The Elbert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the Town of Elizabeth Board of Trustees met with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) at Spring Valley on Aug. 24. At the meeting, DOLA presented a draft copy of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the county and the town designed to facilitate communication for the continued development of a county master plan and local development.

When completed, the IGA establishes mutually agreed protocols for communication between the county and the town for development of land falling under the jurisdiction of the county but lying adjacent to or just outside town limits.

Ed Ehmann, Elbert County manager, said the agreement provides mutually agreed-upon guidelines for each entity to collaborate on development.

“Basically it's a draft document presented to both groups for review,” said Ehmann. “The meat of the document itself gives us a trail map of how we communicate with each other under different scenarios.”

With a draft copy presented to both the BOCC and the town board, most of the detail work will fall to Ehmann and Elizabeth Town Administrator Dick Eason.

Eason said the town routinely enters into IGAs with entities, such as the one with the Town of Kiowa where each provides public works assistance to the other if one is overwhelmed.

The new agreement with the county establishes protocols for communication with the county in the specific area of growth and land development. Eason said such agreements are necessary to prevent random growth and to prevent situations where an industrial complex might be approved for construction in the middle of a residential area.

The completed document is expected to be presented to the Elizabeth Board of Trustees at a meeting on Oct. 13 and to the BOCC at its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 21.

In addition, Elbert County has applied for a $75,000 DOLA grant to fund the research and development of the county's new master plan. The IGA with Elizabeth is a step toward meeting DOLA's requirement stipulating that the county government have agreements with the three incorporated towns within the county.

Ehmann and the BOCC are hoping that when a final agreement is reached between the county and the Town of Elizabeth, it will serve as a template for similar agreements between Elbert County and the towns of Kiowa and Simla.

DOLA is an agency of the State of Colorado providing an array of services to local governments.