Life is better in Gilpin
County Management
There won’t be a weekly meeting of the Gilpin County Commissioners next week – Tuesday is already December, if you can believe that! – as the Commissioners will be attending the annual winter conference of CCI – Colorado Counties, Inc.
The Conference is co-sponsored by a number of different organizations – the Colorado Association of Road Supervisors & Engineers, for example, and the Colorado Social Services Directors Association.
The Association of Colorado County Administrators, of which I am a member, meets at the same time and venue, and a number of the CCI seminars that are intended for the Commissioners are obviously useful for County Managers and Administrators as well.
Some of the meetings are truly business meetings; both the Colorado Technical Services Inc. casualty and property pools and the workers’ compensation pools have working breakfasts where annual reports and budgets are presented and discussed.
Other general meetings are more targeted toward specific legislation that may be introduced in the 2010 session of the Colorado General Assembly; Tuesday morning there’s a special meeting to discuss three proposed ballot initiatives that would drastically affect county finances, and a joint session on the business personal property tax and what the phrasing out of the program over a number of years will mean to counties.
There’s another concurrent session with Commissioners and Managers on “Innovative Budget Processes” that should be interesting, and then more day-to-day help for Administrators on subjects like “Managing for Results.”
One of the most valuable aspects of any conference like this, of course, is the opportunity for interactions with one’s peers – there’s aren’t a lot of problems we face in Gilpin County that are really unique, and learning how other Commissioners and Managers have addressed similar issues in the past can be very valuable.
Over the last few years, too, it’s become ever more apparent how truly well off we are in Gilpin County government. When I attended various library conferences years ago, it was always with a measure of envy – most places were able to afford facilities, staff and programming that we could only dream about back then.
Now, though, the situation has changed. I expect to hear a lot from my colleagues about how difficult this past year has been, and how dismal next year’s budget looks. So many counties have faced huge budget shortfalls, and had to impose draconian measures just to stay afloat.
For the most part, we’ve been able to avoid drastic cuts in services or staff in Gilpin County. Partly because of the good fortune of living in a community that is largely and generously supported by limited stakes gaming, and partly because of the generally conservative fiscal practices of this and former Boards of County Commissioners, we’ve been able to maintain a high level of public services.
Combine that with the constant joys of being able to live in this beautiful, historic and delightfully eccentric community, and all of us in Gilpin County government should be grateful indeed this Thanksgiving. Going to a conference like this should only make us more thankful still.