by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
The March 16, 2022 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting was held down the hill in the Wetmore Community Center. It started at 9 a.m. All three musketeers showed up: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Tom Flower.
The first jousting contest centered around the Southern Colorado Development District’s request for the county to cough up $14,300 for more mythical broadband infrastructure studies or something. The muskies hadn’t budgeted for this. Flower wants to rob the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fed slush fund monies (which is around $900,000) to pay for this broadband fairy dust while Canda wants to find the money in the budget (he basically thinks it is a total waste of money giving more dollars to another quasi-gov., committee-driven, clown show). Flower uses this to again pontificate on the muskies’ ARPA committee they set up to dole out the slush and how requests from the muskies would roll through there. (Another wasted 10 minutes.) It wasn’t clear at the end what the muskies actually did on this subject.
Under New Business, first up was Jackie Hobby, head of the Planning & Zoning Department. Again, the subject was Short Term Rental (STR) applications. (Flower was visibly salivating as this always serves as his dialectic platform for self-absorbed discourse.) Mrs. Hobby says she has two STR applications for the muskies and the Planning Commission (PC) has recommended that the muskies approve them both.
Flower now attacks Mrs. Hobby saying that this may sound a “little weird” but do you have an agreement with PC to represent them here? (She does this all the time. Like for years and years. This is SOP. So what is this all about?) Mrs. Hobby says, correct. Flower then asks about the PC meeting’s minutes that cover this. Are they published? Mrs. Hobby says no they are not published yet, it takes about a month to do that. (Remember, Mrs. Hobby is the one who dropped the dime on The Flowers and his deplorable behavior towards many employees. Note that The Flowers is not allowed to be alone with Mrs. Hobby without someone from Human Resources being there. And, based on The Flowers unhinged angry outbursts two weeks ago against Day and Canda about this , one can pretty much figure out that The Angry Man is going to try to do a number on Mrs. Hobby today.)
Mrs. Hobby, a little riled now, says there has to be some “trust” here and that the minutes will be published on the PC’s website. (She has a right to be a little riled. Flowers just questioned her integrity.) After some discussion, the two STR applications are approved.
The pandora’s box is then opened when Mrs. Hobby says the PC and her would like to see a moratorium on STR permits as the STR rules and processes need some work. Also there has been a lot of pushback from residents on these STRs causing problems in the neighborhoods and the various Home Owner Associations (HOAs), which have rules against them, and don’t have the financial resources to fight the STRs in court. As a side note, Mrs. Hobby says the STR applicant packets the muskies get from the PC only have four items in them rather than all the forms and data in the main file. Mrs. Hobby talks about having capacity limits in certain areas and that they want a 90-day moratorium.
So now Resolution 22-12, a Moratorium on STR’s is up for discussion. There is some discussion. Then some guy in the audience says he tried to apply for an STR a week ago but was denied. Day points out that he hasn’t yet built a structure. (More on this later.)
Then, from the bowels of the Wetmore community service room comes the melodious voice of the head of the County’s Tourism Bureau, Debbie Adams. She is freaking out because after the STR Resolution was approved last year, about half of the existing STRs folded, thus causing, in her mind, a tourist DISASTER, as the poor Texans and freaks from California have no place to stay when they visit Happy Valley. On and on she moans. She says the county needs the money so bad. So bad. Adams says the STR approval process is way too long and it will hurt the tourist season this year. Mrs. Hobby explains to Adams exactly how the process works and why the time is needed. Adams doesn’t want to hear this and starts moaning again. Mrs. Hobby tries to explain again. This goes back and forth for a while. Mrs. Hobby says she is trying to prevent the county from being sued. More on and on. Day tries to break it up.
Then, the moment we all have been waiting for happens, Flowers, in an overly polite, somewhat condescending voice turns to Day and says what he almost always says (except when he is having a tantrum.), “I did not have the opportunity to speak yet, Mr. Chairman.” (Even Flowers had enough sense not to get in between the Hobby/Adams engagement. But now, he is off to the blabbermouth races.) Flower addresses the guy in the audience who previously said he tried to apply for an STR but was turned down twice. (Remember, he doesn’t even have a house built on his land yet.) The guy’s name is Andrew Miller and he says, yes, he was turned down.
