Castle Rock mends fences

The Sweetwater County Commissioners and members of the Castle Rock Hospital District board decided to put the past behind them and move forward.

During the Commissioners meeting Tuesday afternoon, the Commissioners were approached by members of CRHD. The agenda item up for review was the renewal of CRHD’s contract. This wasn’t the first time the Commissioners had reviewed this contract. About one month ago, they reviewed it and did not approve it.

Included in the contract, which was part of the reason for the whole feud between the boards began, is the publishing of CRHD employee’s wages and salaries in the county’s official newspaper. At a previous meeting, the Commissioners voted unanimously not to approve the $81,000 contract because the contract hadn’t been signed in six months by CRHD; and no one from CRHD was present at the meeting to address questions.

At Tuesday’s meeting, CRHD board member Dan Stanton said not only were he and two other board members, Patsy Sorensen and Reid Robbins, there to discuss the contract, but to start a dialogue between the two boards.

“Our board does recognize that the Commissioners have been supportive of our board in the past,” he said.

He said they have helped financially for numerous projects, including one that was almost $1 million to transfer the Castle Rock Convalescent Center to Mission Health. The $81,000 helps cover losses the ambulance service has every year and is needed.

“The fact that our board did not approve that contract for six months was entirely an oversight on the board. It was not meant to be a slight to the county Commissioners,” Stanton said.

As for the publishing of salaries, Castle Rock is on board with that, Stanton said. He said the reason they were not at the Commissioners meeting last month is they didn’t know they were on the agenda.

Commissioner John Kolb said he is willing to let bygones be bygones and move on and work together for the benefit of the public.

Chairman Reid West said he thought the Commissioners and Castle Rock had a great working relationship and it felt odd that things went sideways over the publication of salaries.

“I’ve always felt that Castle Rock is a true gem in the city,” Commissioner Don Van Matre said.

He said he was disappointed when the relationship with CRHD wasn’t going well. He also said he appreciated they were willing to come down and explain what happened and why the contracts hadn’t been signed.

“Relationships and people is what makes things happen,” Van Matre said.

After the discussion, a motion was made to approve the $81,000 contract and this time around the contract was approved unanimously by the Commissioners.