2/27/23, 6:29 PM
“SOMEBODY’S GOING TO GET KILLED ON BADGER HILL”
The above report was originally published on 12/28/21, as part of a series of reports involving the Badger Hill fiasco on December 26, 2021.
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Briefly, On the evening of December 26, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Poole was dispatched to the Badger Hill area regarding serious and dangerous road conditions.
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While on scene, Deputy Poole made multiple attempts to contact Ranch Officials to no avail and his patrol vehicle was hit and luckily he wasn’t.
Poole was advising dispatch that Badger Hill needed to be closed and was frustrated with the lack of a timely response from the Ranch.
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We’ve decided to revisit this matter given some recent developments surrounding CRR/SRD Chair Sue Haley’s request for using SDC funds for two pending projects on CRR.
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As reported, County Public Works Director, Matt Powlison presented Haley’s two projects at the County Board of Commissioners meeting on February 1.
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The first request dealt with the installation of asphalt aprons and she was asking for $191,000.
Powlison told the Commission, “I’m not sure that altogether-meeting the requirements, but I think it would, probably it is as a project, because increased capacity, it could be warranted as safety, so they’re asking for $191,000 to do the project.”
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Haley’s second SDC funding request dealt with moving the utility-water vault and widening Sundown Canyon Road with an estimated cost of $469,000 split three ways for less than 30 homes.
Powlison, “It has an estimate of $469,000 and they’re going to split it three (3) ways- with the SRD, with the Homeowners Association and the Water Utility-Water Department. It’s a three WAY SPLIT…”
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Chair Haley is expected to testify this Wednesday, March 1 at the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners meeting and this time, Ms. Haley, not Powlison, will be presenting her SDC funding request. For those interested, the County’s Agenda has scheduled the SDC Funding matter for 9:45 a.m.
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Badger Hill Road has been declared a dangerous road and Ranch Manger Judy Lapora is on the record stating,
“SOMEBODY’S GOING TO GET KILLED ON THAT ROAD (BADGER)-IF WE’RE NOT CAREFUL.”
Several residents have addressed safety concerns regarding Badger Hill Road and have asked the Ranch and the SRD to consider installing guardrails-an actual safety measure on Badger.
However, their safety concerns have been ignored in favor of Lapora’s Aprons.
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As stated above, Powlison, admitted he wasn’t sure aprons met the safety requirements apparently connected to said funding requests.
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Ranch Matters (RM) has received, as part of a court ordered settlement, 30,000+ documents from former SRD Commissioner/Secretary John Williams on a thumb drive.
(Thirty Thousand Documents)
Included in those documents are several historical records directly related to Badger Hill Road, homeowners voicing their concerns regarding the lack of safety measures on the road and the need for guardrails.
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Guardrails have been the subject of discussion for years and have been routinely ignored.
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Ranch residents Jeff and Michelle Parcel, who also live on Badger Road, have repeatedly voiced their concerns and have been advocating for guardrails for years.
Ms. Parcel notified RM, confirming she has emailed the County Commissioners, questioning the wisdom of disbursing SDC funds for “pet projects” as opposed to what she described as “real safety matters.”
Her email ended, “As a taxpayer and Ranch resident, I feel the County Commission has some responsibility to listen to constituents, especially before authorizing the disbursement of large tax based monies for non-safety related projects.”
Parcel plans on attending Wednesday’s County Commissioners meeting and testifying.
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Returning to the December 26, 2021, incident, RM obtained from Frontier Regional 911, 911 calls, audio transmissions between dispatch and Deputy Poole along with written incident reports.
To better understand what transpired that evening and without any changes, history tends to repeat itself.
Badger Hill Road is and has been a serious safety issue for years. Manager Lapora, as stated above, has declared Badger dangerous and again, she said for the record, “Somebody’s going to get killed…”
LUCKILY NOBODY HAS BEEN KILLED-SO FAR!
PRIORITIES?
Judy’s Aprons or Guardrails, that SAVE LIVES?
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Ranch Matters Staff
John Stevens & Dave Stangland
