Mindy Leary, Gilpin County. On March 17, 2020, the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners met online for the first time for their regular meeting. Commissioners Gail Watson, Linda Isenhart and Ron Engels were in attendance, as were County Manager Abel Montoya and County Attorney Bradford Benning. Highlights include a Corona virus update, an FAA update and a call-in to an informational meeting between congressional representatives and local government officials.

Colorado now has 160 confirmed cases of the Corona virus with zero in Gilpin County, but every county around Gilpin has cases except for Grand County according to Public Health Coordinator Bonnie Albrecht. 

People who visited the Colorado Springs Bridge Center in El Paso County may have been exposed. No testing has been done in Gilpin County, but Central City did officially declare a state of emergency yesterday.    

Commissioners have decided to virtually meet every Tuesday and Thursday in order to discuss county business matters without having to announce an emergency meeting. Montoya said the commissioners would schedule another BOCC meeting for this following Tuesday in addition to the next regular meeting on April 7. Directions on how to join the virtual meeting will be listed on the Agenda that will be posted on Gilpin County’s website.

Chair Watson suggested the county project certain losses of revenue that will occur due to the outbreak by modeling different scenarios with prospective durations of time. 

With casinos being closed and possible late mortgage/tax payments the county is projected to take at least a million dollar hit. Engels stated that we should finish current projects but look ahead to budgeting the Capital Improvement Plan. 

Chair Watson emphasized that the offices are closed but not the county. County officials are reachable by email and the website will be updated with departmental contacts and capabilities.

The transfer station is open but only for household trash and recycling. DMV and passport services aren’t available but you can renew your registration online. The food bank is operating on a drive-up basis.

The FAA’s deadline to file a petition is March 24 and Gilpin County will file a short petition along with Greenwood Village this Friday. Gilpin is filing with Greenwood Village who has similar concerns to avoid redundancy.

Senator Gardner met with FAA Administrator Stephen Dicks in Denver. Watson said, “It was surprisingly informative and conciliatory. Dickson said they needed to work on their community engagement and he promised a meeting in Gilpin County.”

The Legal Status Report presented by Brad Benning concerned the FAA petition and Covid-19 concerns with some other local issues being tabled until normalcy resumes.

 After some technical difficulties, the phone-in to the Congressmen resulted in a meeting with public health official Darlene Patty. Patty cited that some ICU’s such as Denver Metro is already full but that hospitals are looking to convert non-ICU space to ICU space.

Another item of concern is the supply of personal protective gear or PPE for health care workers and that hospitals are within two weeks of depleting PPE supplies.

The State has asked SBA for 500 million in funding for grants and small business loans with low interest to help Colorado business owners give employees paid sick leave but as of now funding is undetermined.  

The next regular meeting for the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners will be held virtually and can be accessed by following the instructions on the current agenda on the Gilpin County Commissioners website on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 9 a.m. 

(Originally published in the March 19, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)