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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 09/14/2021 PUBLIC HEARING September 14, 2021 Present: Matt Scherr Chairman Jeanne McQueeney Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry Commissioner Jeff Shroll County Manager Holly Strablizky Assistant County Attorney 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: Commissioner Updates Commissioner Chandler-Henry stated that Habitat for Humanity had homes for 12 families at Grace Avenue in Gypsum. There would be a home dedication this Thursday, September 16th at 4:00 p.m. This was a cooperative effort with the School Board as homes were available for school teachers, first responders,and all sorts of folks. She thanked Habitat for its work on workforce housing issues. Commissioner McQueeney mentioned spending time over in the Roaring Fork Valley at a Roaring Fork Transit Authority(RAFTA)meeting. The meeting was very interesting as they gave a history of RAFTA.They did impressive work, and she was excited for how this could benefit Eagle County. Chairman Scherr spoke about the Vail Symposium programs. He encouraged folks to visit vailsyposium.org to review the offerings. County Manager Updates Jeff Shroll stated that he did not have an update and offered his time to Public Health& Environment Director,Heath Harmon,who would be providing an update on all things related to COVID. Mr. Harmon stated that a lot had changed in the past 30 days. He shared a slide presentation that demonstrated what the last 30 days had looked like, and what he'd hoped for the future. The COVID-19 Delta variant arrived in the state early in the summer and was identified on the western slope. What was known about the Delta variant was that it was two times more infectious than the previous strains. There had been multiple studies that were demonstrating a greater severity of disease. For those individuals who were not fully vaccinated,the median age was 53 in terms of hospitalization,whereas, compared to individuals who were fully vaccinated,the median age was 73 for hospitalizations. School-aged youth were having higher incidents now compared to most adult age groups. The Delta variant was dominating the scene. A number of counties were starting to go back to full public indoor mask mandates and others were looking at doing that in the near future. There had been a lot of school outbreaks since the end of July but most within the past month. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment(CDPHE)had issued some revised guidance for schools. CDPHE was making a stronger recommendation that universal masking should occur for all age groups,K-12 ages children, as well as early childcare education centers. Ultimately, these were recommendations,not mandates or requirements, at the state level. The good news was that there had been a decrease over the past week. The bad news was that we were still at a higher rate than in mid-August when the order was implemented. He remained optimistic and hoped to get 1 09/14/2021 down to 50 cases per 100 thousand or less as a community. He emphasized the importance of vaccinations for the community. The current public health order would be expiring soon and the current rates were being considered. At this point in time,they would be recommending masks in schools. They would be exploring the risk/benefit for ages under 5. The goal was not to have a mask mandate in perpetuity. He acknowledged that there were pros and cons and ups and downs to everything including masks being required within the community. He believed that there would be future variants,and the goal was to move to a more sustainable approach in the future. He would continue to promote vaccinations and boosters were on the horizon. He highlighted the testing locations in Eagle County. The state had a school based testing program. Lastly, it was a goal to work towards a place where mandates could be phased out. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked about the death rate. Mr. Harmon stated that there were 23 deaths through the end of July and an additional seven since the end of July. Commissioner Chandler-Henry wondered what was causing an increase in deaths. Mr. Harmon stated that the Delta variant was more severe especially in individuals who were not fully vaccinated. Delta was adept at finding individuals in the community who were not fully vaccinated. He believed that as incident rates went up in the community,then the severity went up in the community. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked about the direction of future mandates and if there was a target date for moving away from mandates. Mr. Harmon stated that nothing was currently in place, but he expected that it could be by the end of the year. Commissioner McQueeney asked if anything had been announced on a state or federal level regarding the booster vaccines. Mr. Harmon stated that boosters were available for those people at risk who received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. He expected that the FDA would be meeting to discuss a booster dose. He expected that the next age group would be five to eleven years of age. The target date was November first. Chairman Scherr asked about the transmissibility for young children not eligible for the vaccine. Mr. Harmon stated that there would be more asymptomatic cases among youth. The role that youth play in terms of transmission were in high risk settings such as households. Schools provided a close proximity and long hours. He believed the virus would be around for a while. Consent Agenda 1. Resolution 2021-071 of Approval for ZS-8009,RFSCG-1 Cannabis Cultivation Facility Tez Hawkins, Community Development 2.Agreement for Services between Eagle County,Colorado and PEACHnet(Partners Engaged in Achieving Change in Health Network)/University of Colorado, Denver Health Harmon, Public Health& Environment 3. Resolution 2021-072 Authorizing the Ratification of the Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate for 800 Castle Drive,Eagle, Colorado 81631 Kim Bell Williams, Housing 4. July 2021 Payment Report Jill Klosterman, Finance 5.Approval of the Minutes for the Board of County Commissioner Meetings for August 4,August 10, and August 17,2021 Kathy Scriver, Clerk& Recorder's Office 2 09/14/2021 Commissioner Chandler-Henry moved to approve the Consent Agenda for September 14,2021,as