Board of County Commissioners Regular and Meetings - Special Meeting

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a regular meeting of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners. It's May 19th at 1103 AM. This is a reminder, please turn off or silence your cell phones. We'd like to start with Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for Okay. Do we get a motion to approve the agenda? I will make a motion to approve the agenda.

Seconded.

To approve.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Let's see. Next we move on to community information items. Elsa, would you like to start?

Sure. I want to say congratulations to Candace. She did an awesome job at State of the Community last week. I also went to the Youth Summit, which was amazing. Those kids are incredible, and I can't wait to follow up with them about all the things that they need in this community. Thursday is Jackie Millehan's last day, and I just want to take a moment to be really grateful for her. She's been incredible, and I know she'll stick with the rest of the Housing at 10-2 project, but she doesn't want anything big, but I think that she really deserves our appreciation and gratitude. And then on Friday, I'll be in Colorado Springs talking about the Leadership Roundtable at a conference with Eudalia and Carly. And then also, I have lots of office hours coming up, including today after this meeting from 2 to 4, and then tomorrow from 10 to noon. And then you can also find more office hours on the county website.

Mr. Lee? I have no community information items for today.

Nor do I, so we'll move on. This is a reminder that all of our meetings are recorded and available. The work sessions as well are recorded and available on the Lake County Government YouTube channel. They're transcribed and indexed. The recordings can be watched at a time that's best for you. Subscribe to stay informed on county decisions. Next.

I do have one more thing I meant to tell you guys. Sure. The House Bill 261430 did pass. I'm sure the governor will sign it since it was his recommendation. Wow.

Okay, more shenanigans at the state level. Next we move into public comment section. Public comment is available for residents wishing to speak. on an agenda item or another issue not on the agenda to make a public comment residents may request to speak by raising your hand in person using the raised hand feature in zoom or sending a message in chat the chair will call on the public in order comment is limited to three minutes not including board questions action if required will be assigned to county staff the chair may also ask the public comment on, excuse me, I may also ask that the public, I got the wrong glasses on today. The chair may also ask the public comment on specific agenda items be held for later in the meeting. In certain instances, such as today, public comment will not be accepted, such as on public hearing items. We do have one public hearing item on the agenda today. So, Public comment. I'll start with anybody in the room. I have a public comment. Please just tell us your name.

Mike Matheson, 126 West 7th Street. And I've got a unique request. The bike racks on public transportation buses, the trays are too small for about 40% of our fat tire bikes. Acoustic bikes and e-bikes, to fit, they need to be three inches or wider. I was wondering if we could get the trays. That's all they need to do is trade out the trays to a little wider. We had a customer break down. I said, just put it on the bus.

I'll pick it up as it comes by. Our bikes don't fit on our, we have fat tires.

So I'm just putting out a request if we could get the trays changed out. That would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Okay. All right. Noted. Thanks, Mike.

Mike, did you just call some bikes acoustic?

Yes.

I love that so much.

Thank you. It's very traditional. It makes us all sound too proud. Yeah, cool.

They look like battle bikes. Battle bikes? Marcus, I love it.

Janice, you on there? On it.

Thank you.

Anybody else in the room like to raise their hand and make a level comment? Anybody online? Tina, go ahead. Please just tell us your name so we know who's talking.

You're still muted.

You're muted.

You can hear me. Can you hear me now?

Okay. So Tina Tkanczyk, Leadville, 618 West 8th Street. A couple of questions back on May 1st, I sent all three of you board members an email. And as of today, I've received no response. There was a few questions that I asked, and I think it's pertinent that you guys at least be transparent with the community and start letting us know what is going on, because a lot of people are complaining. They're working. They can't make their meetings. And so I put it out there. But three questions I have is CBS accounting. We've paid their enormous amount of money to go in and do audit findings and stuff. But yet our yearly audits still have findings and issues with that. The next one was, I had questioned the severance pay to ex attorney, Chris Floyd, which that was done in an executive session. When you came out of it, you said you'd be contacting other attorneys for further legal. There was never nothing admitted or even posted about what that was about. And then the third thing is the courthouse remodel. Where are we with that? Because I've heard stories that we don't even have, we're not able to do it or something and was like, well, if we can't afford to do it, then how do we get out of these certificate of participation bonds that were pledged for $8 million?

don't that's all i have but i'd really appreciate at least a response from one of you guys tina thanks so much i just uh looked for your email and it was in my junk so you don't check your junk mail i typically don't check my junk mail but um now i have um and i'll go through it in case anybody else has been trapped in there, but I'll respond to you now that I know you emailed us.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that'll hold that. So, and the public as well.

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Tina. I can respond to some of that right now.

This isn't a question and answer. Uh, this is public comment. So any, any answers you get will be at least as far as this meeting is concerned in the form of an email. Anybody else want to ask a question or make a public comment?

I have a question. Sure. I do think we've had some of these conversations in public. Can we direct Tina to some of those recordings?

I think we should respond in an email, not in this meeting.

OK.

I'm the chair, so.

Yeah, totally.

I don't want to get distracted. We've got a big meeting today. Okay, anybody else like to make a public comment? That concludes the public comment in this public meeting. We will now move on to item number one, discussion and consideration of resolution 2026-16. Resolution designating certain routes and trails in Lake County as part of the stage and rail historic route. This will be led by Matt Hobbs, our county attorney, Jessica Downing from the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association, executive director.

Yeah, I think I'll just sort of introduce it. This is a stage and rail historic route, which is a project that Alan Robinson has been working on for about 20 years, I think is what he told me, which goes from Lake County down through Chaffey County. I'll let him get into the background, but this resolution sort of designates a portion of that trail in Lake County. Alan and I went back and forth on a number of pieces that, you know, weren't quite ripe, I think, for designation. Some pieces of it were in the city of Leadville. Small pieces were not able to own jurisdiction over that road. you know, where the mineral trail ends and before you get to the Kweli.

So that longer peak there was excluded.

And then there were some issues we ran into on the southern portion with, you know, CDOT property and some other, you know, other property that I think we need to work through.

But I think with that, I'll probably just kick it over to Alan, who could give the board more information.

Probably has all the historical background that I don't have.

We haven't been before this board on a number of occasions, and we've actually been before this current board one time, but I think one of the members was not there at the time. But just briefly, this is a project that is under the sponsorship of GARNA, the Greater Arkansas River Venture Association, and I've been working on it for about 20 years. It's basically an adjunct to the top of the Rockies and the Collegiate Peak Scenic Byway, It's a slow speed historical celebration of the old stage road from Canyon City to Leadville and incorporating pieces of the old Midland Railroad. We don't actually follow exactly those routes, but it's typical when you're celebrating a historic route, you do the best you can to identify those routes to make a feasible package that's appropriate. It's primarily a driving route. But again, a slow speed route for those people who are here for the city of Bioway, for example, they can choose to focus on a slow speed historical approach. But there's a substantial amount of it that's available for pedestrians and cycling.

We have a website, and you can give these folks that.

We have a website which actually is an interactive map which follows a user all the way from south of Salida here to Leadville. The blue dot will go with you. And that brings you to a series of waypoints, or we call them points of interest. And I've identified some 60 points of interest along that route. And you can go from your app to an online brochure where there are hundreds of photographs that deal with those 60 different points of interest. So if you have time, a moment to check that out, it's really a good kind of survey of the entire history of the valley from Cleora south of Salida here to Ice Palace Park in Leadville. So we have come before you today to ask that this board actually approve certain segments of that route here in Lake County. And the resolution, which I presume is before you at some point, deals with that. But the map that I have given to you is another way of, that map will be incorporated as an appendix to the resolution. But for those of you, if commissioners are looking at it, I'll just direct you to the purple colors are county trails, such as Mineral Belt Trail. And we have requested you to approve that part of it, which can be accessed both to the south and to the north. So it's about half of, well, a third of the Mineral Belt Trail. but we have been in correspondence and collaboration with those people who manage the trail, and we're all in accordance with their views on that trail. The trail happens to be, as you probably know, it is actually a county trail. It's not a city trail, so it seems appropriate that the commissioner can make a designation on that. There is an existing C4 public trail that goes along County Road will eventually be extended, and I think that's in the works. Thank you. And the resolution is written such that as that is extended, then the route would be along that. And then the last pieces really are on C4 and County Road 4 and County Road 5, which are actually routes of the old Midland into Leadville. That's essentially all that we are asking for this current commissioner to approve. I will make reference, and some of you do know, that there's an extensive additional option for this historic route, and that is beginning, if I ask you to orient yourself, at the Hayden Recreation Site, where our project, in conjunction with a lot of effort from the Lake County Open Space Initiative, have constructed a trail underneath the highway there and that was the whole purpose of constructing that trail under the highway was a safe route for pedestrians and cyclists to access what's known as lots of old flats when you may know it as BLM and Forest Service land and then there's a piece that goes along the pipeline road which happens to be a couple of private parcels and we have not really arranged with those private owners make sure that they're comfortable with this designation. So for the moment, we have not asked you to designate anything on the west side there, including Forest Service lands and pieces of County Road 11, 11A, et cetera. We do hope to come back to you at a time when we've got assurances from those private landowners, because that's a very important piece for the benefit of cyclists and to be able to safely go under the highway and access their way all the way into . So that's to be determined, we hope, in the next, perhaps, few months. And we can come to some agreement with those folks. I really appreciate that Matt put a lot of effort into fine-tuning this. I believe we've gotten it right as to the specifics of that. So if you have any further questions, and any of you who are not very familiar with it, I would urge you to check out the website because it's something we've worked very hard on And it's essentially, we're not doing a public brochure, a paper brochure that would have to go into boxes and things like that. We're in the modern age and we're using it as an online brochure. I will, on the presumption or at least on the hope that this resolution is passed, we have already arranged for the development of two new kiosks that we'll tell you about. And I refer you to the second pages of what I gave you before. This is one of those kiosks panels that will go at Ice Palace Park, which is the sort of nominal terminus of the station rail historic route. And the second one there is a different format, but it's the same information basically for the Hayden Recreation site. And again, we've collaborated with AHRA and those people who manage those sites to make sure that they're comfortable with our use of their properties for that. And these individual sites, there are insets on these things that provide you more detail as to the access that is available from those particular trails. And unless there are other questions, which I'm happy to talk more about, I would lead it to the next step. how you wish to deal with the resolution. Thank you very much, not only for this commission's involvement in this, but for your predecessors. I've been in this room, in this office, probably 10 times over the past 20 years, and with your predecessors, and they have, I should say, uniformly been supportive, and in fact, you folks have provided match money in the multiple grant applications, successful grant applications, four or five over the period of doing a feasibility study and a management plan and certain implementation. And we certainly appreciate that. As have your counterparts in Chaffey County and the municipalities have all been match fund contributors. And we certainly couldn't have functioned without that. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Thank you, Alan. Thanks for all the hard work. It's a lifelong dream, so hopefully we can be a small part of it.

