SEE TRI-COUNTY

The announcement, which came July 8, marks a major milestone for a county pursuing an aggressive — and unprecedented — timeline to establish health services for its roughly 650,000 residents by the beginning of next year.

Penny Grande will serve as the new health department’s deputy director and will begin working full-time with Arapahoe County this month. Grande served as director of nursing for TriCounty, overseeing daily operations of the agency’s largest division, with a $16 million budget and 175 employees.

Others joining the leadership team are Michele Askenazi as director of environmental health, communicable disease, emergency preparedness and response; Heather Baumgartner as director of planning and health promotion; Jill Bonczynski as director of nutrition; Melissa Spencer as director of nursing; and Breanna Paderewski as director of admin and operations.

They all currently serve in those same roles with Tri-County Health and will begin working for the county’s new health department in January, the county said.

Arapahoe County is not alone in its scramble to set up its own health department within months. It joins Adams and Douglas counties as well after both counties decided in the fall of 2021 to pull out of Tri-County.

It was a decision spurred by Douglas County leaders who had clashed with Tri-County Health officials over mask mandates during the first year of the pandemic. After vowing to form their own health department, Adams and Arapahoe county leaders followed suit, though Commissioner Nancy Sharpe said it was “not something that Arapahoe County actually wanted.”

Dr. John Douglas, Tri-County’s executive director, said he was “sorry to see that it went in this direction” and said the pandemic “exacerbated political divisiveness.”

“You go into health seeking the common good and that kind of divisiveness got in the way of seeking the public good,” Douglas said.

The retention of current TriCounty staff became a key question as the department faces its imminent demise.

Douglas said internal polling had shown a vast majority of current TriCounty staff have interest in moving to a new county-run health department. But he also acknowledged Tri-County has seen its employees thin out over the past year following heightened stress and burnout from the pandemic.

“Every place saw the great resignation going on, and we weren’t immune to that,” Douglas said. “Last year, we probably were running 30% to 40% more staff choosing to leave than previous years.”

Sharpe said while it “would be unrealistic” for the county to be immune to labor shortages, she is hopeful the department’s competitive salaries and benefits would be enough to hire and retain adequate staff.

Douglas said he is not currently in discussion with any of the three counties for a new role and said he is looking to a sabbatical for at least a year once Tri-County dissolves.

“My firm plans are to get us through the next six months,” Douglas said.

Along with leadership staff, Arapahoe County also recently named its five-person health board to guide the new department that includes county commissioners Sharpe and Nancy Jackson as well as Shawn Davis, a Colorado-based health care consultant; Bebe Kleinman, CEO of Doctors Care; and Dr. Heather N Signorelli, a pathologist and vice president and chief laboratory officer for HCA Healthcare.

Along with its ability to issue mask mandates and promote vaccines and testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tri-County Health supports a slew of other services to county residents, including no-cost cancer screenings, overdose prevention, free nurse visits and restaurant and child care facility inspections.

These are all services Arapahoe County leaders pledged would continue under their new department.

A budget still remains to be finalized, but the new health department is expected to cost at least $5 million or more annually, according to Sharpe, who said money will come from the county’s own budget as well as state and federal funds.

Arapahoe County paid the most for Tri-County services of the three counties last year, according to a consulting firm’sreport, at $4.8 million. Adams paid $3.8 million while Douglas paid $2.6 million.

TRADITION

said. “If you fail that one test or fail that one class or get a C on that one class … it’s this much bigger, existential thing of ‘I’m not going to be able to do X, Y, Z long-term goals.’”

She added: “If we’re going to encourage people to push their academic limits, or their athletic limits or their nerd limits, we have to make it OK to fail.”

While Mueller doesn’t think ending valedictorian designation will change everything about that type of pressure, she thinks it’s “the sort of policy that’s a step in the right direction.”

It could act as “a symbol to the larger community of ‘let’s make this cultural shift,’” Mueller said. But, she added, such a shift would have to also be supported by other school policies, by parents and by kids themselves, and by teachers.

One source of pressure that exists outside the reach of high school policy: the cost of paying for college.

Part of what puts pressure on students is the pursuit of merit scholarships, which are more competitive than merely getting into college, Mueller said. She argues students don’t need to attend a “highly selective university” to receive a good education.

“I would actually argue if we could take some of the pressure off parents for paying for college and students for paying for college, I think that would (benefit) our nation’s mental health,” Mueller said. “Probably parents and students.”

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Dry conditions drive board to approve Stage 1 limits

BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As expected, the Centennial Water & Sanitation District Board of Directors voted to move into Stage 1 drought restrictions during the July 6 meeting.

The drought restrictions apply to those living in the Centennial Water service area, which includes the communities of Highlands Ranch, Solstice and Northern Douglas County Water & Sanitation District.

Centennial Water is encouraging customers to cut outdoor water use by 15% to 20%. To help achieve this, Centennial Water is implementing the Stage 1 outdoor watering restrictions beginning Wednesday, July 20.

Under the Stage 1 designation, outdoor irrigation will be limited to two days per week in accordance with Centennial Water’s adopted watering schedule. Residential customers with odd-numbered addresses can water on Sundays and Wednesdays; even-numbered addresses can water on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

For a complete schedule, including multi-family and commercial irrigation customers, visit centennialwater.org.

“Sometimes we have to take steps in the short-term to protect against the uncertainties of current drought conditions,” Centennial Water General Manager Sam Calkins said in the press release. “Moving into Stage 1 restrictions is an example of this. Implementing water conservation measures now not only helps with current conditions but will also better position Centennial Water as it moves into another potentially dry year in 2023. We’re asking everyone to come together as a community to help conserve water so future restrictions are not needed.”

According to the July 11 news release announcing the decision, the company said in its 40-plus year history, Centennial Water has been proactive in securing water resources and obtaining surface water storage rights to adequately serve the community. In doing so, Centennial Water is well positioned with a reliable water supply for today and into the future.

According to the release, a key factor in Centennial Water’s success is utilizing a conjunctive use system, which combines supplies from both surface water and groundwater to meet water demands of the community.

“We are proud that over the past 25 years, 90% of the water supplied to our customers has come from renewable river supplies,” said Board chairman Jeff Kappes. “As Colorado and the Western United States continues to move through a multi-year drought, this step taken by Centennial Water to move into Stage 1 water restrictions is consistent with our history of taking progressive steps in maintaining the portfolio we started more than 40 years ago.”

Prior to elevating to Stage 1, Centennial Water stayed under the “Drought Watch” designation through 2021 and the start of this summer.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Douglas County has been in drought conditions since September 2021, and as of July 5, 2022, Centennial Water’s service area is in moderate drought conditions.

Centennial Water staff and board members have kept a close eye on drought conditions that are warmer and drier than normal, pushing the board to make changes this summer.

Centennial Water’s storage reservoirs have continued to drop. As of June 21, they were at 37% capacity, which is 30% less water in storage than the average for June over the past 10 years.

Last year in May, data provided by the water district, had Centennial Water’s reservoir storage at 6,782 acre-feet, or 39% of the 17,200 capacity. The median storage level for May over the last 10 years has been 9,495 acre-feet.

Water districts measure water levels through acre-feet, which is about 326,000 gallons, equaling the size of a football fi eld one foot deep.

A municipal well in Highlands Ranch, utilized by Centennial Water and Sanitation District, that pulls water to the surface from the Denver aquifer. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WENZLER

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