presented. Commissioner McQueeney seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. Constituent Input Chairman Scherr opened public comment. Robert Good of Eagle spoke. He stated that the Pfizer vaccine was not fully FDA approved. He was disappointed that natural immunity or previous infection was not mentioned by the public health official. He believed that natural immunity was the strongest defense against COVID. The vaccines did not work and would not protect against the Delta variant. He believed that public officials needed to be transparent and work out of their office. Lastly,he believed that officials and school board members were making false comments about vaccines. He wanted to see emails and hard drives to make sure there was no political motivation. Rebecca Zener of Eagle spoke. She appreciated the presentation this morning. She believed that Eagle County did a good job at pioneering what the end might look like. She was very optimistic that the mask mandate should be dropped tomorrow. She applauded that Eagle County was being reasonable in not having an indoor mask mandate unlike a lot of other places in Colorado. She believed it made more sense to mask adults rather than children. Children had the most to be harmed and the least to gain. Wendy Armstrong from Eagle spoke. She talked about"perspective." She believed that several people could look at the same image and see something different. She wondered after all the scientific proof that had been sent to the board regarding the harmful effects of wearing masks and negative effects of getting a vaccine,they were unable to see the truth. She believed there were more vaccinated people in the hospital than unvaccinated. She read a letter written by a teenager expressing frustration for the mask mandate. Heather Berquist, Gypsum resident, spoke. She spoke about the current public health order requiring children to wear masks and promoting vaccinations for the least at-risk population based on recommendations from the CDC. She offered three examples that questioned the credibility of those recommendations by the CDC. She believed the definition of a vaccination kept changing.The CDC didn't follow the science and the evidence showed that children were not at risk. These should be red flags. She asked that the public health order be removed and not renewed. Sunny Corrigan from Vail spoke. She spoke about the negative effects of the mask mandate, and as a mother she believed that masks were not healthy for children. She believed the mask mandate should be reevaluated. Holly Barnum from Avon spoke. She expressed opposition to the mask mandate. She requested that the mask mandate be ended. She believed that surgical type face masks were not effective. Masks were not doing what people were saying they were doing. She believed it should be a choice to wear a mask. Celina Olden of Eagle spoke. She spoke about the presentation by Heath Harmon and believed that one of his graphs fed into the fear campaign demonstrating a spike in cases. She took offense to the conversation she had with Chairman Scherr regarding primary source data. She commented on a statement made by Mr. Harmon regarding children being resilient who were older than 18-months and wondered what qualified him to make that statement. She wanted to know the brand of testing being done. The FDA website listed 268 brands that were no longer to be used for COVID testing. As a taxpayer she wanted to know what brand was being used. Was it faulty or on the list? She was concerned with the cash incentives being used for testing in schools; $179,000 was given to the Colorado Department of Public Education to use for testing. She wanted to know what the cash incentives were with the brands being offered. Chairman Scherr closed public comment. 3 09/14/2021 Business Item(s) 1. Early Head Start Continuation Grant and Budget 2022 Kenda Kleinschmidt, Human Services Executive Summary: The Early Head Start(EHS)program has completed the required paperwork for the annual grant renewal. This application is for year three of the five-year grant cycle. The application includes a grant narrative and budget,a self assessment report, an annual report to the public, selection criteria, program and school readiness goals, governing body and policy council decisions, a program improvement plan,the approved quality improvement plan and the training and technical assistance plan. The federal share of the budget is $1,047,457.00 and the non-federal share is $261,864.00 for a grant total of $1,309,321.00. Ms. Kleinschmnidt, Eagle County Deputy Director Child, Family& Services, shared some details regarding the Early Head Start Program. Eagle County Early Head Start received about one million dollars from the Federal Government to operate the program each year and required a 20%county match to serve 74 children and their families or pregnant women. They recently completed the process of updating the Quality Improvement Plan and were waiting for the approval from the Office of Head Start to ensure that any deficiencies were corrected. She shared that they would be providing a new center-based option for parents this year at the Edwards Early Learning Center. Leigh Carlson-Hernandez, Eagle County Early Childhood Manager, shared specifics about the grant. This was the third year of the five year grant cycle. Every year they used a program planning cycle that helped them review the program and make improvements. They take into consideration the needs of the community and evaluate the progress on the five year goals. The main community assessment was done in 2019. There were a lot of impacts from COVID-19 on families in the program and in the community. The selection criteria was used to select the next family from the waitlist who would be offered enrolment into the program. They found that financial security,employment,and housing were the top needs for this past year. They spent the entire year doing a review of their policies for their program operations to make sure they were updated with the new performance standards. The areas for improvement were to increase male family member engagement and support dual language learners in language and literacy. The program goals were reviewed annually in the self assessment process, and there were no changes but they had some new strategies to work on for this year. Commissioner McQueeney moved to approve the Early Head Start Continuation Grant and Budget 2022. Commissioner Chandler-Henry seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. 