The Grand County Board of County Commissioners approved Stage 2 fire restrictions at its June 23 meeting, escalating from the Stage 1 restrictions the board had enacted just 11 days earlier and setting an effective date of 12:01 a.m. Friday, June 26.
Sheriff Brett Schroetlin presented the recommendation, citing the county’s scientific fire matrix and conditions he described as worse than comparable counties. Summit and Routt counties were moving toward Stage 2 as well, he said, while the Arapaho and Sulphur Ranger District and the Bureau of Land Management’s local field office expected to follow Grand County’s lead by week’s end.
“Grand County shows a notch worse than any of those counties” on draft fire condition maps, Schroetlin told the board.
Stage 2 restrictions prohibit open burning but still allow propane appliances controlled by a switch. The restrictions defer decisions on professional fireworks displays — an immediate concern raised by a Flying Heels Rodeo representative during public comment — to individual fire district chiefs.
Commissioners discussed upgrading the county’s fire messaging strategy, floating the idea of permanent gateway signs along U.S. 40 and Colorado 9 with changeable fire level indicators. Schroetlin credited EMS Chief Austin Wingate for crafting effective messaging language and said he would seek additional variable message sign boards on loan for the summer.
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At its June 16 meeting, the board authorized EMS Chief Wingate to apply for a federal Health Resources and Services Administration rural opioid co-response grant with a ceiling of $750,000 per year over four years — a maximum of $3 million. The grant would fund recruitment, training, and salaries for co-response mental health clinicians embedded with EMS.
Commissioners expressed support but raised long-term sustainability concerns. The board asked Wingate to return with a comprehensive overview of all secured co-response funding before any positions are filled.
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At the June 23 meeting, the board also approved a letter opposing a proposed federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rulemaking that Wingate said would cut Grand County EMS reimbursement for Medicaid transports nearly in half — from roughly 54.5 percent of actual costs to approximately 26 percent. The proposed rule would cap supplemental payments at the Medicare ambulance fee schedule rate, a rate Wingate noted has not been updated since 2002. The public comment deadline is July 21. Commissioners directed staff to contact the Colorado Counties Inc., Club 20, and the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments to encourage broader opposition.
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Also at the June 23 meeting, the board accepted two Federal Aviation Administration grants totaling $874,000 for an apron reconstruction project at Grand County’s airports. Airports Supervisor Shawn Mahorney told commissioners the project is 73 percent complete and that milled asphalt from the existing surface will be stockpiled for use on a future access road east of the airport.
The board also approved a Child Care Assistance Program memorandum of understanding extension through June 30, 2027, and renewed public health contracts for consumer protection services ($45,000) and the vaccines-for-children program ($7,035, with additional federal funds anticipated).
At the June 16 meeting, Finance Director Alina Bell reported weekly payments totaling $1,480,555.84, including a $294,256.79 support payment to the Grand County Housing Authority and $155,179.62 to Blackwell for county-wide fuel purchases.
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