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All in Adams--Telephone Town Hall Meeting Recap
17 Plays2 days ago
Welcome to All In Adams, the Adams County podcast where we connect you with the people, programs, and conversations shaping our community.
In this episode, we’re recapping some of the top questions from our first town hall of the year. Joining us is Lynn Baca, Chair of the Adams County Board of Commissioners, to talk about what we heard from residents—and how we’re responding. From federal funding to infrastructure and everything in between, we’re covering what matters most to you.
Hear the entire Telephone Town Hall Meeting here:
https://youtu.be/vCpAxatQZ-4
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Adams County Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to All In Adams, the official podcast of Adams County Government, where we're all in for our residents, our employees, and our community. So whether you live here, work here, or you just want to know more about what makes Adams County a great place to be, thanks for tuning in.
00:00:20
Speaker
We're all in, Adams. Welcome to another episode of
2025 Town Hall Outreach
00:00:25
Speaker
All in Adams. Just a few weeks ago, we had the first town hall of 2025. It was actually a telephone town hall, which allowed us to reach out to tens of thousands of residents from all parts of Adams County.
00:00:37
Speaker
I'm Nikki Kimballton. I'm joined today by Nikki Wellander, who is the press secretary to the board of county commissioners. And in just a moment, the chair of the board, Commissioner Lynn Baca, will also be weighing in. Thanks, Nikki.
00:00:48
Speaker
In this episode, we want to recap some of the top moments of our 90-minute town hall.
Key Issues Discussion
00:00:53
Speaker
We know that not everybody could join us for it, ah but we want to make sure that you have access to what was discussed and to the top questions that were asked.
00:01:01
Speaker
So let's get right to it.
Q&A on Rising Property Taxes
00:01:03
Speaker
Let's do it. So we're going to jump right in You know, about 14,500 people joined our telephone town hall. And we had a lot of questions that really covered everything from a new detention facility, food deserts and property taxes. In fact, the latter is where we're starting today. Let's take a listen.
00:01:21
Speaker
Alexander, thanks so much for waiting. What's your question? Hi, thanks for doing this, everyone. So let me see how i put this. So I put my house years ago in Brighton. You know, my mortgage was probably $3,200 a month with the property taxes, the insurance, the mortgage.
00:01:37
Speaker
um You know, but but now years later, the property taxes have gone up so much, insurance has gone off so much, the rate has gone up. And my mortgage this year is $4,900 month. $4,900.
00:01:49
Speaker
um that's how much it jump from about thirty four hundred to forty nine hundred And I know that the you you guys can't really control mortgage rates, you know, and insurance you don't really have control over, but but the property taxes have gone up more and more every year, and and are there plans to to try to reverse that, or the property taxes just going to keep going up?
00:02:09
Speaker
This is Steve Odorizio. As property taxes, I will i think you understand, Alex. First of all, thank you for the question. And this is a question that we're getting quite often. And as we started at the beginning when I talked about people are feeling the pinch in various ways, whether it's in the grocery store, the cost of of education, the cost of insurance, and I mean other insurance, now you're seeing it and you're pointing out the challenge that we're having for the cost of housing. And Unfortunately, when it comes to property taxes, you know it's a function of the value.
00:02:40
Speaker
And being in a place like Adams County where everyone wants to move here, but especially in Adams County, Colorado, we're seeing that those property values are going up significantly. We have not raised the actual tax rate. In fact, actually, that the rate actually went down after legislation over the last couple of years to the point that the rate went down. The problem is that for families that the values keep going up.
00:03:01
Speaker
And there are some other options that we have that I will let ah Commissioner Mullica mention is that we do have some exemptions for seniors, but if you don't fit one of those things, I will tell you the other challenge that we're also seeing is the increase of insurance. so kind of a double whammy. The insurance industry was hit really, really hard in Colorado with some of the fires and other disasters. So we're filling it across the board.
00:03:25
Speaker
In order to address that issue, even though we can't we may not be able to lower the actual values of your property, which would upset a lot of people, we are trying to find different ways to lower the overall cost of living in Adams County.
