Present, County Represented
Terry McMillian – Crowley
Roger Stagner – Prowers
Troy Bishop – Baca
Jennifer Scholfield, Joni Wilk – Bent
Rob Oquist, Donna Rohde – Otero
Dennis Pearson – Kiowa
Karl Sporleder – Huérfano
Felix Lopez – Las Animas
Steve Bryant – Pueblo
Call to Order
Rob Oquist called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.
Approval of Agenda
Felix Lopez and Steve Bryant moved and seconded the approval of the Agenda – Agenda approved. At 3:12 p.m., Felix and Steve rescinded their motion of approval of agenda to add an additional item, the acknowledgement letter to the agenda. Felix Lopez and Steve Bryant moved and seconded the approval of the amended Agenda – Amended Agenda approved.
Approval of Minutes
Karl Sporleder and Felix Lopez moved and seconded the approval of the minutes – Minutes approved.
Public Comment
Kim Bell, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless spoke in regards to their application for the infrastructure grants. Rose will get back to her in regards to the grant. Currently there are 7 applicants and 2 letters of acknowledgement.
New Agenda Motion
This agenda item is to approve the letter of acknowledgment by Discover Café with the Department of Corrections for their non-clinical peer program. Rose has reviewed the application and acknowledged their application. Felix asked that this item to be reviewed right before other business on the agenda.
New Members Welcome and Old member confirmation
Baca – Troy Bishop
Bent – Jennifer Scholfield
Crowley – Terry McMillian
Huerfano – Karl Sporleder
Kiowa – Dennis Pearson, Meagan Hillman
Las Animas – Felix Lopez
Otero County – Rod Oquist, Donna Rohde
Prowers – Roger Stagner, Meagan Hillman
Pueblo – Steve Bryant
RFP Committee Member
The Board needs one more member for the RFP Committee. Currently Felix, Rob, Joni and Meagan sit on the review committee. The time commitment for this committee is 3 to 4 hours to review each RFP during a cycle and then 1.5-hour meeting to discuss proposals. Donna Rohde from Otero County will join the RFP Committee.
Felix made a motion to appoint by acclamation, motion passed.
Facilitator Update
Rose gave an update on the conflict of interest policy. She prepared a Memo regarding the conflict of interest policy and has sent it to all the members of the Board. Felix feels that the Memo is sufficient and people need to disclose the conflict to the Board, when it arises. Rob, Terry, Steve, Jennifer, Roger, Karl and Troy all voiced that they are ok with the Memo on the conflict of interest policy and support it.
Recovery funding update: the RFP committee will be meeting 1/31/25 to review the
applications and make a final recommendation to the Board.
Modifications to current board structure: Rose needs direction on the Bylaws and she read the members that are eligible for the Advisory Committee to the board. Rose asked how many members should be on the Advisory Committee. There are 8 categories that are eligible for the Advisory Committee. Felix suggested that each category is allowed one seat and it can be adjusted as the Board sees fit. Donna asked what happens if the Board does not have enough that apply for all the categories to be filled. Felix would like to go back out for applicants, if that happens and makes sure that every county has a representative on the Advisory Board. The Board will need to recruit applicants for their county, if representation is lacking. Rob talked about past board member Kim McDonnell being the one that suggested the Advisory Board. Rose talked about Board turn over and community member have said the Board needs more experts to advise. Rose will send out an application for the Board to approve. No recipient of grants can sit on the Advisory Board.
VOTING ITEM: Reporting Manager
Felix talked about the benefits of having a Reporting Manager and how the duties of this contract is going to help the current fiscal agent.
Felix Lopez and Karl Sporleder moved and seconded the approval of the contract with Wendy Buxton-Andrade. Motion passed.
Wendy then gave funding updates. Current 2025 funding is $1,959,268.88 in the following categories: Education and Prevention-$717,378.65, Recovery-$1,160,498.99, Treatment- $807,820.39, Criminal Justice-$624,656.63 and Harm Reduction-$622,684.47. These are just the amounts from the 2025 income that has been tracked since January 1, 2025 by Crowley County.
Felix asked that the Board receive a monthly report. Wendy said that she will have the monthly reports prepared.
Open Discussion on the Criminal Justice Funding
Phil Martin, Otero County Sheriff spoke first about the need in the jails for cameras to help them with oversight on the inmates to prevent overdoses. He talked about even after the hospital clears them, they have had people overdose. The system that Otero county is looking at will notify the officers if someone is unresponsive. In 2024, they have seen 17 overdoses and so far in 2025, they have already seen 2. They are looking for 3 monitors in front booking cells and 2 for disability cells, for a total of 5 units. For the 5 units, it is looking like $31,500 for subscription and the cameras.
Rob said it will help and Karl and Terry both said they like the idea. Donna asked about economy of scale if all the county jails would go together to get this system.
Marsha Page, Prowers County Sheriff’s office, said she does not have anything to share but has the same need for monitoring. They are looking into a phone and education program to help with the job opportunities and interview questions for the inmates.
Other Business:
The Board reviewed the Letter of Acknowledgement from the Department of Corrections for the infrastructure grant.
Felix Lopez and Roger Stagner moved to approve the letter. Roll Call vote:
Baca – Yes
Bent – Yes
Crowley – Absent
Kiowa – Yes
Huerfano – Yes
Las Animas – Yes
Otero – Yes
Prowers – Yes
Pueblo – Yes
Adjournment
Karl Sporleder and Felix Lopez moved for adjournment. Adjournment was at 4:01 p.m.
Next Meeting:
Monday, February 10, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.