DEL NORTE— During their meeting on Wednesday, April 10, the Rio Grande County Board of County Commissioners received a positive bridge report, approved products for weed management in 2019, discussed details for fixing the Rio Grande County Museum rooftop and poked at the budget for funding improvements in multiple departments.
The public comment phase of the meeting was once again mute and moot, creating a gap in the agenda. Patrick Sullivan was scheduled first for his Road and Bridge report, but commissioners heard a bonus report from Astronaut Kent Rominger Airport Manager Jay Sarason before Sullivan arrived. Planning for more involvement in future meetings, Sarason was the lone audience member. He was curious about proceedings and equipped to answer questions.
Sarason explained how some of the hangar exits are too tight for installing doors on the east side. Leveraging prevailing winds sometimes helps aircraft movement, but Sarason also noted that ice collects on the north-facing sides of the buildings.
Sullivan showed up on cue. He quickly listed recent accomplishments and handed out copies of the biennial bridge report for the state. One work in progress, crews continue to muck out a section of forest service road about a half mile below the Frisco Creek turnaround. Heavy daily truck traffic on County Road 8 east of the “gunbarrel” blew out a 300-foot section of the road. The damage marred Sullivan’s summer maintenance schedule and shifted priorities. Nonetheless, pothole patching began as planned on Monday, April 8.
Sullivan expects more culvert repairs as more ditches come online, particularly older culverts. Like bridges, they wear at different rates.
Sullivan handed out copies of his department’s Bridge Inspection Report for the state of Colorado. Out of 51 total bridges, only one was declared functionally obsolete. Sullivan cautioned commissioners to not hold their breath waiting for state-level funding to fix it.
Sixteen of the remaining 50 bridges in Rio Grande County earned ratings between 50.1 and 80. Like troubled students between failure and B-minus grades, these typically need substructure work and partial rust management, according to Sullivan. “Four of these need to be addressed this year,” Sullivan explained.
The remaining 34 bridges earned a score of 80.1 or better, and Sullivan said the report overall is very good.
For his final agenda item, Sullivan encouraged the commissioners to consider joining Rio Grande Subdistrict 2 as part of a substitute water supply plan. He suggested joining now and evaluating over time as the county renews the annual fee. Starting in May 2019, the subdistrict will be required to remedy injurious depletions resulting from Subdistrict 2 wells. Sullivan clarified that his department’s only well is at the county’s hot plant in Subdistrict 2, pumping no more than two acre-feet.
Sullivan said the deadline for submitting a letter indicating an intent to join is in December, but drafts for the state engineer and completion of a petition form will take time. Commissioner John Noffsker asked Sullivan to “put this in our tickle file because we might forget.”
“I’m tickling you right now,” Sullivan replied.
Noffsker and Suzanne Bothell asked questions for budget line item clarifications earlier in the meeting and postponed discussion until voucher documentation arrived. Each department has the flexibility to go over budget in certain areas, as long as they remain within the total budget.
But the commissioners discovered tracking inconsistencies, possibly typos, that will foster future discussions with department heads.
Dixie Diltz and Randy Kern provided land use and building department updates, beginning with the immediate schedule of code book changes and public participation. Diltz said they scheduled a joint work session with the Planning and Zoning commission for Tuesday, April 23. The afternoon session will precede a public open house examination of the code book from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Rio Grande County Annex Building, also on April 23.
Kern reported that home starts are beginning, including about a half dozen new single-family homes and eight new detached garages. The old Rio Grande County Museum rooftop, however, requires repairs. Kern is entertaining two bids to reroute the pond-creating drainage.
“The southwest corner looks like it was designed to leak,” Kern said, estimating that maybe a third of the roof needs to come up and dry out before completing evaluations. Kern said he needs to see more details first (under the existing roofing and in the bid documentation itself).