Board of County Commissioners - public_hearing

We are going to get started this morning. It is 9.30 on September 15, 2026. And this is our public hearing. Erica, can you start with the roll call, please? Commissioner Mulligan.

Here.

Commissioner Johnson. Here. Commissioner Andreza. Here. Commissioner Malcolm. Here. All right. And can everybody stand as you're able to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? All right, team. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda if nobody has edits this morning?

Chair, I would move to approve the agenda as presented.

I was going to do that, but now I'm excited.

I do not. Do I refresh? Yeah, you refresh.

All right, we have a motion and a second. We got this. And that passes. All right, so this morning we do have a proclamation. We're going to begin recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month here in Adams County, so very excited about that. We did have our Festival Latino on Sunday, so hopefully folks were able to come and join us for that great event. It was such a great and strong turnout with so many families and community members that came together to celebrate. Events like this give us a chance to come together, celebrate our traditions, and enjoy the incredible families and communities that make Adams County home. Hispanic and Latino communities are such an important part of the story and identity of Adams County, and we're grateful for the cultures, contributions, families, and businesses that help make our county what it is. Now I'm going to hand it off to Commissioner Baca to read the proclamation.

Thank you, Chair. So the proclamation is for National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th through October 15th. Whereas each year, the United States observes National Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the rich histories, cultures, and countless contributions of individuals whose heritage traces to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the indigenous peoples of Latin America. And whereas, to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey estimates approximately 43.7% of Adams County residents identifies as Hispanic or Latino, reflecting the rich cultural heritage and diversity that strengthen our community, And whereas first established as National Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 and expanded by Congress in 1988, the observance coincides with the independence anniversaries of several Latin American nations. And whereas the 2026 National Hispanic Heritage Month theme, Unidos Somos Más, Together We Are More, celebrates the unity, resilience, and collective impact of Hispanic and Latino communities while recognizing that our shared strengths help build stronger workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. And whereas Hispanic and Latino individuals continue to shape the culture, educational, economic, scientific, artistic, civic, and entrepreneurial landscape of Adams County through their leadership, innovation, public service, military service, and countless other contributions, and whereas Adams County hosts the annual Festival Latino to celebrate the rich history and culture of the county's Hispanic and Latino residents. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Adams County, Colorado does hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month and encourages residents to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Hispanic and Latino individuals and communities, and that is signed by all five county commissioners.

Thank you so much. So now I'd like to open it up to my fellow commissioners, if anyone would like to provide comment at this time. I think a commissioner would be okay. Great. Thank you, Chair.

I'm so honored to work for an organization that continues to, in the political changes of the United States, continues to honor and recognize the contributions of so many heritage, including the Hispanic-Latino, Hispanic Heritage Month, as the first. Latina County Commissioner elected to Adams County in their over 120 year history. Next year we celebrate 125 years. There's a lot of work for us to do, and I'm proud to do the work to make sure that our businesses, our communities, our kids are seen and celebrated. And that's why we've kicked off the Festival Latino, and next year will be year five. We see a lot of changes in community. We see a lot of resilience, a lot of strength, a lot of love, a lot of folks being scared to be in this country. segment over the weekend and one of our partners here in Adams County provided a quote that she carries her passport with her because she doesn't know on a day-to-day basis if she will be identified or picked up even though she's an American citizen. So on this National Hispanic Heritage Month, we invite you to celebrate with us the beautiful culture, the work ethic, the beauty, the food, the artists of here in Colorado of Hispanic Heritage Month. There are many, many celebrations. Ours was this past weekend. There are many more coming. There's a lot this past weekend. Many more coming up this coming weekend that are in the region. I would like to identify one for sure. To our folks and our colleagues in our community in the city of Commerce City, they've been doing it every Sunday. I believe it's on Sunday. They have activated a neighborhood in Commerce City, the Dirty Neighborhood, where they're doing a mercado every single Sunday for the whole summer. So it's been – is it every other Sunday? Okay, so I know it's this coming Sunday. I've seen council members' Facebook pages this morning, so –

