We are on the record. Thank you. Good morning. It is Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024, and I'm calling the Park County Board of Commissioners Meeting to Order. If you are so inclined, please stand for the invocation and the pledge. Dear Heavenly Father, our higher power, we thank you for this awesome place we've called Park County. We thank you for the opportunity to take care of this treasure and ask for your guidance in our decision making. We lift up all who live here and ask you to provide comfort for any and all who are having suffering hard times, either financial, health wise or any other. We ask for your guidance and we ask that you protect us from evil. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, the agenda. Wasn't there a request from the assessor to postpone some of this until she was back. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was looking for the agenda. I can't find, put my fingers on the electronic copy. We have to go into county board to do those four particular items that I would love to reschedule with our assessor if she's unavailable. But we have to go ahead and just do this cleanup under County Board. And then I would, we'll deal with that when we get there. But yeah, if she's not here, there's no problem. Okay. With that, just have some questions and some comments. And we'll get into that. Okay, so we'll deal with any agenda changes as board of equalization when we get to that portion of the agenda. Okay. I move the approval of the agenda. I would second. All in favor. All right. Consent items. We have minutes and vouchers on the consent items. I would move to approve the minutes and the vouchers with the one comment we're spending a heck of a lot of money but it was with one company who was digging up a bunch of asphalt for us. They are reclaiming hard surface. I would second that. Yeah, we noticed when we were looking at our vouchers, we had over a million dollars this week. So we normally comment when we have large expenditures like that, why that was for or what that was for and why it occurred. Right, so we have motion in second and I'll just comment that public works, Runembridge has worked really hard this summer and the expenditures show their hard work and diligent labor and they're trying to get stuff done before my nature prevents additional work. So all in favor. Hi. Hi. All right. This point I'd like to make a motion to recess the Board of County Commissioners and convenes the Board of Equalization. I would second. All in favor. Hi. All right. First item is discussion and consideration to adjust results of recommendations of valuation changes from county board of equalization hearings previously approved at regular meeting on August 6, 2024 due to procedural reasons for the following parcels and want to just take one parcel at a time. Partial ROO43613? Madam Chair, if I may, Dave whistle. I had seen Cindy earlier. I don't have possession of the files, but when we went through those and we did the adoption of the recommendations of our hearing officer, we had some abatements involved with included in the county board process, which is not necessarily correct. So when a person files an abatement, it is another avenue of appeal knowing in the fact that for example, texture 2023, you have one opportunity to appeal whether it's through the assessor level or after the fact up to two years past the fact through an abatement, that's for people to use to clear up or contest an illegal or erroneous value, or other matters of law. So these particular four cases, and like I say, I don't have to file, but I trust Cindy put them on there correctly. We'll have a different path. They have the right to come through the Board of County Commissioners and is separate hearing and we're going to work to give those people that opportunity and schedule it. You know, with a reasonable timeframe for them to come before us if they choose to. Cindy did verify that all these people are on a fighty. Appropriate for an abatement because they did not file an appeal in 2023. And so we're simply cleaning up our bookwork if you will. It's a technical thing, it's a small thing, but it matters to the total numbers in the county board actions of 2024. And this is just to clarify that and why. Long explanation for a very short problem. Okay, so for clarification, under what we approved on August 6th, we are removing our 0043613, our 0047901, our 0023851, and our 006388 from that list that was approved on August 6th and moving those into an abatement, separate hearing to be conducted in the future. Correct, very good. Got it. Any other discussion? We had listed on their discussion with our assessor because she had said to stay abstract. We did that on the 26th, I believe. And just get her impressions. I know she went to the IWAO conference. And then we finished this two-year cycle and just curious about her anticipation is for the next two-year cycle. I would ask her at this time to help us try and calculate the certainty, the specializations over thank God. Only took four days and nothing really, really unusual occurred. It has provided all of us taxpayers, taxing authorities, and certainly assessors, consistency in the law through at least 2027. Hopefully beyond, but at least 2027. So it's given certainty on as far as the rates and what they're going to be and how they're going to affect the different types of property classifications. And so I've always was asking through the special session and people on the property tax commission. mission. Between the divisional local government, legislative council, and I'm forgetting one entity, legislative council mainly. They have been gathering all of the individual district data, so when they do fiscal notes, they're able