Board of County Commissioners Business Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good morning. I would like to call the September 8th, 2026 business meeting of the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners to order. In attendance today are Acting County Attorney John Christopherson and Cooney Saraceno, Administrator to the Board in the Clerk and Recorder's Office. Also joining us to facilitate remote public participation is Chris Henning. Deputy Director of the Commissioner's Office. Mr. Saraceno, will you please call the roll? But before you do, Commissioner Campbell is here. She's just not here, but she's here.

Here. And Commissioner Campbell is here. She's just not here right this second. She's here. So, Commissioner Baker, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Please stand if you're able and join me. Thank you. Are there any changes to the agenda as presented?

Wonderful. Then may I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Yes, Commissioner Warren-Gulley. To adopt the agenda as presented. Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded to adopt the agenda as presented. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it and the motion is adopted. I told you Commissioner Campbell was here. Next is our public comment period. You're invited to speak to the commissioners about any topic that's not on the agenda for general business. For those on the line who'd like to get in the queue to speak, please press star three at this time. And as a reminder, o

Thank you. Is there anybody else in the room that did not get to put their name on the list but would like to speak? Chris, is there anybody online who would like to speak at this time?

All right. Well, then with that, we are going to say thank you for your comments. And as a reminder, we do not respond to individual comments during this section of our agenda, but we do listen and do take note of the issues for resolution and follow-up as appropriate. Again, we encourage you to email us at commissioners at arapahogo.com if we weren't able to hear your comments today. So today, we are honored to have two proclamations before us. The first is recognizing September 13th through 19th, 2026 as National Co-Responder and Crisis Responder Week. Is there a motion to approve this procl

Thank you, Madam chair. I just would like to offer my thanks to first of all, the sheriff and his team for bringing this forward. This idea of having co-responders in Arapahoe County. I mean, we see the numbers, we get the numbers every quarter from you all. We see the success of this program. and to thank the co-responders that are here today for taking on a situation where you are handing people off to a better solution than either, as said, going to a hospital or to jail. And this is just such an important part of the direction that I see happening through our law enforcement sheriff's offi

Thank you, Madam chair. So I kind of want to pull out big picture first. And I think what is so amazing about the co-responder program is that it really, it, it addresses sort of the philosophical questions around what is the point of law enforcement in our justice and legal system, right? Is it to just punish people for existing, to just throw people in jail, or is it to help correct behaviors that are not helpful to a healthy society. And you can have, and we study in the law, of the what is the intent, what is the mens rea, like what is the thought process that someone is in when they are d

Thank you, ma'am chair. And I too want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of alcohol responders, because you don't just respond, but you show up. And when you show up, you're providing a level of support and care that that family may not know how to navigate. And it takes a certain type of skill to be able to do that because you don't know what you're really showing up to. And a lot of times it's families that are in crisis and we need a co-responder that can be an effective navigator to help calm the situation down, to figure out next steps. It's kind of a luxury to have a co-re

And I'm not going to say much, but I am going to invite the sheriff up to speak. But I do want to say thank you. I echo the voices of the rest of the commissioners who spoke, and we are excited to see you here today, sir.

Thank you, sir. Thank you very much, Sheriff. If you folks would hang out for a little while longer, we're going to take a picture, but not until after we do the next proclamation. So thank you again, Sheriff, to you and your incredible team for the work that you do. And it is very special that you brought Captain Heaton with you today, and we appreciate that. So just like District 4. Or your District 5. So thank you very, very much. Our next proclamation is recognizing September 2026 as Workforce Development Month. Is there a motion to approve the proclamation? Madam Chair? Yes, Commissioner

I move that we adopt this proclamation. Second.

It has been moved by Commissioner Warren Gulley and properly seconded by Commissioner Fields to approve the proclamation. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? The ayes have it and the proclamation is adopted. I would like to ask Commissioner Campbell to read this proclamation, please.

I would be more than happy to, Madam Chair. Thank you so much. A proclamation for National Workforce Development Month in Arapahoe County. Whereas Arapahoe County's workforce remains the cornerstone of our economic vitality and Workforce Colorado Arapahoe Douglas Works delivers no cost workforce development solutions supporting individuals in accessing meaningful employment while helping businesses secure skilled talent and Whereas the employment landscape continually changes through economic and technological trends, labor market fluctuations, and talent mobility and competition. And whereas

Commissioners? Commissioner Baker. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Well, I just wanna say job well done. We know how busy our Arapahoe Douglas Workforce Center is. In fact, we may be attracting folks from other jurisdictions that may not have quite the services that we provide. It's extensive and it's critical to seeing our economic development in Arapahoe County. And I can't thank you all enough for the job that you've done. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Fields.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, want to acknowledge the work that's being done as it relates to workforce development because, you know, people attach their identity to their work. And looking for work is hard work. And you need to have a group of people, an agency, like the work that you guys are doing that are connecting people to opportunities. Because it can get to the point when you're looking for a job that they won't find a match. But what I like about what you guys do is that you just don't give up on people that are looking for jobs. And it's really hard. Our economy is not the best i

Commissioner Warren-Gulley. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just can't say enough about our team. I know you all know that there's a lot of conversation going on around workforce right now, and every single one of the folks in these seats are being sought after for information, for experience, for expertise, and the skills that they bring to the state. They are leaders in our state. I mean, Sasha, as a director, is called on many times, is sitting on, I don't know how you're keeping up with all those meetings. You're on our apprenticeship program, Benjamin, that you've highlighted is just amazing. P

