First on the agenda at Monday’s Garfield County Commissioner (BOCC) meeting was approval of a comment letter on the Sweetwater Lake Recreation and Development Management Project’s Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS). In it, the BOCC questions, among other things, how the Sweetwater Lake Area was purchased by the White River National Forest (WRNF). “This transaction stinks,” said Commissioner Tom Jankovsky. “It’s not really graft, but it just shows that things weren’t done correctly on this.” 

The letter, drafted by the county’s legal team, provides a history of the land and water rights transactions that Jankovsky said were not transparent. According to the letter, the Conservation Fund, a national environmental nonprofit, purchased the Sweetwater Lake area (SLA) and water rights for $7.1 million in 2020 with a $6.25 million loan from Great Outdoors Colorado, $500,000 from Eagle County, and $350,000 from private donors through Eagle Valley Land Trust and the Save the Lake campaign. 

On Aug. 27, 2021, the WRNF bought the SLA from the Conservation Fund for $8.5 million. Jankovsky stated that the Conservation Fund profited from the sale. “This nonprofit walked away with $1.3 million and they didn’t put a penny of their own funds into this transaction,” he said. 

The letter also states that the outcome of the SLA project was predetermined. In other words, before the WRNF purchased the SLA, the agency knew it was going to turn over management of the land to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and that CPW planned to make it a state park.

In other news, the BOCC approved a third supplemental budget request, election security improvements and the consent agenda, and heard discretionary grant requests from the Roaring Fork Conservancy, the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program, YouthEntity, Garfield County Search and Rescue, the Glenwood Springs Arts Center and Valley Senior Center. They also appointed Lisa Carpenter as a citizen member of the 9th Judicial District Community Corrections Board.

The BOCC approved a request to participate in an 88-unit Habitat for Humanity affordable housing project in Glenwood Springs by purchasing a one-bedroom unit for county employee housing. The $150,000 is an investment in the project, which will convert rental units to condos for purchase. Commissioners also approved $10,000 for a flagpole for the Western Colorado Veterans Coalition in Glenwood Springs. “It costs $10,000?” queried Jankovsky. Bentley Henderson, deputy county manager, said that costs included engineering studies and a licensed contractor. 

Upon emerging from an executive session, the BOCC voted unanimously to join a Mesa County lawsuit against the State of Colorado, regarding HB24-1413 and an increase in severance tax transfers. “This is the state basically trying to take money from local governments, which affects all local governments that receive severance tax,” said Jankovsky. He added that it could cost Garfield County $2 million. “That means, to balance our budget, we have to cut $2 million somewhere else.”

In the afternoon, a request for final plat approval for Oak Meadows Phase 3 Filing 4, an affordable housing plan and subdivision improvement plan was continued. Representatives for the developers stated that Habitat for Humanity, which is involved in the affordable housing plan, is holding up the process. 

Oh, and Silt resident John Lepkowski returned for an encore performance, complaining about “despicable, obscene, pornographic books” at the county libraries. He brought a satchel full of them to Monday’s meeting. He said “two young men, 11 and 12 years old” whom he spoke with at the Rifle Rendezvous, “knew all about the books.” It is unknown if Lepkowski had his book bag with him at the event. He accused the libraries of “following the Marxist Communist program, sexualizing the children and grooming the children” based on the direction, he said, of library district head Jamie LaRue. Lepkowski asked the BOCC to do something about how the books are accessible to children, stating “We don’t want to burn the library down because there’s a couple of rats in it.”