Yeah, really happy you're back and we can do whatever we can to approve this getting to completion.

Yeah, this is a slam dunk for me and celebrating our history is a vitally important part of the local culture heritage. I have no questions.

Okay, I will move to approve Resolution 2026-16, a resolution designating certain routes and trails in Lake County as part of the Stage and Rail Historic Route.

I will second that. Two votes.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Thank you, Alan.

Oh, okay. Because those chairs are so comfortable. Yeah. Okay, we will now move on to item number two.

This is a public hearing regarding resolution 2026-20, a resolution for adoption of certain parts of the 2024 international code series. published by the International Code Conference and other current codes. This is a public hearing, so I do have an opening statement to read here. The Lake County Board of County Commissioners and the Board of Review will now conduct a joint public hearing. The statement I am reading shall be incorporated into and made part of the record on these proceedings. Board of County Commissioners and Board of Review have jurisdiction to conduct a joint public hearing on consideration of the adoption of certain parts of the 2024 I-Codes as published by the International Code Council with local amendments pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 30-28-204. The purpose of this hearing is to consider whether the proposed code should be approved. In considering that matter, the commission will consider the recommendation of the advisory committee, public comment, and the evidence presented today. The procedure to be followed in this hearing will be as follows. The county staff will make an initial presentation. After that, any other persons either supporting or opposing the code adoption may present evidence. Such presentations shall be limited in some case to three minutes. Supporting and opposing witnesses may be questioned by the boards. Once questioning is concluded, no further questioning is permitted unless granted by the chair. Parties and witnesses are asked not to submit redundant, irrelevant, or cumulative evidence. If someone has already made the point that you wish to make, simply say so. The chair will also require that all comments be made to the board and there'd be no dialogue between members of the audience. At the conclusion of the evidentiary portion of this hearing, the chair will entertain a motion to close the evidentiary portion of the hearing, and the commission will discuss and weigh the evidence. Then there will be a motion to close the discussion phase of the joint public hearing. The board will then either approve the resolution with no conditions, approve the resolution with identified conditions, or deny the resolution. If there are any objections to the jurisdiction of this board or to the form or substance of these proceedings, please make your objections heard now. Hearing none, the county staff will now make its initial presentation. Thank you so much.

Yes, it's in the tape. Actually, it's not contained. I just need to really send it to the boardroom. And we have a presentation here.

Okay.

Can everyone see that okay online? Can someone just give us a thumbs up if you can see that online okay? Adam, are you able to see the presentation online? Oh, Peter, thank you. Thank you, Peter.

Yes.

Thank you. Thank you so much. So this is the public hearing on the recommendation for the 2024 I codes. I am joined today by a room full of building code professionals and experts. So I have with us today the Board of Review. Charlie Binney is here. Ethan Kirk and Luke Corning, and I think that is everyone that we have, and Matt Bullock, of course, also is joining us in the room. The Board of Review are residents that are building professionals that live in our community. Other members include Carlos Mariano and Danielle Regina. We also have Shell's CODA representatives and code experts with us today. Paul Howard is here and he will be presenting during this slide deck. And Hope Medina is joining us as well. And we have our building inspector, John Schweitzer, in attendance. Dan Dealey is unable to be with us today, but he worked directly with the team on the international fire code amendments so where we are today is looking at the adoption of updating our existing building codes so this is really our ongoing responsibility to maintain our regulations we really concentrate on what are the most up-to-date safety standards what are the evolving construction construction practices and then the state really has regulations and statutory obligations that necessitate us looking at our regulations. So they are requiring us to update our codes in relation to energy efficiency and wildfire resiliency. So we consider the International Code Council's code as our standard and model codes. These are published on a three year cycle. So for example, 18, 21, and 24, we are currently under the 18 code. And the state mandates that we must, by July 1, adopt the 21 energy code or a more stringent version of the energy code, along with the model electric and solar ready codes. After that date, then we are required to go to a more stringent energy code. Low model, low energy carbon code. Thank you. So not unlike quite a few jurisdictions in the state that you'll find, we are all trying to meet this deadline. We feel that the adoption of the more stringent code, we're not quite ready for in our community. You may recall some of you that have worked with us on codes previously. 2018 was the first time, the first code iteration that we introduced lower door testing and a more stringent code regarding our thermal envelope and what is required from an energy code standpoint. So we really like to look at either the 21 and 2424 code So that's what the Board of Review has been working on. They have looked at a comparison of the 21 or 24 to bring the recommendation forward to you today. The 24 is where they have landed. And basically, I'll get into some of the bullet points, but overall, this really provided a better pathway forward to become compliant under the energy code, a more prescriptive pathway that hopeful explain to you that really kind of meets what we're able to do locally for our climate and then some alternatives that are easier to achieve in our jurisdiction through the 24th. But it provides a more achievable prescriptive installation requirements and multiple pathways for that energy compliance that's required by the state. It increases the ability for consideration of alternative means and methods by the building official. It improves clarity and coordination by just the way that the code is restructured and organized to just like make it less ambiguous and so that we can avoid conflicts between sections of the code. It also is really the best practice for, you know, most jurisdictions look at adopting the newest edition and then really tailoring it around their local climate and altitude in our case look identifying what is the local wildfire risk and then what are the needed or wanted or desired administrative practices around fees permitting and enforcement authority so that's really what we're bringing forward to you today is really what we perceive as the best practice with the Most current iteration of the code and we don't see the Board of Review has determined that they didn't really see any barriers in being able to go with that best practice in bringing the most current version forward. So just to describe for you and what we've been doing in preparation for today's public hearing. The Board of Review has been meeting regularly since the first of the year, so four months have been put into very long meetings. We went to a weekly basis as the Board worked with CHUMs and staff to review the existing amendments to the building code that we're under right now and consider it for the 2024 version. We conducted a public engagement at CMC that was well attended by members of the building community and mobile property owners. And then we have updated and provided information on the county website about these proposed resolution and regulations. The public notice for this meeting today has been duly noticed. And so the recommendation that is coming before you, the Board of Review dove into the existing amendments that we've been working under for the last four years. And generally, we have not made large changes or they're not recommending substantial changes to the amendments. They really spent time determining if there was any conflict or anything that was unclear. So there's not substantial changes in what we had amended out of the code or modified for our local jurisdictions, the city and the county, unless we needed to update something specific to the 24 adoption. So we really added into that and changed it into a 46 page resolution where I think before it was around 20 some pages. is really that we've added in the energy code and the model electric ready and solar ready codes. So they're directly in this document, which makes it more accessible to contractors, developers, and property owners to be able to find those code sections. So it just adds clarity and it's more user friendly in its current format. The appendices that are included are we have added tiny homes We've considered that this in the city where they have less of a zoning conflict that the county does, but it does help the county as well because we are seeing tiny homes as lodging options in RV parks, campgrounds, different areas like that. So it does provide a pathway for tiny homes. There is an appendice that is published by The ICC. So we are looking to include that. The other dependencies are the valuation form. We update our building of fees in a line with a national standard that is published by the ICC. Our ancillary fees are on there. Again, those are based on a national standard. and they are updated. Those updates are published twice a year and we follow the later version on the beginning of the following year. We updated the inspection list. There are some additional inspections that need to be done now. This provides really good guidance for our development community on what inspections are required. It defines the nature of those inspections and really outlines that. Our local snow loads are on there. As well as we have a requirement that contractors register in Linden Lane County, general contractors, and we have educational requirements and competencies that are required for their participation in being able to pull building permits in Linden Lane County. So that is really what is within this very large 46 page document that substantially I just want to reassure everyone that it really has stayed generally the same with those slight changes that we've discussed. And also, when we go into a question period, when the board has questions, all of my experts are here and they'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have just to support your decision today. I am going to turn it to actually hold Howard. I don't think Barbara is with us. I sent her the meeting invite. Let me just make sure that Barbara was not able to get on. It doesn't appear she was. So Dan is taking a much needed day off. And so I'm going to ask if Cole doesn't mind walking us through

