A $10 million central service center in Divide is the final step for Teller County commissioners to complete a long-range goal to consolidate departments. Expected to open in late 2026, the 15,000 square-foot facility establishes the county as its own landlord.

“We’ve been saving for this for many years, with allocations from our capital fund,” said Commission chair Bob Campbell, speaking Jan. 14 at the commissioners’ meeting.

“It’s a great service to our taxpayers to have one office to accomplish most of their tasks in Teller County.”

With the center, the county will save around $500,000 a year in rent for offices in various locations.

“Even though we’re a debt-free county, as far as long-term debt, rent is essentially, by county standards, debt,” Campbell said. “That money goes nowhere; obviously to the landlord, but provides us no assets.”

While the center will open in Divide, the county seat remains in Cripple Creek, said County Administrator Ross Herzog.

With the Colorado state legislature now in session, the commissioners are already preparing for verbal battle against some proposals, SB25-03, for instance.

“This bill will essentially ban all semi-automatic firearms in Colorado, probably 97% of any firearm you would buy,” said Commissioner Erik Stone. “Ridiculous. Crazy.”

But Stone said he prefers “crazy” to something more moderate. “’Crazy’ is easier to defeat,” he said. “We will be fighting against that bill.”

Also on the agenda is a look at short-term rentals, an issue that has embroiled Woodland Park in a lawsuit and a moratorium.

“We are the only county for miles around that hasn’t addressed short-term rentals,” said Commissioner Dan Williams, adding that the county is conducting a study of STRs. “In the end, we’d like to hear from both sides and see if we can’t carve out something in the middle.”

Along with STRs, the commissioners are wading into the issue of choosing a manager for recreation on Pikes Peak, a dilemma compounded by the incomplete Ring the Peak trail.

“Since COVID things have gotten so bad that people have made their own ring-the-peak and it’s chaos up there, and there’s always construction up there,” Williams said. “It’s our responsibility for search & rescue, along with El Paso County; for fire threats, all those things.”

In his State of the State speech, Gov. Gov. Jared Polis mentioned Teller County and an initiative that would allow Colorado Parks & Wildlife to manage the peak, with four to six rangers, Williams said. “CPW would have oversight over federal land where that peak ring would go.”

Because the county has statutory oversight, the commissioners recently met with other land managers such as the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, and Colorado Springs Utilities.

“We agreed to help explore having extra control,” Williams said. “We don’t own the mountain, but we are protector of the resources they want to consume.”

Williams emphasized that the Outdoor Recreation Initiative is in the infant stages.

“I want to reiterate that this is an exploration. You know we’re a billion dollars short in the state of Colorado right now,” Williams said. “But we’re going to keep an open mind and from my perspective, try to control the chaos.”

Commissioner Bob Campbell has his own worries over how the state may try to plug that $1 billion shortage.

“One of the brainstorms that somebody had in the legislature that wasn’t so brilliant,” he said. “They are opening an opportunity to pass a bill that any gaming that goes on in Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek would be available online.”

While the legislators may think that such a bill would help fill in the shortfall, there’s a catch.

“They don’t realize that there has to be a constitutional amendment passed by the citizens that would keep gaming focused on just those three cities,” Campbell said. “They have this grand idea that they can solve the state’s fiscal issue by taking over all gaming and putting it online. If passed, it will devastate the three cities.”

In other news, the commissioners proclaimed January as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.