Custer County Board of Commissioners (BOCC)
—November 5, 2020
by George Gramlich
Commissioner Items:
Canda: The airport is going to get a beacon signal.
Kelly Camper, County Clerk gave an election update: 3,625 votes cast so far.
Attorney Items: Mr. Smith is still addressing the flashing light on the tower. It can be replaced with an infra-red one. CORA request: He suggested a need for an executive session concerning a CORA request which contained a law argument and that he believes that person is representing the CORA requestor(s). Smith said he was considering filing a complaint with the office of attorney regulation about this for unauthorized practice of law.
After a short discussion, the commissioners told Mr. Smith that since he is representing the county, and not acting as an individual, they would like a say in that. The commissioners put this on the agenda as a discussion item for November 6th.
HR/Human Resources: Credit cards for departments. Authorization to proceed with the process was given to HR/Finance Dawna Hobby.
No public comments.
Reports:
R&B, Landfill, Recycling: The loader is at John Deere getting fixed. Recycling proposal from Tenacious Unicorn Ranch. The group has a trailer/building that has compartments for each kind of recyclable. They would need a building at recycling and would pick the stuff up, storing some of it at their property in Centennial Ranch until the amounts were big enough to resell. The group apparently has previous experience in this and for example, selling glass to artisans. Attorney Smith said the group might need an SU permit. The ranch will come to the November 18th meeting to make a presentation.
Road & Bridge Report with Gary Hyde: R&B is doing the final touch up before cement is poured. Three out of four trucks are down. Hermit Road received mag chloride. The County closed CR 387 for two miles for the winter.
VSO John Carroll: He said he’s getting about one vet a week moving into the area. The Trust Fund distributions are going well. He’s going to stop having office hours in Wetmore and he rarely has anyone show up. This year’s Veterans Banquet will be on November 13th at the First Baptist Church.
Guinevere Nelson, 4H/CSU/Extension: The STEM program is doing well. Cooking skills are the focus over the coming months and will be held at the VSO building.
Human Services Laura Lockhart said DHA will not pursue the playground off the courthouse after all, but thanked the Board for their permission of the land use. She said LEAP is very busy.
New Business:
Human Services: Hotline MOU: child welfare and adult protection. Approved.
San Carlos Ranger District: Letter of Support OHV Trail Crew. Approved.
Disinfectant “Ghost Buster” Foggers for Corona virus: The county may buy two for a total of $500. Mr. Printz was concerned about spraying any disinfectants which could be poisonous and wants someone in the know to read up on it. Vernon likes air filters with UV lights (UV-C units). Silver Cliff has one. The commissioner decided to buy two if it is appropriate to use in a county building. Approved.
There have been no applicants for maintenance position. Mr. Flower thinks it’s because the position is part time, low salary. This was beaten to death and they made it an agenda item for the November 18th meeting.
Hiring an assistant finance director was discussed briefly. Dawna Hobby has had a few applications.
The Board and County Attorney went into Executive Session.
After Executive Session:
Mr. Smith said that the session was for legal advice concerning a CORA request. After the session, the county called for a statement from the attorney.
He said this was concerning a CORA request for the personal phone records of Commissioners Flower and Printz. The request was from Mr. Jim McMahon and noted that there was a position by an attorney attached with the letterhead of an attorney. One of these challenged Attorney Smith’s stance that phone records are not subject to CORA requests. He
responded to Mr. McMahon that he was not going to
argue law with him.
Mr. Smith’s position is that the phones are personal property that the commissioners receive a stipend for and that they do not turn those bills in for reimbursement. He sites Denver Post vs Ritter, for his determination.
His stance is that the county should not comply with the CORA request for personal phone records. The county pays the bill for the commissioners cell phones as a stipend just as there is paid reimbursement for mileage available on their personal vehicles for trips, but that would not make their vehicle a county vehicle and the public would not have access to the vehicle records such as insurance. The phones are not the property of the county. He feels confident in the decision and if the group disagrees, he guessed that they could take it to court. He said he is not taking sides on this; he is giving legal advice.
One of the letters indicated that there is an Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) complaint over the denied CORA request which the commissioners had not seen. The commissioners told the attorney to respond again with the decision to not release the cell phone information and to let the complainants know that even if they did obtain the records, it would only contain phone numbers and times, and not the contents of any texts or emails.
Meeting adjourned.
(Editor/GG: Virtue Signaling Update: Well, what has changed in Custer County in the last few weeks? Has the COVID cases changed. Not really. But now, Flower and Printz are not wearing masks before the meeting starts as they all sit around talking. Then, and you can’t make this up: Flowers and Printz put them on WHEN THE MEETING STARTS! I guess virus doesn’t transmit before the meeting, but magically appears when the meeting starts. The deplorables were right all along: this mask thing was a total puppet show. Too bad it caused so much damage to our community. Remember Printz not long ago saying he would not take off the mask until the “pandemic” was over. I guess it’s over. Also, Flower sneezed into his elbow. Printz sneezed into hands. Ugh.)