A curious governmental quirk was created by the Colorado General Assembly, when the Colorado Open Meetings Law was passed in 1972. The general idea behind the law was to ensure that decisions by taxpayer-funded boards were made publicly, so that governmental decision-makers could be held accountable for their spending habits and penchant for ever-more-numerous regulations and fees. The law therefore forbids private discussions of public business — including ‘electronic’ discussions via phone or internet — that include more than two board members, or alternately a ‘quorum’ of board members.
In the case of a government board with only three members, any two members constitute a ‘quorum.’ So private discussions between any two members are prohibited.
For example…
I currently serve on the seven-member San Juan Water Conservancy District board, and our board will be meeting publicly this coming Sunday, January 6 at 1pm in the District offices (near City Market) to discuss the development of a strategic plan for SJWCD. As far as I know, the District has never, in its 31-year history, developed a comprehensive strategic plan that includes short- and long-range goals and objectives. (We have one vacancy on the board, currently.)
The water industry in Colorado struggles to meet the needs and desires of conflicting stakeholder groups, with the largest water consumers being agricultural users, followed by municipalities and industrial users. But more recently, a couple of other important interest groups have become involved in Colorado water industry discussions: the recreationalists, and the environmentalists. It’s become pretty clear that the rivers and lakes and groundwater resources in Colorado are not currently able to meet everyone’s desires — nor is the situation expected to get better in the coming years. Water is bestowed upon us by Mother Nature, and she has historically provided only a limited supply.
Yesterday, I had a fruitful phone conversation about our upcoming SJWCD meeting with one of the other SJWCD board members, Al Pfister. Mr. Pfister also works with the Watershed Enhancement Partnership (WEP), which shares many of the same goals and objectives with the San Juan Water Conservancy District. How will these two tax-funded agencies coordinate their efforts in the future? Certainly, we do not want a duplication of effort, if the taxpayers are footing the bill.
Mr. Pfister and I were discussing public business, but our private phone conversation was allowed under the Colorado Open Meetings Law, because only two board members were taking part.
On Wednesday morning, our three-person Archuleta Board of County Commissioners met for one of their weekly ‘work sessions.’ Because county commissions were defined as having three members when the Colorado Constitution was approved in 1876, and because the Legislature created an Open Meeting law in 1972, our County Commissioners cannot discuss County business with one another except in an open public meeting. (Executive sessions excepted.)
The weekly work sessions are pretty much the only time the Commissioners can hold unstructured — and legally allowed — discussions about their government business. (Whether our Commissioners actually abide by this rule, consistently, is impossible to know.)
One of the discussions this past Wednesday concerned taxpayer funding of broadband services here in rural Archuleta County. The taxpayers have been funding the development of rural internet for many years now.
Presenting to the Commissioners on Wednesday was Mary Jo Coulehan. Ms. Coulehan wears different hats, depending upon the occasion. She’s Executive Director of the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce; in that capacity, she also serves as the de facto Executive Director for the tax-funded Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (CDC). She’s also served, in the past, as our community’s representative to the El Pomar Foundation and Club 20. (I can’t say if she still holds those positions.)
Most recently, the CDC has been requesting additional taxpayer funding for some broadband internet projects.
Here’s Ms. Coulehan, presenting to the BOCC on Wednesday, explaining why “Justin” was unable to attend the meeting. (I assume this would be “Justin Davis” with Skywerx Internet Services, one of the three private corporations that supply internet services in Archuleta County, including service to the Daily Post.)
“[Justin] cannot attend. I have a message from him. If you want, he will try and call in. He has a problem with one of the towers. Snow! [Polite laughter] He apologizes. They are currently running on a backup system and he needs to attend to it or it will become inactive.”
Unlike the other two Internet Service Providers in Archuleta County, Skywerx provides service to its customers “wirelessly” via local radio towers. (CenturyLink provides service via its network of copper telephone wires, generally speaking, and USA Communications provides service via its network of “cable TV” cables.)
Ms. Coulehan:
“The monies that we are asking for… Two things are very exciting that you may not be aware of. We are following the plan we gave you in the proposal. So one of the first things they are working on is the Aspen Springs Monopole, to try and get some service out there.
“It’s an ISP provider that needs to apply for the [state grant funding]. Not a county or government agency. But Skywerx and or Mammoth will also be donating money.”
Apparently, our local governments — Town and County — were expecting to match a state broadband grant with a 35 percent match, but with the funding now promised by “Skywerx and or Mammoth” the local taxpayers will be matching only about 17 percent of the state grant amount.
I had not heard the name “Mammoth” before, at any of the dozens of broadband discussions I’ve attended. I had to look them up.
From the MammothNetworks.com website:
Mammoth Networks was created in November, 2004 to provide regional Service Providers with a footprint outside of their traditional coverage areas. The company quickly grew into a wholesale data aggregator, combining services such as DSL, Frame Relay, ATM, TDM and Ethernet onto a single platform for Service Providers. By September of 2009, Mammoth had become the first company to tie together all 27 Qwest LATAs by building out interfaces for DSL, Frame relay and ATM. The company then set its sights on building out a national private-line network.
Today, Mammoth offers a full suite of aggregation and WAN connectivity services to the lower 48 contiguous states and Canada…
Mammoth is operated as a division of Visionary Communications. Visionary opened its doors in December, 1994 as the pioneering ISP in Wyoming. Originally founded in a basement with six modems and a 56k Frame Relay connection to the Internet, Visionary grew to become the largest and most geographically diverse ISP in a three state region, providing more than 20,000 customers with internet access via dialup, wireless, DSL, T1 and fiber…
Well, that’s a bunch of unfamiliar terms and acronyms. But we probably didn’t want to understand all the details, anyway. What we need to understand, as taxpayers, is that the company called Skywerx Internet was originally built by a team of smart local residents, but has since been purchased by Visionary Communications. And they want to serve us better.
We just need to provide a bit of pocket change.