Commission waives building permit fees for San Juan Hospital project

by David Boyle
News Director
Members of the San Juan County Commission waived some fees for the building permits for the new San Juan Hospital, approved infrastructure repairs at county buildings and set their meeting schedule for the coming year at their latest meeting.
Members of the commission waived of a large portion of building permit fees for the new hospital to be built in Monticello at their December 17 meeting.
The San Juan Health District approached the county offering to pay $25,000 to cover administrative costs as well as provide a software license for the county building inspector as part of the permitting process. County staff roughly estimated the cost would have been around $90,000 in total. Members of the commission unanimously approved the waiving of fees beyond the $25,000 and sharing of software license.
Members of the county commission approved county infrastructure repairs as part of their
meeting. Among the projects were complete roof replacements of the metal slatted roof at the county fair exhibit building, and a complete roof replacement at the La Sal Senior center as well as repairs to the south edge of the roof at the Hideout Community center. The repairs of the county building roofs were made possible by remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Members of the commission also approved items related to economic development. The county approved a memorandum of understanding with Deb Brown consulting, specializing in community development and chamber of commerce issues to help the county relaunch the chamber of commerce and gather community ideas. The project will be funded by a grant the county received.
The county also approved a licensing agreement along with Blanding and Monticello cities to use a program called Alpha Maps. The program is intended to identify commercial properties, track traffic patterns and identify potential businesses needed in the area. The program is aimed to assist local businesses and encourage entrepreneurs as well as retain sales tax revenue.
At the meeting members of the commission also adopted the schedule for county meetings for the upcoming year.
Commissioners also approved a new contract for the inspection, verification and maintenance of the all-weather operating system at Cal Black Airport.