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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes 04/14/20 PUBLIC HEARING April 14, 2020 Present: Kathy Chandler-Henry Chairman Matt Scherr Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney Commissioner Jeff Shroll County Manager Kathy Parker Assistant County Attorney(via phone) Kathy Scriver Deputy Clerk to the Board This being a scheduled Public Hearing,the following items were presented to the Board of County Commissioners for their consideration: Birch Barron,Emergency Manager with Public Health,provided an update on the COVID-19 response. The county was coordinating daily with government partners,non-profits,medical professionals,and community partners. Currently there were 496 confirmed cases in the county. The hospitals were currently stable and able to meet the needs of patients. The priority was to keep the high level of coordination and to determine what triggers to look at to start getting people back to work and allow businesses open safely. The goal was to not sacrifice public health or safety for the economy. It was important to insure that any reopening steps would not put the county at risk for future contamination. Chairman Chandler-Henry asked about the trigger points being looked at that would allow people to resume activities and businesses to open. Mr.Barron stated that type of triggers being looked at were several weeks of sustained decline in new cases, and additionally,to have the ability to quickly identify new cases through testing. Commissioner Updates Commissioner McQueeney encouraged people to read an article in the Vail Daily written by Heath Harmon, Eagle County Public Health and Environment Director,regarding the county being on a downward trend when it came to the COVID-l9 crisis and what it possibly meant for the community being able to start to recover. Commissioner Scherr believed there had been a lot of silver linings in the way the community had responded to this crisis. There were a group of kids who decided to help out their peers by creating an Instagram page called"Protect Our Valley." Also, Colorado Mountain College had recently announced that they were going tuition free for summer classes. Chairman Chandler-Henry noted the variety of masks that people were wearing. She thanked all the clever people who had been making them. Vail Health had been instrumental in getting masks out to stores and anyone who needed them. She recognized the efforts of those sharing information and working together. County Manager Updates Jeff Shroll thanked everyone working on the COVID-19 issue through the Emergency Operation Center for working long hours. He reminded everyone to take care of themselves mentally,turn the news off, and keep up with the latest real time information in the county at ECemergency.org. He encouraged people to find other things to do besides watching the national news. 1 04/14/2020 Consent Agenda 1. Eagle County Transit and Proterra Inc: Purchase and Sale of Three(3)40 Foot Battery Electric Buses and Three(3)Associated Charging Stations Jared Barnes, ECO Transit 2. Agreement for the 2020 Overlay Project Between Eagle County Colorado and Frontier Paving Inc. for the Road and Bridge Department. Kristin Degenhardt,Project Management 3. Resolution 2020-030 Approving New Animal Services Advisory Committee Members Nathan Lehnert,Animal Shelter& Services 4. Scott Green Ditch Agreement Holly Strablizky, Attorney's Office 5. Agreements with Holy Cross Energy for Airport SRE Building Solar Rooftop John Gitchell, Sustainable Communities 6. Approval of the Minutes for the Board of County Commissioner Meetings for February 18,February 25, and March 3, 2020. Kathy Scriver, Clerk&Recorder's Office Commissioner McQueeney moved to approve the Consent Agenda for April 14, 2020, as presented. Commissioner Scherr seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. Constituent input Chairman Chandler-Henry opened and closed constituent input, as there was none. Business Items 1. Resolution 2020-031 Adopting a 2nd Supplemental Budget of 2020 Jill Klosterman,Finance Megan Burch,Director of the Human Services, spoke via phone line. She stated that the$400,000 that was allocated for emergency assistance for community members had been processed and the money had been fully committed. They'd worked through over 3,000 applications since the funding was approved in late March. They processed 2,000 applications and still had another 1,000 to work through. The biggest need financially was rent. They had committed over$300,000 directly for rent payments and about$40,000 for mortgage payments,with the remainder going towards utilities, food,and other household necessities. Additional funding was being requested to continue serving those applicants. At a future date they would like to have a discussion