2. Early Head Start Continuation Grant SF-424 for BoCC signature Kenda Kleinschmidt, Human Services Executive Summary:As part of the Early Head Start continuation grant, please approve the SF-424 form as well. Commissioner McQueeney move to approve the Early Head Start Continuation Grant SF-424 for BoCC signature Commissioner Chandler-Henry seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. 3. Early Head Start Waiver of Non-Federal Funds Kenda Kleinschmidt, Human Services 4 09/14/2021 Executive Summary: Early Head Start respectfully requests a waiver for$150,000 of the$258,775 non-federal share requirement for 2021. This waiver is requested due to the impacts created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioner McQueeney moved to approve the Early Head Start Waiver of Non-Federal Funds Commissioner Chandler-Henry seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. 4. Early Head Start Waiver of 2021 Non-Federal Share Justification Narrative Kenda Kleinschmidt, Human Services Executive Summary: Early Head Start respectfully requests a waiver for$150,000 of the$258,775 non-federal share requirement for 2021.This waiver is requested due to the impacts created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioner McQueeney moved to approve the Early Head Start Waiver of 2021 Non-Federal Share Justification Narrative. Commissioner Chandler-Henry seconded the motion. The vote was declared unanimous. Planning File - Eagle County Room 1. Planning File-American Gypsum Mine Special Use Review ZS-9114 TJ Dlubac, Contracted County Planner for Eagle County Community Development Executive Summary: The applicant,American Gypsum, LLC, is requesting to expand their existing special use permit, which was issued in 2003,to allow for a deeper mining depth in the Lower Pit, add approximately 99 acres of new mine area to the east of the existing Upper Pit, and to increase the allowable disturbed area from 25 acres to 50 acres. Chuck Zaruba, Plant Manager,and Jon Edeen, Mine Manager,American Gypsum were present. Mr. Zaruba stated that the applicant was requesting an additional 25 years of operation and expansion of the area. There would be no changes to the operations,truck traffic, capacity out of the plant,or change in mining methods. He explained the gypsum mining process. He stated that their presence in Eagle County was critical to maintaining a diversified local economy and providing over 100 jobs. The process began many years ago. Bureau of Land Management(BLM)and Colorado Department Reclamation Mining Safety(DRMS)approvals were requested before the Special Use Permit per Eagle County guidance. The BLM approved the application in June 2020 and an approval by DRMS was received in December 2020. He showed a map of the permit boundary; a total of 99.2 acres would be added to the existing 830.2 acre permit area. They have performed wildlife studies and made sure there were no issues. The plant did not negatively impact the wellbeing of the county's wildlife population. Chandler-Henry asked how the product was transported. Mr.Zaruba stated that about 60 percent of their product stayed in state, and most of the product was transported via truck to other states. TJ Dlubac, contracted County Planner,presented a Powerpoint presentation. He showed a vicinity and zoning map and provided a summary of the project. The lower pit was owned by the applicant,the upper pit and proposed east pit were owned by the BLM. The former Special Use Permits have been in existence since approximately 1992. Public comment was initiated via property posting, newspaper posting,and mailed notices, As of this day no comments had been received. He reviewed the standards of approval and indicated that the application conformed with the standards with four proposed conditions. There was an increase in road use and the Town of Gypsum expressed concerns for mud being tracked onto Hwy 6. To address those concerns,the 5 09/14/2021 Eagle County Road& Bridge Department would use recycled asphalt to maintain portions of Trail Gulch Road. Staff recommended approval with four conditions finding that the request met all the standards. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked if this was an additional Special Use Permit or if this superseded the other. Holly Strablinzky,Assistant Eagle County Attorney, stated that this Special Use Permit would supersede the last and forwarded the conditions that still needed to be applied to the special use. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked if there were hazard materials onsite. Mr.Zaruba stated that this was not a leaching operation, and there were no hazard materials onsite used for the process outside of normal lubricants and diesel fuel. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked about the well permit and if the additional 50 aces would make a difference in water usage on site. Mr.Zaruba stated that there would be no increase in water usage. The water was used primarily for dust suppression. Commissioner Chandler-Henry asked about BLM land mining and if a permit fee was paid to BLM. Mr. Zaruba stated that they pay an annual maintenance fee per acre. Chairman Scherr asked if this was the first time they had used BLM land. Mr. Zaruba stated that the original lower pit was on BLM land. Chairman Scherr opened and closed public comment, as there were none. Commissioner McQueeney believed this was a straightforward application. She was happy to see that, based on the lack of comments of concern,that people were generally supportive. Based on the presentation and the standards, she supported the application. Commissioner Chandler-Henry concurred with Commissioner McQueeney and expressed her support. Chairman Scherr agreed with his fellow commissioners and staff that the application met the standards of approval with conditions. Commissioner Chandler-Henry moved to approve the file no.ZS-9114-2020 with conditions 1-4, incorporating staff's findings because this application, as conditioned, meets the standards for approval of a Special Use Permit. Commissioner McQueeney seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. • O There being no further busine ; b d,the meeting was adjourned until September 21,2021. Attest,: � oo :///fi Cle to the Board rman C-71 09/14/2021