um the fire code and i don't know if i had much time to tell him this or putting him on the spot so pretty much with the fire code we replicated the amendments that were in there before to make sure that we stayed consistent with what was required by the fire code previously adding in additional requirements for the colorado wildfire resiliency code which has already gone through but also making sure that it aligns with the building code and the residential code Now, with the 2024s, there is an added scope for energy storage systems, ESS, so batteries, lithium ion, and other types that in the fire code addresses very, very well, just to make sure that firefighters are protected, homeowners are protected, structures are protected, that kind of stuff. And we made sure that we correlated the two between the IFC and the IPC, the International Fire Code and the International Building Code. make sure that both of them talk to each other and maintain the safety level that we're looking for in the county and in the city with these couple amendments you see here a couple of fire areas and a couple amendments were made to make sure that when we hit a certain level of occupancy or square footage namely in B occupancies, once we have 49 people and 5,000 square feet, then we are looking for fire sprinklers in those structures. That doesn't mean that you have to put them in every one. If they're sectioned off, partitioned off as required by the building code, then it becomes a separate space at that point. But the fire code and the building code largely leave B occupancies alone, so they don't have sprinklers in them unless they get very big. And so this kind of just brings it down a little smaller scale from where those structures are protected.

Same thing with our B, continuing that down through the code, making sure that everything talked to each other.

That's what those amendments are to make sure that we are consistent through the code and there are no conflicts. With your group F, just wanted to make sure that we got a occupant notification system in there to make sure that Whether you're using machinery or anything else, you are alerted that there is something going on in the gap. And that falls in line with the bee occupancy. Those F1s and bees are very close in nature. So just want to make sure that we're adding a few extra additional, not really more expensive type things into those units that will help pick it out. And then also high hazard. And we went through and made sure that everybody just lined up. including those larger occupancies, toxic gases, those kind of things, you know, H occupancies and then M occupancies where we get, so it's just consistent between the 49 people. Once we have 49 people, we're looking to put fire sprinklers in there because the danger gets greater.

Now, when the building go in and the fire goes, 49 people is your cutoff for adding in... Just to interrupt real fast, there's a fire in the maintenance area downstairs.

911 is being called.

thank you all right we are going to pause okay we will now reopen the public hearing we had to take a pause for a little bit of emergency there but we are back and i think when we left we were talking uh cole was speaking to the Fire code.

So I think we've just finished that slide. And then you get a little bit more of me. Now we're going to go into the building code, not the fire code. Some major, not major, some of the highlights from the building code. The 2024 has expanded the breadth and ability of the building official to determine what meets the intent of the code and meets the code across the codes. So not just the code that you see, but you'll see this consistently through all the codes in allowing for new technologies, new determinations of what complies with the code as we come out with new building product innovations. It kind of gave, instead of pigeonholing a billing official into exactly what's in the code, gave them a little more ability to exercise their authority as the billing official, say, yes, I approve this, or no, I don't approve that, or give me more information. And it goes through and outlines a lot of the testing procedures, what reports you can request, third party inspections, third party certification, that kind of stuff on products that may be used in building. Also, like I mentioned with the IFC, it expanded the ESS provisions to include those new technologies that are coming out as we continue to make batteries better and better and more high capacity. Life safety is put into question, so we've got a lot of correlation between the ifc and the ibc so we don't have dangerous explosions or continuously burning burning lithium ion batteries at homes um and then also so i went through all the evaluation methods yes let's go to the next one i'm just hitting some because that's a lot of information on this one now when we went through all this with the board of the board of review we spent hours upon hours discussing the differences between the 2021 2018 2021 and 2024 counts just so that we could make a very informed decision on what was the best path forward and the 2024s like I mentioned give you that expanded ability for the duties of power of the building official and also added in that ESS so same thing happened with the IRC you've got expanded ESS capabilities establishing thresholds of where it kicks it into the fire code so the Prior to the 2024s, even under the 2021 to 2018, there was very limited information on energy storage systems and where to go with that when you're applying them in a residential situation. So in the IRC, it now directs you to the IFC, which very occasionally did the IRC do that. So under the ESS provisions of the IRC, you get kicked back to the IFC when you meet a certain threshold. And that usually tends to be around 20 kilowatts two more hours for a battery and that's a little more detailed than you really need to know but also in the 2024 one of the big things is we incorporated a lot of the tiny home provisions so those were pre-existed in the 2021 under an appendix and in the building code world we call an appendix not quite ready for the prime time and the building code is prime time so once we went through the 2021 into the 2024 we decided that the tiny home provisions were ready for prime time and started to apply those into the irc which means you have a little bit smaller rooms have the ability to use the skylight as an escape loft areas got expanded and how to enforce those so this will help john a lot when we're doing small structures in the city now the county has a provision that you can't make a structure that small All right, the IEBC, this one just keeps getting better and better, the International Existing Building Code, which has a lot of provisions to protect the historical structures in Leadville and Lane County. So all of the International Existing Building Code used to be pretty much, if it was existing, it works. If it's not existing, obviously it's new out of the building code. But the 2024 version expands the scope of the IEVC and lets you do a lot more with it to protect structures that are existing, gives a lot more guidance on what you can or can't do, and what constitutes allowable modifications, alterations, repairs, those kind of things to an existing structure, and what kicks it into the building code. And then also added in one of the big things with the IBC that I did skip over was in public facilities, rest stops, things like that, you've got adult changing stations, they've got it added in with the new ANSI standard for accessibility. And so those are seeing a lot more of those go into public areas. And that got put in the existing. Mechanical code. Really integrated a lot of the new technologies coming out for refrigerants, the A2L and B2L, which are considered flammable refrigerants. Added a lot of precautions, but a lot of code language that protects the users of that and the listed appliance that uses those refrigerants, but also expanded the ability to use those and they need to be listed, labeled, those kind of things. So throughout all the 2020 boards, there's a lot of, updating to UL listings or other third party testing agencies for products like this. And then also the IMC expanded the performance-based ability of a unit, which coincides with the 2024 IECC and kicks in a lot of provisions from the energy code. So not just a prescribed, but you have a performance-based ability for mechanical units and mechanical code now. fuel gas code this one pretty much stayed the same again with the 104 expansion for using the building officials powers but because gas is science dealing with volumes and pressures it stays pretty much the same throughout all of our code changes we just update how you apply it and the scope of that all right now you get to hear me so when it comes

So when it comes to International Energy Conservation Code, there were some changes that happened and typically this is the table that everybody looks to and is concerned with and this is dealing with the residential side as far as thermal envelope which is your insulation and your window criteria and in the 24 You'll notice that there aren't a whole lot of changes as far as values to it, but where the big changes are is for climate zone seven is they added additional options as far as how you can meet some of that criteria. They also in the 24 added a new line item, which is the insulation entirely above roof deck. That brings it down to an R30 continuous, whereas in the previous code and including the currently adopted code, you would have to have that R49. And so it does take into account that the design is a little bit better. And so I would say those are the big changes that happened here. Next slide, please. Looking specifically to the residential components out of the IECC, there were changes. The additional efficiency section did change. It was pretty revamped. There's a focus now on the size of home and where it triggers additional items. There's fuel types. That are now taken into consideration the lighting controls changed, they did add for heating outside of the building power how that's going to be addressed and multifamily in the past, often had to go over to the commercial side to meet criteria out of it. And in the 24, it recognizes that the residential provisions also applies to multifamily. So many of those provisions were created to address multifamily projects. So they don't have to go over to the first half of the book. They can stay in the second half of the book. Next slide, please. I would say probably the additional efficiency section again was revised and similar to the residential fuel type source does matter now. The air leakage section was revised. There's a whole new section for this mechanical system that it's a simple system. So instead of having to be cumbersome with 403, you get to go to 409, which I'm really excited about. Can't wait to see that. Really great thing overall for Leadville and for Lake County is the fact that Chapter 5 was very heavily revised, both on the residential side and the commercial side, and that deals with existing buildings. And it does require things like, hey, you've got to He brought up as if it was a brand new building. Well, let's face it, that's not real plausible in here. So the 24 recognizes it. So it says, hey, you got to do it. But when space is constrained or you have a configuration that this isn't going to work, what can you give us type of deal? So the idea is, how can we make it better than what it was, even if you can't go to the full extent? So really excited about that. as far as some of the amendments in some of the things that we we did with this um is taking into account what we are able to amend with it um so sorry no no i started chatting

