Remarks by Marsha Porter-Norton
138 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 6
Elizabeth Silberg, Applied to County Commissioner. Marissa Porter-Norton, Applied to County Commissioner.
No, Chair. Yeah, I have nothing to remove. Thank you, Chair.
Commissioner Salka? Yeah. Chairman Salka. I move that we approve today's business agenda. It is 1001 on the 27th of October.
Chairman Salka. Yes. I move that we approve the minutes that are posted one through six as posted on the public agenda.
I move that we approve the minutes from June 23rd, 2026.
Chairman Salco. Yes. It is not appropriate for commissioners to give public comment. I would like to note that in the part of the agenda today, when we are having more of our commissioner updates, I would like to give a thank you to our county attorney, Cheryl Rogers. Thank you. And so I'm not going to give that now, but if anybody is dropping off, you can listen later and hear my comments. We have a big agenda item today with her separation agreement, and I would like to not let this moment pass without a thank you, and just I'll leave it at that. So I just wanted to know, we have a lot of…
Chairman Zalcoff. Yes. I will wait until we get through public comment. I have some comments. Thanks.
Chairman Salka? Yes. This is, every year I get a little choked up when you all come in, as you know, and the reason is there are so many children and families in our society that need help. And sometimes it's easy for our society writ large to sort of look the other way or to act like those things don't exist. And you all are dealing on the front line every day with things that a lot of us couldn't deal with, frankly. And I appreciate it. And I say this every year, and it's no less impactful that you are literally changing lives. You are changing lives. You are helping our society be…
Any questions, just comments later. No questions.
I just want to say that there are over 3,000 veterans in La Plata County, and I thank each and every one of them for their service. It was an honor. Anytime we're around veterans or veterans groups, it's an honor. And I'm always amazed. I always thank them for their service. And they sort of say that this universal answer they give of, you're welcome, and of course I would serve. And it just is always like, oh, wow, that's incredible given what all of them have been through as well as their families. So I am tremendously glad to be doing this. And thanks for you, Emily, too. This is a little…
Chairman Salka, could we have it read into the record first? Is that okay? Yes. Okay. Yeah, that way we know what the public knows what we're voting on. We know what we're voting on, but that might be good.
I move that we approve and sign the proclamation for Operation Green Light for Veterans.
Chairman Salka. Yes. Yes. I will do two separate motions and we'll vote on two separate motions, correct? I think you just said that. Staff recommends approval of DR 8177 report of changes application for David James Bell and Samantha Renee Bell to replace Alexis Neal's ownership interest of Rocky Mountain Liquors LLC with signature authority to the chair.
Yes. Thank you, Chairman Salka. I move that we approve the renewal of a retail liquor license for Rocky Mountain Liquors LLC with signature authority for the chair.
I have a couple questions, Chairman Salka. First of all, I don't think I really have the words to thank our entire team. Rob, you, and from, I mean, if I start naming names, I'll leave people out, but our public information, our administration, finance, legal, Human services, law enforcement, the list goes on and on and on. So it's just impossible to really properly thank people. A couple questions. Do we anticipate, of course, we don't know what the future is going to hold with this rain coming in on top of rain, but do we anticipate any additional resources being needed to be brought in?…
Thank you. And yes, thank you to the road and bridge crews. Seeing those pictures, you know, on Facebook or in person, it's incredible what has happened to our county roads. And while it isn't exactly like what has happened to some of the other areas and our neighbors in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, it certainly is significant. And on that note, I know maybe when the current rains are gone and we see what happens, it would be good to have you come into BDT and just help us walk through again, what are we out money-wise? And I know that assessment has started, so we can start to make a…
Chairman's welcome. Yes. I just want to say, in case you drop off, Commissioner Medina, that all of you are in our prayers and our thoughts. We know that you were hit very hard. And we know that you have, you know, a lot of destruction over there. And I think any other way we can help, please let us know. And we know your teams are working very hard and just putting good thoughts out there for all of you. Thank you.
I wanted to read something into the public record. Thank you for that. It was very well stated. Today is an important day for La Plata County, as Cheryl's work has spanned nearly three decades. Work that has shaped many, many, many good things for La Plata County residents, all under the banner of protection of the health, safety, and welfare of all. When I look at my time in office, now close to six years, every major accomplishment that I can take credit for as an elected official has Cheryl and her staff's passion for public service behind it. As the county attorney, her job has been to…
I will save everything for tomorrow. Thank you.
Marsha Porter Norton, La Plata County Commissioner.
Yeah, I have a bit of a list, and it's circling back on some things we've talked about on Monday and in public meetings. I think we need to circle back at a different time, not now, related to the city's meeting last night. I believe that it is not in the best interest of anybody to get to know, and that's how the meeting was great until the last five minutes, and then it felt like we were getting to know again. That isn't what the public wants. It's not what is good for the community. I think we have some real thinking and talking to do with them about how we can get out of that mode of just…
What direction are you given, essentially? Yeah, yeah. And again, I'm going to be positive the meeting was great. I think our, you know, we can talk. I think it's fine to talk about hard issues. But when we are sort of saying, well, we want this and we want this and no to this and, you know, we know you, you know, that's not what, that's not called getting to yes. That's not operating out of common interests. And I think a retreat is a great idea. I have been involved in the Neighbors in Need of Assistance, linking with them. I used to be in the group for years. I did want to let both of you…
Yeah, so these are, Region 9 does this, I think it's actually because they're an EDA. They have, like, all counties that are EDAs in the country have to do this. And it's essentially saying, what are your economic housing, you know, basic priorities? And then they use that for leveraging grants. And is there another reason they use it?
Yep. And so it's really, I mean, yeah, this has been around forever. But I was like, I can only imagine how long the work session would be if we're sitting here discussing 53 projects, which are all worth it. Let's see.
The IGA, for any listening public, we have a, it's an intergovernmental agreement that says, basically lines out very, broad terms about how the city and county will work together to deploy the joint sales tax. And it is 11% of one penny of the three pennies that we collect. We just got another penny last fall, as everybody knows. And there was currently two pennies, two cent sales tax. And that is all distributed in various ways, including to the municipalities. And so they agreed or suggested that we redo that IGA.