BOCC: Academy Award Performance by Flower?
Two Epic Temper Tantrums Over His Discipline
Flower Plays the Victim Now

by George Gramlich,
News and Notations

This almost five-hour Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting will go down in the books as one of our regal commissioner’s finest Academy Award acting efforts ever. Too bad it was all about anger, aggression, revenge and narcissistic behavior. (Guess who?) In the end, did he win his Oscar? Read and make your own decision.
The March 1, 2022 BOCC meeting started at 9 a.m. in the three musketeers royal throne room. All three muskies were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Tom Flower.
After the usual preliminary banter, first up was Finance head Braden Wilson. Wilson said we have a problem with filing our FICA/Medicare reports with the IRS and we have to cough up a $8,400 penalty to the feds. Wilson said we have been filing the reports wrong for years and he is working with the IRS to remedy that. He said we might owe as much as $16,000 if we can’t make a “deal” with the feds. He then said he had a staff meeting with the whole Finance Department and that went real well. Somewhat strangely, he mentioned that his people said one of the issues they are having is that there are no muskies available Tuesdays and Thursdays and that sometimes there is no muskie available on the days they are supposed to be there. (Remember the muskies set up a schedule for them to be in the throne room with Canda on Mondays, Day on Wednesdays and Flower on Fridays.)
This sets the stage for Flower’s opening Academy Award attempt temper tantrum performance. (Note that Flower was punished a few months ago for abusing several female county employees by having the departments he was “manager” for taken away and he had to take a three-hour online course on ethics.) An agenda item for reinstating him to full duty is to be later in the meeting. (So this early tantrum is just a warming up act for the later final act.) Flower, clearly extremely angry and in a loud aggressive voice attacks Canda with how many Mondays were your here? Canda answers three out of eight. This question sets up an angry monologue about how serious Tommy is about his job. How for three and a half years he has been in the throne room almost every day doing his job and you (Canda and Day) have accused me of causing a negative work environment in the building. That was blatantly false. (Tell that to the female employees who quit, or Planning & Zoning’s Jackie Hobby who was the recipient of unacceptable abuse.)
Commisioner Flower rants on with the statement that six department heads have come to him and said how wonderful it was for him to be in the throne room all the time. He then segues back to the meeting where he was confronted by Canda, Day and Mrs. Hobby, and admitted to the bad behavior towards her and others but now he says he’s the victim because he was “embarrassed and humiliated” then. (The horror!) Flower says there were “false statements and allegations” made against him that day. (He did not object or deny any of the statements and allegations at that meeting.) (In fact, he made a long, tearful, moaning apology to Mrs. Hobby at the meeting. But I guess now, somewhere in Tommy’s head, somehow the allegations are false.) He then starts an extensive whine about how bad and lazy Canda and Day are and he is the shining, hardworking muskie who is above reproach. (Diagnosis: extreme narcissism.) As usual, this rant goes on and on and on. He attacks Canda about going to some Human Resource meeting and Canda responds with Wilson invited him. This doesn’t shut Flower up. Wilson then chimes in with a pro-Flower statement saying how much his staff just loved having Flower in the throne room all the time.
Commisioner Day kicks in with the three-day schedule thing isn’t working and we need somebody here every day. (This whole thing about Flower monopolizing the throne room for years was that the muskies, with County Attorney Clint Smith concurring, were under the impression that it was illegal for two muskies to be in the same room without doing a public announcement that there was a commissioner meeting gonna be held. The Open Meetings/Sunshine law stuff. So, if Flower was sitting in the throne room all day Canda and Day thought they could not even come into the room. Thus, Canda and Day were prevented from going to the commissioner’s room to do any business or meet anybody. It was just recently that this policy was found to be incorrect and two or more muskies could be in the throne room as long as they didn’t discuss any county business. Day proposed two months ago to set up a schedule for the muskies to be there and that is not working too well.) So now Day says it is okay for them to be homies in the throne room and they are gonna have to work this out.
Road & Bridge was next. The new fuel tank system is going to cost around $60k and they need a new chipper which will run about $33k.
Planning & Zoning’s chief, Mrs. Hobby was up next. She issued 10 septic permits in the first two months of the year compared to 14 for last year. She said she sent out 125 letters to homeowners who are living in their homes but never completed the final permitting actions. She also sent out eight letters to Short Term Rental (STR) ventures that are advertising but don’t have a STR permit. There are currently 39 STR’s in the county and Hobby says the muskies should have a moratorium on new and maybe even pending ones. She said there also should be a cap on the total number in the county as other counties have done this to save their neighborhoods.
A brief Treasurer’s report was next.
Mrs. Hobby was back then with a recommendation from the Planning Commission (PC) to deny Ned Urbiztondo’s STR application. His was turned down before but he filed a new one. Flower then does a 15-minute diatribe on this. Ned comes on Zoom and implies that the whole process is a farce and that the PC had NO grounds to deny him. Flower blats some more. Day reads the PC report which gives three reasons why the PC denied it. (Basically all the neighbors don’t want this intrusion in their neighborhood.) Then there is the same old Board of Zoning Adjustment’s (BZA) discussion about its role in this. Flower goes on and on about this. Vic Barnes, head of the PC, talks a bit about how the decision was made.
