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OFFICE OF WELD COUNTY COUNCIL
915 10TH STREET
1.4
♦♦ P O BOX 758
' GREELEY, COLORADO 80632
W�`p c. EMAIL: NE: 970.356 4000, EXT.
CountvCouncilAco.weld.co.us
PHONE: 970.356.4000, EXT 4780
COLORADO WEBSITE: www.co.weld.co.us
FAX: 970.352.9019
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL
REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
January 16, 2006
The Weld County Council is mandated in accordance with the Home Rule Charter of
Weld County, Colorado, to report to the people of Weld County on a quarterly basis,
those matters related to the council's review of Weld County government. This report
summarizes the activities of the Weld County Council during the fourth quarter of the
calendar year 2005.
October 18, 2005 -Weld County Centennial Center
Ms. Anita Scrams, Weld County's Executive Account Manager since 2003 for Affiliated
Computer Services (ACS), presented a review program. ACS is an international
information technology services company based in Texas, and is providing
services to several Colorado government agencies. Ms. Scrams reviewed the
modifications made to ensure that the information technology environment in
Weld County is secure from unauthorized use following Weld County's
information technology system being breached by a jail inmate in October 2004.
These modifications have been taken to ensure that confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of Weld's technology information is maintained according to Ms.
Scrams.
The following topics were covered in Ms. Scram's presentation: The Inmate Pod
Systems, Public Access Systems, Account Policies, Physical Security,
Vulnerability Assessment and Remediation, WebSense Maintenance and Auditing,
Security and Event Log Aggregation, Global Network Recommendations and
Security Administration, and Policies and Procedures.
The council voted to request the county attorney prepare a ballot question for a future
election amending the Weld County Home Rule Charter so the number of
signatures required to run for Weld County Council be thirty-five.
Councilman Gene Stille was appointed to review the possible-appearance of a conflict
letter received from Weld County employee Pam Smith and provide the council
with a resolution regarding Ms. Smith's letter for the council to adopt at the
November council meeting.
November 15, 2005 —Weld County Centennial Center
Weld County's Regional Epidemiologist Jo Peden and Community Health Section
Manager Jill Burch of the Weld County Health Department presented a review
program covering the topics: "Influenza in 2005, Preparing for a Pandemic, and
Bird Flu." Ms. Burch gave a history of influenza and methods to prevent its
spread. The populations most vulnerable to influenza and its complications are:
very young children, people over 65 years old, and people with chronic disease.
The most common flu complication is pneumonia and there are 30,000 to 50,000
deaths from flu complications in the United States yearly.
It is Jo Peden's responsibility to prepare for pandemic flu in Weld County and the
region. A pandemic occurrence of a flu strain is one that has never been seen
before and that spreads world wide. Weld County has a Public Health
Emergency Operations Plan and a Pandemic Influenza Plan, both of which mirror
2006-0339
Weld County Council
Report to the People
January 16,2006
Page 2 of 3
the State of Colorado's plans and the Center of Disease Control's plans. She
said the Avian Influenza H5N1 is very difficult to transmit from fowls to humans,
but fear of it mutating to become easily transmitted among humans feed fear of a
flu pandemic. Avian flu vaccine is currently being produced, but it is unknown if
the current vaccine will protect humans against flu mutations. The hope is the
current vaccine will provide a certain level of immune response and thereby
lessen the severity of the disease in human cases. The possibility of an
unknown flu mutation makes it imperative that any pandemic plan be extremely
flexible as no one knows how effective any available vaccines would be.
If there were a true pandemic without an effective vaccine or anti-viral
medications, tried and true methods would be used by the Health Department to
control it including guidance for education clinics, respiratory etiquette,
vaccinations, isolation, anti-viral distribution, and containment. The pandemic
education includes advising citizens to prepare to take care of themselves for ten
days to three weeks.
The Weld County Health Department's emergency preparedness mission is to
prepare for any natural or manmade disasters affecting the health of the county
including nuclear, biological, explosives, or chemicals.
The council adopted Resolution 150; conflict of Interest— Pam Smith. The council
found Pam Smith did not have a conflict of interest.
Council members brainstormed regarding facts to present to the Board of County
Commissioners to request an election ballot to alter Weld County Home Rule
Charter. The proposed ballot amendment would be to change the number of
signatures required to petition to run for election to the Weld County Council from
200 to 35.
The council's January 2006 meeting was set for January 16, 6:30 p.m. at the Weld
County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, Greeley, CO. The council approved
preliminary times of 2006 council meetings to be at 6:30 p.m. on the third
Monday of the month except in February when the meetings would be on the
second Monday.
Vice President Dwaine Kurtz noted the council has received information from Weld
County resident Mr. Al Roberts regarding concerns about work done by Weld
County Public Works near Mead, CO. The information has been referred to
Commissioner Vaad.
After the October 18 Weld County Council meeting Anita Scrams spoke with Don
Warden regarding council's concern about the lag time between dismissal of a
Weld County employee and the time that a former employee's access to the
Weld County computer system is denied. A policy addressing this lag time was
put into place on October 19, 2005.
December 20, 2005—Weld County Centennial Center
Council members reviewed Resolution 151 to set the time and days for 2006 council
meetings. The council's candidate petition work sheet for a possible ballot vote
on Weld's Home Rule Charter was also reviewed.
Councilman Gene Stille reported at the December 14 Elected Officials meeting he was
asked by the officials there, to initiate consideration of a guideline for meetings
when the host is unable to attend. Councilman Stille will take the following
suggestions to the first 2006 Elected Officials meeting: When a host will not be
at the meeting, his representative should have a brief agenda of items to be
covered and run the meeting. It is understood Elected Officials meetings are
Weld County Council
Report to the People
January 16,2006
Page 3 of 3
As of the December 12 ACS meeting, the ACS reports usually disbursed at these
monthly meetings will be sent directly to the County Council.
Council members discussed the letter to Mr. Steve Moreno regarding the lack of a
voting center for the November 2005 election in Hudson, CO. Council members
complimented Mr. Moreno's handling of the 2005 election and noted the 2005
voting centers' locations are not set in stone.
Vice President Dwaine Kurtz complimented Weld County resident Mr. Al Roberts who
researched and verified road work done near Mead, CO by Weld County
employees was done only on roads owned by Weld County with one exception.
One road adjacent to Mead is jointly owned by Weld County and the town of
Mead. Work on this project will be done with expenses shared between Weld
County and the town of Mead. Councilman Kurtz noted Commissioner Vaad was
apprised of Mr. Roberts' research.
Weld County Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at
6:30 p.m. except in February 2006 when the meeting will be held on the second
Monday of the month. Meetings are held at the Weld County Centennial Center located
at 915 10th Street in Greeley, CO. April and August meetings are held at the Southwest
Administration Building located at 4209 WCR 24 ''A, Longmont, CO. For information
please contact the County Council office or visit the council's website at
www.co.weld.co.usklepartments/countvcouncithtml.
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL
Excused
President Gene Stille
Vice President Tom Pettit (YES)
�Be/,�
Council an Ginny u� (YES)
Councilman Dwaine Ku (YES)
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Councl man ip Marks (YES)
Date Signed: January 16, 2006
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