BOCC Workshop: Day, Flower Try to Suppress Citizen Input on County Manager Proposal Why? Because They Can’t Make a Case For It

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

Some of the following has some very bad, but real optics, with two of our County Commissioners trying to ram through a completely unprepared, and unneeded proposal which will create a new hugely powerful Custer County government position, County Manager (“CM”, or County Administrator). Such a position would be the biggest structural change to our county government in living memory. One of the issues associated with this push is that these two commissioners (Kevin Day and Tom Flower) are trying to suppress citizen input on this proposal because a) the VAST MAJORITY of the citizens of Happy Valley don’t want another layer of bureaucracy with the attendant huge expense, b) It is totally unnecessary and c) the commissioners cannot make ANY kind of business case for the position. But these two muskies want this waste because they are not doing the jobs they were elected to do and citizens be da**ed.
So let’s see how we got here.
A few Custer County Board of County Commissioner (BOCC) meetings ago, Chair Kevin Day said he wanted the county to have a CM as things are “not getting done” and we need “policies and procedures.” Commissioner Flower, who has been advocating for a CM for a long time, rejoiced on Day’s proposal, as he loves bureaucracy and this would further distance him from having to deal with us peasants. These two tried to push a vote on this huge structural change without any research, business case or citizen input. Commissioner Bill Canda made a big stink about how big this is and the proposal was without any details and was unnecessary. He insisted that the musketeers hold a “workshop” on it to work out the scope and details and allow the citizens of the county to comment on this massive county government change. The other two gave in and scheduled a workshop for January 13, 2023, which is the subject of this article.
When word got out about this, a whole bunch of citizens contacted the Sentinel and said they couldn’t make the workshop but really wanted to view the session on YouTube via Zoom just like the regular BOCC meetings are recorded. We contacted muskie Canda about that and he agreed it would be very appropriate for the citizens of Custer County to see the arguments for and against it as it was such a big deal. He asked Day and Flower to agree to broadcast the meeting (which was already set up by our IT department) and they both nixed it. (No need for the peasants to know anything about this. We are the rulers and we don’t need their input. This has been Flower’s attitude since he got elected and regrettably, Day has become just like Tommy which is a big disappointment. This, folks, is NOT transparency and Day and Flower should be reprimanded for it.)
The workshop started at 9 a.m. with 16 citizens attending. It was held in the courtroom. As Canda called for the workshop, he was up first with him reviewing the county’s organizational structure, the concept of CM, and why we don’t need a CM here in Custer County. Canda said the issue here was lack of leadership from the muskies and their failure to adhere to the commissioner point of contact resolution they passed last year assigning each department to a muskie. (A lot of the current problem is that Flower refuses to follow the resolution and is constantly contacting other commissioners’ departments causing a ton of confusion. We have had ongoing complaints about this from county employees.) Canda proposed that we hire a consultant who could study the current structure, advise on what is good and bad, and provide leadership training to the BOCC (which is desperately needed) and our county employees. Then, after that is done and run for a while, see where we are.
Day, amazingly (or actually now, not so amazingly,) in so many words, said he wasn’t interested in the citizens comments and input and he wanted this workshop to be a “closed” workshop where the peasants couldn’t speak at all. (This proposal is a big deal for everybody and this attitude about public participation is just bad. Like real bad. Like they say,power corrupts.)
[Another reason citizen input is so needed here is that NONE of the muskies brought up creating an all powerful CM position in their election campaigns. (At least in any substantive manner.) This unneeded bloated bureaucratic position is so unpopular with the peasants it would have had a major impact on their campaigns as many voters would have turned against them. But now they are in, and these two guys want to ram this down our throats. As seen below, this would be a major new expense for the county and with inflation raging and a major economic recession coming the last thing the county needs is more cost. Also, with inflation appearing to be with us for a long time, the county will be under great pressure to keep the employees’ salaries up with inflation which will have an enormous impact on budgeting. Where are we going to get that money, folks?]
Day then addresses the peasants in the peanut gallery saying he will allow them ONE comment each at the beginning of the meeting and ONE comment each at the end. They are FORBIDDEN to comment while the all mighty musketeers discuss the CM job description. (Which to Day and Flower is the only thing they are interested in). (All bow, his mighty highness has spoken. We are sooooo grateful that you have granted us this great gift of free speech before your clown throne.)
Rather than submitting some sort of “plan” or a pro’s and con’s list that details the scope of the CM job, the CM job description was submitted by Flower. It was also submitted at the last BOCC meeting by Wonder Boy who took Fremont County’s CM job description and copied the majority of it into a CM job description for Custer, and Abracadabra, now it is ours! The muskies intend to review each line of that in the meeting. (NOWHERE in this meeting did Day and Flower give ANY substantive reason WHY Custer County needs a CM. The fact is, folks, that Day and Flower have done a not so stellar job of managing the departments they are responsible for and are looking to dump that demeaning work, which they were elected to do, on somebody else. They were elected to manage the county. Not “govern” as the delusional Flower said they should. They need to spend more time with our employees here rather than attending dozens of useless, pandering government meetings all over the state and on Zoom. Flower thinks he is an important Colorado gov big shot, strutting around like Louis XIV, Le Roi de Soleil, “The Sun King”. Not good optics for Custer County.)
Flower was up next and talked about all the work he did on the CM job description.

