Published on June 12, 2018
Last week, the Board of County Commissioners joined 250 county leaders in attending the Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI) Foundation Summer Conference at the Keystone Conference Center.
CCI is a nonprofit, membership association whose purpose is to aid county commissioners, mayors and councilmembers and to encourage counties to work together on common issues related to infrastructure, health, and technology. Governed by a board of directors consisting of eight commissioners from across the state, CCI’s focus is on information, education and legislative representation. This year’s conference was themed “Routes to County Success” and presented educational workshops designed to help elected officials and county staff professionals meet a wide range of challenges. These workshops focused on disaster recovery, wildfire mitigation, best practices in county budgeting, the property assessment appeals process, child welfare, road maintenance, opioid crisis response, and broadband expansion into rural Colorado. The opening session featured speakers Bruce Koranski, of BK International, and Dr. Denise Materre, of Denise Materre Consulting. The session examined the role of county commissioners in creating a respectful workplace within county government. This included discussions on modeling behaviors conducive to a workplace where county employees feel safe and supported, and driving responsive action where necessary. Later in the conference, Dee Wisor, of Butler Snow Law Firm, outlined actions counties might take to find relief from property tax revenue shortfalls created by the Gallagher Amendment and political pollster Floyd Ciruli talked about ballot initiatives related to taking property for public use, limits on local housing growth, severance tax on oil and gas, and taxes for schools and transportation. The conference was important in many ways as it allowed the commissioners to better understand and discuss current legislative topics, along with their impact, not only on Weld County residents, but those throughout the state. For more information on CCI, visit https://ccionline.org/.