Gilpin Commissioners have 2018 election covered

County Staff Team-Building on May 3rd By Jaclyn Schrock With frozen fog and light snow Gilpin County Commissioners gathered for the last time this construction season at Central City Hall, for their regular Board of County Commissioners meeting, Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 9 am. On Friday, April 26 they will have their next executive session meeting at the Old Courthouse, 203 Eureka Street, back in their refreshed home first used in 1900. Ready to start the meeting at 9:03 am were Gilpin County Commissioners Gail Watson, Linda Isenhart and Ron Engels, Board Chair. County Attorney Jim Petrock and Deputy Clerk Sharon Cates were in their places, with an empty place for County Manager, who has been relieved of county management responsibilities as of April 11, 2018. Other county employees were in the room prepared for the work session after the meeting as well as some presenting information on the agenda: Clerk & Recorder Colleen Stewart, Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Benedict, Community Development Director Stephen Strohminger, and Human Resources Director Susan Allen. Clerk & Recorder and 2018 Election Coverage With no public or press conferences, Clerk & Recorder Colleen Stewart began by reviewing the three pages of monthly financial reports that show no concerns and consistency for spending about $200,000 a month and no bad checks. Stewart proceeded to the next agenda item, requesting funding approval for transparency in the 2018 election. She has won two elections for four year terms and wishes to retire at the end of 2018. Dominion Voting agreed as (they do with each of the other counties in Colorado) and previously contracted to with Gilpin County: assuring accuracy with the software, internet connections, ballot testing and validating voting results. Dominion Voting would also take on some jobs Ms. Stewart and Ms. Maxwell have done for years together as each county Clerk & Recorder does. The cost for having Dominion Voting take on the role of setting up the database for two elections is $4,896. This means they design and create the database for Gilpin County’s election, and print the ballots to be sure that each oval is read correctly in sample and official ballots. Once assured, the Logic and Testing is functioning accurately, Dominion, not Gilpin employees will load them on our voting machines. In addition, Gilpin has many experienced election judges who have worked elections since before 2000, who will be hired again as Super Judges. This is a big step up for them, but the pay does not include additional training to resolve any issues with the machines that our full time staff have previously done. These experienced election judges will be trained regarding the machines functions during the Primary election June 26th and then do the work completely themselves for the General Election November 6, 2018. The Super Judges will be paid by the day for 16 days total between the two elections. There will be one Democrat and one Republican Super Judge. With the cost of Super Judges at $3,200, the total estimated cost the Commissioners approved for this transparency project is $12,096, which passed. County Staff Team-Building New Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Benedict explained that the Parks & Rec staff would be participating in a team-building event with Five Star Recreation as a department on May 1st in Denver. The nationally recognized speaker will be providing training in the area for other agencies. Benedict proposed for a nominal fee of $750, Five Star would offer these team-building and communication strategies as a workshop for the whole Gilpin County staff. The interest is to improve communications within and between departments in a happy, relaxed co-mingling atmosphere. Five Star will offer a two hour session in the morning and a two hour session in the afternoon so that departments will not be without all their staff at the same time. The Commissioners agreed to the proposal and approved the $750 for the workshops to be held at the Community Center on May 3rd for Gilpin County employees. Parks & Rec Software Benedict explained that the software that is currently being used was created more for individuals doing personal training, than a larger setting as Gilpin Parks & Rec currently utilizes to include camps, lead sales, and roll-outs. This new system is within their current software budget. The transition is much higher, yet will be below the budget for remaining years. It will take approximately 10 weeks to make the transition completely. Gail Watson motioned to accept the contract with Maxgalaxie to activate the system, Linda Isenhart seconded the motion, which carried unanimously approving $18,600 total. Redtail Cabins assessment Community Development Director Stephen Strohminger presented this next step in the process. Redtail Cabins have been a regular discussion since summer 2017 with the Commissioners. The two cabins located on Robinson Hill Road have been purchased by Gilpin County in recent months for historical preservation purposes and to use them for educational opportunities. The motion that passed today approved the 25% matching funds from Gilpin County to coordinate as required from the State Historical Preservation Office with funds from State Historical Funds for the purpose of assessment of historical properties which is used to prescribe restorative work. Commissioner Gail Watson asked for clarity if Red Tail was two words or Redtail as one word. Documents have had it both ways and tracing to the original assessor records will determine how to print it from there on. Ron Engels asked what sort of timeline might be considered for an assessment. Strohminger said as of last Thursday, the State was already working on the project so expected to have recommendations from them soon. The Commissioners approved the expenditure of $3,250 to have the two historical cabins assessed. Gilpin County’s new website upgrading GIS Community Development Director Stephen Strohminger requested the approval of contracts with both North Line GIF of Breckenridge, CO and Teryx of Denver which combine to facilitate Gilpin County’s online presence with geographic information systems (GIS). This is a request to utilize North Line GIS to establish Gilpin County ArcGIS online