um again we invite you to be curious to be courteous and to really recognize this moment um of pride in the hispanic latino community so thank you chair thank you um yes thank you um great comments thank you commissioner maca for reading the proclamation and for your words i agree i'm very excited to support this proclamation and proud to be part of an organization that every year acknowledges our wonderful heritage here in adams county I love the theme for this year, Together We Are More. I could not agree more with that statement. It takes all of us who live in Adams County to be included and celebrated all the time for who we are and the heritage of our almost 125-year-old county. And yet, in 2026, we hear stories, as illustrated by my colleague of people, in Adam County carrying passports because of their heritage and who they are. I do not support that. I cringe and I condemn that. But we have to be honest about what's happening with our residents and people's movements around the county are being impacted by those same concerns. So I'm really thrilled that next year we will be celebrating our fifth year of Festival Latino. I thank everybody who participated in that celebration this weekend. And as Commissioner Vaca said, Just come out. Support our community. It's already who we are. We are a majority-minority county. Let's celebrate who we are. Adams County has a lot of work to do to continue celebrating and lifting up everybody we have. And we work hard at it every day. And I'm really proud to be part of this organization. So happy Hispanic Heritage Month. The Festival Latino was just the beginning. Get out there and enjoy all parts of our community. Celebrate our small businesses and everything that makes Adams County the best county in Colorado. Thank you.

Commissioner Bender. Yeah, I think we're rolling. Going down the line. Thank you. Completely echo the comments of my colleague, Commissioner Henson, Commissioner Baca. Thank you for reading the proclamation. One of the things that I really appreciate about the true privilege of serving with Lynn Baca is that she has strongly lived by I am first, but I'm not the last. And I love how much you can just consistently reach out to make sure that our table is bigger and more inclusive and our county is better because of your leadership and Commissioner Duran Mullica, thank you for joining us as well. It's lovely to have you as our chair this year. And I just, I think it's a real privilege to have neighbors who share in celebrating and cherishing everyone who lives here, particularly, as was stated so beautifully by Commissioner Henson, at this moment in time where folks are seeking to other, and divide our community. And instead, we are seeking to unite and celebrate all of our neighbors and community members and do all that we can within our resources to have everyone feel safe here and feel welcome in their own homes.

Yes, I appreciate this. We are a board and a community that is welcoming and inviting, and we are very much proud of that, and we will continue to do so. We have those practices into the future. It's an honor and privilege to serve with the folks on this board. This board is going to continue to get stronger and better over the years to come, and I believe that the staff is working their tail off. recognizing our strengths and our commonalities and differences is what makes us actually stronger. So thank you all very much.

All right. Thank you all. And I'll wrap my comments up. I know that there was a lot said up here that I don't want to repeat, but really it's just a privilege to serve in the community that I grew up in. It's a privilege to serve with you, Commissioner Baca. I'm not the first Latina ever elected to the County Commission. I'm number two. But... But it's been still a great pleasure and a great honor to be here to serve my community in this way. You know, one of the things that I loved most about Festival Latino on Sunday was really the incorporation that our staff have done at bringing art into that event. It is something that's really, I think, unique and special. And it gives... I was talking to one of the artists on Sunday, and she was just... excited to have the opportunity to share her art. She's a Denver artist, but she came up here to display one of her pieces, and she was just so excited about the opportunity to do so. And the fact that Adams County really highlighted our Latino community and the diversity of that community, I think, was really well represented in the event. You know, there have been families who have been here for hundreds of years, and then there's newer arrivals that are here, and I think it's really just, you know, Embracing all of that and embracing all of those beautiful elements of each of those cultures. So thank you Adams County staff for the amazing events and everything you do to make that happen. It was a huge lift as always, but you guys did a fantastic job and it was something that I think It's something that our community has really learned to cherish over time. It's an opportunity in Adams County to celebrate in ways that we haven't before or anywhere else in the county. So it's an exciting event. It was fabulous. Thank you for all your hard work. All right. Now I'd like to invite anybody who would like to join us for a group photo down here in the front. Please don't be shy. All right, hopefully that picture looks great, Wes. Let us know. Okay, we're good. All right, so now we're going to move on to the public comment portion of our agenda. And this is going to be citizen communication. Erica, is there anybody signed up for public comment today? We do not have anybody signed up today. All right, is there anybody from the public who would like to speak to the board in this section of our agenda? Not seeing any takers in this group. That's okay. We're going to move on to elected officials communication team who would like to kick us off this morning. Commissioner Henson.