So just wanted to, yes, thank you. I want to just recognize how much effort the Board of Review has put in in the last, since the beginning of the year, really working, really crunching this information, looking at the two code comparisons between the 21 and 24 to really arrive at the 24. It's really exciting to be able to adopt the most correct version of the code that gives us more time before we need to look at codes again. Anne really aligns us with what we see as considered as best practice around the state. And so really appreciate that. And as always, none of this is possible today without the expertise and guidance of Michelle's team. So really appreciate them. The website will continue to be our kind of community support portal. We will have, just like we did with the wildfire resiliency code, there will be educational opportunities. There will be webinars and trainings and resources available to kind of shepherd everyone into the new code. Our public hearing is obviously occurring today. The city is looking to host theirs next week on the 26th. They had a little bit of a hiccup with their notice. originally thought they would hold their public hearing today as well, but they're still able to do it next week, which keeps us under that deadline of July 1. They'll be able to be effective with us on June 30 as well. This will allow us some time to prepare staff for the changes in the code get our documents ready have some internal training and get it also provides the building community a little bit of time if they are working on certain projects they still have until June 30th to get those submitted before until June 29th to get those submitted under the existing code under the 2018 code so we'll continue to have those resources available And just to remind everyone, so this has been a year of codes. We have the Wildfire Resiliency Code that will become effective July 1. We'll be at the Wildfire Resiliency Fair tomorrow with information from the community. The I-Codes, if passed, would become, we're proposing them June 30th. And the on-site wastewater treatment systems that the Board of Health has already heard that we're bringing to the Board for adoption will be effective June 15th. So we'll continue to provide the online training and resources available to really help internally and our community. So I think that is all that we have for you and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. I apologize, there is one slight change. That's why I have a copy of the resolution. And that is a code change that we are already administering the code in this manner regarding water supplies or water sources for homes in the county. And so the fire chief and Barbara have worked on two slight amendments. But this is generally how we already, the fire department has administered the code regarding fire supplies. So Cole, I put these two in. Do you wanna just speak to them a bit? I know I shared them with you earlier, but they're just these two items. And so basically the fire official being the fire chief who oversees the fire code wanted the ability to consider In rural areas, the possibility of the need of a water supply being a cistern to add a supplemental water source. We can't draw on wells, obviously, just for fire suppression. So in some instances, the fire marshal would just like the discretion to determine if new construction should be required to have a fire supply. Subdivisions, new subdivisions that are created must have them if they're not on centralized water. So Timber Ranch, for an example, does not have that because they're on partner water. But Angel View, their homes are sprinkled and they have a water supply on site. So in subdivision, we do already require this. So it's just an addition to that. So just making it more of a- Yeah, so it has to go through. I just want to bring that to your attention because it was kind of a last-minute addition to the Board of Review itself. So I just want to note that that is just a slight, and it just brings us up to how we're applying the code already.

Wow, tremendous work. Thank you all so much.

Yeah, that's a lot of work for you guys, I'll share this. That would conclude the staff presentation. Now, any person either supporting or opposing the code adoption may present evidence. Supporting and opposing witnesses may be questioned by the board once questioning is concluded. No further questioning is permitted unless granted by the chair. Is there anybody in the room or online who would like to support or oppose us adopting this code? I'm pretty sure that no one's going to oppose this. So we're pretty much mandated by the state to adopt these codes. So. That concludes the evidentiary portion of this hearing. The chair will now entertain a motion to close the evidentiary portion of this hearing, and then we can discuss and weigh the evidence. I'll move to close the evidentiary portion of the hearing. I will second that. To vote.

Aye.

Aye. Now, the county commissioners can discuss and weigh the evidence. Then there will be a motion to close the discussion phase of the joint public hearing. at which time the board will either approve the resolution, approve a resolution with identified conditions, or deny the resolution.

Is our discussion phase, we're allowed to ask questions and do back and forth and feedback, or is this just limited to between us? That's a good question.

You can ask clarifying questions this time.

I know the majority of this is mandated, that we just have to adopt this. Those are the rules. But I do see that we've made some amendments and made some of our own adjustments. My biggest concern is how much more expensive is this going to make this for anyone trying to build anything around here? constantly reminded anytime you look at real estate listings or anything how expensive homes have got and what I think of making it more burdensome for anyone to build anything or more expensive that just contributes to that and do any of the amendments that we aren't mandated to adopt significantly add costs for builders And I need to ask this because a lot of this is like, I'm not an expert in this subject. Matt understands this a lot better than I do. Some of this stuff is like a different language, like the fenestration of you values or something. I'm like, what does that mean? But my biggest concern is just like, how much more burdensome and expensive is it for people to build an outground?

That's a great question. That was also a big concern of the Board of Review as well. They really wanted to break that down. So the Home Builders Association did a whole study to look at what the additional cost was. And it was surprisingly not excessive. I wish I had the study in front of me right now. I don't know, Matt, if you remember what that cost was. It seems like it was under $2,000. It was $10 a square foot.

Yeah, I think they said it was 8 grand for the 20.

Sorry.

It was 10 grand for 21, and then 8 to 12 for 2024. So you just have more leeway than 24. OK. So there's some give and take. There's some areas where it is more burdensome, but there's also it opens new pathways to do things differently that can allow people options that are helpful. Correct.

The other thing that the Board of Review did too was consider They kind of, they attempted to kind of offset that because they also considered with the wildfire resiliency code, which we were mandated to do, what the cost of adding those hardening features in and the cost to become compliant with that. And so that was a real balance in deciding the sprinkler requirements. So instead of shell, those are May. And they found other ways to add kind of fire areas or compartmentalization wore over with 5H drywall and just understeer protections in different ways that they found those trade-offs. That was certainly part of what really weighed on the decision-making of the Board of Review as they contemplated which code to go to. And seeing that it was kind of a negligible amount between the 21 and 24, and then the other host of benefits of the 24, that's kind of where they settled in. knowing, again, that the energy code requirements and wildfire requirements were state mandates, as you say. So their decision plan was really the 21 to 24. But that cost really weighed heavily, I believe, on the Board of Review's decision. It was certainly part of all the conversation. They're very aware of what that is doing to housing overall.

Luke, did you want to add something to that? Yeah, I would just add that the items, the codes that have the greatest cost impact, I would say, are the ones that are required by the state. And also, not only are they just required, but they're not allowed to be amended in any way. So those are given. That being said, these are the solar-ready and electric-ready codes and the wildfire protection codes. It's not gonna be exorbitant. I think it adds value as well, so I'm not overly concerned about that. And then, as Dan mentioned, we did make great efforts to just be trying to this end of that throughout the rest of the code where we could make amendments, especially with the fire sprinklers, but all throughout so that we can try and keep things in check as much as possible.

Great, thanks for adding that, because it helps me rest a little easier about, man, we're just gonna go crazy with how, you know, the regulations and that, so I appreciate that you guys are taking that mindset into this.

Yeah, just the, I just would like to add that a lot of times people get hung up on the cost first side of building, but a lot of these energy provisions decrease the cost of ownership, you know, long term, so it is offset in a way.

Great. I'm pretty stoked to hear more mention of the tiny homes subject because I feel like a good pathway towards figuring out affordable homeownership in the future.

One of the things I thought was great was Luke's suggestion that we eliminate the verbiage for ADU square footage. Luke do you want to just inform everybody what we did there?

Yeah so with this 2024 code there's an appendix just specifically for ADUs And it just clarifies a lot on what is an ADU, how they need to be characterized, how to make them safe but still feasible. And then the only amendments we made on those is there was certain language in the ADU section pertaining to the zoning side. So we pretty well struck that out so that the county and the city zoning overrides anything that might show up in that appendix. But I think it's gonna really help clarify things when people need to look at ADUs. And because we all recognize that's a great path forward as well for affordable home ownership.

But we struck the language regarding the subordinated square footage. So if you have a 1,000 square foot house and you wanted to build an ADU, it had to be a much smaller subordinate structure. Now it could possibly be another 1,000 square feet, which I think is great.

Yeah, it just aligns with its owning the city and the county.

We have a serious supply and demand crunch. ADUs are part of solving that. Yeah.

Anybody else? John? Just a small put in, just as a person that gets to see every single piece of construction going on in the county and the city is the contributors to construction here are very innovative and forward thinking and that they are taking options that they can and pathways in the code to find exceptions, to find alternate ways to lower their cost, improve their quality, to improve the efficiencies, and it's happening every day. So this is going to offer them a lot more options right off the bat.

Cool.

Well, thank you for all the hard work, really, everybody. be happy to get moving on 2024 codes and we're good for four years not to do this again for another four years and then who knows what the 2030 what the state will mandate but i Don't put it out in the universe. Don't say it aloud. Let me know when you're ready for a motion, sir. I would entertain a motion. All right.

May I just mention that you used the, there's just one slight typo in the title of the resolution. It's the International Code Council and not conference. So I just wanted to mention that. It's just code series. That's fine. The code series is fine, but it's published by the International Code Conference. It's the International Code Series. It is a code series there. Okay.

It's published by the International Code Council? Correct. Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-20, a resolution for the adoption of certain parts of the 2024 International Code Series published by the International Code Council and other current codes.

Seconded.

Two vote.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. All right.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for all the hard work, everyone.

Wow.

That's the way it goes when you work hard. That's right.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Back to work, everyone.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, Kate.

See you guys, thanks.