to have some kind of an idea, let's say if the rate changes, it goes up or goes down. They can do some fast math calculations to kind of see what that would do to individual districts, not only Park County, but within Park County and then across the state. So I've been asking our peers to say if we have some advanced time, could we then calculate what the impacts would be based upon the new projected assessment rates? In my opinion, there's really no relief per se, it's just the redistribution of who pays what. Because when you redistribute the rates, and we were talking off the record, I'll put it on the record. So if we go from 29 to 28%, that's about a 5% reduction when you look at the numbers. If you go from 27 to 25%, that's about at 10%. Nice round of numbers, you know, just using government math. If you go from my 29 to 26, that's about 14, 15%. So what that does is it redistributes the values within the total tax role, but the total tax role is still divided by the mill levy from that each entity, and that is the term in determining factor. Whatever that assess value is, times the total levy will be the taxes. So that part's good, that part's been solidified. It's what the individual components do in those taxing authorities. And we experienced it. We saw when we did our levees and revenues last year. Those that took advantage of 108 or other devices, those who did not. That is why I think we ended up with a 5.25% cap. In the special session was non-county revenues were growing exponentially. Does that help or hurt? Any comments, Commissioner Elser? No, I'm from a standpoint of Park County, Park County government. All of the messing around and playing around doesn't really do anything because we're so far below our table limit. Or what we could collect based on our mill levy that it's just okay if you're taken from here we're just redistributed. So from the county standpoint there really is no difference and we're in pretty good shape. It's where you get into the special districts that you have the difference if they've de-brewed which means they can collect the full amount of their mill levy that is then going to be an adjustment downwards if they lower the assessment rate so they can collect less. But as far as park county is concerned, we're right where we were before all of this started, which is why I wish everybody would have not debrouzed so we could just do away with this mess that we have. Yep, so do we need to, I think for I on the removal of those four parcels, I think that we just all in agreement that we... Well, I don't know if there's, you know, I think at this point I feel because we've already done it, Aaron Smith has her hands up. Okay. And this is my question is, I'm not too sure we have the legal authority to do that. So Aaron needs to explain if we do or don't have the authority to actually do that. Okay. But my question will be they were not processed as they were requested and so I believe we have the need to. The in-legality sometimes don't match. Hey, Marin. Yeah, I think from a practical standpoint and though I don't think this statute addresses this directly, but I think from a practical standpoint that a motion to amend the prior motion so that it excludes these parcel numbers and actually Commissioner Chair, you stated it very well when you summarized it earlier. That could be the motion. But I think you need a motion and a second of vote on it to remove these from the prior approval of the hearing officers' results for reasons that they were, they need to be processed appropriately and that you will set these up for a later hearing. Okay, thank you very much. We will do that. Madam Chair, if you would so entertain entertain I would move that the four parcels of 436134790123851 in 6388 be removed from the County Board report because of the explanation of them being in an abatement request rather than a County Board filing. This will amend the math slightly, and then allow them to go forward with some communication from with us when we can set that up for their future hearing. So that would be my motion. I'll second that motion. All in favor. I, what's, you know, given the fact that, uh, wait, so, um, you know, given, um, the fact that, okay, you are attorney did say that. Okay. You know, that, that's fine. So this is a legal motion. I'm just going to say that we, you know, we went through the hearing and a hearing officer. I'm not too sure this is necessary, but just to make it a little, okay, we all kind of agree, we can look at them again. I'll go ahead and vote for that. But I think I'm going to request a lot more in-depth look at, are we allowed to do that in this case? And what ramifications is this going to have on the fact that we hired a hearing officer to do the work and now we're saying well, we don't believe the hearing officer did his job right. So those are the things that I'm concerned with. But I think when we go back and I will assume next week or sometime we'll be setting the dates. I think we need to have that discussion. All right, well we've got a motion to second on the table. Commissioner Whistle. For the discussion to clarify. When I went through and reviewed the files that interpret them, for whatever reason, and I don't know the reason, I haven't talked to anyone involved directly at this point, those four files were included with the other 40, what 42, whatever it was, that were run through the county board hearing process in error, in my opinion. I think when you look at the form and the structure of the abatement process, there's an honest mistake and we can fix it by this. Simply as an example, let's say we adjusted $100 worth of the county board level. This may take us to 96. I mean, whatever that is, the math will clear it up. Just by