The next agenda item is the big one and Flowers last chance for the Oscar: Motion to Reinstate Flower’s commissioner duties. (The only thing the muskies required Flower do after the abuse was revealed, was to take a ridiculous, Mickey Mouse, three-hour, online course about “ethics”. This is going to change his behavior? Apparently not, as you will see below.) Day says Tommy took his course and hasn’t done any bad things during his probation period. Wilson chimes in with Tommy has been a good boy. (Flowers has a red face now and is internally rehearsing his lines. The stage is set. The curtain opens.)
Canda goes into a long rant about how bad Tommy was and Tommy is not the victim (which Flower is trying to portray now) and the real victims were the county employees. Canda says they disciplined Tommy to protect the county from lawsuits and they couldn’t do more because Flower is an elected official and because of that, they virtually have no options. Canda says they set up the system where each department has a muskie “manager” and that one muskie is in charge. (So Flower couldn’t harass everybody in the courthouse.) He then asks Wilson if the agreement that was made re Flower not to be alone with Mrs. Hobby would still be in effect after Tommy is reinstated and Wilson said yes. Canda then gives a big speech about the responsibilities, obligations and standards that they should follow. He says he consulted with two Colorado state level groups who advise county officials and they gave him a document that outlines what and the muskies should adopt it. Canda said many employees came to him to complain about Flower (countering Wilson’s prior statements). Canda says maybe Flower should apologize again. (Flower is now at Code Red.) Canda says he supports Flower being reinstated.
Day says we set goals for lil’ Tommy and he did them all. (A three-hour kindergarten level ‘how to be polite’ course. Whoopty Do.) Day asks Flower if he is ok with the Mrs. Hobby agreement going forward and Flower says no problem.
It is now Tommy’s turn.  In a raised, angry sarcastic tone, Flower rips into Canda: Nice speech, nice lecture Commissioner Canda but it doesn’t hold water. I’ll tell you what holds water: making this a full-time job and that is what I am here to do. I was supposed to come on Friday and I came in on Fridays. (Not really. He missed some too, but who cares about that.) We are told now that the schedule didn’t work because you didn’t come in every day you were supposed to.
Getting more angry and loud, Tommy says there were a lot of lies, misinformation and dishonesty with throwing another commissioner to the “wolves”. (Remember at the initial meeting where the allegations were presented,  Tommy did not deny any allegation.) Don’t talk to me about respect. I admit I made a mistake in a private conversation behind a closed door. (Using the F word against a female county employee in the courthouse building. Nice.) Don’t come in here Commissioner Canda and ask me to apologize again. I did that in a public meeting. I was humiliated and embarrassed. (Which means he didn’t mean it. Does the word “narcissistic” again come to mind?)
You want accountability? You’ll get accountability. It’s gonna get “ugly” if we (“We”? Really?) don’t change our ways.
Going for the Oscar, Tommy then attacks Day and Canda saying I am really interested in why you two stripped me of my responsibilities. (Unbelievable!) I am really interested in how this is going to go forward. You are going to decide what I am going to do and what I am not going to do and that is a bunch of b*** s***. (Apparently the three-hour course didn’t cover swearing in a public meeting by an elected official. Note that there are several women in the throne room including two nice ladies sitting in the front row.) This goes on and on and on.
The performance continues: You gonna paint me in a corner so I can’t talk to anybody in another department because you are the manager in that department? That’s bull crap! Then more angry whining. On and on. I made a mistake. (Whine, whine, whine.) If you guys think I am going to be a “whipping post” (hmmmm) you don’t know me very well. He yells at Canda “Do your job!” Why don’t you guys stop talking about s*** and instead do it. (Flower talks more in EVERY meeting then the other two muskies and EVERYBODY else in the meeting. So who should be the one to put a lid on it?) I am not going to be tried anymore over a mistake. That’s done. (He obviously is contrite and sooooo sorry about his behavior.)
County Attorney Smith breaks up the performance by saying the muskies did wrong taking Tommy’s departments away and that making Tommy stay away from an employee was wrong. You can’t impose limits on another muskie, Smith says.
Canda rebuts Smith’s statements. There is case law on how this is okay and other counties have done it. (Including El Paso County.) Canda and Smith go back and forth over this. (Canda is on solid ground here as he got his info from two agencies that specialize in local government law and ethics.)
Unbelievably, Flower then attacks Canda again. Blah, blah. You don’t deserve respect. You have to earn it. (I guess cursing in a public meeting is one way to earn respect. Screaming at your teammates must be another.) Day then does a bit. Tommy then whines like a little brat some more.
FINALLY, Day makes the motion to reinstate our potential Oscar muskie. Canda and Day say “aye” with Tommy curling his lips and oozes “abstain”.
Still seething, Flower asks Day did several people ask you to take me off the Fair Board? Is that correct? (Remember, Flower was the muskie point of contact for the Fair Board. When the muskies penalized Tommy, they gave the Fair Board to Canda which, apparently, makes Tommy real mad.) Day says “yes” with his head down.  Flower says why was he thrown off again. Day says it was an “operational consideration”. Tommy says he had a thirty-minute conversation with a member of the Fair Board two weeks ago and he got a different story. (Of course.) Day let’s it drop.
(Finally, after almost FIVE hours, this episode of Happy Valley ends. Did Tommy get his Oscar and get his lifelong wish to walk down the red carpet in front of all those lights and cameras? In front of the whole county and have ALL us peasant recognize TOMMY as the KING OF SWING?   There are issues here, folks. It is going to be a long haul going forward at the BOCC for Day and Canda.)
Update: The next day’s BOCC meeting was mostly staff reports. (Flower, other than talking a little too much, acts like a completely normal person. No outbursts. No anger. No condescension. Polite. You figure it out.)