00:03:38
Speaker
And that's investing in community amenities, parks, trails, open space. We're trying to invest in quality of life. We have lots of events like the county fair, other things that are affordable that might be able to help you cut into that those burdens of high cost of living.
00:03:53
Speaker
That doesn't necessarily get you exactly where you're probably wanting to go, but I'm telling you that if we can work together on those shared amenities and those types of things, we're hoping to help lower some of the cost of living here and be part of this wonderful community.
00:04:04
Speaker
Awesome. Thank you, Steve. So my name is Julie Duran-Molica, and I am one of the newly elected commissioners on this board. Now, one of the things that actually i heard a lot about when I was campaigning for this seat last year, and I met this amazing older couple who brought me into their home, and they talked about the rising cost of property taxes, and they talked about how they were worried about being priced out of their home. So I wanted to, first of all, just thank those community members who shared their story with me, especially for our seniors. I understand that, you know, this the the property tax policies, um you know, including exemptions and and who qualifies for them is set at the state level.
00:04:48
Speaker
So that means we could definitely advocate for you and especially provide this feedback and share your stories with our state legislators. um And one of the things that I do encourage all of our seniors to do is reach out to our assessor's office directly and make sure that you know if you're qualifying for some of the exist existing exemptions or programs. We definitely don't want those folks to be missing those opportunities.
00:05:15
Speaker
But again, continue to share those stories with us because we are sending them on to our state legislators and legislators. hoping and advocating for them to expand some of those senior exemption programs and opportunities.
Community Advocacy Efforts
00:05:30
Speaker
We are now joined by the chair of our board, Commissioner Lynn Baca. Commissioner, I know this was a topic that we addressed on the night of the town hall, as we just heard, but I know that you wanted to talk about it with us a little bit further.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yes, so thank you so much for having me, Commissioner Lynn Baca, and I want to thank all the 14,000, almost 15,000 residents that joined us. um Property tax is top of mind for all of our residents. Home affordability.
00:05:54
Speaker
um I just want to state up front, and something that I also learned on the campaign trail, not learned, but um, talking to neighbors is that we don't increase your taxes as residents. You need to vote on every single tax increase and what you're seeing in your property taxes and increase in your home valuation.
00:06:13
Speaker
So there's a little bit of a distinction there. Um, I know that it's a challenge, especially for our seniors. I do want to talk about it just a little bit that there is a senior, um, the homestead exemption tax that's in place. And so I would encourage seniors to reach out to the county assessor.
00:06:29
Speaker
I do want to just pivot a little bit on um Commissioner Odoricio's, his response is that the county provides a number of amenities that are affordable for families. That doesn't necessarily bring down the cost of living. We had the state legislature last year um that they dipped into property tax and they did give tax relief to homeowners here in Colorado. um That is tax that is coming out of the county budget. So there's not as much budget ah funding that's going into the county budget, but it did offer some tax relief to residents here in Colorado, especially specifically here in Adams County.
00:07:04
Speaker
Some of what you just mentioned, like the different programs that we do offer, the homestead exemption, the things that the assessor's office does, that lends itself to something that I've heard you talk about a lot. And that's that we often hear our our residents talk about things that are happening here at the local level and why that matters so much to them.
00:07:22
Speaker
Can you tell me a little bit about if this town hall kind of reaffirmed that for you, that people really care about what's happening in their local government? Absolutely. So the joy of being on the telephone town hall, it was ah scheduled for last winter. It's our first one. We also have done a neighborhood meeting in person.
00:07:39
Speaker
What's really important is that there's a lot in the news, right? I hear it. My family hears it. You hear it when you talk to your neighbors. That's happening at the federal policy level. And why I love the telephone town hall is that residents are still really interested on what's happening outside their front door.
