CCLOA has reestablished a Public Affairs Committee. At the November Board of Directors Meeting, with unanimous support, we elevated the priority of Public Affairs. For the past three years, CCLOA had it on more of a backburner while we restructured our association and focused on growing membership. Now that we’re on a more stable foundation, we’re moving membership growth back a bit and elevating public affairs.
What’s does a Public Affairs Committee do? It monitors activity by authorities having jurisdiction. Those authorities might be at the city level or on up to Washington D.C. (i.e., city and county committees, commissions and councils, state legislators, national committees and the house & senate).
When issues surface, the Committee then researches ramifications to our industry and poses a suggested position to the Executive Committee or Board of Directors (they not only evaluate the input but they factor in staff priorities, budget, and other association considerations).
Given the new administration in Denver, the timing is excellent for us. This year we’ll monitor administration changes in Denver as we also begin researching several statewide topics that have been brought to our attention by our members. Perhaps by 2020 we’ll be able to move some of them forward.
Not Asleep for 3 Years! Now, please don’t get me wrong … we weren’t asleep at the wheel during our restructuring years. ARVC‘s Jeff Sims kept us apprised of legislative issues both in Washington D.C. and in Denver. The Board, and sometimes membership, then evaluated and dictated our position and the amount of activity put into those issues.
One of the most public stands we took in 2017 averted an unreasonably stringent modification to Colorado’s wastewater regulation #43. What was then passed kept our wastewater regulations in line with our industry’s already accepted standards that are published in NFPA-1194. Here’s an excerpt from our May 2017 CCLOA Campfire:
Had our efforts not been exerted, each Colorado campground that has an onsite wastewater treatment system would have been required to comply (either now or when you sold your property) with an average flow rate of 150 gallons per day per site. We were able to revert that back to our earlier standard maximum of 100 GPD.
I haven’t researched what it would cost each Colorado campground to upgrade a system to handle 150 GPD PER SITE but I am certain you have far more efficient use of those funds!
This revision was achieved through team effort which involved a lot of reading time by many people (the regulation is 113 pages), my communications with the state, in-person participation by Rick Speer (Jellystone Park of Estes), Bruce Cook (Riverview RV Park), and our President, David Ozburn (Falcon Meadow RV Campground), guidance and direction by ARVC’s Jeff Sims, considerable in-depth research by Marshall Spezman (Associate Member), and the overview and input by your Board of Directors.
Let’s jump back into 2018. In October, CCLOA staff, with assistance from ARVC’s Public Affairs Committee (ARVC Region Director Mari Garland and ARVC’s Jeff Sims) assisted when a member learned that campground regulations were being reviewed and revised by the city of Grand Junction. The member who alerted us also sits on the local commission … an ideal place to learn of revisions before changes are written in stone.
In November a second issue surfaced in another community regarding length of stay. We wrote our letter of support and ensured representation at the meetings. This issue is still being tackled by our member and we stand ready to further assist where possible.
Yet another member has since reached out for assistance in 2019 for length of stay discussions in his local government.
The activity of monitoring public affairs is not done single-handedly by CCLOA. Every business owner has a role of keeping an ear on the heartbeat in their community.
What’s been known throughout the history of our country is that when a local authority makes a ruling, other local authorities often mimic it. If the first ruling passed without sound forethought it can be very challenging to stop the migration of it to other communities … across a county, across a state and even across the country.
Yet, CCLOA and ARVC cannot be everywhere all the time. We rely on campground owners to keep their stethoscope tuned to their local authorities. Please pull us in when relevant topics arise!
Colorado Campground & Lodging Owners Association (CCLOA) 
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