In an emergency meeting on Feb. 27, 2019, County Commissioners signed a resolution declaring Delta County a local disaster emergency in response to the Town of Paonia (and surrounding area) water outage.
EXCERPTED FROM MEETING MINUTES:
“We do have a number of residents served by the Paonia water system that have been shut off,” said Commission Suppes. He said that Commissioners have communicated with the Town of Paonia and they do not know exactly when that water will be turned back on. Chairman Suppes said that this declaration of emergency is to hopefully help and assist in any costs that may come from this emergency.
Commissioners Roeber and Lane agreed and added that this (resolution) is to help defray costs in the future and ensure the health and well being of the constituency.
West Region Field Manager for the State Office of Emergency Management Drew Peterson explained that the reasons to declare emergencies is two-fold: One is to activate certain policies in the Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) or Disaster Policies which in the case of Delta County it is a Disaster Policy document. “When you declare an emergency, it activates those policies so it helps the government be a little more efficient when doing things like procurement and public meetings,” added Drew.
Drew said the other thing the Board is doing with the County Declaration is “you are officially asking the State for some assistance.”
Chairman Suppes stated that Paonia officials are still assessing the needs and the county is waiting for information back from Paonia. He said “the ask is yet to come but it is something that we need to determine what the ask is before we start reaching out and spending money.”