00:07:55
Speaker
They're really interested in the quality of their roads and the quality of the law enforcement, that the sheriff's office is fully funded and out and about, that sidewalks are in place, that their kids have safe routes to school, that there's programming that's, um whether it's county programming or other programming, such as anything library, that those local services are really important to our residents. So was great to hear from so many that um they enjoy those services. They enjoy our parks, our trails, and the events that we have here and at the municipal level.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, it was fantastic to see so many people join, not just join, but really get involved and want to ask questions and be part of that conversation. Thank you for those answers. We're going jump into our second question that we um but talked about at the town hall, also asked by numerous people that night. Here it is.
Community Quality Amid Federal Changes
00:08:42
Speaker
What are the commissioners doing to prepare for the impacts of Trump's dismantling of federal departments? Who can take on this concern from one of our web web registrants? Great, thank you so much. I'm going to have Commissioner Steve Odorizio respond to this one.
00:08:56
Speaker
Thank you very much for that question. Regardless of whoever's in the White House at any given time, our job as County Commissioners who were elected by folks in Adams County is to continue to support our Adams County constituents. That means that we're going to be fighting for a strong, resilient, and high quality of life in our community.
00:09:15
Speaker
We're going to closely monitor any changes at the federal government. And again, this is regardless of who's in the White House, of opportunities for us to get federal funding, opportunities for us to protect existing federal funding, and also find ways in which we can also strengthen our relationships with partners in the state, nonprofits, not national organizations, and other potential partners to make any dollar that we have, both Adams County dollars from our taxes or even federal dollars, go a little bit further.
00:09:43
Speaker
So as far as we're concerned, our mission has not changed, our values have not changed, and we're going to continue to do the best we can. and we're going to roll with it with whatever comes our way. But as far as the question about dismantling federal government, yeah, there may be some changes, and we're going to continue to do the best we can to roll with that.
00:10:00
Speaker
I don't have a specific answer on specific projects because obviously if you're reading the news and watching the news, some of these things change daily. But please know that we are here and we're not changing.
00:10:10
Speaker
We don't need to necessarily change who we are or what we need to do because our voters voted us in to do those jobs. And Commissioner, I know you're following these changes very closely. You're hearing a lot about this day to day.
00:10:22
Speaker
um Your chance to weigh in on this. So as Commissioner Odorizio has stated, um Adams County, whether... it's any administration in the White House that we will comply with the changes at the federal administration level.
00:10:35
Speaker
So we intend to implement um the executive orders and be in compliance. That will mean some changes, at least internally in Adams County, but we continue to monitor. We have an employee group that has been put together to monitor executive orders as they come out. How does that affect county government operations? How does that affect our residents, our employees?
00:10:56
Speaker
um Right now, we're not seeing any layoffs within the organization. um We continue to monitor what changes in programs there are. There are vacancies in seats. We were just notified that we do a lot of ah advocacy work for the Colorado Air and Spaceport that There were some departures from the Federal Aviation Administration that we work with, and we'll just continue to work um with the administration and then those ah new administrators that, in this particular case, that are going to be in the FAA seat. So we intend to comply and work with, um whether it's federal administration or local governments, that's what we're here for, is to provide services, um programming services, whether it's state or federal,
00:11:38
Speaker
um to our residents and to write provide the best quality of services and service delivery that we can. Thank you. Thank you so much, Commissioner Baca. That's really, really helpful insight for our residents. And I know you're going to have thoughts on this next question as well. This deals with potential cuts to crucial services in our community as well.
00:11:56
Speaker
So let's go ahead and play that. Now, Zeke in Commerce City asked me to read this one. He's asking, what are you doing about cuts to health and human services specifically must West Metro Community Services, it sounds like, is Zeke's biggest concern. Who can take this one on from Zeke in Commerce City? mr malloka All right. Thank you so much for the question, Zeke. I really appreciate it. I think that this is something that a lot of folks are concerned about right now, so I appreciate you bringing that forward.