Mrs. Hobby says that she and the PC were turning down applicants because they had the understanding that the muskies asked them to stop at this time. Mrs. Hobby says she was directed by the BOCC not to take any new applications a few weeks ago. Flower then says the muskies never voted on that. (Flowers is trying to make it look like Mrs. Hobby imposed the moratorium by herself without muskie approval and she is a bad, bad girl because of that. Which is a real lowlife, cheap shot by Flowers as we shall see shortly.)
Flower asks Mrs. Hobby if she would reconsider and take Mr. Miller’s application. Mrs. Hobby says “he has no building up”. Flower, incredibly, says it is “irrelevant” that he has no building up! Mrs. Hobby then says we have to check the exits, fire escapes, floor plan, etc., to make sure it is safe. We have to do a compliance inspection. Once the compliance inspection is done he would then have a “complete application”. Flower then goes on and on and on about you don’t need a building to apply for a STR! On and on.
[Folks, we have a couple of
problems here. First, if you don’t have a building that can be inspected to get a STR permit, then until it is built, you can’t obtain the permit. You’re starting a process. The STR permit is only good for a year. It’s ridiculous to expend the time on it and then have to do it all over again in a year. On the other hand, anyone starting a business, wants to know if there are going to be hurdles that cannot be overcome. Perhaps there should be the ability to obtain “advisement” and get a cite inspection and written advice or a checklist. For a fee. As it stands, if permits were handed out without a building in place, you then could build anything you want and then rent it out in complete defiance of what the STR Resolution and the Zoning Resolution represent.
Second, Custer County is a land use county and in the county (non-town) there are only three land uses, residential, ag, and ag-oriented businesses. Anything else requires a permit. Here we have a guy who flat out is establishing a not allowed business from the git go. Literally, no pretense at all. This should not be allowed. It is not some homeowner who wants to rent out his place for six months out of the year. Some of the other STR applicants are doing much the same thing: buying an existing home and simply turning it into a STR business without ever living there. The ZR is clear: no non-ag businesses without a permit (ie. Home Occupation (business) or STR (business) In my opinion, these STRs can destroy neighborhoods. Who wants a pack of rowdy out-of-town folks partying all night, ATVing all over the place and blasting away with their amateur hour guns all day right next door to you? Sure, you can call the Sheriff. Then next week another crew rolls in with the next party. If the STRs permits had been structured under the existing Home Occupation permit (home business) we would not have the full time STRs.]
Flower continues trying to push the delusional no building needed idea. Blah, blah, blah. Mrs. Hobby continues to try to bring some sanity to the issue but to no avail. Finally, Day, clearly irritated with this, says the muskies DID tell Mrs. Hobby not to take anymore applications. You, Tom, keep telling us Jackie made that decision and that is wrong. We made it. Flower says we did not vote on it. Day, again says we told her not to take them. Period. Mrs. Hobby says to Tom you can hear anything you want Tom and call it what you want. (This obviously doesn’t register at all with the fairies in The Flowers’ head.) Incredibly, Flower asks, if we make an exception for this guy. Some guy in the audience yells out let’s not rule by exception. (Amen.) Deb Adams, inspired by The Flowers convoluted “logic” yells that we don’t need no stinking buildings to get a STR. (Well, she didn’t say “stinking”. But close.)
Day finally asks for a vote on the moratorium which Flower opposes. There is some discussion and then they vote for a max 90-day moratorium on new STR applications. Canda and Day vote aye and for some reason even Flower votes aye.
Cindy Howard from Search and Rescue is next. They are applying for some ARPA money and are looking for some matching money from the muskies. After much discussion, she gets $3,500 from the royal ones.
A lady from the ARPA Committee is then up. (This committee processes the ARPA applications and makes recommendations to the muskies on who should get the slush money.) She says there are more application money requests than we have money for and there is going to be some folks who won’t get the gravy. There is then a big discussion on the process.
(We have been through this before.) Finally, they approve two emergency requests for $2,900 and $1,100.
Th – tha – that’s all folks.