Citing dissatisfaction with services, the Montezuma County Commission voted 3-0 Monday to evict the Montezuma Mosquito Control District from its offices at the county yard on Colorado Highway 145.
Mosquito district officials were surprised by the action and rebutted the county’s claims. They said the forced move could impact services because of the cost of renting another facility.
Commission chairman Larry Don Suckla was critical of the special district’s lack of board elections and said the contract for services should be put out to a competitive bid.
“They have not had an election in six years, and in 14 years they have not put up the mosquito (services) contract up for bid,” Suckla said. “In my opinion, they could have gotten a better deal and saved taxpayers a lot of money.”
Suckla referred to a January letter from the Department of Local Affairs to the mosquito district that states “the district failed to hold or properly cancel” the May 8 election in 2012 and 2014.
“Because of the letter, most of the board members should not have been on the board because they were out of compliance with state law,” Suckla said.
The mosquito district is funded by a .406 mill levy, which generated $198,492 in tax revenues for 2015. For more than a decade, the annual funds have been budgeted to contract with Colorado Mosquito Control for services in the county.
Jason Carruth, CMC’s general manager for the Montezuma district, said that servicing the large area with a limited staff and equipment already stretches the budget.
“Finding a new office to rent will only hurt the district,” he said. “It’s disconcerting to find a new shop when we are in the middle of running operations to reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases.”
Board officials admitted that “the ball was dropped” regarding recent election procedures, but said that the issue is being resolved.
Board president Eldon Simmons said it’s a big challenge to find people who want to serve on the five-member board.
“We’ve had no candidates, so we’ve had to beg people and appoint them onto the board,” Simmons said. “We’re getting two new board members.”
He said the district has been in communication with the Colorado Special District Association to resolve the election matter.
“As far as I know we are legal,” Simmons said.
Regarding the contract, Simmons said the district is an experienced company and has done a good job providing mosquito control, “although you can’t please everyone.”
He said the board is not required to put the service contract out to bid. The new contract is for one year with an option for renewal.
“Their parent company is worldwide with a lot of expertise and resources for training,” Simmons said. “We felt we needed to stick with them for now because of the Zika virus scare, and Jason has already been receiving company training on that.”
In a handshake deal back in the 1970s, the county provided the district space for their offices at the county shop. The district poured the concrete and built their offices at district expense. Simmons said the county should be required to buy the office buildings.
“We will move on and handle it,” he said of the flap. “We just want to continue to control mosquitoes and go on with our business.”
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