the removal of those work accounts. They will then have the opportunity if they choose to go through the payment process, which is in front of the Board of County Commissioners and not the Board of Equalsization. With that, they have timely notice. The issue with this is I believe there are more than just these four abatements pending. And that we will clear up as we get there. But if there are other abatements pending, then we need to get those in a timely manner because the law allows those to be held for six months. And we have one of those four that was a February filing. Now, there's no firing squad if you don't hit the six months, okay? There's no punitive repercussions, but we need to go ahead and schedule these in a timely manner. If people notice so they can schedule their life, if they wish to appear, and then pick up the backlog if any just based upon the information and a couple of reports that were in the box. So with that I think we're in good standing. We're just simply going to modify the math for those accounts. These people still have their administrative remedies through the baby process. So hopefully that will clarify. Sure. Elsmer. Oh, that's fine. Yeah, I think we need to have a discussion. You know, a more thorough discussion is to the law behind it. Just so I understand and we understand the issues here because I think there was a difference of opinion as to whether that could happen or couldn't happen. And I'd like to have that discussion, but the only way we're going to be able to have that discussion is to remove them and to do it at that time. So. Well, and I just, I'll just contend that if the property owner requests for an abatement and they were put through equalization, they should be put an abatement and they were put through equalization. They should be put through abatement because that's what they requested and they had the right to request that. So we will go there when we are there. So all in favor. Hi. Hi. All right. And. Okay. At this point, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn as the Board of Equalization and reconvene as the Board of County Commissioners. Second. All in favor. Aye. All right. At this point, we have no other items on the agenda. So we are at public comment. If anyone in the room or online would like to make a public comment, please raise your hand. Or come to the podium. All right. Suzanne, I see your hand is up. I'm going to ask you to unmute. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I must say I'm impressed with the work that you commissioned to do starting with earlier with the water and on taxes. So a lot of issues that you handle for us and we appreciate it. I want to put one more on your table and that is back to the old outdoor events and zone violations. You know, I sent you off the email last Friday saying that there was a zoning violation and that the property next door to us, which is zone agricultural, was hosting a campaign event for four days, three nights, and inviting people to come and pay a fee. So it's commercial. This is not honor. This is open to the public. And this is a problem that we've had now for a decade, basically. We had a couple good years with COVID. Sadly enough, our COVID years 2020 and 2021 were the peaceful ones, and we're back into it again. I know that our county sent a cease and desist letter, and the result of that was that they argued that because the outdoor regulations do not apply unless there's 150 more than 150 attendees that they were allowed to go forward. And this is a mistake that has started to decade ago, Chila Cross and the planning department started it and it's continued and frankly it's just wrong. On agricultural land, camping is permitted if you have more than 150 or more than 36 acres. But let's define Camping, which the zoning regulations do. And it's very clear that Camping, as it's permitted, is temporary non-commercial lodging by a lot of owners or owners. So non-commercial, in other words, you can't charge the fee, and it's by the owners. This is not an open to the public. And in fact, your zoning regulations very clearly define commercial camping as being accessible to the general public as commercial, and commercial as the payment of a fee. So it's wrong, but you guys let it go ahead based on what has been an erroneous interpretation. And I think the interpretation even got more mixed when the campaign ordinance was adopted in 2020. So on 20-01, that camping ordinance said it didn't apply to agricultural zone property over 35 acres. So that one which talks about camping only by the owner and non-paying invited guests didn't apply. So again, it got confusing, although look at the zoning regulations, they shouldn't have this camping. So to the extent that there continues to be confusion about this, I would ask that you clarify that agricultural property of 30 more than 35 acres cannot have commercial camping. Unless the owner has a conditionally used permit, has zoning for a campground and recreation center, or has gotten a temporary use permit. And you need to clarify this. And it's not just this property that's going to continue to abuse it, it will be others. I would also note that when you came in and you discovered what they have been doing for years and that is they distribute fee free beer and they make it exquisitely clear that you know 35 bucks you get free beer blah blah blah and you appropriately figured out they don't have a liquor license to do this and they can't do it and in an event you either have bring your own booze or you have a licensed person that's distributed it but you can't do both. And you should see what whitewater posted on the web. They said that due to a complaint by a neighbor which is us, we're the next door neighbor, we are the