navigate a lot of things, so I just wanted to say thanks again.
[5:45] I've learned a lot from you this last year and a half and I know there's more that I'm going to continue to learn about how to do this work and the challenging environment we're in.
[5:53] And I would just say, as you continue to find opportunity, please let us know.
[5:57] And if there are savings, of course, cost savings that we can, you know, realize that
[6:02] would be one of the main focuses of what we would ask of you and other staff is how can
[6:06] we do a better job, even with less funding, if there's other ways to do it.
[6:10] That's what we're interested in here on this board.
[6:13] Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[6:14] Madam, can I ask you how long has Crossroads been administering this program on our behalf?
[6:20] Eight years.
[6:21] Eight years.
[6:22] There is an annual RFP process. Is that correct?
[6:25] Every three years.
[6:26] Three years. Thank you, Mayor.
[6:28] And we did have to do the RFP this time because it was a new contract.
[6:34] Provell used to be lead.
[6:36] And we had to do an RFP with a state.
[6:38] And then in turn had to do an RFP for our case management subcontract.
[6:44] Thank you very much. I have nothing else.
[6:45] Thank you very much, I will ask for a motion to approve item 3B.
[6:52] So moved.
[6:53] I was second.
[6:54] I'll have everybody say aye.
[6:55] Aye.
[6:55] I'm motion passes.
[6:59] That's it.
[7:00] Short agenda.
[7:02] That'll bring us into Commissioner comments.
[7:04] Been going first.
[7:05] You guys.
[7:06] Okay.
[7:06] I'll jump in.
[7:08] Yeah.
[7:08] Thanks for easing us back in after the long holiday weekend.
[7:12] Nice nice light agenda.
[7:14] I hope everybody had a great Labor Day.
[7:17] I wanted to, I don't think we've talked about this since the news came out, but we did
[7:22] find out, I believe it was late Thursday evening, that FEMA and the Trump administration
[7:26] did approve at least the public assistance portion of our major disaster declaration request.
[7:33] What that means right now is not 100% sure, but what was included in the public assistance
[7:38] request for things like debris removal, road and bridge repair, public infrastructure.
[7:46] So this is a massive dollar amount on the order of about $17, $18 million.
[7:51] That was included in the public assistance request.
[7:54] We don't know without a shadow of a doubt that we're getting all of that.
[7:59] There are some details to be worked out.
[8:01] We also don't know, at least I haven't learned them over the course of the weekend, the
[8:06] the mechanics of we know it's a reimbursement but is the state reimbursed or the counties
[8:12] directly reimbursed? All of those details are kind of TBD. I think we should know a lot more by
[8:19] the end of this week. But the punchline and the huge news is that it was approved. And unlike
[8:26] several of the fires that took place over the last couple years in other parts of our state,
[8:30] This one got approved and I like to think that the governor's office along with all of the people that wrote letters on behalf of this major disaster declaration, I believe the governor's office learned some lessons from those prior rejections and I think they did a great job of publicizing gathering letters, but it came down to the community doing the work writing the letters I heard from Senator Bennett's office and Congressman Herd's office, there were just packets and packets of hundreds of letters
[8:59] is written on behalf of our community.
[9:02] So thank you to everybody that did that, it's huge.
[9:07] We really can't be overstated how important
[9:10] that even if this is all we get,
[9:11] it is a huge dollar amount that I was not anticipating.
[9:16] Again, like all the other grants that we've received,
[9:19] this is a, it will require some county contribution,
[9:23] dollars that we don't know exactly where they live right now.
[9:26] But knowing that we are going to be able to do
[9:29] roughly $20 million worth of infrastructure for a 12 and a half percent match on the county side,
[9:34] it's massive for the recovery from the Aspen Acres fire. So, extremely grateful for that,
[9:42] and I'm sure my other commissioners have some comments there, so I'll leave it there.