00:12:23
Speaker
You know, one of a couple things that's happening, at least on the county level, is it's This is a situation that we're following very carefully. And we have a team of staff that are constantly monitoring the federal situation as we move forward. And so it is something that we are definitely prioritizing this year. i do want to kick it over to our director of Health and Human Services to just highlight anything else
00:12:56
Speaker
that you'd like to bring, Katie, the conversation. Thank you, Commissioner. My name is Katie McDougall, and I'm the Director of Human Services here in Adams County. Thank you so much for your concern for the programs that are so important for our community.
00:13:08
Speaker
We, as Commissioner stated, are really monitoring what's occurring at the state and federal level, starting to make plans and being prepared for any shifts we might need to make so that we can be most responsive to the community's needs.
00:13:23
Speaker
We believe that with our strong community and with our strong team, we'll be able to be creative, innovative, and still meet the needs of those most vulnerable in our community. Commissioner, what are your thoughts?
00:13:35
Speaker
So we continue to monitor um the changes in federal funding. And what we call here at Adams County, especially in human services, is the braiding and blending of different funds. So a portion of the funding, um to go off a little bit on the technical side, is 80% of the federal funding From the funding that we receive from the HSC, 80% does come from the federal government. 20% is local match here at Adams County.
00:14:01
Speaker
So what we've recently looked at is that there's been challenges also at the state level. And there's state programming and funding that we also receive here in Adams County to administer programs to our residents. So we are looking at some cuts. um At the Human Services Center, we are trying to mitigate those the best that we can.
00:14:20
Speaker
um Nothing has been determined as of yesterday. We just had a meeting just this week. But any of those services that are we can, what the board decided on is that we want to continue to provide safety nets.
00:14:33
Speaker
So if we cut services in one area, we want to make sure that we communicate to our residents that there is another program that they can either try to get onto or service that they can tie into. So we don't want to completely abandon any of the service cuts that we have. We're going to try to mitigate those the best that we can. And if we can, or in a position to do so, um we're also going to have budget discussions if we want to budget any of those in the 2026 budget.
00:15:01
Speaker
you know And as these potential changes occur, we will be making sure that we keep the public very up-to-date, notified. And exactly what you're saying, if we're cutting in one place, we're going to make sure that we're providing you with the information to help you in the other.
00:15:13
Speaker
So yeah, thank you for that. All right, so another... Very hot topic is this next question. In fact, some of you may have even recently filled out a poll for this. It's the need for a new detention facility. A lot of callers asking about this. A lot of people who registered wrote in asking similar questions.
00:15:32
Speaker
So you actually helped answer this during the town hall. um but We have a time a little bit of time to talk a little bit more, but first, here's the question and the answer. The question for us is, With the Adams County jail facing serious structural issues, mold, water contamination, and overcrowding in its behavioral health unit, how does it make financial sense to continue spending $10 million dollars annually on temporary fixes?
00:15:55
Speaker
Who can take this from one of our web registrants? Thank you very much. That's a good question. And I'll tell you right now, one of the things that Adams County commissioners are doing or working closely with the sheriff, one of the circumstances One of the statutory requirements is that we run a jail.
00:16:11
Speaker
Also, you'll note that we also have to meet certain standards, both jail requirements statutorily as well as we want to make sure that the people that work in the jail and the
Aging Jail Facility Concerns
00:16:20
Speaker
visitors are treated ethically and also meeting all those standards. With that said, this jail is over 40 years old.
00:16:28
Speaker
And we're now at the point where it's not necessarily a capacity issue, it's ah it a point of aging. And so the challenge that we have is making sure that we meet our statutory and ethical requirements, also trying to improve public safety.
00:16:40
Speaker
And so jails of the 21st century are going to be different than the jails of the 20th century. And part of what we have to do is make sure that we are investing in a criminal justice system that focuses on rehabilitation,
00:16:54
Speaker
and as well as all the other challenges that we have. So right now, it is a challenge for us to figure out how can we best meet those needs. And so right now, we're going through the discussions of what that jail made look like.
