by Beecher Threatt

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At Tuesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting, Chair Heidi Albritton and Commissioner Lynn Padgett expressed their frustration with recent actions by the staff of Region 10 League for Economic Assistance and Planning.

Recently, the county complained to the Region 10 board of directors that its grant award process unfairly prejudiced the county's application for a homemaker grant. Ouray County also objected to the process for having its grievance heard before the executive committee of the board of directors.

On Tuesday Padgett questioned why Region 10 had an outside third party issue two press releases on behalf of its staff, stating the outcome of the grievance meeting. Albritton said she forwarded the press releases... to Region 10's executive committee, asked why they were issued and stated they were not an accurate representation of the outcome of the meeting. Albritton serves as chair of Region 10's board of directors.

The press releases were "a slap in the face," Albritton said. They were sent to local news organizations but not to the aggrieved party, Ouray County.

"Are we starting all over again?" Albritton asked. "I don't feel like we (Ouray County) are in sync with that culture. It makes me sad and frustrated."

Padgett also questioned why Region 10 was bringing in an out-of-state company to "make a sales pitch" to the board of directors regarding broadband service. An "Educational Session" is scheduled for the board of directors meeting at noon on Thursday, Nov. 17, in Montrose.

"Does staff have authority to pay this group to make a presentation?" she asked. "Will there be a Request for Proposals process?" Padgett said many individuals and governments in the region have already made progress on bringing greater broadband service to the area. She cited Operation Link-up and the Bottom-Up process. "Why are we talking to contractors when we have people working on it here?" Albritton questioned.

Albritton said she intends to bring up these issues at the meeting on Thursday.

Region 10 is a nonprofit corporation whose members are six counties and 18 municipalities. The organization, according to its website, is "a regional voice, an information clearinghouse, a resource center and a service provider for communities,  businesses and individuals." Ouray County contributes $5,953 in dues to Region 10 annually.

Also on Tuesday, the board approved a resolution forgiving the remainder of a debt that is actually just a "paper shuffle" in the budget every year. Albritton explained that in 2003 the 4-H Center building was a gift to the county, but at that time the BOCC was not sure what would happen with it. The county purchased furnishings and equipment for the building and incurred other costs but asked that the county be paid back from revenue generated by the building.

Now that the 4-H Center has become such an integral part of the "county family," Albritton said, there is no longer a need to have payments into the General Fund that just come out of the General Fund for operation of the center.

"It's just a journal entry," County Administrator Connie Hunt explained. On paper, the 4-H Center has paid back $121,800 of the original $174,000 debt.

Discussing next year’s budget, Albritton said it is looking less likely that the county will have to implement furlough days for employees next year. Padgett has been working with Hunt to identify other areas in the budget that can be cut to prevent having employees take unpaid days off.