Looking Back

2007 has been an interesting ride. I quickly discovered there was a lot more to being Chair of the Board of County Commissioners than running the meeting. Voted in on a Monday and by Wednesday I was delivering the unpleasant news to a department director that her position was being eliminated. A scene that was repeated a total of 6 times that day and 3 more throughout the year for senior level management. Dozens of other positions were not filled as vacancies occurred in 2007.

As Chair you find yourself spending more time with the media, it still amazes me that you can talk to the camera for 5 minutes and then find you got  20 seconds of air time. You pick up a few more outside board and liaison responsibilities that are traditionally designated for whoever may be the chair. There are also more welcomes and thank yous throughout the year for community events and awards ceremonies.

We managed to squeak out a modest midyear pay increase for almost all employees, and for some this was the first increase they had seen in 3 years. Having a 2008 preliminary balanced budget by early July felt good, even though we scaled back on revenue projections and had to tell a lot of departments and offices “no” to additional funding requests. Three months later we found 2007 revenue wasn’t meeting budget projections, necessitating not only furloughs to employees but some cuts to areas that, due to their importance, had remained relatively whole like the Department of Transportation. With even more current information, we recently reduced the 2008 budget to13 million dollars less than what had originally been approved for 2007.

Willow Springs Ponds was opened to fishing after almost 10 years of closure. In its third year, the work by the Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) is beginning to make a visible difference. Road overlays will follow the concrete work completed this past season from Stratmoor Valley to Sunrise Ridge. Particularly satisfying was keeping individual airspace easements off of homes in Security, Widefield and even south of Fountain. That proposal was just wrong from the get-go, and by the time it came up for a vote the other commissioners had come to agree.

In looking back there is always room to wonder about what could of and should of happened, but I typically don’t. There is too much to do looking forward into 2008.

CONTACT THE WRITER • HISEY4CD4@MSN.COM

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