See you later. Do we have Bryce with us or online? Moving on to item number four, discussion and consideration of an augmentation water lease agreement between Lake County and Climax Molybdenum. company for the 2026 water year this will be led by bryce ulrich our water natural resources director hello bryce um yeah just really quick you know the golf course had a change in operations this year so um we had dedicated a lot of our meal to the golf course that became available again when they found another water source so

kind of put me in a spot where we didn't have that anticipated money coming from the golf course. But Climax approached us right around the same time. You know, with the dry year coming up, they have a potable water well, or yeah, a well up there at the operation that covers their potable water use. So showers, drinking water, things like that. And that well has the threat to be called out of priority this year with the dry year. So if they're looking for anything and everything, we had 20 acre feet of fur meal to offer they're willing to pay kind of the full price we were going to charge $850 an acre foot they want to do it just a one-time payment up front and an important consideration is that any sort of administration work that goes with this it's up to them right so if they have to take it through a special process to be able to use it for their potable water source they have their own engineering and legal team that can do that so this is kind of a unique opportunity It's not gonna be available in future years. It's just a unique quirk of the golf course, finding a different avenue. But it also is a great chance to establish a relationship with Climax going forward. They might need water in the future for other sorts of needs, but I just wanna be clear that this is not for their industrial operation. This is just for their human needs. Great. Did they approach you or did you approach them? They approached me. So they're looking, they're kind of looking for partnerships everywhere. We're lucky that our attorneys also represent Clear Creek County. And so they've already kind of talked with Aaron Hillsourced up at Climax Blot because of the Henderson operation. So they already have a relationship and that made it pretty easy to get this thing revised and through the process. But yeah, they approached me and they might have other meetings in the future that we don't have the water for yet, but we might

That would just be great. Yeah. This is a one-off for this year, but it lays the groundwork for some future collaborations should those opportunities arise. It's good.

And I just want to let you know that we're signing it first, but I just got word from Climax this morning that they're going to be signing it tomorrow. They're good with this language and everything you saw. Nice.

Cool.

I'll move to approve an Augmentation Water Lease Agreement between Lake County and Climax Moreton Hill Company for the 2026 Water Year.

I'll second that. Two votes. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Thank you, Bryce. Thank you, Bryce. Good work. And anyone else who booked these things over, make sure that they look all right.

Yeah. We re-advised our lease that we've been using. We got the new lawyer's eyes on it.

OK, moving on, I was informed that this will not be a decision item, but I would like to discuss it. So this will be discussion of an MOU with Cloud City Conservation Center to construct and maintain the county's yurt on Lake County School District property. To expand outdoor education and community program, this will be led by Duncan.

Sorry, why is it not a decision? Yeah, that's not correct. It was told this morning that I was getting, uh, controlled. No, I'm presenting this. Okay.

We approve the agenda.

Do you want me to restate that? Please. So this will be a decision?

This will be a decision. Okay. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Let's redo that. Item number five, discussion and consideration of a memorandum of understanding with Cloud City Conservation Center to construct and maintain the county's yurt on Lake County School District property. To expand on our education and community program, this will be led by Candace Bryan-Zarr, Lake County manager. Thank you.

So we mentioned to you guys last week that we are going to come to the MOU to allow C4 to use the ERT that we currently have out of the airport that is covered. I have not checked the ERT, so I do want to say any decision made today would be subject to making sure the ERT is usable, and also any input you guys have on the MOU. So if you guys approved to allow C4 to use the ERT, That MOU would be subject to final legal input. So we do actually need a decision from you guys so we know if we're spending more time negotiating the MOU so that it can be used. Or if you don't, if at least two of you don't want us to do that, then we wouldn't spend more time working through the MOU with Matt and Steve Ford. that's really what we're after today and emily is joining us so she can answer any questions you guys ever heard about the use of the year or scheduling or any of those items okay thank you do we have any questions after we start i still feel the same way that i felt last week do you want to just reiterate what you said last week or two weeks ago we have an item that we're not using that has been acquired for use

for outdoors, education, et cetera, for the community. And we have a partner who's willing to utilize that item for zero cost to us, which we can take back when we're ready. And that just seems like an easy yes to me.

OK. Well, I think it's a really difficult yes for me. And the reason is they're not that easy to put up and take down. It's not like a pup tent. You know, that thing was purchased with, you know, with Nordic skiers and as an outdoor education, you know, with that stuff in mind. So I discussed this last night at the, at the Mineral Belt Trail Committee and a motion was made to try and relocate that somewhere on the Mineral Belt. The obvious place would be, you know, at our new sledding hill. And so I talked to the Economic Development Corporation. They also thought that was a good idea. I talked to the college. They think that's a good idea. So as I was writing this out, thinking about how I just, I don't think it's a good idea. I've loaned out tools that have never come back before. My concern is that we loan it out and it just, it gets put you know, on the back burner, and then pretty soon we forget we own it. So I think a better spot for it, especially if we're going to share it, you know, as it was laid out in the MOU, why couldn't we share it down at the starting line? And, you know, with all the communities involved, myself included, you know, I'd be willing to donate some time to build the base structure, to help set it up. I could even donate a, you know, I'm willing to work People, I just envision that new sledding hill that it's real possible that it'll get straightened this year and be safe. And all the plans we have, I envision that they're maybe selling hot chocolate and brownies. You guys could use it down there if it is truly for outdoor education and not for storage. Skiers could use it. Tubers could use it. C4 could use it. The school could use it. I just think it's a better, you know, then as the years roll on and that gets more developed, and there's a lot of, you know, plans for that corner for those four parcels, including the surrounding area. So I think I'd like to take more time and talk to the college and see if we can all come to an agreement And share it with you. I don't mind sharing it with you. I think for a long time it was like, do we have a yurt? Where is it? Didn't you buy it? It's a $45,000 yurt. So it probably needs a good substructure. It would be nice to set it up. Not set it up for the summer and then try and move it for the winter. So I envision a higher purpose for it. I don't see the county using it much at your location. I see it getting used a lot down at my preferred location.

I think that'll cost money. Everything costs money. This option doesn't cost us money. C4 doesn't cost us money. So what you're proposing, we would have to find the funding to do that.

Yeah, that's true. But it also elevates the structure to a higher purpose. So everything costs money. I know, and I'm just saying as a ... We can work together and get Economic Development Corporation involved, get the college involved, get me involved. I would be willing to donate some labor or all the labor. I just think it needs to be more thought out, and I'm not willing to let it slip through our hands because it was bought with a different ...

Hold on.

... with a different intention.

Oh wait, it was not bought for Nordic skiers.

Wasn't it bought by the rec department with the intention of going out to Kendrick Park for the Nordic skiers and also for outdoor education?

Yes.

Why can't it sit at the base of Dutch Henry for those same purposes?

I'm not saying it can't, but when you talk about getting children to after school events or even during school events, sure C4 can talk about this, Ash does this, but the further it is away, the harder it is for the kids to actually access it, because then you have to manage transportation. So I think there has to be one priority use. And what you're proposing, I hear it is multi-use, but the priority use would be snow sports. And what C4 is proposing, the priority use would be outdoor education. So there is like a, It's not like your proposal meets both needs, but am I making any assumptions, Ashley, Emily?

I would love the opportunity to speak to the board if that's appropriate. Sure. Let's let Andy weigh in first.

Can I just clarify quickly?

I just want to emphasize to you all that this has not been a quick process. C4 approaches all of our projects by putting an immense amount of thought and planning into this. We work with numerous community partners on the farm, including all of those you just named. We have not presented this project to them because a lot of the infrastructure work on our farm doesn't necessarily involve We are also located on the Mineral Belt, and we've been working with the Parks and Rec Department, I don't know if this has been conveyed to you, since August of 2025 on this project. We have a budget of about $60,000 that we've begun fundraising to build this yurt. including our staff time our tools donated to the project so i just i just want to clarify that point because i i think the way that this was brought to you all maybe didn't reflect on the amount of time and consideration and planning and resources we have put into this so far and i just want to make sure that you all are aware of that um that this wasn't something that came up a few weeks ago this is something we have been working on for a very long time. I also want to put out there, I don't think this has been brought to you all, we have offered to rent the yurt, to lease it from you and pay for it. We are not asking you all to loan us something for an undetermined amount of time. We would love to have a formal lease where we compensate you for the investment that you made of taxpayer dollars in this resource. I don't know that that's going to amount to a lot on the county's books. But that is something we are prepared and open to having that conversation, just like we lease the property from the school district, we pay rent there. I just want to make sure you all are clear on that point, that we are happy to compensate you for the investment that the community has made. in this piece of equipment that is not being used right now. And if you would like a lease that allows for in five years, you want to move it, we're open to that, that is okay. Our lease with the school district requires that everything we build on the property is removable. I know that as a builder, you know that that term is, it will be difficult to remove, it won't be easy, but we are open to that as well. So I think your points are very valid and I just wanted to put it out there, since we haven't actually had the opportunity to present the project to you all, that those are all things we've taken into consideration. Would you be opposed to putting it down at the Dutch Henry? You would not have the resources to utilize it there. We, yeah.

Can I?

Yeah, I'm going to let Ash speak, who runs our education.

Well, if you want to speak, or, and I have a lot to share, just to kind of make a case for, um, kind of this project at the farm, but I can go after you.

