Mindy Leary, Gilpin County. On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners met online for their regular meeting at 9 a.m. Commissioners Gail Watson, Linda Isenhart and Ron Engels were in attendance, as were County Manager Abel Montoya and County Attorney Bradford Benning. Highlights included a COVID-19 update, a discussion of temporarily placing county ambulance licensing requirements on hold and a discussion of the Xcel pipeline.

So far in the state of Colorado there have been 994 hospitalizations and 150 deaths. The rate of infection has gone down and the state is hoping for a plateau. Nate Whittington said a decision was made to stand down the Joint Information Center unless the need arises. 

Brandon Daruna, Gilpin Ambulance Authority Executive Director, said that CDPHE has waived the ability of counties to license ambulances for this period of time due to the state of emergency declared by the governor.  The state is concerned about moving patients from small facilities to more resource-rich areas so as to decompress the hospitals in rural areas and to do that they must use their own ambulances. As it comes to Gilpin, that would only happen if Gilpin were to build a private care facility. 

The commissioners invited Colorado senators, congressmen, and state elected officials for the next town hall on April 20. Comments for improvement include fixing a software glitch about accessing the link and also making PowerPoint presentation not so front and center. 

Public Works Director Gordon Thompson gave an update from Preston Gibson on what Xcel will be doing to finish up the pipeline this year. As soon as permits are granted, they will continue to work north along 119 with “through traffic,” the same as last year with little impact to county roads. Work will tentatively start April 20 and end in September. 

The meeting concluded with a Board of County Commissioners FAA Update. County Attorney Brad Benning said they are still setting meetings with all the attorneys and commissioners to coordinate the procedural filings coming up this month. 

Chair Watson said there’s an emergency meeting with the State Board of Equalization this Thursday and was wondering if a commissioner should attend. The Assessor said, “No, it’s related to the Governor’s Executive Order.” The purpose is to discuss possibly extending deadlines with Assessors and private property. 

Meeting minutes for March 31 and April 2 were approved after edits were made. A motion was made and all were in favor. 

(Originally published in the April 9, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)