architecture, configure the online account, establish public viewing application, and provide initial staff training. Once the service is established, coordination from Gilpin’s current system which is dependent on the original documents on paper, will also facilitate public viewing opportunities online. Ron Engels asked if our current mapping system will swap easily with the new system. Strohminger understands that it may take about 10 days. The North Line contract for application development and training was approved, not to exceed $6,840. And the Teryx contract for server and installation was approved, not to exceed $4,285. Gilpin Insurance Pool Annual Update Jon Wagner of Colorado Technical Services Inc. (CTSI) is their loss prevention team leader. He came to the Gilpin Commissioners as with the other 51 counties included in the insurance pool to give an annual report. Documents with graphs and comparisons of County losses covered by the insurance pool had five years of data included in statistics given to the Commissioners. He explained the trends of loss can help County departments recognize what is working well and what can be improved regarding risk management. He also presented the Commissioners with a plaque since Gilpin was one of the original counties in the pool since it was created in 1986. Data covered Colorado as a whole as well as Gilpin County itself. He explained that from initial investments into the pool, Gilpin has received interest and dividends back with a total of 7% returned because of Gilpin’s safety record, with only 66 claims in five years. He also explained other ways Gilpin and the state have benefited from being in the pool. Sadly, in the last couple years, with employee fatalities (which includes law enforcement) the pool has used insurance funds at 100% for the first time. Legal Report County Attorney Jim Petrock explained the progress of the previously approved lease to allow four inches from the Church Ditch to be used for agricultural purposes downstream. Gilpin County has the rights to this water, however, it is not needed this year. The Commissioners approved the signing of the lease. Public Meetings April 27 - Commissioners Special Meeting in the Old Courthouse Commissioners Room. Items added to that agenda include discussions about surplus county materials to be sold to the public which previous regulations have prohibited County Employees to purchase, and the maintenance agreement with Larry Sterling regarding the fair grounds. May 1, 9:00 am - Weekly Work Session at 203 Eureka St. May 1, 1:00 pm - Family Crisis Meeting with Victim Advocate at the Justice Center May 3 - Teambuilding sessions at the Community Center May 8, 9:00 am - Commissioners Regular Meeting at 203 Eureka St. Library Trustee Appointment Seven Library Trustees appointed by the Gilpin County Commissioners form the Gilpin County Library Board. Trustees serve five year terms meeting nine times a year on the second Thursday of the month while governing operations of the Gilpin County Library. A vacancy of a Trustee whose term expired 12/31/17 was advertised and the County has received a letter of interest to serve on the board from Jeffrey Smith. The Library Board unanimously voted to nominate Smith to the Gilpin County Commissioners who could appoint him to this position, for a term to expire 12/31/2023. Smith understands how governing boards work and was happy to find an opening on the board to be able to offer his creative services and effective money management for our mountain community with limited funds available while providing optimal opportunities for library patrons. Current Gilpin County Library Board Trustees terms all expire the last day of the year noted. The officers are elected for one year the first meeting of the year. Current Trustees and terms are include: President Harv Mastalir , 2018, Vice-President Susan Berumen, 2022, Secretary Alisa Witt, 2019, Alan Smith 2021, Ann Wyss, 2019, and Julie Shaw 2020. The Gilpin County Commissioners appointed him to this position for a term to expire 12/31/2023. Adjusting Human Resources Manager Title Susie Allen has been employed with Gilpin County since 1991. Her job title was Human Resources Director until 10/26/18 when Finance and Human Resources merged into one department. Since there can’t be two directors in one department, Allen’s job title changed to “Manager” and Clorinda Smith’s job title remained Finance Director. Human Resources and Finance will once again be separate departments, so Allen’s job title will change back to Human Resources Director. Motion was passed. Pool Almost Ready Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Benedict announced that the pool liner installation is complete and water is in both pools. The small pool is up to temperature, but the large pool is still only in the 60’s. It needs a couple more days to warm up before it’s open for swimming. Project Status Gilpin Commissioners continue to monitor progress of projects with reviews, updates and reprioritizing as needed in work sessions together. The stately Old Courthouse was completed in 1900, most recently there was some remodeling in 1999 and now 2018 remodeled to have asbestos removed, all wood flooring replaced where tile had been installed, carpet in the main hall ways, fresh paint and history preserved. The most recent remodeling took about five months, and nearly every office was disturbed for some time. Everyone is moved back to their original office space and the Gilpin County Commissioners will again hold their regular meetings in the old upstairs Court Room. The Commissioners have held their meetings without sharing the room with the County Courts since 1995 when they moved to the Justice at 2960 Dory Hill Road. The minutes of April 10 and April 11 were approved. In Public comments, Dirk Larsen gave a demonstration on waste containers to use in camp sites. The meeting was adjourned at 11:11 am. A work session followed to consider Wildfire Responses and Finance/ HR work prioritization. Next Meeting The next Special meeting of the Commissioners will be Friday, April 27. The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, May 8, 2018 at 9 am at 203 Eureka Street in Central City, Colorado.

Gilpin Commissioners have 2018 election covered

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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