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From YouTube: 2019 Pinnacle Awards
Description
Each year the Boulder County Commissioners choose finalists to be in the running for internal achievement awards - the Pinnacle Awards. These 12 projects are the finalists for 2019. These projects represent the best in public service and a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and sustainability in Boulder County.
A
Climate
change
is
the
biggest
issue
of
our
time.
If
we
keep
polluting
the
way
we
have
been,
we
face
unacceptable
local
impacts
like
not
enough
snowpack,
not
enough
water,
rampant,
wildfires,
growing
public
health
risks
and
escalating
costs
with
smart
state
and
federal
policy.
We
can
avoid
these
impacts,
while
also
protecting
Colorado's
quality
of
life.
Colorado.
B
Communities
for
climate
change
is
a
coalition
of
local
governments
advocating
for
effective
state
and
federal
climate
policy.
Cc
4
CA
was
founded
with
three
members
in
2016
and
we've
since
grown
to
25
local
governments
spanning
the
western
slope
from
front
range
from
small
rural
towns
to
major
suburbs,
local
elected
officials
and
local
governments.
Our
powerful
voices
for
policy
change
CC
for
CAA
brings
those
voices
to
the
state,
capitol
and
other
forums
to
advocate
for
climate
action
for
all
Colorado's
climate.
A
C
Basically,
the
housing
and
Human
Services
Department
has
been
going
through
a
process
the
last
number
of
years
to
put
in
place
an
integrated
service
delivery
model
of
care.
We
want
to
put
in
place
a
process
where
any
door
is
truly
the
right
door
and
that
just
doesn't
mean
any
door
at
HHS
in
our
department
or
any
door
at
Boulder
County.
C
D
Have
a
an
amazing
community
of
service
providers,
resource
providers,
incredible
agencies
that
are
out
there,
that
we've
established
great
partnerships
with,
but
they
were
using
case
management
systems
that
were
completely
silent
from
each
other.
So
to
that
any
door
is
the
right
door
philosophy
and
goal
they
might
walk
into
the
door
of
agency
number
one.
Do
an
assessment
answer:
a
bunch
of
questions
get
some
services
get
some
help
visit
another
agency
and
that
second
agency
had
no
visibility
into
the
clients
history.
D
C
You
go
to
one
of
our
family
resource
centers,
like
sister
Carmen
or
our
Center
or
ephah.
You
are
being
your
needs,
are
being
assessed
in
the
same
way
using
the
same
tool
and
using
the
results
of
that
every
staff
member
is
trained
on
how
to
use
that
tool
and
refer
to
the
same
consistent
set
of
services
across
the
community
using
the
same
data.
C
So
if
I
am
in
an
organization-
and
we
can't
quite
help-
you
and
I
send
you
off
somewhere
else,
you
or
they
already
know
that
we've
had
that
conversation
and
who's
in
your
family
and
what
kind
of
services
you've
received
up
to
this
date
and
what
your
needs
are
because
I
took
that
needs
assessment,
use
that
tool
and
entered
the
data
into
the
them.
And
you
can
see
the
results
of
that.
C
We
spend
a
lot
of
time
again
working
with
our
practice
folks
to
train
staff
at
all
of
our
partners
and
our
staff
as
well
at
HHS
on
the
value
and
the
need
to
share
data
so
that
you
can
really
coordinate
and
provide
clients.
The
best
care
possible
and
the
success
that
we
had
is
what
was
really
interesting
is
as
soon
as
we
rolled
it
out.
Those
questions
went
away
completely.
We
had
out
of
a
few
thousand
clients.
C
D
Have
over
250
case
managers
and
volunteers
throughout
the
community
at
these
various
organizations
who
are
using
the
system
and
based
on
everything
that
we've
just
talked
about
in
that
coordination?
That
really
allows
250
people
to
be
kind
of
operating
as
as
one
as
opposed
to
the
silos
that
we
described
earlier.
So
it's
a
pretty
impressive
number
and
it
continues
to
grow
as
we
enhance
the
system
and
bring
more
organizations
on
board
yep.
