BOCC Showdown Shocker!
Canda, Day: Flower Has Created a Hostile
Work Environment,
Destroyed Morale of County Employees!
Stripped of Assignments, Refuses to Resign

by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
Be sitting down and medicated before you read this one, folks. I have been involved in politics for over 50 years and I don’t think I have EVER seen a beating like this at the county/municipal level. EVER. And of course, it happened in our very own Happy Valley.
This never to be forgotten Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting of December 17, 2021, was held in the sacred throne room of the three musketeers and all three muskies were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Kevin Day and Tom Flower. It started at 9 a.m. A fair amount of the local peasantry was in attendance. And they were NOT happy.
Canda opens the meeting with the sad announcement that our County Attorney, Clint Smith, slipped on ice last Wednesday during the wind blizzard and broke his hip. He is still in the hospital but is doing well. (Rumor has it that he is going to sue himself. Just say’n. But seriously, folks, prayers requested for our good county attorney.)
Under Commissioner Items, Flower reported that Round Mountain Water will stop issuing new water/sewer tap permits starting January 1, 2022, due to the malfunctioning waste treatment plant.
Day announced that he met with the Florence Fire Department people about their new EMS organizations and that they are quite interested in covering Wetmore when they get it going. Maybe as soon as the first quarter of 2022.
The curtain then rises and Canda takes center stage: Canda says everybody knows this is about Flower and the issues brought up by Planning & Zonings’ Jackie Hobby at the last BOCC meeting. Canda says we need a “clear understanding” of who is the “boss” re the county commissioners and the employees. Employees are employees of the county and not of the county commissioners. He says that each department has a “point of contact” musketeer and that muskie is the only muskie that department should be using as the BOCC contact point but things are not quite going that way now (with Flower’s outrageous behavior in the courthouse.) Canda notes that we have three muskie managers and we have to provide the county employees with an environment that they can work in. (And that ain’t happening now.)
Canda then segues into a Colorado Revised Statute that outlines a structure that provides for county commissioners to oversee their county department duties. It is CRS 30-11-107 which allows for the creation of the “Office of Managing Commissioners” (OMC) which officially establishes which muskie is the point of contact for each department. (It basically says a muskie can’t mess with another muskie’s department. Period. Not even if the department’s muskie is not around.) Canda now notes that this was part of the problem with Jackie as Day was her contact and Flower was constantly harassing her. (Which is real bad.)
Chairman Canda then proposes a Resolution (21-24) that sets up a Custer County OMC under the CRS statute, thus formalizing the point of contact structure. He reads the statute. He also says that under the OMC structure, each muskie manager must keep the others informed of what is going on in their respective departments.
Day jumps in and says he reached out to the Colorado Technical Services, Inc. (CTSI) organization for advice on Flower’s disruptive behavior that was revealed in the last BOCC meeting. (CTSI is a non-profit that gives advice to Colorado counties and other governing bodies.) He talked to a good, experienced guy there named Chip Taylor and Chip highly recommended going the OMC route to stop rogue commissioner behavior.
Flower then bizarrely says that he is “glad” to see this and we have no business “micromanaging” the departments. (Which is EXACTLY what The Flowers was doing! You can’t make this stuff up!)
Susan Hinshaw then speaks up from the peasant gallery and says this OMC thing is good and let’s give it a try before we spend money on a county manager idea. Peggi Collins then chimes in with saying if in fact four women quit their jobs over “something unreasonable” (i.e. Flowers haras-sing them.) then we are lucky we didn’t get sued big time. “We dodged a bullet.” Peggi says she isgrateful to Jackie for standing up and bringing Flower’s harassment, intimidation and bullying to the public’s attention and we can’t have this as a problem for our employees.
Day brings up the good point that the OMC doesn’t prevent a muskie from visiting another muskie’s department and saying hello and visiting. You just can’t interfere with their work.
Canda calls for the vote to create the OMC and it passes. He then switches to Jackie Hobby’s demands re The Flowers about her quitting if the muskies don’t shield her from him. Canda says Jackie has been working with Braden Wilson of Human Resources (HR) to try to resolve this. Braden then speaks up and says Jackie wants someone from HR with her if The Flowers wants to talk with her. Canda than asks Jackie that if we do this, will you waive your right to sue? Jackie says “no”. (Uh, oh. Plus a murmur from the peasants.)
Canda then finally gets into the meat of the whole affair. He says he and Day, separately, interviewed a whole bunch of county employees, “not all of them”, and both found a “hostile work environment” that was created by a “hostile, inappropriate, and intimidating” behavior by “his presence”. (i.e., The Flowers constantly bullying the employees.) He says that Tom was constantly interfering in the operations of the various departments to the point where they could not do their jobs in his “presence”. (Bottom line: Flowers would make the throne room his day-to-day office and constantly go around to the various departments and just bully and harass the heck out of them. Also, by monopolizing the throne room, the other muskies couldn’t use it to meet constituents or do other work. The throne is not meant to be one muskie’s office. It must be shared but The Flowers obstructed that.)
