The Chaffee County Board of Commissioners met Monday in Salida for a work session that surfaced a 20-year-old resolution banning heavy trucks from County Road 313 — a finding central to the county’s pending response to Buena Vista’s proposed Amazon distribution facility. Three simultaneous resignations from the Common Ground Citizens Advisory Committee entered the public record, with departing members citing the board’s departure from the program’s voter-approved resolutions. Commissioners Gina Lucrezi, P.T. Wood, and Dave Armstrong also received updates from the Sheriff’s Office, County Assessor, Colorado Mountain College, U.S. Forest Service, and congressional staff. No formal votes are taken at work sessions under Colorado law.
Amazon Facility and Resolution 2659
County Planning Director Gary Baker told commissioners that staff had discovered Resolution 2659, passed by the board in 2006, which bans through trucks from County Road 313. Baker said the resolution appears to have originated in response to road damage from truck traffic during the South Main development project. Signs prohibiting heavy trucks are physically posted on the road. The resolution was not surfaced during the prior Topside annexation process — Baker said county resolutions are stored in paper files and are not found without active research.
The proposed Amazon facility involves a 19.5-acre annexation into Buena Vista adjacent to County Roads 317 and 313. Baker said the site plan shows 105 employee parking spaces, 155 van spaces, and a 33,000-square-foot enclosed distribution building. Amazon projects 25 employees and 17 vans at opening, growing to as many as 107 vans and 13 semi-trucks over a 10-year build-out. Three separate access points on County Road 317 are planned. Baker said the intersection of 317 and 313 cannot physically accommodate a semi-truck turning movement — the pavement is insufficient to complete the turn without encroaching on opposing traffic lanes.
The county plans to chip seal both roads this year at a materials cost of approximately $250,000. Baker noted chip seal is a surface treatment only and does not improve load-bearing capacity for heavy vehicles.
Buena Vista Planning Director Marika Kopp attended and said the town needs commissioner input on truck routing before its April 9 annexation hearing. Amazon has represented to county staff that it does not plan to route semi-trucks east on 317 and south on 313, instead routing them north to Baylor Drive and U.S. Highway 24.
Commissioner Wood said the resolution is not obscure — the road is physically signed for no heavy trucks and commissioners are obligated to uphold resolutions until they formally repeal them. He said he wants a written commitment from Amazon on semi-truck routing and noted the 317/313 intersection cannot physically accommodate the turning movement regardless of the resolution. Commissioner Armstrong questioned whether Amazon would invest in road improvements to handle its traffic load, said he supports the project and wants it built, and suggested placing the resolution on the next regular BOCC agenda for formal action. Commissioner Lucrezi said she did not want the comment letter to take a hard position against semi-truck use of 313 and 317, noting the resolution has never been enforced against any prior project. Commissioners agreed staff would revise the draft letter stating current road conditions, the resolution’s existence, and the physical turning limitation, with the letter due to Buena Vista by April 9th.
Three Common Ground Resignations
Sydney Schnurr, Scott Gillilan, and Paul Muelle submitted simultaneous resignation letters from the Common Ground Citizens Advisory Committee, all dated March 18, requesting the letters be included in the public record. All three cited the requirements of Resolution 2018-46 and Resolution 2019-11 — the resolutions establishing the voter-approved program — which require all expenditures to be subject to CAC recommendations.
Gillilan wrote that commissioners had “unilaterally decided to greatly reduce the strongest element of the Common Ground program” — grant-making — in favor of a special project fund, without constructive dialogue with the committee despite multiple requests. Muelle cited what he described as unclear and inconsistent communication about the committee’s role and changes in funding direction. Schnurr wrote that the program’s current trajectory no longer aligns with her professional judgment or her understanding of the program’s core priorities.
Miles Cottom, Community Planning and Natural Resources Director, briefed the board on committee status. Six members remain active with one vacancy and no alternates seated. Commissioners directed Cottom to immediately re-open the application process rather than waiting for the normal October recruitment cycle. Before the resignations were addressed, the board recognized outgoing members Ben Lenth and Jim LaRue with thank-you cards for their service since the Common Ground program’s founding.
Sheriff: Mental Health Calls Up 32%, $610,000 Radio Replacement Looming
Sheriff Andy Rohrich reported a 36% increase in total call volume from 2024 to 2025, with mental health calls accounting for 32% of that increase. The co-response program averages approximately 55 contacts per month. Co-response staff Sarah Briggs and Brad McCray were recognized in a March newsletter from the state Behavioral Health Administration Office of Suicide Prevention. The team was selected as one of 10 nationally to participate in a crisis response Learning Collaborative.
The department’s dispatch console radios lose manufacturer support in 2030. Replacement is estimated at $610,000. Motorola will conduct a site assessment next month. Rohrich said the 911 authority board may absorb a significant portion of the cost and that the new equipment is transferable to any future facility.
The department entered a new Axon contract replacing all body cameras and tasers at no additional cost, saving $30,000 through negotiation. A new report-writing platform called Code 4 reduces tasks previously requiring two to eight hours down to approximately 15 minutes. Three cadets complete police academy training in May. New drug dog Bossk, with handler Deputy Ryland Getzke, achieved narcotics certification faster than any dog in Colorado in the past 20 years, according to the sheriff.