E
So
homeless,
solutions
for
Boulder
County
is
our
collaborative
effort
between
Boulder
County,
the
city
of
Boulder
or
the
city
of
Longmont
and
all
of
our
other
stakeholders,
so
homeless,
service
providers,
public
housing
authorities,
medical
behavioral,
health
providers
and
our
justice
partners
to
really
all
collaborate
and
be
approaching
homelessness
among
single
adults
in
the
county
and
systematic
collaborative
way.
We
just
completed
the
first
year
of
our
system,
much
we're
2017
through
September
2018,
and
we
screamed
just
around
2500
clients
for
services.
E
With
our
programs,
we've
been
able
to
help
383
of
those
clients
that
we
know
of
get
to
successful
outcomes.
That
includes
188
folks
that
we've
helped
get
into
their
own
housing
145
that
we've
helped
reunify
with
support
networks
and
50
that
we've
helped
get
into
other
residential
programs.
The
Boulder
County
community
in
2016
and
2017
really
realized
how
we
could
be
doing
better,
and
so
we've
really
reorganized
in
this
approach
to
take
advantage
of
our
lessons
learned,
which
was
really
around.
We
need
to
focus
on
housing.
F
In
2018,
the
State
Historic
Preservation
Office
sent
us
a
request
for
input
on
their
nomination
to
the
National
Register
for
the
courthouse,
and
we
were
able
to
take
that
to
the
historic
preservation,
Advisory
Board
and
play
County
Commissioners
and
gather
their
support
for
the
application
and
send
that
back
to
the
state.
And
then
that
resulted
in
the
added
designation
of
the
courthouse
to
recognize.
F
G
So
the
downtown
Boulder
historic
district
was
listed
in
the
National
Register
in
the
1980s,
really
in
recognition
for
its
commercial
history
and
its
architectural
value,
and
the
courthouse
beautiful
in
its
own
right
was
part
of
that
district.
This
additional
layer
of
history,
which
is
usually
how
history
tends
to
oranges
in
multiple
layers.
We
thought
it
was
important
to
recognize
it
individually
for
its
history
associated
with
LGBTQ
history.
So.
H
I
was
very
excited
to
be
involved
in
this
plaque.
I
worked
with
another
colleague
in
my
office
and
what
we
played
upon
was
the
kind
of
style
of
the
historic
County
Courthouse,
and
we
also
incorporated
the
rainbow
flag,
which
is
symbolic
of
the
LGBTQ
community,
and
we're
very
pleased
with
how
it
turned
out.
On
a
personal
note,
a
lot
of
my
projects
that
I
work
on
had
changed
over
time.
I
was
kind
of
excited
that
this
is
something
that's
gonna,
be
fine
affixed
to
the
wall
and
it'll
never
change.
I
Really
what
we
enjoyed
about
this
whole
project,
the
celebration
that
came
with
it
and
all
the
people
that
came
and
attended.
We
had
the
governor,
come
we
had
County
Commissioners,
we
had
out
Boulder
County
200
members
of
the
community,
and
it
was
just
a
terrific
way
to
say:
Boulder
County
is
an
inclusive
community
and
that
we
care
about
our
future
and
how
we
represent
that
in
our
present.
J
This
project,
which
is
behind
me,
started
in
1998
with
the
adoption
of
the
lower
Boulder
Creek
in
Coal
Creek
master
plan,
and
in
that
master
plan
we
talked
about
doing
a
natural
channel
restoration
out
here
on
the
site,
so
this
site
was
mined
for
sand
and
gravel
in
the
past
last
few
decades
back.
But
when
they
reclaimed
this
site,
they
didn't
do
a
really
great
job
of
it.
J
And
so
the
soils
that
were
put
back
on
were
very
nutrient
poor
and
had
low
organic
matter,
which
are
all
necessary
to
kind
of
have
a
thriving
plant
community.
And
so
what
we
had
out
here
were
a
lot
of
non-native
species,
a
lot
of
invasive
species,
very
low
productivity,
so
not
only
from
an
ecological
perspective,
but
it
wasn't
very
valuable,
even
from
a
for
agriculture
and
for
pasture
land.
J
So
we
want
to
improve
the
site
conditions
both
from
the
riparian
side
of
things
and
the
creek,
but
also
that
it
allowed
us
to
kind
of
correct
some
of
the
wrongs
that
were
done
in
the
past
with
the
mining
site.
So
the
project
includes
the
realignment
of
about
a
mile,
a
long
length
of
the
creek
and
opening
up
the
floodplains.