Thank you. One of my jobs in here is being a voice for the people who are not in this room, and it's not one person, it's not two people. I've gotten significant pushback from community members about using this yurt in this location. So that's just one thing.

Number two is I have serious concerns about

the amount of what the collaboration between the county and C4 is starting to look like. Like, C4 has gotten a lot of grant awards, a lot of contracts from the county this year, and some of the things that I take in from the community give me a little bit of pause about, like, you know what? Hey, you guys want this thing? Go ahead and take it. it's starting to look concerning from the community members about the county's relationship with c4 and I feel like there's this just green light everything that's asked for it gets approved and I'm I'm worried about that because I feel like if something much more important comes across our plate that it's going to be way more beneficial for you guys and there's no balance in the give and take the yeses and noes that we're gonna have to take a lot harder look at other things moving forward so that's two three is i have concerns with oh we're not using it right now let's just do this thing because this is the only idea that presents itself right now when there are gears turning and so many other things in motion that could be happening i had A handful of meetings in the last week about this subject, and I do feel like there we are on the cusp of a lot of changes down at Dutch Henry so i'm gonna agree with the things you said about Henry on that which I think it's funny that you brought all that up because that's exactly where my mind has been to.

So there's just a few points right there that I have concerns with this situation on.

And I can keep going, but I'm just going to leave it at that.

I'm just curious about the number of community members engaging with you all, because this is a project that we try to respect our relationship with the county and have the conversation with the county. And so I'm unclear where community members are coming to you. And I have also had conversations with community members, but they are not concerns. They've been incredibly supportive of the work that we're doing, especially with the county.

No one I've talked to is not in support of what you guys are doing. It's this specific situation with this yurt and that what it was initially intended for, we're basically cutting out the whole skier usage aspect of it by putting it there. I brought this up before and it was relayed to me that it wouldn't be an ideal, not even a decent location for it for cross-country skiing use at the farm. So when we're looking at weighing this and trying to take a balanced approach, it can still be used for all parties at either location. But we talked about making it harder for the schools to go do a class there or something versus it basically not being used by another group. Harder for schools to use it down at Dutch Henry or basically not being used by one of the interested parties at the farm. So that the other, the other part that I am having a little bit of an issue with is that I haven't really been singularly approached about this conversation by you guys. And I take a little bit of, it feels disingenuous to me to come in here and be like, we've already put so much work into this. Like, it's almost like. How dare you say no, we've done so much to make this happen already and that I have an issue with that. I'm sorry. I'm just gonna say like that doesn't feel fair to me.

I really apologize that you feel that way. And I just want to be clear that we followed staff direction. on how we should approach this project. And so I am sincerely sorry that I did not approach each of you individually to have the conversation from what was conveyed to us. It was not a necessary step, but I see now that it absolutely was. And I don't want to add more work to your team's plate, but when I talked with Candace yesterday, We are not, we don't anticipate pursuing any construction until later in the summer. And so I do wonder, I would love to give Ash the chance to present the project to you all since we haven't had that opportunity yet. Just to share more about it and then perhaps we can table this and we can meet with everyone individually. I'm happy to meet with other partners. If you all want to convene a conversation of Dutch Henry, CMC, I am happy to offer my time to do that. That would be well within our capacity. Because I do think, unfortunately, because we haven't presented this project publicly, there's a lot of misunderstanding about the use and how it would engage all of these partners. And I just really apologize that it reached this point. I think we did not, I don't want to say we expected it to be I think we just didn't anticipate that it would bring up a lot of feelings for a lot of different people. I think from what we had seen about it in the past, it just kind of seemed to be a purchase that was made by someone who left. And we wanted to make an offer that if the county felt it was just sitting there, How could we help resolve that issue? But I think based on this conversation, it actually would be better to have some other conversations outside of this room before we bring it back to you all. With that, I do want to give Ash the opportunity to talk about how we envisioned using it so that you have that from us.

Yeah, I see this yurt on the farm and on school district property as being the a really amazing asset for a lot of people. And so thanks for the chance to share a little bit more about that. I also recognize that in this community, when the chance to build an indoor space shelter can happen at a relatively low price point quickly, that's pretty big. And as you know, yours can go up and down. easier than like a big structure so I just know like sometimes it's really hard to get things going and we're able to really get this going and so um like at the farm this year it would be used by every single Rocky's Rock camper who I work with in the summer and a lot of we don't have an indoor learning space at the farm. We can gather in a small corner of the dome, but that leaks. And so in the summer during rainy days, having Rocky's Rock campers at the farm takes a lot of creativity in figuring out what indoor space we're using with them. So that's hundreds of kids in the month of July. We run multiple Project Dream farm clubs and Friday workshops and both Rocky's Rock and Project Dream will be based out of LCIS this summer and in the coming years with Project Dream. And so Wednesday I have a farm club. We walk across the street to the farm and do learning activities and that proximity is really asset and so like with project dream I work with little kids and the next year hopefully after middle and high schoolers so it would it really would have an impact on hundreds of kids the sixth or twelfth grade science classes come down to the farm walking from the high school and we've had to cancel some of their programming due to adverse weather, but we could really not only expand some of those classes, but just like elevate. Instead of me teaching around a picnic table, we have already bought some whiteboards and furniture that we could then actually utilize in a York space. Little kiddos, I work with kids from right to start in the center. and just having a home base for those little kiddos at the farm when they come would be huge. I work with the homeschool group where they're gonna have a community garden plot and we could really do some more activities with them. I work with HMI students and I work Bound at the farm. So, as well as the library, full circle, and you know, there's, we're thinking about doing some things with family programs and goal. So I, like Matt, you mentioned the fear at the, at Dutch Henry maybe having a higher purpose and I disagree. It's just a different purpose. And I, as a skier and runner and lover of the outdoors, like I see value in having more, amenities at Dutch Henry, I also see the impact this year could have at the farm. I haven't even touched on adult education workshops and the county using it for programming. And I think this is just, I think it's really mutually beneficial. I think it would impact a lot more. like we could do a lot of good really quickly quickly for a lot of people um and it could also be sort of like a trial to see how a year functions like we're very good at caretaking what we have at the farm we can see and i recognize if it's at dutch henry that's a lot of time put on someone else's plate we're already at the farm every day we can remove snow we can like Liz and Sarah are quite handy and can fix things and do fix things so I just think there's it makes a lot of sense in my mind I do recognize I think this conversation was happening when a certain group of people and didn't we didn't realize how big it had become and I'm sorry like I I I'm sorry um about that and I think I'm glad you mentioned that because then we can do better going forward and kind of prevent some of these things from becoming touchy. But I just think like this could be a game changer. It could be a really nice way to see New York's work. Like they're pretty inexpensive as far as building projects. And then like, yeah, having like maybe having one at Dutch Henry, but I do think we're willing to take on a lot of the costs and the work. And I think it, and it would impact maybe like a hundred times more people than it might at Dutch Henry. Then there's honestly no way I can bring any kids to Dutch Henry without buses and during the time I have. So like we, I wouldn't be able to utilize that, which is okay. But I'm just saying that's not really something. The location is really central to all our education programs. Even LCIS, ES being on the Mineral Belt, those kids can walk to the farm. So that's what I have to share. And I'm open to questions. And yeah. Thanks for giving me that time.

No, thanks for diving into all that. And that definitely makes this a really hard call. I wasn't just, no part of me was like, no, out of just hearing what some people said. I tried to go through a list of a handful of things that made this a really hard subject for me to wrap my head around. But there are also elements that even you just echoed right there that gives us a chance to see if this even works. And it's sort of like, well, what if it doesn't? The other part was we can have the elementary school kids walk down to this location and the distance from the elementary school to the farm is no greater than the distance of walking on the mineral belt to Dutch Henry. Those are two very apples to apples kind of strolls for kids. So I do see where we're getting some pushback on the idea that this, Dutch Henry is moving, there are things happening there, and I really, we don't have two yurts sitting up at the airport by chance, do we? No, not to my knowledge. Because that's what we really need in this situation. We need another one.

Andy, one thing to mention, because our farm is school district property, it is not considered a field trip. for students to come to the farm, but it is for Dutch animals.

As someone who takes kids biking after school with Project Dream, trying to cross Highway 24, even with a group of nine kids on bikes, is really hard. And I will say that, yes, as far as the crow flies, The distance is the same, but we're not going to walk.

Logistically, it's more challenging. You don't have a crossing guard out there to stop traffic.

Yeah, and it's always, even when I'm with a small group on bikes, it can be hard getting across. Fair enough.

Yeah, okay.

I do, I really, yeah. But I see that, you know, like Dutch Henry is an amazing spot and is used by a few different groups. But I hope I was able to just provide more information so that you can make a more informed decision.

Yeah, there you were. And I think these are the kind of conversations we needed to have and be able to get everything out on the table and explain, like, here's, you know, here's our pros, here's our cons, here's where, you know, one of our trepidation are with this.

So on my part, I am equally

responsible for not reaching out to you guys directly as well. So I apologize for my part on that.