Okay. Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everyone. Again, I wanted to follow up on our comments about celebrating Festival Latino. It's a season of autumn festivals and various festivals of all kinds. So I just wanted to give... express some gratitude to folks. I was personally under the weather over the weekend to not get to as many events as I'd hoped, but I know Bennett Days, Bennett Hometown Days was celebrated over this last weekend, and I'll tell you in depth, I know a lot of people were out there celebrating, and so I want to give a shout out to everyone who made that event a success. in our community. And of course, Festival Latino wrapped up our big event season with our parks, open space, and cultural arts department. So thank you for your hard work and to all the community members and the artists and the vendors, everybody who was part of making that a success as well. These festivals are not, as I've been speaking about recently a lot, we are in budget season, and I don't view these as a part of the nice-to-have bucket. They are essential. These kind of community events are really critical to strengthening the fabric, the tapestry that I always like to mention in our community, for people to come out and be together. And there are organizations there offering resources. There's just lots of good food. There's music. There's art. There are your neighbors. Most importantly, just our neighbors are out there. It gives us a chance to come together and celebrate and be in fellowship with each other. And I think these are really critical events, and I'm just so proud that they've been so successful this summer. Yeah. There's another one coming up this Saturday, the 19th. Adams County helps sponsor WellBe Days, which will be happening at Rotella Park from 9 to 2. So WellBe is in our unincorporated area of Adams County. There's Rotary CU knows it the best of all of us. I hope that you get a chance to stop by some of these community events as well across Adams County because they're always a good time and it's great to meet folks and learn more about the individual pockets of community across Adams County. I also just, you know, we've been, we would have lots of budget conversations. We also, as a cohort of county commissioners, continue to do and work on leadership training together, how we want to shape the goals of Adams County. And in these sessions, it's always a reminder for me of something I already believe, which is that it's a privilege to be a commissioner. And really, this... well-worn metaphor of passing the torch is is so real because our time up here is finite but the county goes on and to be looking forward to the 125th anniversary of Adams County as I'm just in the second year of my service as a commissioner reminds me of all the work that happened before I got here and particularly when before Commissioner Mulligan and I joined I want to thank our current colleagues, Commissioners Odoricio, Pinter, and Baca, for really preparing for our onboarding as we're talking about another change in leadership due to Commissioner Odoricio being term-limited, and we'll have a new colleague come January of next year. The work continues. I like to think of it as just a part of the history, and that the work continues, and as was reflected in the comments of the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration and proclamation, is that It's not finite. Our documents that we have that guide our principles are living documents, and they are open to change as we're through with our development standards overhaul in a very practical way. Our wildly important goals that this commission sets forth and then shares with our executive leadership team to spread across the organization Those will change over time as times change and leadership changes. And we are really committed to doing the best for all residents in Adams County and to celebrate all that Adams County is. And as we look to the future, it's not without its challenges, but we have a great team here. And it's just a privilege to be part of the history of Adams County. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Anybody else this morning? Okay. Yeah, I don't really think I have any other updates either. So, thank you, Commissioner Henson. We're going to move on to our consent calendar this morning. And we did not have anybody who wanted to pull anything off the consent calendar. So, I'll open for a motion when you all are ready.

Chair, I'd be commissioned to open the consent calendar. Second. All right.