J
The
plants
that
we
have
installed
out
here
and
the
Cedeno
seeds
that
we've
placed
down
will
grow
into
more
of
a
thriving
riparian
community
will
have
kind
of
a
diversity
of
habitat
types,
some
grassy
areas,
some
shrubby
areas
and
some
some
larger
cottonwood
trees
and
so
forth.
They're
gonna
provide
for
a
number
of
different
wildlife
species,
so
the
the
area
is
gonna
thrive
and
be
a
lot
more
diverse
in
terms
of
the
plant
species,
the
wildlife
species
that
can
use
this.
K
And
so
we
found
an
opportunity
to
partner
with
them
to
offer
community
resource
navigation
services
and
service
coordination
for
their
patients
who
were
being
discharged
to
the
home
environment.
Ninety
days
after
their
surgeries,
the
next
step
was
created
by
a
team
of
ours
at
the
Area
Agency
on
Aging,
and
we
worked
with
both
our
community
health
for
about
a
year
to
develop
a
model
that
would
integrate
with
their
workflows.
K
What
we
were
looking
for
specifically
was
to
reduce
hospital
readmissions,
reduce
post,
acute
care
utilization,
which
is
nursing
home
visits
and
and
rehab,
and
improve
patient
outcomes
so
and
helping
patients
recover
more
successfully
in
their
home
environments.
The
Area
Agency
on
Aging
has
a
resource
navigator,
who
is
actually
on-site
at
the
hospital
and
they're
visiting
with
patients
after
their
surgical
procedure
and
before
they're
discharged
home,
to
talk
about
their
options
and
to
get
a
sense
of
how
well
they've
planned
for
their
discharge
from
the
hospital.
K
We
were
studying
the
kind
of
Effects
of
the
work
over
the
course
of
the
program
in
2018,
and
what
we
found
was
that
we
were
able
to
achieve
over
$1500
savings
per
episode
at
the
hospital
has
about
300
patients
come
through
it
every
year,
so
that's
a
significant
amount
of
potential
savings.
That
is
then
earned
by
our
partner.
We've
also
been
able
to
drive
down
hospital
readmissions
by
40%
and
reduced
post
acute
care
utilization
by
14
percent,
so
we're
helping
people
recover
more
safe
and
in
their
home
environments,
as
well
as
helping
our
healthcare
partners.
L
L
In
addition,
when
we
were
working
on
this
project,
we
were
slightly
overlapping
with
parks
and
open
spaces,
same
Fern
Creek
project
that
was
just
downstream
of
this
location
we
had
to
both
of
us
had
to
work
together.
As
far
as
the
interface
of
our
projects
move
changes
for
pre-press,
tration
itself,.
M
In
2005
we
started
to
produce
a
calendar
for
the
publican
and
staff
and
we
asked
our
staff
members
to
take
pictures
of
our
properties
and
the
public
loved
it.
They
were
so
happy
and
they,
the
sales
started
to
blossom
more
and
more
so.
This
year
we
decided
to
look
at
our
waste
and
we
were
using
these
plastic
CD
cases
and
they
made
fairly.
Nice
stands
because
they
fold
up
and
came,
it
became
a
stand,
but
then
we
had
to
protect
the
plastic
from
breakage
in
transport
and
delivery.
M
So
we
had
to
use
all
this
bubble
wrap
and
then
we
put
it
in
a
bubble,
wrap
envelope
and
it
just
really
started
to
bother
us.
So
we
started
looking
this
summer
at
some
alternatives
and
finally,
we
found
a
solution.
When
Jesse
one
of
our
seasonals
did
a
volunteer
project
with
a
small
company
called
eco
enclose
and
they
are
located
in
Louisville,
so
local
and
small
they
came
up
with
this
design.
The
cost
was
forty-five
cents
per
stand
and
the
plastic
was
sixty-two
cents
per
stand.
N
In
2016
Colorado
voters
passed
a
statewide
initiative
which
allows
unaffiliated
voters
to
participate
in
any
party
primary.
After
the
initiative
passed,
the
Secretary
of
State's
office
created
the
framework
to
conduct
the
primary
election.
Now
unaffiliated
voters
have
two
choices:
one
is
they
can
update
the
registration
and
provide
a
ballot
preference
and
receive
just
one
ballot
or
they
can
receive
both
party
ballots.