A multi-agency SWAT operation in Lake County with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and state drug enforcement authorities dismantled a meth and fentanyl distribution network. Eleven people were arrested, multiple firearms were seized, and several individuals were identified as affiliated with white supremacist gangs. Deputy Donnie Smith was named a finalist for a national distinguished service award for rescuing a critically injured hiker — the survivor’s recovery was later featured in a UC Health commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. Deputy Kevin McCloskey was named a finalist for a Mothers Against Drunk Driving award for DUI enforcement.
Assessor Warns of Higher Bills, Flags Proposed Legislation
Assessor Janie Williams described 2025 as the most difficult tax roll she has experienced, driven by the state’s new split assessment rate structure. The $55,000 value reduction available to property owners in 2023 and 2024 expired for 2025, producing higher bills with no corresponding change in many properties’ values. A manufactured home valued at $100,000 carried a bill of approximately $161 in 2024. The same home’s bill rose to approximately $380 in 2025. Williams said 17,000 notices of value go out May 1, the appeals portal opens the same day, and the office anticipates a higher volume of appeals than prior years.
Williams flagged House Bill 26-1119, which would authorize local taxing entities to impose different mill levy rates on land and improvements separately. She said the 2025 split assessment rate “nearly broke” Colorado’s tax system and called this bill “far worse.” The Assessors Association has urged commissioners and assessors to contact local legislators in opposition. The bill sits in the House Finance Committee.
Senate Bill 24-233, taking effect for 2026, is expected to provide some relief: a 10% reduction on the first $700,000 in actual value for local government purposes, with commercial and agricultural rates dropping from 27% to 25%.
CMC Brings First Registered Apprenticeship to Chaffee County
Colorado Mountain College representatives reported that Chaffee County currently has zero statewide-registered apprenticeships. CMC will launch an electrical apprenticeship program in Salida in August through a partnership with Independent Electrical Contractors of Colorado Springs, which runs a 400-student, four-year curriculum. CMC will provide classroom space and student recruitment; IEC will hire the instructor. A contractor in the valley with four apprentices currently spends close to $100,000 over four years in time and travel costs to get them licensed in Denver. Local programming would eliminate most of that expense.
CMC’s wildfire mitigation certificate — a 26-credit, one-year program — received board approval and the website went live the morning of the meeting. An auto program at Salida High School taught by a CMC faculty member now gives students up to 36 college credits while in high school. A CMC-hired construction instructor with 25-plus years of experience will teach at Salida High School beginning in August. CMC has issued an RFP for architects to assess renovation needs at its Salida campus building, which the college will formally purchase from the school district in 2027. Planned improvements include elevator installation required for ADA compliance, a new science lab, and a new EMS lab.
Forest Service Updates
Salida District Ranger Perry Edwards and Leadville District Ranger Pat Mercer reported Stage 1 fire restrictions remain in effect. The planned Trout Creek prescribed burn has been postponed to fall. Both rangers said a national Forest Service reorganization underway at the regional and Washington levels is not expected to significantly affect district operations or staffing in Chaffee and Lake counties this season.
Additional updates: the Forest Service is in preliminary title work to purchase 40 acres in North Cottonwood Creek, expected to close this summer; NEPA work is advancing on Monarch Mountain’s request to expand the Paradise parking lot; an environmental assessment for Xcel Energy power line pole replacements on Forest Service and BLM land is out for public scoping; the Bald Mountain Forest Health Categorical Exclusion project received strong public support and is moving through NEPA; campground beetle mitigation using NCH traps is underway; signage for designated dispersed camping areas is being finalized through a National Forest Foundation partnership with Clear Creek as the first implementation site; and a Collegiate Peaks Wilderness order restricting campfires above 11,000 feet for resource protection will receive new signage funded by a GOCO 14er Centennial Grant. A Northern Ute tribal visit to a dispersed camping site is scheduled for June.
Legislative and Congressional Updates
Commissioner Lucrezi highlighted two pending state bills. House Bill 1340 would require buyers who purchase irrigated agricultural land and remove the water rights to re-vegetate the property. The bill applies to counties in Water District 2, which includes Chaffee County. Colorado River basin districts oppose the bill, which Lucrezi said makes passage difficult. She said she plans to testify in support April 13 if her schedule allows. Senate Bill 101 would require methane mitigation systems at county-operated landfills. Lucrezi said the county cannot afford an estimated $2.5 million in equipment costs plus approximately $150,000 annually in engineering, and that selling the landfill to a private operator would send rates “absolutely through the roof.”
Staff from the offices of Rep. Brittany Pettersen, Sen. John Hickenlooper, and Sen. Michael Bennet provided updates by video. Pettersen’s Post-Disaster and Reforestation Act passed the House on March 16 and advanced to the Senate. Staff from Pettersen’s office also reported conducting an oversight visit to an ICE field office in Fremont County, the state’s second-busiest ICE processing location, handling 558 people from January through October last year. Staff from Bennet’s office reported a separate oversight visit to the ICE facility in Glenwood Springs. Hickenlooper’s Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, requiring hospitals and providers to disclose negotiated rates and post prices for 300 shoppable services, gained 18 Senate co-sponsors. Staff from all three offices noted uncertainty around the Forest Service reorganization and offered assistance accessing federal resources ahead of the fire season.
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