Gilpin Commissioners approve By-Laws, Vote Centers

Lynn Hirshman

Gilpin County

In one of the briefest meetings ever — 25 minutes — on Feb. 28, the Gilpin County Commissioners approved three items and commented extensively on a third, before adjourning only to be meeting with the Nederland Board of Trustees later that evening.

With no further discussion, the Commissioners approved the final version on By-Laws for the new Livestock Mediation Board. It was agreed that the Board would not meet until a situation arose calling for its services.

Mike Keeler was appointed as an alternate to the Gilpin County Planning Commission.

The Resolution adopting the Vote Center concept for elections in 2012 was also passed. As in previous years, the County will have three vote centers: the Courthouse in Central City, the Gilpin County Community Center and the Road and Bridge shop in Rollinsville.

Virtually the only discussion at the meeting focused on the new reports designed by Clerk & Recorder Colleen Stewart. In her new format, which will be supplementary to her usual reports, Stewart breaks out monthly statistics in four separate areas: Revenue, Voters, Motor Vehicle licenses and Real Estate, which includes passports, copies and recorded documents.

Stewart’s Revenue report indicated that the Clerk & Recorder’s office received $144,872.99 in January 2012, compared with $123,104.90 in January 2011. Her voter report showed a total of 5,182 voters registered in January 2012. Of these, 2,926 are active voters and 2,219 are inactive voters, with 1,371 listed as “permanent mail voters.”

Motor Vehicles showed 680 renewals and 30 new titles in 2012, compared with 606 and 24 in 2011. Real Estate showed seven home sales, 30 other transfers, 10 passports, 69 copies and 184 recorded documents for 2012, compared with 13 home sales, 58 other transfers, 6 passports, 65 copies and 291 recorded documents in 2011.

The Commissioners were highly complimentary about these new reports, with Commissioner Forrest Whitman saying, “We’ve come a long, long way with Clerk & Recorder reports.”

The next regular meeting of the Gilpin County Commissioners will take place at 9 a.m. on March 13 at the Courthouse in Central City.