Business Meeting

A public commenter said BI Incorporated, a Gunbarrel company owned by a private prison operator, is ICE's sole supplier of ankle monitors and case tracking, and that Boulder County Community Justice Services contracts with it. She asked the county to add ethics rules to procurement and to stop doing business with ICE contractors.

“BI is ISIS soul provider of electronic monitoring devices.”

Commissioner Loachamin said the ankle monitoring work in question is run through the Sheriff's Office contract at the Alternative Sentencing Facility, also called the Joe Pelle Center. She said director Rob McMahon is researching the matter and that any change would need board direction.

Two public commenters challenged Boulder County's use of herbicides such as Rejuvra on open space to control cheat grass. They said independent observation found the spraying harms native plants and does not reduce fire risk, and one thanked Commissioner Stolzmann for engaging on the science.

A commenter argued cheat grass is not a fire hazard, citing the former fire chief and a Wildfire Partners panel, and claimed nine of twelve county-sprayed sites burned within 12 to 18 months of herbicide application. She asked the county to stop using Rejuvra while a lawsuit and a state review are pending.

“nine out of the 12 sites that Boulder County sprayed with rejuver caught fire within 12 to 18 months of application”

A property owner in Allenspark said the county illegally imposed on-site wastewater treatment system licensing fees on vacation rentals without legal authority or due process, and that a lawsuit has been filed. He named county staff and all three commissioners as parties and asked for refunds and accountability.

Commissioner Loachamin said she met with the commenter after the last monthly meeting and that a related Board of Public Health discussion in June ran out of time before all the septic fee questions could be addressed.

A public commenter demanded the board pass a proclamation calling the war in Gaza a genocide, said the county invests in it, and pressed Commissioners Stolzmann and Levy by name to say whether they consider it genocide. She also raised the distinction between Zionism and Judaism.

“I demand that you at least pass a proclamation about the genocide in Gaza”

During the road-name hearing, the same commenter proposed renaming the road after Palestine, the Sand Creek Massacre, or Indigenous nations instead, and criticized all three commissioners for not condemning the war. A second commenter, who said she is Jewish, argued the city's antisemitism declaration should be withdrawn because no parallel resolution was passed on Palestine.

Commissioner Loachamin acknowledged Boulder County is facing a budget deficit and said staff have received hundreds of emails in the past week about it alongside federal and state impacts on county programs.