At their bi-weekly work session this past Tuesday, the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners — Ronnie Maez, Warren Brown and Veronica Medina — sat down with County Manager Derek Woodman and County Attorney Todd to discuss a few of the many issues facing the County government and the Pagosa Springs community.
This was Veronica Medina’s first public meeting as a newly-elected commissioner.
In my experience, it’s fairly common for newly-elected or newly-appointed board members — on any government or organization board — to sit back and observe quietly for their first couple of meetings. To get the ‘lay of the land’ so to speak, before diving in.
That’s not my own personal style… to sit back and wait… nor, apparently, is it Commissioner Medina’s style.
The items on the morning’s agenda.
1. Recognition of January Employee of the Month
2. SWORD Funding Opportunities – Heather Otter (Region 9)
3. Discussion of Boards & Appointments
4. Use of Tourism Funds for Wings Early Childhood Center
5. Deeding Property to Wings Early Childhood Center
6. Discussion of Error in 2021 Commissioners’ Salary
7. Agenda Review
8. Admin Report
9. Other Items Of Mutual Interest
All the topics were certainly worthy of discussion. But something rather important was missing from the agenda, in the opinion of Commissioner Medina. So she brought up the topic under Item 9.
“Other Items of Mutual Interest”
Commissioner Medina wanted to address the County’s effort to attract applicants for a “transition advisory committee” — not yet formed — which would presumably help the BOCC design a brand new public health department.
Archuleta County was essentially kicked out of the San Juan Basin Public Health District last summer, when the La Plata County BOCC voted to dissolve the shared district. The ‘divorce’ resulted from apparently irreconcilable differences about the delivery of public health services.
Under Colorado law, Archuleta County must now create its own public health department — or join an existing public health district — by January 1, 2024. The County staff distributed misleading information to the public in early December, suggesting that applicants were sought to form an official ‘Board of Health’ which would serve as the governing board for the new County health department. But in fact, the BOCC was not looking to form a ‘Board of Health’ at this point.
Not until December 29 was new information published by the County, correcting the misinformation and stating, rather, that applicants were needed for a “transition advisory committee”.
Might we be concerned that this important topic was not on the January 17 work session agenda?
Commissioner Medina obviously shared that concern.
“Just hearing constituents’ concerns, I thought it was clearer than mud, what the verbiage was, when Derek threw out the verbiage regarding the advisory committee. It seems there’s still some confusion from the constituents about what this is. What they are going to be doing. How we’re going to do it.
“And that is a lot of the information that we need to get out.
“And the thing is, we don’t have to decide. It’s set [by Colorado law]. There are requirements of what we have to provide. So a lot of that is already decided.
“How many applications have we received?”
The commissioners looked over at County Administrative Assistant Jamie Jones, who accepts applications at the office. Ms. Jones held up two fingers.
County Manager Woodman:
“The application period closes at the end of the week.” That would be today, Friday, January 20.
Commissioner Medina:
“And that’s a huge concern, because then we haven’t done our job in really communicating effectively to the constituents. Because we need them to help us. Right? So, I’m thinking, if we can put out some more information…”
Commissioner Ronnie Maez:
“Yes, I had a meeting with one person who I hope has applied, or is planning to apply, because he’s got a big financial background. And he was asking for a little more clarity on what we’re looking for.
“And I agree with you. That we have to put this out there, a lot clearer, to the people. If we have to extend it, we need to extend it. Bottom line is, we’re running out of daylight. And I know it’s just the first of the month, but we’ve got only eleven more [months] after this to get it together. And the community is going to have to help us get it together.”
Commissioner Brown suggested hiring a consultant, and Commissioner Maez noted that Archuleta County could feasibly work with the same consultant hired by La Plata County. Commissioner Medina said she is not fond of consultants and said she feels the resources such as Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials (CALPHO) already exist… and that the BOCC could reach out to other Colorado governments, like Arapahoe County, which have recently reformulated their public health departments.
Later the same day, at the BOCC’s regular afternoon session, local activist Marybeth Snyder addressed the commissioners during ‘public comment’. Ms. Snyder had been one of the volunteers on the 2021 ‘Health District Investigative Committee’ appointed by the Archuleta BOCC in August 2021. The BOCC heard a final report from the investigative committee in March 2022… except the document didn’t seem like a final report. It included data about six different public health agencies, and ran to 148 pages, but offered one simple conclusion: more research was needed.
Ms. Snyder:
“We’re losing the attention of some [possibly qualified applicants] by them not knowing what it is we’re looking for. And I’m saying ‘We’ because I really want to help with this. I was thinking we could improve the call to action, because it’s not very clear from this new announcement. ‘Transition advisory’? It states what the County needs to establish… but it doesn’t say what the committee wold be doing. So, as I was filling out the application — even though I don’t have credentials like what you guys are looking for, and very few people in this county would… I don’t know if I have skills that would be useful, if I don’t know what the committee is going to do.
“Is the group going to develop ideas for the Board of Health structure?… Are we going to be looking at a budget? Are we going to be looking for an executive director? What are we going to do?”
As Ms. Snyder noted, the information displayed on the County website included suggested qualifications for committee applicants…
The Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (“BoCC”) will choose members of the public who live in Archuleta County and have the education, experience, or a combination of both in finance, public administration, public governance, or a public health discipline such as environmental health, health education, epidemiology, social and behavioral health, biostatistics, or public health administration…
… but says nothing about what, exactly, the committee will be asked to do.
At the morning work session, Commissioner Medina had urged her fellow commissioners to foster more public trust in the process, by ensuring transparency.
Speaking as a person also concerned with transparency, I worry about our County government’s ability to form a public health department, when they struggle to publish a fully informative website notice.
You can download the County ‘Application for Board and Committee Membership’ here. The application is generic.