We have a motion and a second.

that motion passes great always trying to wait for like oh we have technical issues but we got it okay so now on to new business um county manager good morning good morning commissioners our first item is a resolution approving an agreement between hounds county and colorado mechanical systems llc in the amount of seven hundred and fifty thousand one hundred dollars for crawl space ventilation services at the detention facility michael craig from facilities and fleet management is presenting this item

Morning County Commissioners. I'm Michael Craig, Facilities and Fleet Project Manager. Facilities and Fleet Management is seeking approval for a crawlspace ventilation project at the detention facility. The recommended vendor for this project is Colorado Mechanical with a total project cost of $750,100. The primary objective of this project is to improve ventilation throughout the detention facility's crawlspace to help prevent mold growth, maintain a dry, conditioned environment. The project will also include the installation of moisture and temperature sensors, allowing the facility staff to monitor the conditions. The scope of work includes replacing the existing outdated exhaust fans with new larger capacity fans, installing larger ductwork to provide increased airflow and air changes throughout the crawl spaces, installing moisture and temperature monitoring systems, which will establish a monitoring system level of facility staff to quickly identify changes. Upon completion, this project is designed to maintain the crawlspace in a dry, conditioned state while providing continuous monitoring of moisturing temperature levels, reducing the potential for mold growth, protecting the facility, and improving the ability of the facility staff to monitor and maintain these areas safely and efficiently. Facilities and Flight Management recommend the Board approve the Chrome Space Ventilation project with Colorado Mechanical in the amount of $750,100.

Great. Questions? Thank you for that presentation. Questions from the Board? I guess I have one question.

What is the lifespan of a system like this estimated?

Estimate lifespan after design? is about 15 years. Okay, great.

Yeah, I know this is necessary. We've had many study sessions about the detention center, and obviously it's very disruptive in any facility, but particularly in that setting when there are impacts from core ventilation and HVAC and things like that. So I'm happy to support this and not have to give a commotion.

There's no other discussion. I just have another question, actually, before I motion. So this has been a very big issue for Adams County and a big issue for the sheriff's office, who does not own the jail. The county owns the jail and is operating. His role is just to operate. We are maintaining that facility. How will, moving forward, how will this be monitored? You mentioned that there's a monitoring system. Is there an alert that pops up if there's moisture? Or, like, how do you guys, like, is this something you... What does monitoring look like moving forward, since this has been such a huge issue at the general?

Great question. Yes, it will be tied into the building automation system, which will send reports to the facility staff, letting them know if the moisture spikes or increases.

Great. So there's alerts that get sent to your staff. So there's not a risk that we're going to be in this situation again. Okay, great. I'm happy to support. Go ahead, Commissioner.

Yeah, at one point there was discussion about we're having to do this because this is built on a swamp. But I got confirmation from our facilities director that it's not the case and we're not on top of the swamp. and that what we're doing is that the challenges that we had in the past were because of grading and that we didn't have as much management underneath the jail as the world could have or potentially would have had if we had a little bit more knowledge of that. Can we just confirm that we're not doing this because we're on top of the constant source of I would like to investigate that further and we'll get back to you with a proper response. Yeah, I think that's fair. I got that from our facilities director. I think it's important to put on the record that we are not continuously adding or keeping this place in place because of a continuous source of swamp or moisture. So I wouldn't mind that being clarified. Thanks. Thank you. All right.

Any other questions? Okay, thank you, Chair. Yes, I will, before I make the motion, I just want to say thanks to Commissioner Odorizio for that background and context that I forgot after, because we've had many study sessions about this, that maybe that was important to state that this is an improvement and this is a health and safety issue to make sure that we have proper ventilation in that crawl space and that we are not just, you know, continuing to throw good money after bad, that this is going to improve the crawl space and, excuse me, ventilation throughout the facility there. And we feel that this is a positive step forward. And in that spirit of that, in the spirit of that, I'd like to make a resolution approving an agreement between Adams County and Colorado Mechanical Systems in the amount of $750,100 for crawl space ventilation services at the detention facility, RFP 2026619.

All right. We have a motion and a second. And that motion passes. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Next item on our agenda is going to be our county attorney. It looks like we have an executive session. You do. Commissioners, I would ask that you go into executive session pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402-4B and E for the purpose of receiving legal advice and instructing negotiators regarding an Altitude X proposal. So moved. Second. All right. And that motion passes. Thank you so much. Looking forward to that conversation, as always. All right. So, we have no lane use hearings scheduled for today. So, we are done at 9.57 a.m. I would just like to note, this is maybe one of our fastest meetings in iCharity. So, all right. Having it be so noted.