Well, I think all that work sounds great. You guys are doing great work out there. The problem is it's the county's yurt. So I would like to see you pursue your own yurt or maybe buy the yurt from us. Really, my issue is that, you know, I don't know how to say it without offending you, so I'm not going to say it. I really see the county using that yurt. You're welcome to use it. I think if you've raised $60,000, that's a $45,000 yurt. Do you need a yurt that big? I mean, the concept of yurts being used in this county is well flushed out. Tennessee Pass, they're everywhere in the backcountry, so we know they work. It would take some more convincing or some more. I would like to see a strategy session of my idea fleshed out. Yours has been fleshed out without the inclusion of us, which is fine. I mean, we're not here to micromanage every decision. So I guess I'm not ready to make a decision, or I'm inclined to make a decision. that unless it's going to continue to sit at the airport and rot, it could be rotten. It could be full of mouse poop and rat's mess. But I think both options should be explored. Could you write a grant for your own yurt? Could we talk to somebody at CMC and CDC and see if we could use that temporarily down there until that concept really gets developed?

this point I'm not really willing to let it go without without more thought I really appreciate you sharing that Matt I think one thing I want to say in response is I want to be really clear that we have actually had a year in our strategic plan for the farm since 2019 it was not that we saw that the county had a piece a piece of equipment and that might work it was we have plans to have this space on the farm and we have wanted to get a yurt. And we were exploring how we could do that in the most economically feasible way for our organization and our community. And that was when we approached the county. So I just want to be clear that it wasn't that we thought maybe you all had this resource and we could use it. This has been a part of our long-term plan to build a yurt. And I think I will leave it up to to Candice and you all on how you would like to move forward. I would be more than happy to come back and present at a work session and participate in that with these other groups. I'm also happy if it's appropriate to facilitate a meeting outside of an official work session with, and I wrote down, it was the Mineral Belt, CMC, Dutch Henry, and anyone else you would like to invite. I'm happy to facilitate that conversation, even if it doesn't result in your ending up at C4, I do think, again, we also haven't had the opportunity to talk to those partners. And so I'm more than happy to be a part of a larger community conversation. That's what I would like to see as next steps.

And Cloud City Mountain Sports, I think, should also have a seat at that table as well.

Because when the trail committees, Cloud City Mountain Sports, CMC, economic development corporation they all see i i won't say highest used but you know and then maybe you guys should develop a plan b if that truly is your perhaps going to be helping with the plan b you know like maybe if it's if there is a feasible path forward for us to have a warming hut slash tube rental whatever down at dutch henry that's gonna

make it easier for kids to get out and play. That's when I see a big benefit for local youth. Sitting in a classroom is important and having lessons and stuff about things you guys would be proficient at teaching them is important, but in my mind, kids playing is really important for so many different reasons and being able to accommodate that and really see that Dutch Henry area fired on all eight cylinders, and you've got the racer kids with CCMS, and you've got kids from the tubing hill, or you've got skiers going by on the, you know, that's the vision that I see, that I'm like, wow, we're yanking this off the table, and then we're gonna have to spend money to do something else, because I don't wanna set a year up on your guys' property, and then like, less than a year later, be like, you know what, we need that back. So that's where I've got like, you know, additional. That's a good point.

Who could I speak to at the county or in the community who could, because I am not necessarily familiar with the plans at Dutch Henry, who would be the best person for me to talk to so that I could understand?

I think having all the parties involved there, because it's not just CMC, it's not just CCMS, it's not just the county.

I think we would also even need to have Leadville Sands.

what can or what can't happen.

And I've just, in the last couple months, with the Army Corps engineers giving the green light on the wetlands project, things have seemed like they've started moving pretty fast. I mean, I've heard some things that could be massively impactful over there.

And if it provides a gateway for local youth to get out and play outside and break a sweat or do fun things, it's something I personally am really supportive of.

We can set up a time to sit down with Ben. He and I have been talking about trying to get this flood hill straightened out and other plans that are not for sure with the college yet that he is just exploring with his board too. So we can all sit down and just have a conversation about it. And I do want to apologize that this ended up on a work session today instead of, or excuse me, as a decision item instead of a work session. And our last meeting when I brought this up, new staff was given direction to make changes to the MOU and bring them back, which is why we found ourselves back here today. And I think that you guys have maybe had other conversations before we arrived here after that last discussion. So I do feel badly that we are here discussing an MOU because leaving our last conversation, I didn't know that we would be here. I thought we just needed to make the changes that the yurt could be moved back if we ever needed to. And it's okay that we've changed our mind, but I certainly did not mean to put Emily in a position of having to defend this conversation. I thought the changes to the MOU were just that the yurt could be removed. I do think whatever work session we have, I'd love to explore if there's a thought of finding a way to have another yurt or grant, whatever. that we can be working together to help you guys figure that out?

Because we certainly are applicable for larger and more grants. I would say that if this is off the table, we would return those grants and not pursue this project for the foreseeable future. Just because of the effort we've put in, some of these funding opportunities are not One of them, which we have not heard back on, this was the last round of that grant. And so we pursued this because what was conveyed to us by staff was that this was something worth pursuing and putting our efforts into. And I apologize that that was not the correct information, but we would probably table the project just because as an organization we have other priorities

That's good. Yeah, it was just one of those situations where we were looking at a can and taking it at face value as a can and then we opened it up and it's a bunch of worms and there's a lot of other things going on there that we needed. I think, you know, it's no singular person dropping the ball and we just needed to be a bigger conversation.

Well, I will follow up with Candace so we can come up with Ben and then if we were going to have that larger conversation, does that need to be a formal work session? Yeah, and we can get that scheduled.

Why don't we then all get pulled together the other parties you guys wanted involved in the conversation. OK.

If that's what you guys want. Yeah, what do you think? I'm open. I think more discussion is always valuable, because no matter what conclusion we come to, we learn more about what everybody's goals and intentions are. And that helps us move forward with everything.

I agree. talking about the especially with those the brochure that ben brought us this week about for cmc yeah the trident stuff yeah there's a lot going on over there and we haven't really had a good work session on the plans and what's happening when i think that's valuable i i at the same time i think that anything that we do we as a county do over there um We need to be honest about the amount of resources we're willing to put into it. I'm currently not feeling very open to putting more resources into skiing at the moment. We have other things to put money into and skiing just got a big influx of money for the year, even though we didn't use it, that we'll get to apply to next year. I think that Duncan has come in and told us that running Dutch Henry is expensive and hard to actually do. So when we talked with Ben last time, there was discussion about CMC potentially being able to help us run Dutch Henry. So it's like a great idea to put the yurt over there, but the other resources that are required for that yurt to be feasible are money conversations that we haven't had. And I think the periphery conversations that we have had about the money are no's.

i think that we need to also be realistic about okay we can have these conversations but are we going to circle back down to the same answer which is no we're not going to put more money into that there's a lot more no's lately than there are yeses because of our prioritization of being more strategic and efficient with taxpayer dollars yeah i don't think that means it's no's across the board all the time on everything if you were to ask me point blank should we not have a tubing hill for the local kids because it costs money? I'm like, yeah, we should. That's an important place for kids to blow off steam.

Yeah, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the rec department has expressed how complicated it is to run it. And then we actually potentially need partners to help us run the tubing hill. So that's a place where we've tried to say, hey, maybe we can pull this back for our expense, but what other expense can be? And all of that aside, um if we don't want to make a decision about this now fine but i could see us saying no we want to have some discussion before we make a decision about this yurt and then that yurt has sat in that spot for more and more years not getting used and i would be really disappointed if that happened so so i do want us to be continuing to have conversations, continue to be curious, make sure we know what everybody's plans are, but also be realistic about what can be used for the community now. So just, I think it's important to be realistic about the conversations that have happened in this room that do inform the year, that do inform Dutch Henry. Because we sat in this room with Ben more than a year ago to talk about the Dutch Henry plans. And we have put money into that Dutch Henry plan already. And while I know things are going to happen this summer, nothing has yet happened to change the Dutch Henry situation.

What do you mean by that?

We haven't straightened out the hill. We haven't put in the culvert. We haven't actually gotten the land ownership agreements sorted, you know?

Yeah. So... Moving at the blazing speed of local government is your concern.

Yeah.

And it's also the answer of why We got, within the last two months, the approval from the Army Corps of Engineers. And that is why we don't see the culverts in place, but we have it. And CMC has already committed to doing all the dirt work for the county, which greatly reduces costs.

I'm not saying that it's not going to happen.

Those two things right there, I'd say have a pretty significant chance of happening this summer to allow us to go full bore with the new tubing hill. And I'd really like the option of having a facility there for people to use while they're tubing. You know, then it's accessible to Mineral Belt, then it's accessible to Cloud City Mountain Sports for their classes, even though they already have a building there. If we've got, the county is slinging hot cocoa or something to offset some of the costs or whatever, you know, just some place for people to get warm, whatever.