Finally, it was the peasants’ turn.

Harald Frank, a local contractor was up first. He said Day and Flower, as republicans, are not following conservative values, especially limited government which is good government. Frank asked what has changed? We are basically the same size government we have had for decades. What is the problem now? The county has around 90 employees. The Treasurer, Assessor, Sheriff and County Clerk manage a majority of them. If you only consider who the muskies are responsible for, you have Day handling departments with 36 employees in it, Canda handling 27 employees and Flower five. Plus each department has a fully qualified department head. Why can’t they handle this small number? It is pathetic.
Frank then asks Flower why is he doing all these manual labor jobs for some county projects (e.g., recycling, SO interior) instead of managing the departments and boards he is responsible for? Does he have that much free time? Plus he is taking work away from local contractors. Frank also made the good point that the muskies should hold off on this proposal until the Flower recall lawsuit is settled because if it is a go, Flower very well might be voted out.
Peggi Collins was next and reinforced many of Frank’s points.
Michael Foster was the next speaker. Foster, a very high speed, retired U.S. Army Ranger Colonel, has an international leadership and consulting firm. He asked some fundamental questions of the commissioners: What is the value in adding this position? What exactly is the problem? (Basically asking, are YOU the problem?) What is the process to improve the situation? Are there possibilities to solve this without creating the CM position? (Duh!) Can we change our organizational chart to improve things without hiring a CM? (Double Duh!) If we are not getting results, is it the people or the process where the issues lie? Foster said the muskies should be very deliberate and VERY CAREFUL in working through this. (In other words, do not rush this and let the people have a big voice.)

Ex County Commissioner Bob Senderhauf then was up. Bob was a commissioner way back when the county tried a CM. It didn’t work out so they killed the position. Bob suggested hiring a contractor who specializes in policies and procedures and have them do the entire job in a one-shot deal instead of hiring a CM who is not a specialist and will be around forever. (We completely concur on the contractor idea. Let an expert do it, and when they are done, they are gone. Less cost and better product.) Bob also said that this proposal is a BIG deal and we should not rush into it. He said we should wait two or three months to digest and then have more citizen workshops.

Citizen Lisa Frank then commented that the proposed CM job description gave too much power to the CM, especially in the budget area. (Folks, based on the proposed job description, this person WOULD RUN THE COUNTY. Period. And this person would be UNELECTED. This individual would be easily, the most powerful person in the county. We elected the muskies to run the county. Now Day and Flower Boy want to shirk that responsibly off. If you look at the job description of the CM, the muskies literally wouldn’t have much to do locally, they would all be attending parasitic gov meetings all over the state and via Zoom. And Tommy then can “govern” in all his Le Roi de Soleil glory. This is NOT what we elected them to do.)

Recent immigrant, Carol Vayhinger, a real nice lady, was next. She was a commissioner in Teller County a while back and they had a CM. She said it worked well there. She liked the concept that the CM would give continuity to the county as the commissioners come and go. (What Carol didn’t say was that Teller County has 25,000 residents and we have only 4,500. Plus they have a ton more money than us and a much better tax base. They also have a MUCH larger county employee count.)

Local contractor and general bon vivant, Jimmy “The Plumber” McMahon then took the helm. He said this was a complete waste of money and the problem was with the muskies not doing their job. He said they need leadership training and that they were incompetent in their decision making. He totally opposes adding an additional layer of government. Jimmy said the muskies lack “personal accountability” and are trying to shut the citizens out of this proposal which is real, real bad. He said Day and Flower trying to suppress the voice of the citizens is a disgrace. Jimmy noted that there is an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in the county and the BOCC, in their arrogance, refuse the help of these citizens. Jimmy then went on to beat the muskies like baby seals for another few minutes.

