The Garfield Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) tackled a relatively short agenda on Monday and continued rolling budget hearings with department leaders on Tuesday.

The commissioners reviewed four new applicants for three contested seats on the County Fair board: Scott Schilt, Aaron Walker, Kevin Costanzo and Jozie Merritt. Levy Burris resigned, leaving one seat vacant and two other current members, Oliviya Daugherty and Leah Bergener, are seeking reappointment for another three-year term. Neither Walker nor any of the current members were present during Monday’s BOCC meeting.

Schilt said that he can help keep the fair from falling short, and pointed to an event where the National Anthem was sung, but no flag was present. “To me that’s just something that can’t take place,” he said. Commissioner Perry Will asked how he’d propose to increase participation county-wide. Schilt replied, “All of the communities involved throughout Garfield County have an identity and we have to find a way to tie ourselves to their identity, not the other way around.”

Costanzo of Rifle lamented that the fair hype is not what it used to be, and echoed his intent to help with participation. He suggested more vendors and activities during the day to keep people entertained outside of main events, which often start later in the day or in the evening.

When asked by Samson what the most important aspect of the fair is, both agreed: the youth.

Merritt moved to Rifle a year ago from Wyoming. She suggested catering more to the Hispanic community, including hosting more heritage events, to increase participation and make it a more equitable resource. The commissioners will return a decision for each vacancy next week.

In other fairgrounds business, the commissioners waived fees for the North West High School Rodeo Club to practice in the indoor arena Friday afternoons and for Youthentity’s Fall Career Expo. 

Hiring freeze case study
On Monday, it was decided to table a request from the County’s Department of Human Services to fill three vacancies — two child support positions and one child welfare position — until after the department’s budget hearing on Tuesday. The hiring requests will be back on the Oct. 20 agenda.

During the budget hearing on Tuesday, Sharon Longhurst Pritt said there may be a fourth employee moving on, which would make the department short nine employees (inclusive of the five freezes) out of its 116 county-wide positions.

“I feel like with those five positions frozen we are [going to be] tight,” said Pritt. “One-hundred-eleven positions sounds like a lot of, but those 

positions are spread out across multiple different program areas. We can’t take a child welfare worker and place that child welfare worker in child support, or vice versa.” For one, the former requires a four-year degree and the latter does not.

Garfield County also handles child support cases for Rio Blanco and Pitkin counties through intergovernmental agreements, but is reimbursed at 100%. 

If the commissioners do not agree to hire the two child support positions, alternatives would be to end those agreements and reduce caseloads or have managers also work cases.

The state reimburses the County for child support salaries at 66%, and the average salary (including benefits) is $93,856; so the County could save $31,911 for each position that’s not filled. The child welfare position is funded by the Child Welfare Block Allocation, with state and federal governments reimbursing 80% of an average $119,217 salary and benefits package.

During the rolling Tuesday budget hearings the past two weeks, staff from each department presented their own proposed cuts. DHS was able to get its proposed county share portion of its 2026 budget down from $3.12 million to $2.44 million, the majority of which was saved due to the freeze. 

In other news… 
A letter written by Kirby Winn, the County’s oil and gas liaison, commenting on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Drafted Supplemental Environmental Assessment for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Air Quality Related to Oil and Gas Leasing in Colorado was unanimously approved by the BOCC. The letter urges BLM to affirm the existing rights of 285 previously issued leases, including 10 in the county, and to issue 21 pending leases in greater sage grouse areas in Colorado, including five in the county. The letter also suggests air quality analyses be made when an application for a permit to drill is made and not at the leasing stage. 

A public hearing to modify McClure River Ranch’s PUD, a 98-acre property 3.5 miles east of Carbondale, was unanimously approved with conditions. There were no public comments.

Recordings of all BOCC meetings can be found at www.garfieldcountyco.gov