[9:47] I just wanted to quickly thank Parks and Rec yet again for all their hard work on the
[9:51] Fiesta Day flow. It looked amazing. The Fiesta Day parade is one of the most fun
[9:56] pueblo traditions that I think we have here in our community. So it was a great day. Thanks for
[10:00] everybody that showed up to ride on the float and wave and sit in the crowd and it was much hotter
[10:05] this time around, but I guess we're used to it at this point. I asked somebody like, do you remember
[10:10] a few yesterday parade that wasn't just like dying, sweltering hot and nobody could. So thank you
[10:16] very much to the parks and rec folks. They make it easy to just show up with my little ones in tow
[10:20] and jump on the float and have a good time. I really appreciate it. Last but not least, on Thursday
[10:25] day after we had our regular meeting, Mr. Choi along with our third party accounting
[10:31] from I Bailey, who are helping us through the 2027 budget process. We had a really,
[10:35] really good budget kickoff, a lot more specifics about how folks are expected to get their 2027
[10:43] data into the software, how we're going to do our budget process for 2027. So we've got a
[10:48] lot more clear parameters around what that's going to look like for next year. We have made
[10:54] a big ask of the entire organization, including elected offices, and that's to get a preliminary
[10:58] budget loaded into the system by next Friday, September 18th. So, you know, for offices like
[11:07] the sheriff who have really large budgets, you know, of course we've got a lot of work to do on our
[11:12] side. Everybody has a lot of work to do here over the coming weeks, and I want to recognize what a
[11:24] new software, but also develop your budget. I fully think that everybody always thinks about
[11:34] their budget. I know I talked to departments and they shouldn't be that hard because I know
[11:38] to the penny where all of my budget is going. So it's a large effort. We fully understand that,
[11:44] but like I said many times, nothing's going to change if we don't change anything. And this is a big
[11:50] step forward in how the budget is going to look going forward and when it's all said and done,
[11:56] I genuinely believe that everybody across this organization will have a much easier time managing
[12:02] their budget, knowing where we're at at any given moment of time. And while the two-week crunch
[12:11] may seem like a lot, we're in September. We're in early September and we're not in November
[12:15] trying to throw these numbers together. So we're doing the right thing. I know it can be a challenge.
[12:20] I know it's going to be, you know, there's going to be hiccups and learning along the way.
[12:26] But I, Bailey, has been very supportive. They're very responsive. Mr. Troy is always here to
[12:32] get us through this process. So I just wanted to kind of pump up the organization to say, we got this,
[12:38] we can do this. We're headed in a new direction, and this is a really big step in that process. So
[12:43] thank you, Mr. Troy, for getting us all on the same page. And thank you for everybody for buying
[12:46] into what is to come in regard to the budget. That's every minute.
[12:50] Well said, Commissioner, and I would echo your
[12:54] Saws of Mr. Choi for his presentation on Thursday. I've heard from many in the community
[13:00] that watched your presentation and understood what you're trying to communicate in terms of this
[13:05] forward. And again, thank you for a reserve policy that I believe has been long overdue.
[13:10] I'm glad that last year when I started exploring that and finding that we had a very
[13:16] per funcary one that we could actually get one that's workable.
[13:19] And I think it is a path forward and a light forward, not just for our government, but for the rest of our county, for our city, frankly, to look at how should government operate, while government should operate on the behest of the taxpayer should spend money the way a taxpayer would spend it and spend it on the services that are needed and required.
[13:37] And so we are entering that phase where as the commissioner alluded to, a budget process that is ahead of the curve and being ready to go
[13:45] So that we can review and approve before the end of the fiscal year, which is the goal we want to start January knowing where we're going to end up.
[13:52] And while it's a lot of work, I want to say thank you to everyone that has been involved to this point.
[13:58] I know it's not been easy for everybody, but it is the path forward for us to get financial stability in this county.
[14:05] In regard to the big news of FEMA Thursday night, we kind of knew that that could be coming Friday morning.
[14:10] I did get a phone call from Congressman Jeff Heard at about 830 in the morning, and
[14:15] my conversation with him, I think the one thing I would say that in this disaster with
[14:20] the Aspen Acres fire, well, we can deal with government agencies and we can deal with the
[14:26] folks that run the mechanisms of government.
[14:29] What really comes down to it's all about relationship and the relationships you share with others,
[14:34] and I can tell you that in that conversation with Congressman Heard, I heard a lot of effort
[14:38] from his staff, from him personally,
[14:42] dealing with the White House, talking with them,
[14:44] and getting a good sense of their understanding of the tragedy
[14:48] that has hit and befallen our community.