Citizen Paul Sage then told the commissioners that they had signed various resolutions last year to manage the departments and they should live up to those agreements.. The fact they want a CM now is violating those resolutions. Paul said each muskie should take $30k out their paychecks to pay for the CM since he would be doing their jobs. (Exactly.) Paul said if they can’t do their jobs they should hit the road. He also noted that our new BOCC administrative Assistant, Jennifer Kriegh is doing a great job. (We concur. She is amazing.)

Citizen Steve Cocks then commented on how the commissioners are just throwing money around and asks where they are they going to get the $120k to pay for this CM. [Day and Flower are talking a CM salary of $75k. With benefits, it will be around $120k per year. Plus office expenses, probably a secretary in a year or two (that’s another $50k a year), plus travel expenses as the CM will be going all over the state attending training and insufferable gov conferences and seminars. Plus, do you know what CM’s around us are making”? MINIMUM $150k with over $200k a year more often than not. So what would we get for a measly $75k? Folks, we would be bottom fishing a shallow pool of half dead mackerel. We might be lucky if we land a PhD in Community Service from Bangladesh. So we are going to ask a person who is not the brightest bulb and with very little experience to run our county? Day and Flower are delusional, to say the least.]

Dan Fox, a Happy Valley resident, then blasted Day and Flower over this proposal.
There were 16 citizens there. 14 were against it and one was for it. (The other person was a reporter.)
Muskie Day then spoke. He said he didn’t want citizen input at this workshop as he wanted it private. (Day: in the definition of “workshop” are the words “group” and “discussion”. Why don’t you just say you don’t care what the people think or want. If you were doing your job we wouldn’t be discussing this wasteful proposal. This is the biggest change to Custer County government ever and you don’t want the input of the citizens of this county? Shame on you.)
Day then droned on about the budget (which Finance guy Braden Wilson did an outstanding job on this year with our new software), the roads, how we need grants to survive, the CM would give us continuity, and policies and procedures. (Folks, NOT ONE true rational for going down this rat hole.) Blah, blah, blah. Flower then went blah, blah, blah saying 48 out of 64 counties have a CM. (Flower did not say Custer is the 7th smallest county in the state and didn’t say that most of the counties sans CMs are the smaller counties who know they don’t need one and can’t afford it.)
Canda jumped in saying there are better ways to solve current issues without hiring a CM and that leadership training should come first. He said it is very dangerous to have one person in the county with so much power. The muskies, and Wilson, then droned on and on for a bit.
Finally, at 11:50 a.m., the muskies started to go over every word in Flower’s proposed CM job description. People were so fed up that five of them walked out. They finished dissecting the job description at 3:05 p.m.!!!
In the wrap up phase, Wilson said we should consider what the citizens are saying and that bringing in a consultant to analyze the situation might make sense. He said we have to ask the question of how best to address the issues. Canda then again said there are viable options to the problems other than creating a CM position. Wonder Boy Flower then commented on citizen input. He then, basically, said he regretted having the people there.
So the commissioners are going to schedule another workshop. We don’t know if us peasants will be allowed to attend or be given the right to speak. What we have here is two out-of-control, power crazed commissioners who want to change this county dramatically because they can’t do their jobs. Their attitude towards the citizens of this county is abhorrent. Day, Flower: we are all in this together. You two muskies are NOT the brightest bulbs in the county. We have hundreds and hundreds of very successful businessmen, ex military and academia here that could help you with this. Plus, listen to Canda. He is the only one of you who has real big-time management experience and has leadership training during his entire career in the Air Force. (I guarantee you this: There are a ton of ex business people in this county that, if this was their personal business, would fix these issues in a New York Minute and wouldn’t need to hire one single darn person.) Day, Flower: There is no “I” in TEAM and the TEAM consists of the citizens of this county and you clowns. Let the team help fix this. Allow the citizens to shine some light on this and we all might then wake up and it will be Happy Valley again.
Citizens: Jump on this disaster and don’t let go. Hard times are coming and we have to stay mean and lean.
(A People’s Referendum Is Needed Here: Folks, the more you think about this the more it becomes clear that the people need to vote on this change and not the muskies. Day and Flower are running this thing like a Bangkok bicycle taxi and are clearly incapable of logical decision making. This huge structural change to our county’s government should be brought before the voters for their decision. We need a people’s referendum on this. It is OUR government, not the muskies. Let’s see if the muskies will hire some outside consultants to analyze the issues and propose alternatives. If Flower and Day still insist on hiring a CM after this research the people should insist that it be brought to the people to decide via a referendum.)