• To the Editor;

• Just spend a few minutes reading the sample ballot for the November election. The three commissioners who are up for RECALL had an opportunity to plead their case for why we should keep them in office. These statements give us a real insight into who these people are.

• Bob Kattnig takes credit for all the hard work of VSO Tim Swartz, similar to him taking credit for FFA and 4H in the county. Then he goes on to explain that Road & Bridge needs more equipment. Okay, Bob. You’re awesome!

• Jay Printz claims “We” ended the lawsuit which cost the county the infamous $150K (which is not the real figure but that’s just being picky). Mr. Printz – let me remind you that the lawsuit was pretty much wrapped up as of the December 15th 2016 meeting (that was BEFORE you took office) and was just a matter of the court catching up. You did nothing as county commissioner to end this lawsuit – it simply happened during your term. Before you took office, you did go with Hamilton to court – along with Bob Kattnig – supporting Hamilton in his quest. Maybe, if you’re not recalled, Hamilton can bring another lawsuit for something equally frivolous and you can authorize the county to just pay him – so as not to go to court, of course.

• Then, Jay asks if some of the money from the GRANT for the Wetmore Community Center could have been better spent on the Veterans Services office, jail, Road & Bridge equipment or repairs to other county buildings and calls it a “gross mismanagement of tax dollars.” Apparently the Wetmore people (who Printz refers to as mailboxes) do not deserve a building of their own. And he doesn’t see his own responsibility in kicking the architect (who was acting as the county’s advocate) out of the process. Mr. Printz went from bragging at every turn about this building being the finest building in the county – to calling it “a monstrosity”. Which is it Mr. Printz – a fine building that you take credit for – or a monstrosity to blame on “previous administrations” ? Oh, and perhaps you have missed the finer points of grants. A grant given to the Wetmore Community Center could not (legally) be used for a VSO, a jail, a new grader or anything except the Wetmore Community Center.

• Mrs. Hood takes credit (with her 36 years of experience as a CFO) – for the new personnel policies. Never mind the all-time low morale at the courthouse and the screaming fits she’s reported to have had at employees within those walls. She has had a number of workshops creating a ton of busywork for those same employees. And transparency – well, she instituted the Commissioners Corner in the other paper that supported and still supports her – a place where the commissioners can blow their own horns. YAY. *User throws confetti into the air.* She single-handedly (um, there are three of you) said yes to a request from the OTHER paper to make the recordings of BOCC meetings available for free online – before this they were only available directly from the clerk and there was a cost. YAY. And thank you to the person that actually does the JOB of putting them up. And then she calls herself a “Senior Elected Official” (not public servant, mind you) and is “collaborating” with the CCEDC (a private corporation owned by Charles Bogle and Dale Mullen – which Hood was and may still be involved with.) to bring you the boondoggle of broadband – wherein 870 more addresses MAY have the opportunity to buy broadband. This effort is made up of putting up six towers at a cost of over $2M without getting any commitments from broadband companies or AT&T to actually put anything on those towers. And finally she states, with a vicious slap at the former commissioners that helped Wetmore get the grant for the upgrade of the Community Center, that she expedited the completion with NO TRANSITION from those former commissioners. Quick question, your highness – did you ever call either of those former commissioners to ask any questions? What did you want them to do? Did you ever come to a meeting and listen in on what they were doing prior to you taking the throne? Go ahead, blame others. You’re good at it. And you were able to pull the extra funding together? Huh? You mean you were able to pay the bills? You didn’t go out and find extra funding – so give us all a break.

Jax Bubis
Rural Custer County