I agree. I think it's a cool idea. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I think it's a great idea. i'm talking about the realistic cost behind it and that that will that will make it take longer to happen i think it will happen i'm committed to the dutch henry plan i love the dutch henry plan i just think it'll take a while those are good points and especially the point about just sitting there and we say no because we feel i'm feeling selfish and possessive

And it's just going to sit there for another two or three years and not get used. That's not fair. So I don't want to see that happen. Could we put on next week's work session with a goal of coming back here in two weeks and making a decision? In the meantime, see if we can partner up. My plan B would be to let you guys use it. My plan A would be to use it at Dutch Henry. See if we can, you know, to utilize some of our partners and volunteers, perhaps some of the Mineral Belt Trail Committee funds, which are substantial, that are just sitting there, and see if we can make that work. And if that plan, it's always good to have a plan B. If that plan is unfeasible or costs more money than we're comfortable with or than you're comfortable with, then we'll make a decision in two weeks so that you guys aren't hung out to dry. In the meantime, maybe you guys can start thinking about it.

Yeah, I like that. I think one of the trickiest parts will be like in the list of folks who want to talk to you about it is Duncan. Like we need to hear from our rec department significantly what the, like a reminder of what tubing has been like over there and what's it like for us to manage it and staff it and

What kind of facility do they need? The problem with the tubing is it's dangerous. It's not that fun. So, you know, as soon as Rodenbridge gets those culverts in this summer, Ben is ready to start moving heavy equipment and all his team is going to do that part of it.

And then they can make snow on it.

I see it as a really valuable amenity that's going to get really popular, especially with some proper stairs. And so those problems that or the perceived problems in the past about it not making money. I mean, I see it as a moneymaker. I see it as an economic development opportunity, so maybe... Yeah.

I think part of it was staffing, though. Like, that was a big part of it, was staffing and hours.

Or we could also do an RFP for an operator. They could sell hot chocolates and rent the tubes. This is turning into a work session.

It's okay. We can totally do it. We'll have Duncan join us. Duncan and I have discussed it here at length. He, in the conversations we have had together, we have a lot of things, a lot of things. And we have a very hard time maintaining the things we currently have. And this feels very much in conversations Duncan and I have had, that this is an item we have that we're not utilizing. don't necessarily have the resources to maintain. I think that is the biggest reason he and I did not recognize that the yurt would have the emotions attached to it. And also, I think he and I are both new. But it certainly does feel like we don't maintain the items we do have very well. And this feels like even if we set it up at CMC or wherever, or Dutch Henry, would have to have a good plan in place to actually maintain the item instead of having another item that we don't maintain. So Duncan has shared it does feel like it's one more item that we haven't maintained and don't have a plan to maintain. And I think if we want to have a work session about plan A and plan B, we'll ask him to come join us, but he has shared that with me in our discussions about the ERG. And after our last session, I really did feel like the guidance was to come back with changes to the MOU. So if we do have a future use for the yurt, then we could take the yurt back and use it. And so that is the only reason I scheduled this today and not a work session is that's not my guidance. I felt like I left the meeting. But if we want to move towards a work session, I'm happy to do that and have Duncan join us and hopefully Ben from CMC.

Yeah, hopefully then I would also like to get CCMS at the table if at all possible.

They're an important partner in that area and knowing all the players involved with that side of things will help us weigh the options better between both locations. I don't know if we, the Leadville sand component probably isn't important to have in the work session, but they are going to be involved with

Anything that's happening over there in one way or shape or form? Would it be worth it having anyone from the schools in on this?

I think that they would like to not be involved in this discussion.

Okey dokey.

Okay, just looking at scheduling out, we are pretty full scheduled until 3 p.m. next week. So if we wanted to have it on next week's schedule, we would probably have to extend it a little bit longer. Otherwise, we'd be looking at June 9th. June 9th or November.

Let's do next week.

I think it's important to do it next week. Yeah, because they need information.

How long for the discussion?

Two hours. Two hours.

Fill us until 5. Until 5. OK. Thank you. Hopefully it won't take that long. So let's just put it on the books.

Yeah. All right. Well, I turn for a motion to move this. You want to move too? Yeah.

I will make a motion to table agenda item number five. I will make a motion to table the discussion and consideration of a memorandum of understanding with the Cloud City Conservation Center to construct and maintain the county's yurt on Lake County School District property to expand outdoor education and community programming.

Can we do it until the 2nd of June?

To a date to be determined? I want to make sure we got all the players lined up before we just lock something in.

But if Ben can't make it that day, I don't... Well, I think the urgency is that we can get them an answer. So if Ben can't come, are we still going to have the conversation?

Yeah, let's have the conversation. If Ben can't be here, we can at least get some people.

You guys can have proper stations with him ahead of time. Yeah. Okay.

So the tabling of that will be until June 2nd, the next work session.

Next regular meeting.

Next regular meeting, sorry.

Yeah, second. So you guys want a work session on the 26th? Hold up.

We're tabling the decision.

Tabling the decision on the MOU until the 2nd.

Yeah.

We are, ideally, trying to plan a work session sooner than that. Hopefully, everyone can make it to our fun discussions.

The motion has been seconded. I'll call the vote.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

OK.

Thanks for your time, you guys. Thank you, Ash and Emily. Thanks for all the additional information on that, too. It helps.

OK, moving on, item number six, county attorney updates, Mr. Hobbs.

So we're getting ready to file three more land use cases with CPG-8. We have one, the three original ones that were filed, two have been resolved, one set for trial in June.

The three that are getting ready to file, two of them are nuisance cases, another is

case out in Twin Lakes, I think, where there's another camper or something. One of the nuisance cases is the one property with umpteen cars down south.

They're on Highway 40. Just a flat line that'll be coming down here soon. I think we have a training in Next week on the contract life cycle management software which I'm really excited to get going and I've kind of been pestering everybody to move that forward because every time a contract comes before me I get a little flustered of how we do not have a really good system in place for managing these contracts. in terms of updates, that's going to be helpful for you all.

We're going to have a discussion on the IGA coming up with your IGA. I think that's about all I have for today. Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. Thanks. Moving on, item number seven, county manager updates.

We have a new OEM director, Dan Campbell, who started Monday. Congratulations. Yay. We're very excited he's here. He has already hit the ground running this week, getting together all of our plans, which are being updated this year. And we're going to get a work session together with him so you guys can meet him. We can have some conversations about plans that are going to be in place. He is working on updating a lot of our contact lists, which are pretty outdated. And really working very closely with our Department of Homeland Security liaison NOAA to make sure we're fully in compliance. We have an HMPG grant that Claire had secured previously in which we didn't spend all of our grant funding. And NOAA is working with Dan to identify some items that we need for the EOC and for that department that we can build to that grant. They extended the deadline for us to finish utilizing those grant funds and go back to it. And that department is pretty heavily under-resourced and has historically been. So we want to make sure we have radios that work, the EOC is set up if we had to activate it, and make sure that we're ready to go. Other updates are our E911 department. We all know that dispatch went down and then was brought back up this week. Their equipment is pretty dated. And even though E911 falls under the jurisdiction of Heath and a board, we know that looking at replacing some of our own IT equipment is really heavily tied to some of the needs they have in the E911 department. And the ability to dispatch in emergencies is really very important. It's kind of the central hub for information and activating So I do want to flag for you guys that looking at our IT infrastructure and also what E911 needs are going to be big budget discussions this year for us. A lot of our equipment is so old that it really is going to be beyond the point of updating in the future. So I do want to flag for you guys those things coming up. What else? We are planning to hand off our audit papers to the auditor at the end of May. We have been working through closing all of the books, posting anything back and forth that needed to be posted, and then posting adjusting injuries that we get at the end of the 2024 audit. So at the end of your audit, your auditor gives you injuries to post to make any adjustments once the audit is complete. So we've done that and are really trying to hand those off and have our audit done on time, which has been a pretty astronomical lift. I do want to say that just because the audit is completed on time doesn't mean there will never be findings. We are cleaning up things that we inherited and did not create, and it takes a while to get all of those processes that we created really at the beginning of 2025 implemented and clean up things that were from staff who were here really before we were here. So flagging those items for you guys that should be having that thing done on time. And having them cleaner every time you get them done on time. Congratulations.

Thanks.

That's huge.

Yeah. I think that's it.

Thank you. Thank you, Candace. Can we have a five-minute break before item number eight, which is an executive session?

Yeah.

Do you have anybody mind? Commissioners will convene an executive session for a conference with the county attorney and the county's water legal counsel for the purpose of receiving legal advice on and for matters that may be subject to negotiations regarding an IGA, with the city of Aurora and respect to water rights. No decision of the board of county commissioners shall be made in executive session, and no formal action will be taken during this session. Can I get a motion to go into executive session?

I will make a motion to go into executive session.

I'll second that.

To a vote? Aye. Aye. Aye.

Okay, we are now in executive session pursuant to CRS 24S642 subsection 4B. The purpose of receiving legal advice from the county attorney and our special water council regarding the Aurora IGA. We hereby certify that all our portion of the matters to be discussed in this executive session are protected by the attorney client privilege. Therefore, pursuant to CRS 24-642, subsection 2B5, subsection 2B, the electronic recording of this executive session may now be stopped.

We are now out. Are we recording? Slowly roll. We are now out of executive session, and this is a reminder that no formal action was taken during this executive session. We will now ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. I will make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Seconded.

To vote?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Consent agenda is approved. This is a reminder that all packet materials for agenda items are available upon request. To subscribe to email or to text notifications, please go to our Lake County government website and subscribe. That concludes this regular meeting of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners. It's Tuesday, May 19th at 2.20. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.