Thank you. Commissioner Campbell. Thank you, Madam Chair. And welcome back from recess, everyone. You obviously were like, yeah, we get to talk about stuff again. And so I think it's, I mean, I have just kind of a couple different thoughts. And I think, first of all, it's great that these two things are here today in front of us at the same time. Um, because workforce development is public safety workforce development is homelessness prevention workforce development is mental and behavioral health support. Right. And so it, it, it kind of, I just am having kind of a little whole person. full p

Thank you. And, um, I, uh, cannot, uh, let everybody else speak and me not because workforce development and y'all are so very important to my life. And I cannot thank you enough for the work that you do for Arapahoe County and for the work that you do for mothers who need help with their children launching. We appreciate you more than you could ever know. But in all seriousness, it is amazing the work that you do. I mean, you get in, you get on that micro level with people to really ignite the spark that is going to make a permanent change in people's lives, could change the trajectory of som

Thank you, Ms. Easton. All right, Sheriff's Office and AD Works, we're going to head back there for a picture. We'll be right back.

Oh, where's the thing? Okay, here we are. All right. So Commissioner Fields is on her way back. Great. So we have 19 items on our consent agenda today. Does any commissioner wish to remove an item? Madam Chair?

to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Second. It has been moved and properly seconded to adopt the consent agenda as presented. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Then the motion passes. The ayes have it, the motion is adopted. Thank you very, very much. And so now we have two items on our general business agenda today. The first is a public hearing on our second quarter budget supplemental. Our presenter is Lisa Stairs, senior budget analyst in finance. That's a lot of words. And our attorney of record is John Christopherson, Acton County Attorney. Mr. Christopherson, could you pleas

Thank you very much, Mr. Christopherson. Ms. Stairs, would you please provide the presentation?

Commissioners, are there any questions for Ms. Stairs? Great. Looks like there are no questions. Well, thank you very, very much. I'm going to now open up the item for public comment.

Right. We could, yes, yes. So I'm going to open this up for public comment. Is there anybody on the list for public comment? No, I'm sorry. Okay. Chris, is there anybody online who would like to make a comment on this agenda item? Or not. So I am going to go ahead and say the answer is no. And I'm going to close public comment at this time. And is there any commissioner discussion?

Campbell. Not to cut off any discussion, but I'm happy to make a motion if there's no comment. It looks like we are ready for a motion. Go right ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to adopt the supplemental appropriation resolution for the 27 items as part of the 2026 budget that was presented to the board on the second quarter budget review study session on August 10th, 2026 and brought forward for today's public hearing for formal adoption.

It has been moved by Commissioner Campbell and properly seconded by Commissioner Fields to adopt the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? The ayes have it, and the motion is adopted. Thank you very, very much, Finance.

Thank you, Finance. We love you. I love sitting here and listening. Yes. I don't know why.

I had kind of forgotten about some of those things.

It was kind of like, oh, yeah. Yeah, like, that's right, that's right. So, the second item is a proposed amendment to the Development Application Manual related to wireless communication facilities and proposed fees. Case number LDC26-002. Our presenter is Ernie Rose, Energy Planner in Public Works and Development. And our attorney of record is Matt Hader, Senior Assistant County Attorney. Mr. Hader, could you please set the foundation?

Thank you very much, Mr. Hader. Mr. Rose, would you please provide the presentation?

Thank you, Mr. Rose. Any questions, commissioners, for Mr. Rose? No questions. Isn't that something? So I'll go ahead and open this up for public comment too. Do we have any buddy in the room? Okay. There's nobody on the list for public comment. And Chris, are you back up there?

Great. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate that. So if you needed to make a public comment, you can go ahead and, Send us something at commissioners at arapahogov.com for all of the public comment from Mr. Rose. So at this point, do we have any commissioner discussion? If not, I will take a motion.

Yes, Commissioner Warren-Gully. I did just want to ask. Mr. Rose, it sounds like you've already kind of tried out and scoped out this system, and it's working well.

Okay. Well, I'm glad that they got it going in the right direction, and I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Commissioner Campbell?

All right, Ernie, let's try to get you some revenue to support this program, yeah? So in the case of LDC 26-002, amendments to the development application manual and the planning review fee schedule addressing wireless communication facilities, former commercial mobile radio service. I reviewed the matter in the record, including the staff report, all exhibits and attachments. I've listened to the testimony and the public comment as presented at the hearing. And based on the record before me, I hereby move to approve and adopt the resolution of the record amending the development application m

It has been moved by Commissioner Campbell and properly seconded by Commissioner Warren Gulley. That's what I thought, but I just wanted to double check. To approve the motion, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Any abstentions? The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Thank you very much, Mr. Rose. We appreciate you. We have no polled consent agenda items. Great. And so now, do we have any commissioner comments and opportunity for commissioners to make remarks about the work they're doing, issues of importance, remembrances, all of that? I do. Yes, Commissioner Campbell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So today is, I think my fellow members know, but for the thousands of people listening online, I am the chair of 988. 988 is a free and confidential mental health helpline. And we're very intentional to not say crisis only, right? Because it could be you're having a moment at work and you just kind of don't know who to talk to and you need some quick help, um, to help you get through a tough moment all the way up to, Hey, I am in crisis and I need probably some, uh, a mobile response team to come out. We've been doing incredible work. And since today is 9-8, today is 9-

Thank you very, very much. Anybody else? Well, be there no other business before this board, we are adjourned.