00:17:07
Speaker
It could be anywhere from up to $900 million dollars it with certain designs, or it could be less. We don't know. We're working through those challenges right now, and we hope to have enough education and facts presented to the voters so you can see what the challenges are for us and the possible decisions that we can make as a community to address this issue.
00:17:27
Speaker
dutch appreciateer i I'll just jump in here real quick. Commissioner Lynn Baca, I want to mention that the Board of County Commissioners, we went on a tour this afternoon at the jail.
00:17:38
Speaker
um Not only does it house the inmates, but we all there's a number of Sheriff's officers that work in the jail, contractors, attorneys that visit the jail, family that visits the jail.
00:17:52
Speaker
So as an employment center, we want to provide also a very safe place where we can keep our employees safe in the jail and that we can really upgrade that specific space.
00:18:05
Speaker
So we have a long journey ahead of us, but we're here to support community, the jail. And then, you know, these re, once they incarcerated have served their time, they are also introduced back into the general population. we want to make sure that we have services um to support these folks as they get back into your neighborhoods and work here in Adams County.
00:18:28
Speaker
And Commissioner, you bring up some great points there. um you know, when we talk about these issues, there are really so many people who are affected by this, um from the people who are involved with the justice system to our law enforcement officials and really just the community as a whole.
00:18:44
Speaker
Yes, so there's a lot happening at the jail, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the caller's question specifically, is the annual spend on the jail. And Commissioner Odoricio answered this correctly, that it is an aging facility. um And if I could just provide a little data point here, is that the original portion of the the jail was built, it predates um ADA a requirements.
00:19:07
Speaker
So just like your home, ah as time goes on, and if your home's 40 years old, you're making these major system improvements. So um changes to your roof, changes to your boiler. ah You have to do some outside exterior maintenance. You have to do some interior maintenance to the infrastructure, to plumbing, to electrical. And the same thing as it happens at the jail, is that we need to maintain this facility.
00:19:29
Speaker
until we have a viable and a long-term solution for the jail. um It does house ah folks at the jail. It's also an employment center for Adams County, as I stated, that the sheriff's office um and a number of people do access the jail as well, whether it's visitors or contractors.
00:19:46
Speaker
And we want to make sure that we have a safe facility that meets. What we're finding out from the sheriff's office is over time, um we see changes in state regulations. And state regulations are now there's some downward pressure on the jail that we have to meet certain requirements. And so that is causing us to also look at what is is the future of the jail, whether it's the existing facility or a new facility to meet regulations, including ADA.
00:20:10
Speaker
Thank you for that. Yeah, you're welcome. Nikki? So we are on to our second to last question, which is, it's
Grocery Store Availability Concerns
00:20:16
Speaker
crazy how quickly this goes and how many different topics we can cover in such a short period of time here. But um at the top of the show, we mentioned food deserts. And that is the question from one of the callers in the town hall we're going to go to next.
00:20:29
Speaker
Thank you so much for waiting. What's your question for us Thank you, everybody. i am born and raised in Colorado, but have only lived in Westminster for six years.
00:20:40
Speaker
I have seen two grocery stores closed down and nothing reopened and know that there's about 800 apartments ready to break ground on about 84th and federal.
00:20:51
Speaker
We have no grocery stores between and federal and and federal. What is the plan to bring food into the ever growing density of this neighborhood?
00:21:05
Speaker
um Hi, Nikki, this is Commissioner Cathy Henson. Thank you for this question. um I live in South Borton and I represented South Borton on Borton City Council and so I am familiar with this part of town quite well and I do, and i share I share your question there. I understand why you're asking it.
00:21:22
Speaker
you know, those those apartments going in 84th and Federal are actually going to be in the city of Westminster. But I do understand the intersection there of Westminster and Federal Heights and Unincorporated Adams and we have Northland nearby and then we get into Thornton pretty close down the road there.
00:21:37
Speaker
So if it in the municipalities, We, as at the county, we can we can try to partner and and have meetings and suggest and support our our municipal partners, our municipal friends, but that development inside city limits would be left up to the individual municipalities.
