It’s time for new appointments to the Garfield County Library Board of Trustees.
Two seats will be open at the beginning of 2027, including the at-large position, now filled by Board Treasurer John Mallonee, and the Silt seat, filled by Board President Adrian Rippy-Sheehy, as discussed in the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on Monday, Oct. 12. Mallonee will finish up his first five-year term on Dec. 31 and will be able to re-apply. Rippy-Sheehy terms out after 10 years on the board.
Applications for the at-large seat are open to all county residents. The Silt seat must be filled by someone living within the 81652 zip code. Applications are due Oct. 20. Info about how to apply is at the Garfield County Public Library District website, gcpld.org
The BOCC and library board representatives will interview candidates on Nov. 4 with the BOCC expected to make appointments at the regular meeting on Nov. 9. County Manager Fred Jarman said at Monday’s meeting that he has already received three letters of interest for the positions.
Taxes and budget
The BOCC wrapped up Monday’s business in under two hours. They approved a total of $120,658 in property tax abatements and the consent agenda, which included renewal of a brew pub for The Garage Bar between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs.
Shari Neuroth, county budget manager, presented the 2026 fourth budget supplement and appropriations report, which show a $514,980 increase in supplemental revenues and a $976,080 increase in supplemental expenditures.
Xcel Energy wildfire safety
Brad McCloud, Xcel Energy’s area manager and communications director, talked to the BOCC about the utility’s wildfire mitigation and public safety efforts. “We are replacing all of the transmission lines … through the state of Colorado currently,” McCloud said. This includes the Ute Rifle to DeBeque Transmission Line Rebuild project, which is replacing old, wooden transmission poles with steel. It’s part of a $1.9 billion wildfire mitigation plan.
McCloud mentioned the importance of Xcel’s vegetation management. “That involves going from residential neighborhoods to [Bureau of Land Management land] and other areas,” McCloud explained, adding that crews are cutting back vegetation encroaching on power lines. “Because, obviously, the last thing we want to do is have branches coming into contact with our lines and igniting fires.”
McCloud said Xcel is taking a look at its public safety plan and, after 2025’s Lee and Elk fires in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, mapping levels of fire risk in its service areas. “Those [fires] are the reasons why we’re having these kind[s] of designations so that we can be aware and we can manage ahead of any concerns and situations that we have to deal with,” he said.
To that effect, he added, Xcel has set up about 50 “pano AI cameras” on the Western Slope and Front Range to detect smoke.
About a month and a half ago, McCloud said he got to see a camera prevent a major fire near Palisade. “Our camera picked up on it, sent the emergency messaging out to our county partners before they were aware,” he said. “They were able to mitigate and put that fire out before it became an issue at all.”
McCloud explained that Xcel is upgrading a substation near New Castle. “We’re also replacing roughly 200-plus transformers where we’re doing all the lines going in and out of there,” he said, adding that outdated equipment has created challenges for the town. “But in the next year or so, they’re going to have a much better product, and they will have fewer outages,” he said.
Xcel’s use of drones, AI cameras and weather stations is expected to help reduce outages. “We have an entire team of meteorologists that do nothing but work [on] and predict our weather forecasts,” McCloud said.
McCloud said the utility would only engage in a Public Safety Power Shutoff — an intentional shut-down of the system for public safety — in the most extreme wildfire conditions, like red-flag weather. He added that it’s an activation of last resort, involving high levels of communication with local officials and constant monitoring even after the weather clears.
As for data centers? “From Xcel’s position, we acknowledge that the business model for data centers and developers is out there, and they’re looking all over the country,” McCloud said. He added that the need is growing and that Xcel is trying to plan ahead by ensuring the strength of the electrical grid. “We are working with regulators and the Public Utilities Commission, our stakeholder communities and our customers to make sure that the burden and the cost of the infrastructure and the build-out for a data center is not put on our consumer,” he said.
You can find a recording of Monday’s meeting and other archived BOCC meetings at the Garfield County website, garfieldcountyco.gov