with the board about considering processing support for May payments. The additional funding was needed to work through the applications they currently had, continuing to focus on April expenses. This was a needs based program for families and individuals who were in financial need and stress. Applications were being processed as quickly as possible thanks to all the staff members throughout Eagle County Government. Chairman Chandler-Henry asked Ms.Burch to discuss the referrals being made to long-term financial assistance programs. Ms. Burch stated that one of the programs they were referring families to was the"Colorado Works Disaster Program."Her office administered the program similarly to the Emergency Assistance Program. 2 04/14/2020 Commissioner McQueeney appreciated all the work that Ms.Burch and her team were doing to clear the list of applicants. Commissioner Scherr reiterated that the additional funding would assist in funding applications already received for April expenses. People were being directed to the Eagle County Financial Assistance form online at ECemergency.org. People could continue to apply for assistance with the understanding that the funding may or may not be available to support those applications. Chairman Chandler-Henry asked Ms. Burch if the additional$500,000 was needed to fund the remaining 1,000 applications. Ms. Burch stated that based on the earlier projections and calculations they anticipated about$900,000 for all the applications received. However, it seemed like they were starting to see a decline in approval rates caused by the fact that people had found ways to scrape together for April. They were projecting a little bit closer to needing$300,000 of the$500,000 being considered today to process what applications that were currently in the queue. The remaining$200,000 could be applied to May or other expenses. Commissioner McQueeney suggested there be another discussion to determine what funding may be needed for the recovery process. Chairman Chandler-Henry hoped that over the next six to eight weeks people would be starting to get back in to the workplace. Ms. Klosterman stated that if the full$500,000 was not needed the board could approve an amount less. Commissioner McQueeney stated that she'd like to leave the numbers as approved and allow Ms. Burch to move the money where it was needed. Chairman Chandler-Henry asked Jeff Shroll to talk about the discussions in the Roaring Fork Valley through the Aspen Community Foundation and some of the contributions from Pitkin County and City of Aspen. Mr. Shroll stated that they had a good response from the private industry working on raising money in addition to the City of Aspen and Pitkin County. They were working towards getting assistance to the primary workforce from Aspen to Parachute. It was a good model to see how they had private/public partnerships. He encouraged people to reach out to county partners for assistance as well. Chairman Chandler-Henry stated that the board would move forward with the funding request for April and take a look at the end of April to see where things stood at that time. Ms.Klosterman stated that there was money in reserves. The Board of County Commissioners in 2016 set aside over 13 million dollars for minimizing the effect of an unexpected revenue shortfall/or if ever there was a revenue shortfall. She believed that the money could be used now for the purpose it was set aside for. She reminded the board that 13 million was about one month worth of operations for the county across all funds. A big part of the county's revenue was sales tax. It was expected that there would be a decrease of sales tax for March and April and possible into the future. Property tax revenue would be set June 30,2020. She believed the county needed to be prepared for a decrease in property tax revenue in 2022. Other decrease in revenues included airline, motor vehicle registrations,building permits, and rents. She believed the county could not be the only solution. Chairman Chandler-Henry wondered what percentage of the budget was staff. Ms. Klosterman stated that it was 42%. Chairman Chandler-Henry stated that the county still had some ongoing obligations, such as bond payments. She believed the county was doing its part. Commissioner Scherr moved to approve the resolutions adopting a 2nd Supplemental Budget of 2020. Commissioner McQueeney seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. 3 04/14/2020 Discussions - Holy Cross Room/Virtual 1. The Board of County Commissioners will meet as necessary to discuss any issues related to COVID-19. 2. Mountain Lion Plan Discussion cothvi.fr There beint no further business befor4 , .rd 4 eeting w. adjourned until April 2 , 2# 0. , Attest: k 4.2* C Ot,9, 42- f 1/4ellti&/ A...sionaw.,AIL..,-AM Cl- t. e Board Ch.irman 11111 • 4 04/14/2020