County purchases wood chipper

by Michelle Saeger
May 6, 2008 - County Commissioners Forrest Whitman and Chair Jeanne Nicholson attended the regular weekly Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners' (BOCC) meeting. Commissioner Ron Slinger was not at the meeting due to illness.
Tom Henry of the Clinician Outpatient Team at the Jefferson Center for Mental Health spoke about raising awareness of mental health in our community. The Commissioners passed Resolution 08-04 joining other agencies statewide by declaring May as "Mental Health Month" in Gilpin County.
Acting as the Board of Health (BOH), the Commissioners approved an Individual Sewage Disposal System application. The system will serve a three bedroom home on a 0.76-acre lot on Beethoven Drive in Colorado Sierra Beta subdivision.
Then, the Public Health Nursing Contract for July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009 was approved. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will continue to provide public health nursing services to our community for a cost of $20,232 over the next year. The goal of the effort is to organize, deliver, and evaluate interventions aimed at improving the health of our community.
Commissioners then reconvened as the BOCC to consider the Weed Management Plan for 2008. The Commissioners reaffirmed Ordinance 06-2 that put our current plan in place. Irene Shonle of the CSU Extension Office Director explained that although progress is being made, none of the targeted noxious weeds have been completely eradicated in our area.
The Extension Office will continue to have volunteer weed-pulling events over the summer to help eradicate outbreaks. The office also has sprayer equipment and herbicide available free of charge to local residents who are experiencing problems.
County Manager Roger Baker presented a status report to the BOCC including a departmental report from the Parks & Recreation Department. The report noted that the new dugout covers had been installed at the ball fields. Once again, the Gilpin school kids enjoyed a night out on the County with the Community Center hosting an all night after prom party funded with County taxpayer dollars.
County Facilities Manager Bill Paulman presented a contract to replace the roof at the Justice Center. The facility is now 12 years old and the roof has been leaking for several years.
The roof will be replaced with a higher quality asphalt roof that includes a 30-year warranty. The $553,900 contract with B&M Roofing of Colorado, Inc. includes $6,900 for the installation of skylights. The contractor will finish replacing 21,000 square foot of roofing over a 120-day period. The project is slated for completion no later than September 15, 2008.
Paulman then presented a schedule analyzing the performance of the wood biomass burning system at the new Road & Bridge facility. From January to April, the facility consumed 131 tons of wood chips at a cost of $4,847 for materials and labor. Compared to the use of natural gas, staff estimated the County has saved over $16,001 in the four winter months.
In a related matter, Road & Bridge Department Director Earl Robinson presented information to the Commissioners regarding the purchase of a wood chipper to prepare logs for the biomass burner. He located a fully reconditioned used 1994 chipper for about $85,000. A similar piece of equipment would cost over $300,000 new. Robinson noted the used machine would have higher maintenance costs and estimated its useful life to the County to be about four years. He thought a new machine could last up to fifteen years.
The County is currently renting a chipper to accommodate its needs. Unfortunately, the rented unit requires the logs to be in 12-foot lengths which can be quite cumbersome to manage. The new chipper would take smaller logs and could assist local residents with removal of beetle killed pine trees that need to be chipped to prevent spread of the pests.
The chipper could also be used at the slash pile. If the slash is chipped more frequently, it minimizes fire risk and deters to Ipswich pine beetle. Currently, the County hires a company to dispose of the slash pile a couple of times each summer with their chipping equipment. The slash disposal alone runs about $15,000 per year.
The Commissioners advised Robinson to proceed with his research on the used chipper and prepare a formal purchase proposal for further consideration.
The meeting continued with a presentation from the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP). The group requested support form the County to pursue a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) to perform a Survey of Critical Biological resources in Gilpin County.
According to CNHP, the "project proposes to systematically identify the location of rare, threatened, or endangered species and significant natural plant communities in the County". The group assured the public that private property rights would be respected during the survey process.
The GOCO planning grants typically range from $60,000 to $70,000 and require a 10% match from the County. The County and CNHP will seek additional support from other agencies to pay for the survey itself. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wetland grants are administered by the state and could be used to further fund the biological survey if received. CNHP indicated a GOCO grant could be leveraged as matching funds for an EPA grant of around $80,000. According to the figures provided, CNHP would then be paid from the proceeds of both grants and the County's match - an amount that could exceed $150,000.
After the presentation, Commissioner Nicholson commented on how tight the budget is for the remainder of the year and suggested a biological survey could be postponed until the next grant cycle. A consensus was reached to postpone a decision on the project until the budget cycle this fall.
Next, Mike Felschow of LCS Transportation returned this week with yet another revision to the feasibility and implementation plan for expanding the Gilpin County connector bus service. The latest proposals would connect a rural County route with the current bus service in the gaming district rather than including a route through the cities which duplicates current service. The proposed routes would shift service to the northern end of the County with an annual cost between $243,000 and $307,000. To make the cost of expanding the bus service more affordable, the consulting group suggested reducing or eliminating weekend bus service.
No decision was made on implementation of expanded bus service at this time. The Commissioners will schedule a future work session to fully discuss the available options.
The formal BOCC meeting was adjourned and a work session was held regarding the DOLA (Department of Local Affairs) Gaming Impact Grant applications for 2009. The County is tasked with prioritizing the requests prior to submittal to DOLA later this month. More information will be available next week on the grant applications.
The next meeting of the BOCC is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 9 am.