00:21:53
Speaker
Now, in the unincorporated areas, When we do see increased density, we know that that hopefully – I'm going to kick it here to Jenny in community economic development in just a minute. But I can tell you what I've learned is that stores often have a checklist and a formula that they are looking for.
00:22:09
Speaker
And usually increased density and increased population makes neighborhoods more appealing And I know it's been tough with those grocery stores having closed recently, but I'm hoping that with some revitalization in that area with that new development that we will see a partner come in there. And I'm going to toss it to Jenny Hall again to see if she can elaborate any more on that.
00:22:31
Speaker
Sure. Thank you, Commissioner Henson. And thank you, Nikki, for the question. um Everything that Commissioner Henson just said is is right. There's a common adage in in development that retail follows rooftops, right? So having those additional apartments come in certainly does provide boost that grocery retailers would be looking for.
00:22:51
Speaker
But each of the major operators in that space has their own particular formulas. So what a Whole Foods might look for is slightly different than what a King Soopers might look for or um smaller format grocery stores. And so what we try to do is make sure we have good contact with the brokers that represent those stores. We work closely with our cities.
00:23:12
Speaker
and try to identify where there are pockets that are underserved and find the best match to talk to. We work together with the city to try and put together attractive incentives, but ultimately it's very much a market decision, and grocery stores do operate with a very thin profit margin. So it's challenging, but um we we look forward to a lot of partnerships with Westminster as that area redevelops.
00:23:36
Speaker
And we do definitely hear your concern and we will monitor that situation and see what we can do and how we can be a good partner to solve help solve that problem.
00:23:47
Speaker
Commissioner Baca, I know that this is something that the board looks at across several different communities. It is. So a food desert, i' very familiar with the area. My family grew up just east, ah extended family grew up just east of eighty fourth and Federal.
00:24:01
Speaker
So there is a big development going on. And kathy Commissioner Henson was correct in stating that portions of that are going to be in the city limits of Westminster. But in and out, it is unincorporated Adams County and the city of Westminster. So it's important that we build a partnership with the city of Westminster. It is exciting to see rooftops come because they're absolutely correct.
00:24:21
Speaker
um With rooftops is revitalization, is retail, including um grocery commercial. And so we want to work closely with the city of Westminster to make sure that we bring in um food in that particular area. um Other exciting news on Federal Boulevard is that there's going to be the Department of Transportation, Colorado Department of Transportation, is looking at doing bus rapid transit for the entire Federal Boulevard corridor. It will take several years, but This could be a really transformational change for federal.
00:24:52
Speaker
And in the meantime, um we will continue to monitor and attract ah business and grocery and retail in all of our neighborhoods, especially in that particular area. Fantastic and exciting to see it happen and unfold.
00:25:04
Speaker
yeah All right. So we are going to share one final question and answer. Okay. um Then tell you folks that are listening how you can listen to the entire 90 minute town hall, which addresses a lot of other topics.
00:25:16
Speaker
So let's listen in to our last question.
Defining Community Success
00:25:18
Speaker
What do you define as success for Adams County? Again, the question is, what do you define as success for Adams County? Who can take that one on for us?
00:25:27
Speaker
Great. Thank you so much. Again, Commissioner Baca and i Commissioner Pinter is going to respond to that question. Thank you. ah This is such an important question. It's something that we think about all the time, and we spent and part of the reason we enjoy these telephone town halls, because we get to hear from you both in the questions you ask and in your response to the polls.
00:25:48
Speaker
So it's something that we are always considering and taking to heart. For us, our success means that every resident in Adams County has the opportunity to thrive, whether that's finding a good paying job, accessing quality healthcare, sending kids to a great school, or feeling safe and connected in your community.
00:26:04
Speaker
That means we're building a community that works for everyone, not just today, but for the long haul. We know that concerns have been increasing every day for your concerns about affordability of lifestyle, reliable infrastructure, resilient emergency services, and we are committed in Adams County to making sure that we have the best staff available to help through any difficult times like we seem to be facing here in 2025.
