WALSENBURG— Huerfano County Commissioners began their Wednesday meeting by stating they are in the process of gathering information that could lead to a declaration of a Stage 1 fire ban for the unincorporated parts of the county by next Wednesday. The Stage 1 fire ban would include fireworks (“selling, possessing, discharging or using any type of fireworks or other pyrotechnic device, to include sparklers.”) The ban would also include building, maintaining, attending or using a fire or campfire EXCEPT a fire within a permanent constructed fire grate in a developed campground. The ban would include smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, or a developed recreation site. Operating a chainsaw, blasting, welding, or other activities which generate flame, must have mitigation equipment on hand. The commissioners strongly suggest that all planned controlled burns be reviewed by a qualified representative of a fire protection agency. In other business, the commissioners decided to keep the user fees at the Huerfano County
waste transfer station at their lower rates, to encourage citizens to use the facility. The facility, open Tuesday, Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 9am to 3pm, charges $2.25 per bag. $12.75 per cubic yard of construction debris and $3.75 per cubic yard of yard waste. Electronic components are not allowed by state law, including printers, microwaves, computers, monitors, VCRs, TVs and stereos. County Administrator John Galusha included in his informational packet to the commissioners a photocopy of a check for $33,391.47, which is an insurance payout on the county’s bank account, which was hacked in 2013 to the tune of $146,251. This check represents the final reimbursement of funds, minus $500, that the county lost to the theft. Galusha also showed a letter from the Department of Local Affairs, formalizing a grant of $60,000 for IT security improvements.
