Weld County to help Bennett review oil and gas permits for $18,000 each

Weld County commissioners approved an agreement under which county staff will help the Town of Bennett review oil and gas location applications, at a flat fee of $18,000 per application.

The intergovernmental agreement provides for the county's Division of Oil and Gas Energy staff to assist Bennett with 1041 oil and gas location-assessment enforcement and municipal permitting. The board approved it and authorized the chair to sign.

A county staff member said Bennett was, he believed, in the final stages of adopting an ordinance that would send applications first to the town for its normal planning process. County staff would then do professional work on them, including a hearing by a hearing officer, before the order returned to the town board to decide whether to accept it. The staff member described the arrangement as similar to the process used by ECMC.

The staff member said the county had used similar arrangements with other municipalities. "We've done this in the past with other municipalities, and it's worked very well," he said. Bennett accepted the flat fee.

In a separate item, the board approved an agreement for David Cocciolone of Clearview Hearings and Consulting, LLC, to serve as a backup hearing officer for 1041 oil and gas location assessments at $100 per hour.

The staff member said the county needed a backup because the current hearing officer was sometimes out of town and could have conflicts of interest related to prior employment or his wife's. He said he believed Cocciolone had conducted a hearing last week.

No one offered public comment before the meeting adjourned.