Jan 28 2021 Newscast ~ Rio Blanco County News #40

Here's our community newscast for the week of January 28, 2021. Music in this episode: | ‘You're Magic’ by Soft and Furious| https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Soft_and_Furious/Bae/Soft_and_Furious_-_Bae_-_01_Youre_Magic It was business as usual for county commissioners this week, well, except for one thing. During their regular meeting the board voted unanimously to end Dave Morlan’s 17-year career as the director of the county’s road and bridge department. During the meeting’s public comment period, Morlan shared statement in response to the commissioner’s decision. In other county news, the board discussed a private fiber installation project on county road 8, received an update from Colorado Community Counts, approved contracts for oil abd gas property evaluation services and more. Details in the county beat on page 7A The 11-member Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission hosted two days of virtual meetings Jan. 13 and 14, with approximately eight of 18 total hours allocated to discussing an adaptive management plan for wolf reintroduction. The timeline for wolf reintroduction sets a target date of Dec. 31, 2023, to begin to “get wolves on the ground” in Colorado. As of Monday, there were 42 active cases in Meeker and 34 in Rangely. Six residents were hospitalized in the last 14 days. Again you can find more details on the front page, and a link to the latest covid stats from the county on our website. The HT’s collaboration with Colorado News Collaborative to shed light on mental health in the state continues this week with the story of Lauren Carpenter and Melissa Humphrey. More about How Friendship can be a safety net on page 2A. During their regular meeting Tuesday Trustees heard from Kelli Neiberger, who reported that natural gas usage in 2020 had increased from 2019 and when compared to the 10-year average. Town manager Lisa Piering also informed trustees about a sewer line collapse at White River Village in one of the apartments, and provided a rundown of 2020 financials. More on page 6A Al