[14:50] They really do understand how much this money means,
[14:53] and that made me feel a heck of a lot better
[14:55] about where we stand with possibly the future.
[14:57] Again, this doesn't affect personal homes.
[14:59] This is really the...
[15:00] The structure pieces, which in and of themselves are huge for rye car out of city and bulo when you talk about water and fire and flood mitigation. Those things are really important to our county because we have to fix all that. All the roads that have been damaged, all the culverts and all of that. So it was great news to get that news on Friday. I think we were prepared either way, whether we got the approval or not, but to get the approval was a whole different feeling. And thank you again to our congressional representatives, all of them were unified in the state.
[15:29] our governor's office, our senators, everybody was on the same page in Colorado and that doesn't
[15:34] happen that often. So I want to extend my thanks and congratulations over the weekend as well
[15:40] as well as there was yesterday. There was a fundraiser in Rye, an auction that was held,
[15:45] and when I say, and I've said it many times, if you're waiting for government to help you,
[15:49] you're going to be waiting. In this case, FEMA came through quicker than we thought, but on a
[15:54] personal level, the citizens of Rye held a public auction and they alone raised 70 grand for the
[15:58] gasp and acres fire over the weekend, doing an auction in that community that reached
[16:04] many, many people.
[16:05] And so that's one example.
[16:06] The other is in Buella, we had a cleanup Saturday where volunteers came and helped sandbag
[16:12] and do some flood mitigation, again, citizens showing up, doing the work.
[16:17] And I want to say thank you to those communities for not waiting for the government help, but
[16:21] jumping ahead and saying we can do something.
[16:23] And watching that happen, again, it's all about relationship, it's all about community,
[16:27] and we have lots of that in Pueblo County.
[16:29] So I want to say thank you to those that have extended themselves that way.
[16:32] In addition, I'm working with Sally Clark, who is working with the USDA.
[16:40] We're working on getting representation on the 18th into this county.
[16:44] From the USDA, we're possible more funding coming beyond FEMA.
[16:49] We are working on an event, Josh Johnson is helping me coordinate that with our electives and
[16:54] other representatives to possibly have a site tour in Bula and a meeting with a representative
[16:59] at the high level with USDA. There is a possible emergency funding that could be opened
[17:04] up to us, and I'm really working to try to get additional funding that would help us with
[17:07] water treatment, fire mitigation flood mitigation. Again, whatever we can access, I'm working
[17:13] on doing that and those relationships. Thank you to Sally Clark for being that voice to
[17:19] me that that's available to us through the USDA. Friday I spent part of the afternoon
[17:23] working on that so we as a board are unified in getting help where we can whether it's federal
[17:28] money whether it's volunteering whether it's bake sales we're going to work together and this
[17:33] tragedy will be with us for a while to come and in the meantime we keep our eye on the ball with
[17:38] the budget and what this county needs to do and yeah I would say at the end of my conversation about
[17:44] what we've been through this year how important it is to have a reserve because the next time there's
[17:48] if should there be unfortunately an emergency of this magnitude I would love to see a county
[17:53] government that has access to a few million to help that would be the goal. So we're headed
[17:57] in the right direction and thank you to our executive team and to this board for having that vision
[18:03] and the hard work that it takes to get there. That's it for me. Thank you both. Yeah, I mean,
[18:10] I'll just quickly touch on a few things that have been discussed. First, yeah, thank you to Robert
[18:17] and before we started this meeting, I just told him that, you know, I've heard some of that
[18:22] same feedback from from the community on the presentation and then I've also heard from staff after
[18:30] you know the following meeting and it's uh and a lot of the staff being on the same page as far
[18:36] as you know looking at development looking at you know it's it's tough for our staff to say hey
[18:43] I got to look internally and potentially shrink things down and things like that but uh I think that
[18:48] that team effort attitude is existing in this organization.
[18:52] So, again, thank you.
[18:54] And the wheels are turning out in the community
[18:56] with speaking with a lot of people out there
[18:59] on potential ways that we can improve our development process
[19:03] and encourage development here,
[19:05] because as I consistently say,
[19:08] and we all know that that is one major piece
[19:13] of how we claw our way out of this.
[19:14] And quite frankly, it's almost the old business adage of, you know, you can cut costs
[19:22] and increase revenue in the only way we increase revenue is through development and
[19:26] that property and sales tax.
