The Activity Book: A Meeting Without a Fight, and Everything That's Open Right Now

Brianne Powers of Caliola Engineering came up to talk about the Enterprise Zone program — a tax credit administered at the county level that helps local businesses offset costs when they're expanding or hiring. A woman-owned company headquartered in Colorado Springs. Most people don't know this program exists. That's sort of the whole theme of the morning.

Every time a small business hires someone, they're paying the employee's wages plus their own share of payroll taxes — about 7.5% of every dollar in wages, before a single benefit or piece of equipment. A larger employer absorbs that across hundreds of employees and negotiates group rates a three-person shop simply can't access. A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) can help close that gap. The Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center (federally funded, free) has advisors who work through exactly this — ppsbdc.org ↗.

That date marks the withdrawal of the last U.S. combat troops from Vietnam in 1973 — signed into law by President Trump in 2017, originally proclaimed by President Obama in 2012. Commissioner Wysong represented the county at a remembrance event at Memorial Park. The Honor Bell was rung as part of the closing.

Over 58,000 service members died in the Vietnam War. More than 33,000 were under eighteen years old. Two point seven million served. Three hundred and four thousand were wounded. Bob McLaughlin from Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center presented at the same meeting on veteran homelessness — veterans make up about ten percent of the unhoused population in El Paso County. The annual stand-down is typically in October. Put it on the calendar.

The man with the quarters: he ran laps on a piece of land in San Francisco. Nice neighborhood. He lived humbly in the middle of all that. He'd load his pockets with quarters before he started, throw one out each loop. No watch. Just quarters and forward motion. In the evenings, if he heard a sound, he'd run outside. He was a Vietnam veteran. He did his best. He was a mess and a great person. That's the part that doesn't always show up in the data.

The El Paso County Coroner's 2024 dataset is public record. Clarification: not all deaths result in an autopsy. The 867 figure covers autopsied cases only. The total 2024 death count is still being confirmed. We're trying to find it. We may not be able to get it the way we want it. We'll let you know.

6,310 cases investigated. Of 867 autopsied cases: Natural 38.5%, Accident 36.4%, Suicide 17.9%, Homicide 5.9%. Leading cause of accidental death: drug-related, 154 cases. Methamphetamine appeared in 85. Fentanyl and analogues in 71. Cocaine 27. Prescription opioids 22.

Suicide: 155 deaths. 79% male. 37% under twenty-five years old. More than one in three suicide deaths in El Paso County in 2024 were people under twenty-five. That number connects directly to what the Opioid Council is trying to do. It probably deserves more than a line in a meeting summary.

Think about how you buy a car. You don't walk onto the lot because the commercials seemed nice. You look at your actual income, your actual budget, what you can sustain. The reviews help — they give you a feel. But the decision gets made on your real numbers. For housing, opioid investment, bond decisions — everything the BOCC decides with public money — we're working toward that same standard. The data on deaths, housing, bonds, who is served and who isn't — that's the pay stub. Everything else is the brochure.

Paula Lynn Harris, Constituent Services Specialist, presented on Citizen Connect — the county app for reporting potholes, dumping, trail problems, and connecting directly with your commissioner. 43,000 service requests since 2018. 6,500+ in 2025. Free. Takes about two minutes to set up.

We tried to report a pothole while putting this episode together. We haven't heard back. That might be a fluke — we're going to test it again and find out. If you try it this week, tell us how it goes. We'll report back on what we find. Direct paths still work: call your commissioner's office, or show up at Centennial Hall on a Tuesday morning. That has always worked.

Natalie Sosa, Interim Communications Director, presented on County Government Month activities — including a video game by the National Association of Counties, built with iCivics. Free. Grades 6 through 12. Standards-aligned. You play as a commissioner, decide how to spend money, respond to constituent requests, and find out if you get reelected.

The right contact at D11, D20, or D49 is the Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator or the Director of Curriculum and Instruction. The game is free, the curriculum is built, standards alignment is documented. One email from a parent, neighbor, or community member asking whether the school knows this exists tends to be enough to start the conversation — naco.org/page/counties-work-game-curriculum ↗

Articles in the Gazette this week described current conditions as a potential perfect storm for wildfire. Pine beetle activity is up following a warm, dry winter. The governor created a Ponderosa Mountain Pine Beetle Task Force in December — aerial surveys found infestations spreading from Larimer County all the way down through El Paso County. El Paso is the most impacted county in southeast Colorado per the 2024 CSFS Forest Health Report.

One infected tree can produce enough beetles to spread to up to ten new trees. Remove infested trees before July — before the beetles fly. Once a tree is infected, nothing can save it. The Colorado State Forest Service will send a forester to your property for free. Contact the Woodland Park Field Office at csfs.colostate.edu ↗. On public land, volunteer coordination is being built through the Governor's task force — emerging pathway, not a closed door.

The Region 16 Opioid Abatement Council recently shifted from an outside facilitator to internal county staff for strategic planning. Nelson described the difference as significant. The focus is on sustainability — funding organizations with long-term plans that won't become dependent on these dollars.

Chair Geitner noted a Common Sense Institute report showing Colorado's opioid overdose rates are rising faster than the national average. Some of the underlying drivers are at the state policy level, not the county level.

The part we're still working toward: what it looks like to make opioid investment decisions the way you'd make any sound financial decision. What is the actual cost per person served. What does a dollar spent on treatment return in reduced emergency response, incarceration, and downstream housing instability. Those numbers exist in pieces across different systems. Nobody has assembled them cleanly for this county yet. That's the work.

The stormwater system is not the sewer system. When rain hits your driveway or a parking lot, it flows into storm drains and goes — mostly untreated — directly into Fountain Creek and eventually south toward Pueblo. The things that cause problems: motor oil, antifreeze, lawn fertilizers and pesticides, pet waste, paint, anything poured directly into a drain. The things that are fine: clean rainwater. That's pretty much it.

About twenty-five years ago, something discharged into Fountain Creek ended up in Pueblo and the City of Colorado Springs got sued. The ordinance passed Tuesday is the legal mechanism that lets the county investigate and respond when something shows up in the water that shouldn't be there. The vote was 5–0.