ones in the line of sight that they couldn't have freed beer. And if you want to see some angry, mean, horrible, rude comments, take a look at Facebook and what they've invited. Commissioner Ellsner at one point asked, what do we get from some of these events on Burger Land Company? I'll tell you what we get. We get wild driving. We get a lot of people coming to the area that don't know the area, and we get incredibly rude, horrible behavior. So, again, I am asking you, please. Number one, make sure that you enforce what is on the book. For if it's not clear, let's clarify it, that an owner of 36 plus acres can't have commercial camping without some provision. This is nuts. The idea that you can have 149 people with no supervision, no department of health concerns, no health and safety, nothing is just absurd and it's been going on for far too long. Also, I don't know if Noah told you, we let him know. Some of these events where they come in and they do get a permit, they don't have insurance. You guys have had events with burning man people and their insurance policy specifically says events that are excluded are music events with overnight exposure and very clearly higher performances. So you've got applications coming in and the organizers have certified that they have insurance. When the truth of the matter is they, their policy would be canceled. The first second, somebody tried to make a claim because they lied on the application. And ironically, their certification that their event doesn't include music with overnight exposure and does not include fire performances. Right after that comes the, you have to certify the underpendility of perjury and criminal penalties that this is true and it's not. So again, these outdoor events are just ridiculous. We would ask that you also amend the outdoor event regulations so that an owner can only have at maximum, at maximum, one overnight campaign event. You can't look at the website to find out what's been approved in 2024 because contrary to your regulations, that's not being posted right now for some reason. But in the past, if you went and looked at it, what you saw was that you had a lot of daytime events. The Mineral and Jim show, the Bayley days, you know, a lot of daytime events. The mineral and gym show, the daily days, a lot of daily events. The only overnight camping has burned on Burger Land Company with their four events in a year. The Bailey Hondo, the Elsewins, the Bernal Equinox, which happened in March, and now this Bailey Fest event that they do Labor Day, just when we don't need more traffic. Those events are the only camping until this year where now you've got a copycat who's over at heart still doing his music event. Other than that, it's all daytime stuff. They have shouldn't have to put up with a campground being established, one, two, three, four times a year. And some of these are huge. The Bailey Honda, what is it? ground being established one, two, three, four times a year. And some of these are huge. The Bailey Honda, what is it? 750 people coming in next door to my place. So I would urge you to take this one up and clarify number one, enforce your existing regulations. Just read them. And secondly, if we need to amend the regulations, and I would be happy to do whatever I can to participate. I would also point out that this is a situation where who gets the benefits of it, it's not the people paying the taxes. Those of us at Rivercliffe, we've got four houses on 150 acres roughly. We pay $32,000 and taxes. Our neighbor, Burger Land Company, 1600 acres, 10 times the property. You know how much they pay in property taxes each year? For all that commercial burden they put on our community? $2,133. I'll say that again. For their 1600 acres, they're paying 2,133. And they do burden the community. They were the ones having to share out their stopping traffic so the Bailey Honda bicycle riders could ride around. They were the ones who have had people going out trying to spend time. The burdens that they put on the road of driving back and form huge. Anyway, you guys, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me rant and rave about this, but we lived through this. You know, the question, how did it go? It's horrible. I ended up, you know, over the weekend I was there a little bit and then I just, I had to clear out. I couldn't bear to see the Chi-Appers who were posting such vile things on Facebook about the neighbors because they were so pissed they didn't get their free beer. So, please, So please help us with this. All right. Questions? Can I send you, you know, background information? Is there anything that I can do to help move this along the vet? Yeah. Suzanne, thank you for your comment. And Mr. Smith did request that you, what you just said, you put in writing because we are going through all of our strategic master plan in land use regulation review. It would be helpful to have your comments on the record and we I just say I hear you loud and clear so thank you for your comment. Thank you and I will definitely send over a letter with the background information and you know citations to the regulations so that you can see it and we can all kind of get there. And I appreciate the review. Thank you very much. You have a great day. May part county have a calm fall. Well, at least we don't have else ones. Thank you. There you go. All right. Anyone else like to make a comment? Please raise your hand on zoom or come up to podium in the room Seeing none I'd like to make a motion to close public comment. I Don't know what we're gonna do, but I would second that all in favor. Hi. Hi We have no executive session so Move we move to a year. Yes. All in favor. Hi. Hi. All right. Thank you, everybody, for attending. Have a great day.