John Scarffe, Gilpin County. During the Commissioners’ meeting of Tuesday, September 2, the Board directed staff to help United Power identify suitable land for solar sites totaling 13 megawatts. Jerry Marizza with United Power said a partnership between the County and United Power would provide an opportunity to do a big solar project – 13 megawatts of solar power generation.

Rick Newman, on the Board of United Power, said: “These are exciting times. We’d like to see what the County would like to do. New things are available in solar.”

Marizza said that in 2011 United Power constructed a three-megawatt land-field generation. “Thirteen megawatts, that’s big,” he said. “We can’t put all 13 megawatts at one location.”

The concept is to find four to six different locations, and put one or two megawatts on each site. They need to do this in 2015.

New legislation by the State of Colorado is critical for the deadline, Marizza said. The State had a program renewal and a jobs program. If you created jobs in the state, they give you a multiplier. On July 1, 2015, the State will eliminate the multiplier.

The power supplier is Tri-State, and Tri-State dictates what United Power can and can’t do and what the pricing is.

“That’s why we need to go big,” Marizza said. “If we were to try to pare this down to a one- or two-megawatt project, we couldn’t get the pricing where it needs to be.”

Marizza said they would like to place this on as few sites as possible, because it all needs to connect to the grid. They need to identify available land. One megawatt’s worth of solar panels takes up about five acres.

A 10-acre parcel would work, but United Power would prefer 15-acre sites with three megawatts each. They wanted to know if Gilpin County would be willing to lease some land. The land would only be used for holding the panels; they don’t need water or any services – a barren hilltop would do, ideally south-facing.

Marizza also asked if Gilpin citizens have land, and does the County have a facility that could be offset by power produced by this project. Marizza said the goal is to bring solar power to Gilpin County.

The land needs to be identified by October 1. Every stage of the project has a window associated with it.

Bill Paulman, Facilities Manager, asked if solar panels could be raised up so parking would still be available underneath. Marizza said that would add to the cost and timing, so it’s probably not going to work.

Paulman said that the area around the Justice Center and Community Center would be the best, but if they lose parking for the fair grounds that would negatively impact the County. Tony Petersen, Community Development Director, said that mining claims would be suitable. He also knows of a resident who wants to do something with his land.

Board Chair Gail Watson said: “I think we have a lot of work to do to identify land. We want to support this as best we can.”

Watson said Colorado State University has solar panels raised up, and Paulman suggested the County could offset the cost for raising them with the lease. Marizza said they can make a quick assessment as to whether a parcel will work if it has a feeder line in the area.

Watson asked for a copy of the feeder line map, and asked County Manager Roger Baker, Petersen, and Paulman to come back next week, on September 9. The emphasis should be on county-owned land. A work session was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on September 9.

Opposing Amendment 68

Baker presented a resolution opposing Amendment 68. The amendment is sponsored by a Rhode Island casino, which is proposing to amend the Colorado Constitution to give them exclusive rights to open a mega-casino in Arapahoe County, larger than anything else in Colorado.

Baker said that for Gilpin County this would be devastating. Watson said the Commissioners are allowed to be vocal and share with the press that we are opposing Amendment 68. It would very negatively impact Gilpin County, and we have other concerns for the state at-large.

Baker said lots of television time is being purchased on both sides, and educational establishments are opposing it. Watson said the Gilpin School District came out with a resolution two months ago and is very much against it. The Board approved the resolution opposing Amendment 68.

Annual Financial Report

John Cutler with Cutler & Associates presented the County’s annual financial report. The County has no outstanding issues, and no qualifications.

The County broke even with government funds and only lost $34,000, while $50,000 has been budgeted.  “In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of government activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of Gilpin County, Colorado, as of December 31, 2013,” Cutler wrote in his report.

The next meeting of the Gilpin County Commissioners will be on Tuesday, September 23, at 9 a.m.at the Gilpin County Courthouse, 203 Eureka Street, Central City.