00:26:31
Speaker
Success also means that people trust their local government, that Adams County feels accessible to you, that you feel heard, respected, and confident that we are working as a team to be good stewards of your tax dollars.
00:26:43
Speaker
If residents can continue to show up and raise your questions, we feel like that's a really good indicator that you're connected to us and that when we're out in community, we're hearing from you. And success isn't about a big milestone. It's about the day-to-day progress we make towards a stronger, healthier, and more equitable community.
00:27:02
Speaker
What drives us in any environment is what it continues to drive us today. Commissioner, we would love to hear one more response from you. And I would also just love to hear you grew up in Adams County. What does success in Adams County look like to you as the chair of our board and as somebody who just really cares about this community? I really appreciate the question. I love this question. I love Commissioner Pinter's response. um It really warms my heart. And I sat right next to her and she said this all off the cuff and was not reading off of a script, and she did a fantastic job.
00:27:33
Speaker
So growing up in the area um here in Brighton, my family's been part of Adams County for over 100 years. It has changed very significantly. My grandpa was a vegetable farmer.
00:27:43
Speaker
um It was highly ag here in Adams County where farmers was the biggest business. what That was our biggest um business in our cash crop here in Adams County. That has significantly changed. And while it's exciting to see the changes,
00:27:56
Speaker
um You do miss some of that history, but I do. I'm very heavily involved in the open space, agricultural farmland preservation. But I think what success looks like, I'm going to start with where Commissioner Pinter left off, is that it's not the milestones.
00:28:11
Speaker
You know, we're not we're not aiming for one milestone. it is making the changes incrementally every single day for our residents. It's showing up every day for our residents and advocating for policy and streets and funding and healthcare care and the health department and working with our businesses and our nonprofits um and our school districts. I meet with our superintendents and career technical education and supporting our students in scholarships and awards. I was recently spoke at one of those and it is the success every day of our residents that I look at. um
00:28:45
Speaker
that we care for one another as we go through this time of 2025. I know there's a lot of uncertainty, whether it's job security or food insecurity or housing, um but that we take a moment each day to acknowledge where we're at, to take care of the people that are around us, whether we work with them, they're our family members, they're our neighbors, is that we really take a moment every day um to be grateful for where we are and that we get up every single day to, you know, for all of the tomorrows to continue to do this work.
00:29:16
Speaker
That's success for here, for for me, for Adams County. Yeah, and I love hearing that, and thank you. And and I can see you getting a little emotional, but i I love that because it shows how much you care, and taking care of each other is really what it's all about.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yes. We have a tremendous organization, 2,300 employees. We have over 500,000 residents, and to meet every resident where they're at, whether they're in a rural area, suburban area, local,
00:29:45
Speaker
all the amenities that we provide, whether it's a bike path, whether we have the ship for our veterans, um we're here for all of Adams County all the time. And that's the work that I do every single day and why I find so much joy in doing this work.
00:30:00
Speaker
We love it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you, Commissioner, for joining Nikki and I. And we appreciate you all for joining us for this episode. And while we've covered some of the most asked questions at our first telephone town hall of the year, as I mentioned, there were dozens more. So what we've done is we've put a link to the entire 90-minute town hall in the show notes.
00:30:20
Speaker
We would love for you to listen if you were not able to attend. And make sure to follow us on our social channels, and subscribe to our newsletter to find out more about the upcoming town halls, because we're going to have several in person later on this year.
00:30:33
Speaker
For Nikki Wellander and Commissioner Lynn Baca, I'm Nikki Kimballton. Thank you for joining us.
00:30:40
Speaker
That's a wrap for this episode of All in Adams. Thank you for joining us as we explore the people, programs, and the policies that make Adams County a great place to live, work, and thrive.
00:30:51
Speaker
If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know. We're all in for bringing you the stories that matter most.
00:31:02
Speaker
Until next time, take care of each other and stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and X. We're all in, Adams, and we're all in for you.