We thank everyone for joining us for our first Small Business meeting of 2020. I want to especially thank the witnesses for taking the time to travel from across the country and take time away from their businesses to have this important discussion. There will be members coming and going or overlapping hearings with other committees. Youll see folks, and we ask for your patience with that as well. Farming and agriculture are at the heart of strong economies around the country. It is crucial to insure that our communities thrive. Coming from colorado, i understand the importance that farming and agriculture have on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of colorados 66 million acres are dedicated to over 30,000 farms and ranches. Many of which are small, locally owned operations. Colorados a leading producer of cattle, corn, wheat, and dairy. Colorados small farms are raising everything from bison and ostriches and growing mushrooms and grapes to name a few. In the 2
[roll call] you have a quorum. Item 3 announcement of prohibition of soundproducing devises. The ringing of use of cellphones and pagers and sound producing electric devices are prohibited and the chair may over the removal from the room of any person responsibility for one going off in the middle of the meeting. The minutes of february 18th, 2020 regular meeting. No members have turned in a public speaker card. Public comment is closed. We have the minutes ill entertain a motion. Move. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Consider those approved. Clerk communications. Mr. Chair i have none for you today. Item 6, introduction of new or Unfinished Business by Board Members. Any new or Unfinished Business youd like to address . Very good. Clerk directors report. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to turn the mic over to director of transit, Julie Kirshbaum foray wards for her amazing crews who do the actual hard work of serving our public. I think th
Heres the hour and 40minute hearing. Good morning. Come to order. We thank everyone for joining us this morning. We want to thank the witnesses for taking the time to travel across the country and take time away from their businesses in some instances to have this important discussion. As is the case with these hearings, there will be members coming and going. There are overlapping hearings in other committees so youll see folks come and go throughout and ask questions. We just bear ask your your patience in bearing with that as well approximately farming and agriculture are at the heart of strong economies around the country. Investing in ago culture is crucial to ensuring our communities can thrive. Coming from colorado i understand the importance it has on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of our acres are dedicated to over 30,000 farms and ranches, many of which are small, locally owned. Cattle, corn, wheat and dairy, but small farms are raising bison to os
Technology on farming. We heard about innovations and how federal policy including rural access to Broadband Internet can help in the development of agriculture. Good morning. We thank everyone for joining us this morning for our first Small Business Committee Hearing of 2020. I want to especially thank the witnesses for taking the time to travel across the country and take time away from their businesses in some instances to have this important question. As is the case with these hearings, there will be members coming and going. There are overlapping hearings on other committees so youll see some folks come and go so we ask for your patience in bearing with that as well. Farming and agriculture are at the heart of strong economies around the country. Investing in agriculture is crucial to ensure that our communities can thrive. Coming from colorado i understand the importance that farming and agriculture have on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of colorados 6
I went through a lot of struggles in my life, and i am blessed to be part of this. I am familiar with what people are going through to relate and empathy and compassion to their struggle so they can see i came out of the struggle, it gives them hope to come up and do something positive. I am a community ambassador. We work a lot with homeless, visitors, a lot of people in the area. What i like doing is posting up at hotspots to let people see visibility. They ask you questions, ask you directions, they might have a question about what services are available. Checking in, you guys. Wellness check. We walk by to see any individual, you know may be sitting on the sidewalk, we make sure they are okay, alive. You never know. Somebody might walk by and they are laying there for hours. You never know if they are alive. We let them know we are in the area and we are here to promote safety, and if they have somebody that is, you know, hanging around that they dont want to call the police on, th