County News

By Roger Baker
County Manager

1/5/2006 - The Gilpin County Commissioners held their first meeting of 2006 Tuesday, and the main item on the agenda was making the annual appointments.

  Some of these are pretty pro forma: the Commissioners all serve as “Commissioners to Convey,” for example, and as the Board of Adjustment. Those are statutory requirements that simply reflect the Commissioners’ different roles in policy making, land use and appeals processes.

  But there were a whole host of appointments that aren’t really required, but serve as a good indication of how demanding this “part-time” job can be.

  A lot of the appointments were for various committees with Colorado Counties, Inc. CCI is an organization of Colorado counties that provides staff and technical support, lobbying services and general representation for the interests of county governments and citizens. Every one of Colorado’s 64 counties is now a member; that means that CCI essentially represents everyone in the state of Colorado—and there aren’t many other groups that can make that claim.

  Though the organization’s work goes on full-time, for the elected officials who volunteer for the various “steering committees” that deal with various areas of interest, the bulk of the work starts now, with the beginning of the legislative session. The committees review and recommend positions on proposed legislation that will impact county operations—and that means a lot of bills to read and respond to in a very short period of time.

  This year there are eight standing committees—Public Lands; Agriculture, Wildlife and Rural Affairs; Tourism and Resorts; General Government; Taxation and Finance; Transportation and Telecommunications; and Health and Human Services—and we’ll have one of the Gilpin Commissioners serving on each of them. They usually meet every couple of weeks, or more often if there’s a big and controversial piece of legislation coming along.

  The Denver Regional Council of Governments—DRCOG—is another agency in which we are represented, though its focus on the metro area and long-range planning agenda make its issues somewhat less pressing than the CCI positions.

  Then there are a number of other regional agencies and task forces to which we send one or more of the Commissioners as representatives—the Upper Clear Creek Watershed Association, Jefferson Center for Mental Health, and the Rollins Pass Restoration Association, to name just a few.

  Finally, there are all the advisory and governing boards for organizations within the County with whom we have official ties: the Youth Action Committee, the Gilpin Ambulance Board, and local 911 Authority Board, for example.

  All in all, it’s a pretty daunting docket, but it’s all necessary for Gilpin residents to get the sort of representation they need and deserve.