However,
they
can
only
vote
one
from.
O
A
communications
and
education
standpoint,
the
change
of
the
primary
election
model
was
really
challenging.
First
unaffiliated
had
never
been
sent
ballots
for
a
primary
election
before
so.
First
we
had
to
educate
them
that
they
could
participate,
and
then
we
had
to
make
sure
that
they
knew
they
either
could
pre
pick
a
ballots
if
they
knew
their
preference
in
advance,
or
they
can
wait
to
receive
two
ballots,
but
they
had
to
make
sure
that
they
could
only
vote
and
return
one.
O
In
addition
to
piggybacking
off
the
state's
communications
efforts,
we
decided
to
run
our
own
robust
campaign
to
inform
voters.
We
created
a
really
fun
pair
of
educational
ads
and
push
them
out
heavily
and
repeatedly
on
Facebook
and
Twitter,
and
we
ended
up
getting
really
good
community
buzz
about
our
efforts.
P
So,
a
year
ago,
I
was
running
for
office
and
I
was
also
working
for
a
statewide
voter
engagement
organization,
and
it's
through
that
work
that
I
was
really
able
to
see
what
counties
across
the
state
were
doing
to
educate
their
voters
around
the
new
primary
model.
What
I
saw
was
at
Boulder
County's
efforts
really
stood
out.
P
They
use
the
state's
message,
but
they
also
built
upon
it
in
really
creative
ways
with
cute
dogs
and
cute
kids
and
cupcakes,
and
the
frequency
of
this
message
was
really
strong
and
community
members
were
hearing
about
it
in
a
variety
of
ways.
Looking
ahead
to
2020,
we're
really
excited
to
continue
building
on
the
great
work
that
was
already
done
in
2018
to
ensure
that
every
single
voter
knows
how
to
participate
in
this
still
new
primary
election
model.
I'm.
O
Q
The
roadway
overtopping
project
was
an
analysis
performed
by
the
floodplain
management
group
and
transportation.
We
took
all
the
new
floodplain
data
that
was
provided
to
us
after
the
2013
floods,
and
we
decided
to
do
additional
analyses.
The
first
analysis
we
did
was
looking
at
all
the
public
stream
crossings,
so
bridges
and
culverts
in
the
county.
Q
We
looked
at
the
flood
recurrence
intervals
that
we
could
produce
and
looked
at
various
amounts
of
overtopping
that
could
occur
what
that
means,
as
we
looked
at
how
much
water
would
be
on
the
road
and
when
it
would
be
on
the
road.
The
final
products
we
produced
was
flood
depth
and
velocity
grids.
These
are
GIS
based
layers
that
predict
the
amount
of
water
that
will
be
in
a
specific
area
and
how
fast
we'll
be
moving.
Q
The
data
produced
in
this
project
will
help
various
county
departments
in
their
planning
processes,
primarily
in
discussions
with
the
Office
of
Emergency
Management.
They
presented
a
desire
to
have
information
and
data
on
when
various
roads
and
bridges
would
be
inundated.
This
will
help
them
for
emergency
planning,
such
as
evacuation
routes
and
other
types
of
road
closures.
When
flooding
occurs,
the
benefit
of
our
analysis
is
that
it
includes
all
recurrence
intervals
from
the
mean
annual
flood
to
the
500
year
flood.
Q
So
smaller
events
that
occur
more
frequently,
we
have
data
to
provide
the
opposite
of
Emergency
Management.
Another
use
of
this
data
would
be
for
the
Transportation,
Department
and
other
county
departments
in
their
capital
improvement
projects.
It
will
help
us
identify
areas
of
need
for
additional
improvements
or
County
bridge
and
culvert
replacements.
These
products
are
already
being
used
by
various
county
departments.
The
office
of
emergency
management
is
running
various
flood
exercises
and
is
utilizing
some
of
this
data
in
their
process.
Q
R
I'm,
seeing
more
vaping
devices
come
in
batteries,
they
don't
really
know
a
lot
about
it
because
I
don't
smoke
or
vape.
