Mineral County September meeting prepares for fall

CREEDE— Mineral County Commissioners opened their first of the month meeting on Sept. 5 to discuss a few topics on the agenda and prepare for the coming fall months and budget. Commissioner Chairwoman Ramona Weber opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and then asked for the approval of the agenda which was passed. County Administrator Janelle Kukuk spoke up to tell the board that a representative from the road and bridge department would not be able to attend as he was out continuing work on Deep Creek Road.
Don Dustin, a member of the audience spoke up and complemented the board on the use of a combination of materials used to spray the road in order to keep it in better condition from the basic wear and tear of vehicles. Dustin stated that the road was in the best condition compared to previous years when wash boarding and pockmarking had made the road nearly impassable. Commissioners and Kukuk agreed that the combination of sugar and magnesium chloride was doing a great job on the road and suggested that it be used on all dirt county roads where needed.
Sheriff Fred Hosselkus also had to move his report due to some search and rescue business that needed to be attended to, so commissioners moved on to the commissioner report. Commissioner Scott Lamb was the first one to report to the board stating that a meeting in South Fork was going to take place on Monday, Sept. 11. The meeting was to be an informational forum between all four entities involved in the possible purchase of the Denver and Rio Grande Rail line leading from South Fork to Creede.
Lamb continued to state that it seemed to him that some of the people involved in the due diligence may be confused as to what specifically is going on and what the plans of the steering committee are. County Attorney Randy Nicholson spoke up briefly to ask if the stakeholder was going to be in attendance for the meeting, to which Lamb responded that after much consideration, the plan was to just have the officials and then perhaps later, include the landowners.
After further discussion on the topic, Lamb and Kukuk decided that it would be best to contact Rio Grande County Commissioners to suggest that the stakeholder be invited to the meeting, due to the fact that most of them have additional information to share about the coming process. The meeting is scheduled to take place at the South Fork Carnegie Library. The meeting will involve all four entities involved in the due diligence of the possible rail purchase with a public forum to be scheduled at a later time.
Weber was the next to speak stating that the Rio Grande Watershed Emergency Action Coordination Team (RWEACT) held their monthly meeting to discuss the radar being installed within the Valley. Weber explained that RWEACT had announced that CDOT was going to help with expenses associated with getting the weather radar installed in Alamosa by donating, what she thought was $100,000. The radar will be the first of its kind and will finally give the National Weather Service reading from the area, whereas before the San Luis Valley and San Juan Mountain Range was a black hole on the national radar system.