Canda says the employees don’t want to be recognized publicly as they are in fear of retaliation (from Flowers). (Murmurs from the gallery with one peasant noting “that’s right”.) Praises for Jackie now come from the peasants. Canda continues with ‘county employee morale is so low that some don’t even want to come to work’. Canda said everyone he talked to said morale was at rock bottom because of The Flowers. This problem was “pervasive” everywhere he went. We need to fix this as the liability issue is real and bad and since we can’t “fire” you or “ask for your resignation” we need options, and this OMC thing is the best one. Canda says “Tom” must realize the potential legal liability if we don’t fix this. He also said we can’t ask a muskie to avoid contact and we can’t tell a muskie not to go in a county building.
What we can’t do, Canda continues, is turn a blind eye to it. The first thing a lawyer would do if someone sued, is ask why didn’t you fix this? Canda says that if it was the military or a private enterprise “you would have been fired.” If it happened in a “state office” you would have been fired.
Now Canda goes there: We can’t turn a blind eye. What we can do is once this OMC plan is in place, we can ask you not to use the boardroom all the time. Maybe it is not “just asking”. And we must limit your ability to interact with Jackie as this might cause a lawsuit. We CAN take away your management authority over any departments that you were in charge of. We can do that today. That can be done. (Wow!) Because we have the authority, it is imperative that we take the responsibility and protect our employees. (Double Wow!) We must take away your management authority now or we will be in trouble.
Day starts his speech: I was reaching out for training. We need more respect in this room. I would invite all elected officials and employees to take this training.
Day then makes a minor point but a good one. He says Canda is mistaken that we can’t be in the throne room at the same time. We can go in there if another muskie is there, but we have to be careful not to talk business. Canda agrees but you have to be real careful because of the Sunshine Law. Day says he is not sure if taking away The Flowers’ management responsibility right now is warranted. (Day wants just training and no other punishment.)
Flower speaks: He agrees with Day’s assessment that we are “struggling”. (Flowers loves that word.) I agree with all that training stuff. He says he just came back from five days of leadership training! (Who taught that course? Genghis Khan?) Flower says he understands that he is the “whipping boy” and “I brought that on”. He says “he’s not trying to make any excuses for that”. (Fair enough but maybe a little late, Tom?)
Canda opens the floor to the peasants who are NOT happy campers. Local contractor Ed Lyons speaks up and says, “I would ask him to resign”. Peggi Colliins says I agree that he should resign. A lady says we shouldn’t have to “tip toe around him”. Peggi states that she was “one of the first people to ask Tom to run” and she says this (i.e., the bad behavior) stuff goes back to “FFA” and this situation is intolerable.
Local realtor Twila Giroux then opens up with both barrels (and she has known The Flowers forever): This (i.e., training) is “brushing the issue under the rug”. What is the name of the training that tells you not to call somebody an “f’er”. (Remember from last week when Flowers called Jackie, who is married, in the courthouse, with witnesses present, “a little f’er”. Sorry, but important.) Twila then says Tom should be removed from contact with the employees until he is rehabilitated. She says Canda and Day are not listening to the people and the people want Flower to resign.
There is then a big discussion on training. Blah, blah, blah.
Canda then comes back with more persuasive arguments and reasons why Flowers’ management authority should be taken away. (Basically trying to convince muskie Day to vote for that option.) These arguments are compelling re employee morale and potential damaging lawsuits. He said we “shouldn’t waiver.” And that The Flowers can be “reinstated” after the training if he is a good boy, then.
Canda moves that Flowers’ management roles be removed immediately, that he takes “training” real soon and that we will set a date to reevaluate later. There is then a discussion on the review date. Canda says let’s make the review date at six months from now. After much babbling, Day suggest two months and Canda agrees. Canda and Day then split the departments and boards that Flowers is responsible for.
Canda asks for a vote. Day, aye. Flowers, abstains. Canda, aye. The Flowers is punished. Like real bad. (The question is, can a couple of “training” courses correct a lifetime of bad behavior. And in just two months. What are the odds, folks?)
Canda then asks Jackie how do you feel about this? Jackie says it is good and then goes after Flowers again with examples of his interfering in board meetings. (Muskies can attend these various board meetings but should not comment or interfere at all.) There is then a discussion on whether the three muskies should be going to the various volunteer board meetings at all. Canda and Day say it is okay but you have to keep your mouth shut. Flowers then gets a little pissy with Canda over Flowers’ motion to recess. The muskies then go to recess.
And that was that for the Flowers affair. Another dramatic chapter in the history of Happy Valley. I am sure that this is not the end of it.
There was some minor business after the recess but no big items.

(At least there wasn’t another crocodile tear apology from The Flowers this time. Canda and Day did an outstanding job of fact finding and researching their options. The people want Flowers to resign and save our county from more stress and heartbreak. Apparently, he will not.
I know one thing: any man of honor would have resigned last week and sought repentance and forgiveness from those he abused. A man without shame. Prayers needed.)