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Extension office seeks permanent staff for Rocky Mountain Garden, education programs and Home Upgrade Hub
Summary
Extension staff presented three personnel requests: convert a temporary garden assistant to 0.8 FTE, convert a grant-funded education assistant to permanent status, and request one-time funding for 1.4 FTE to sustain the Home Upgrade Hub while an EPA grant appeal and potential litigation proceed.
Bryce Christensen, speaking for the county's extension/program office, asked the Board of County Commissioners to approve three staffing changes to sustain public-facing education and home-retrofit assistance programs.
Christensen said the Rocky Mountain Demonstration Garden opened last September and has strong volunteer support: "last year, we had 168 volunteers that participated in the installation of the garden... they provided 606 hours of service," he said. The office seeks to convert a temporary garden assistant into a permanent 0.8 FTE; the full cost is about $51,000 with approximately $12,800 in current foundation support, leaving a county request of roughly $39,000 for the position.
The office also proposed making a long-standing, grant-supported education assistant permanent. Christensen said outreach programs served just over 2,800 students in the 2024'1 school year (up about 1,000 from the prior year). The total cost for the education assistant is about $69,000 with $12,500 in committed foundation/grant support, leaving an approximate county request of $56,000.
Finally, Christensen described the Home Upgrade Hub, a resource launched with a roughly $1 million EPA environmental-justice "government-to-government" grant meant to fund 1.4 FTEs for three years. The extension office said the EPA funding was terminated in March; staff appealed on April 25 and said they are awaiting the appeal's outcome. Christensen said there is also potential class-action litigation that could affect terminated grants and noted legislation has been introduced to repeal related Clean Air Act components. To bridge the uncertainty and time needed to develop a public-private funding partnership, staff requested one-time county funding for 1.4 FTE for the coming year to maintain services including application assistance, a vetted contractor list, and subsidized energy audits.
Christensen described partners and private-sector interest in sustaining the hub and said the office is prepared to adjust requests as community commitments firm. He said fallback options include maintaining existing 0.6 FTE coverage for Callie and Corey while the office develops funding.
No formal motions or votes on the three staffing requests were recorded in the meeting minutes included in the transcript. Commissioners asked questions about seasonal furloughs, volunteer coordination and the potential for outside funding to reduce future county costs.