What
can
we
do
to
help
each
other
and
that
started
this
kind
of
vaping
take-back
project
where
we
ended
up
doing
some
outreach
and
education
going
out
to
the
vape
shops
and
seeing
what
we
could
do
to
help
them
and
ultimately
creating
a
brochure
for
consumers
once
I
talked
about
health
and
once
I
talking
about
hazardous
materials,
yeah.
S
R
The
e-liquid
is
what
we're
disposing
of,
because
this
contains
nicotine
and
so
nicotine
is
considered
an
acute
hazardous
waste
and
we
can
only
take
up
to
two
point
two
pounds
of
he
listed
waste
such
as
nicotine
from
businesses
to
dispose
of
properly
and
then
anything
that
contains
a
battery.
So
if
there
was
a
battery
in
here,
maybe
there
is
we
want
to
get
the
batteries
recycled
because
we
don't
want
to
start
any
fires
so
another
to
spread
the
word
about
our
program.
R
We
actually
went
to
every
bake
shop
in
the
county
and
handed
out
our
brochure
kind
of
had
a
conversation
about
what
we're
trying
to
educate
consumers
on
so
the
whole
public
health
side
and
then
the
disposal
side.
Let
folks
know
that
Boulder
County,
hazardous
materials
is
accepting
vaping
devices
and
any
liquid
that
they're
not
going
to
be
using
and
to
recycle
batteries
properly.
We
worked
with.
S
Our
communication
staff
to
create
an
infographic
to
place
in
retail
shops
so
that
consumers
were
educated
where
they
were
purchasing
these
devices,
and
then
we
also
worked
with
our
youth
advisors
at
the
Public
Health
Department.
To
do
an
evaluation
of
how
these
informational
rack
cards
were
being
distributed
in
the
stores.
S
R
The
schools,
the
University
of
Colorado,
reached
out
to
us
to
start
doing
kickback
events
on
campus
because
they've
been
is
so
prevalent
with
the
youth.
A
lot
of
the
students
at
the
University
are
doing
this
and
so
see
you
wanted
to
reach
out
and
try
to
provide
ongoing
take-back
events,
and
so
we're
in
the
process
now
working
with
the
CU
staff
and
providing
bins
for
students
to
drop
off
their
materials.
T
Wick
is
a
program
that
serves
women,
infants
and
children,
women
who
are
breastfeeding
pregnant
or
postpartum
their
infant
stage,
one
and
then
kids
up
to
age.
Five,
it's
a
USDA
program
and
we
provide
specific,
nutritious
foods
for
them
to
utilize,
with
an
e
WIC
benefit
card
at
the
grocery
store
on
that
food
package,
families
get
the
eligible
members
get
about
eight
dollars
per
month
of
fresh
fruits
and
vegetables,
that's
for
children
and
then
pregnant
moms
and
breastfeeding
moms
get
11
dollars
per
month
of
fruits
and
vegetables.
T
U
The
farmers
market
season,
my
family,
eats
a
lot
healthier
because
we
have
access
to
the
fresh
fruits
and
vegetables
another
product
at
the
farmer
and
what
farmers
market
I
can
see
that
difference
and
how
my
kids
eat
my
two
boys
there,
five
and
two
years
old
and
they
eat
more
vegetables
because
I
think
they
just
tastes
better
I
can
see
the
difference
when
I
make
like
soups
from
the
tomatoes
I
buy
from
the
farmers
market
and
they
just
eat
it
in
compared
to
when
I
make
it
with
the
tomatoes
from
the
supermarket.
I
have.
V
What
I
call
like
kind
of
food
is
medicine
like
what
people
could
most
benefit
from
this
women
and
infant
and
children
and
nursing
mothers.
Like
that's
just
an
awesome
place
to
get
the
some
nutrient-dense
food
into
you
to
make
sure
these
kids
to
get
all
the
nutrients.
They
need,
as
they're
growing
up
to
be
strong
and
smart
as
possible.
So
I
love
working
at
the
farmers
market,
working
with
the
WIC
program
and
being
able
to
support
my
community
in.
W
That
way,
the
WIC
gap
program
has
really
been
amazing
and
bringing
a
whole
spectrum
of
the
community
to
the
markets,
and
we
experience
it
as
as
vendors
we
experienced
it
as
staff
or
board
everybody's,
just
been
so
happy
to
see
a
broader
segment
of
the
community
represented,
because
that
is
the
truest
manifestation
of
the
market.
Local.