Mindy Leary, Gilpin County. On Thursday, June 11, 2020, the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners met for their regular meeting online 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. The highlight of the meeting was an introduction to a variance request to reopen the Gilpin County Library, which was presented by Library Director Michael Carlson. Carlson said the advice he received from the state library is to work with local commissioners and the health board to request a variance. 

Limon and Larimer counties have had their variances approved so Carlson hopes Gilpin has no issues as it is modeled after these successful examples. 

Benning said the maximum building capacity is 110 people but that the requirement is 28 square feet of space per person and would depend on the spacing of each area.

The board then adjourned and reconvened as the board of health. Public Health Coordinator Bonnie Albrecht reviewed the variance and suppression plan, which is similar to the suppression plan for the casinos. She said that the county is prepared to respond to any increase in contagion through testing and contact tracing due to the library re-opening. There are now six cases in Gilpin County of Covid-19.

Carlson only expects to allow ten people in at a time, but Engels said to allow for a little wiggle room, allowing up to 25 people total.

The variance request was unanimously approved by both the Board of Health and the Board of County Commissioners. The board then adjourned into executive session without the need to reconvene.

(Originally published in the June 18, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)