[19:27] So appreciate that and appreciate all of our staff being willing to participate in that.
[19:34] Yeah, I had a conversation.
[19:36] It is very welcome news on the FEMA amounts or on the FEMA reimbursement.
[19:40] And then talking to Congressman Hurd on the phone, he's certainly not done lobbying.
[19:48] And I agree that I think that all of our state partners and federal partners were in
[19:55] lockstep on this and those letters from everybody very much helped.
[20:01] So I just want to say thank you to everybody who wrote those letters.
[20:05] We are not out of the woods by any way, shape or form.
[20:11] We get, and speaking of the cleanup on Saturday,
[20:14] I want to thank my beautiful wife for going up there with me on Saturday,
[20:19] and got randomly paired up with an army guy,
[20:22] and we went and cleaned a house further up,
[20:25] and again, it's just, it hits,
[20:28] it's personal when you see the personal tragedy of this,
[20:32] And the couple that we helped lost everything,
[20:37] and we just, it's so sad because they are one of the people
[20:42] that unfortunately did not have insurance,
[20:44] and they had everything paid off,
[20:46] and the last payment was their truck,
[20:48] and they were about to pay it off in like four weeks.
[20:53] So I mean, I just, I ask again,
[20:56] that if people have insurance to utilize that insurance,
[20:59] and I know insurance can be a pain,
[21:01] and I'm having conversations with people out there if there's potentials of ways that we can help with that process, I don't know.
[21:09] But if you have insurance, please, please, please utilize it because the folks that do not, there's a small amount of resources for this size of tragedy and it can only go so far.
[21:23] So if you have insurance, please, please go that route.
[21:28] And then they, I just want to say thank you to everybody that showed up.
[21:33] It was, it was wonderful to see the community rally people bring in their personal trailers.
[21:40] The dumpsters were certainly appreciated.
[21:43] And I just have to give a huge shout out to Jen Wei, who basically organized that entire thing.
[21:51] And this coming Saturday, we're going to try and do another one, because as everybody
[21:57] knows, there's so a ton of work to do up there, and I can't tell you how appreciative
[22:01] just the couple word that we went down and helped clean up.
[22:05] So if people are willing and able, again, I think this coming Saturday, there's going to
[22:12] be another cleanup and I'll get you some more details on that, and just thank you to all
[22:17] all the local businesses that are continuing to help out, I mean, just with a simple phone
[22:24] call, people are willing to donate, you know, dump trucks full of sand, pay the haul
[22:29] route, or pay the haul fee, like all of these different things that people are willing
[22:33] to still do.
[22:34] So, I just want to say thank you to everybody on that.
[22:38] There's this coming Saturday, there's going to be heroes helping heroes at CSU, I'll have
[22:46] wanted to put it on people's radar.
[22:48] We've got some good events coming up.
[22:50] And then, yeah, last but not least,
[22:51] the Fiesta Day parade was certainly enjoyable.
[22:55] And it is great to see the community rally around
[22:59] such a longstanding tradition in an event.
[23:02] And it's a nice way to wrap up the fair,
[23:06] I think, for all intents and purposes.
[23:07] We had a pretty successful fair this year.
[23:10] So just thank you to everybody who participated
[23:12] in all the events that have occurred during the last week,
[23:16] during the fair and we are right around the corner from chilly season two so we've got some
[23:22] things to look forward to and we've got a lot of work to do so I just appreciate y'all our
[23:27] executive team, our entire county organization and this board for continuing to do that work so
[23:33] appreciate y'all. Our next meeting will be September 10th I will ask for a motion to adjourn.
[23:38] So move on if I ever say hi hi we're adjourned.
[23:55] You see work session staff update meeting today's
[23:58] date is September 8th and the time is 9.27 a.m., we will take attendance beginning with
[24:02] Trish.
[24:02] Just turn her.
[24:04] Rendon Hirsch.
[24:04] All of McFeeders.
[24:05] Zach Swar engine.
[24:06] Miles Lucero.
[24:07] Robert Tour.
[24:07] Thank you to everybody else in attendance.
[24:10] We have no presentations and I don't believe anybody has any operational updates, so that
[24:15] will leave us with a request for executive session.
[24:16] Assign massaging for an executive session to hold a conference with...