by Fred Hernandez
Off to a rocking start Liberty Rocks first meeting took place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, January 19 at Tony’s Mountain Pizza to a room packed with 45 attendees. Chairperson Ann Barthrop started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by an invocation by Dr. Ann Willson reading from the Book of Presidents.

First speaker on the Agenda was recently elected County Coroner Brad Baltzly who spoke about his first nine days in office. To support and assist him he has assembled a team of two professionals both of whom were introduced: Mr. Jay Jacobs originally from San Antonio, Texas, has thirty seven years experience as a surgical nurse, and Dr. Tom Davis DC,  chiropractor who has practiced over 50 years, and is  a long time resident of Custer County. Both have been deputized and have already begun attending necessary courses for certifications. The two deputy coroners  are spread out in diverse locations in the County which will greatly improve response times when emergency calls come in. As far as inventory is concerned Mr. Baltzly acknowledges that the previous team left the Coroner’s Office well stocked. “They left me in good shape,” says Brad. He does need to order a few less important items but as far as the big ticket items it’s all good and for that he is most grateful. Brad then reported that his girlfriend, Nikita Phillips, moved things around and reorganized the office, including the comfort room, and it is now “100% better”. They can actually have “clients” come in for meetings. Part of the assets turned over to him are the two vehicles (Coroner’s trucks) the newer one (2020) will be used by the coroner and the other one by the deputies. In these first ten days Brad has already been to a training session and had attended his first official call; a burial on private land, which is legally allowed, with permission, and after inspection of the grave site by the coroner.

There will be more seminars to attend as needed for continuing education for Baltzy and his team. In fact, with the two deputies, the team will be soon attending about five autopsies in Denver to get properly certified. In a meeting with the BOCC wherein they discussed whether the coroner’s job should be full or part time it was decided by the commissioners for it to remain as a part time employment. As far as the budget is concerned it was worked on with the former Deputy Coroner and good to go for the year 2023. There were a few questions from the enthusiastic crowd which were answered professionally to everyone’s satisfaction.

The second speaker was County Commissioner Bill Canda. His opening statement reiterated his campaign slogan affirming what he considers as the most important matters to him: God, Family and Faith followed by “ I work for you” to which the crowd responded enthusiastically with a round of applause. He went on to speak about the difference between a republic and a democracy and how a republic is not really designed to run smoothly because of the inherent checks and balances built into the system. Democracy, however, is the rule of the majority which can quickly become tyrannical. If the process is more trying, at times frustrating and tedious, it is because of the checks and balances that is the essence of a free community. If it is easy, it’s tyranny. Commissioner Canda went on to relate an anecdote of some people who are stranded on an island and are able to live in relative harmony until a box from the shipwreck, containing a gun, floats ashore. The balance and harmony of the community is upended as the one who takes possession of this weapon is now the most powerful among them. And, if that one person happens to be not so good the whole situation becomes a big problem. In relation to the county he equates the voters of the community as the one who holds the gun because it is you, he says, who tells the elected officials what you want to see in your county. It is you who decides how your county functions. Your vote is your power. So, Commissioner Canda encourages the community to “do your job and keep us in check. Come to the meetings’’. Mr. Canda wants a world class run county not a tyrannical one. The interaction between the speaker and the audience was palpably favorable as evidenced by the many questions and suggestions that were discussed. The main query had to do with the matter of the County Manager (CM).
The Commissioner explained that many counties could justify one such position because of their bigger size. Custer is the seventh smallest county in the State of Colorado (64 counties) with less than five thousand in population. It is not justifiable to hire another bureaucrat and create yet another level of government not to mention the expenses. Each of the commissioners has a salary of seventy five thousand a year. When one adds the benefits, the final number is about a hundred and ten. Multiplied by three commissioners the total is a hefty three hundred plus thousand. To hire a CM would mean another one hundred thousand minimum not to mention that a staff (secretary) may be needed, more office space and other attendant expenses to the position. There were many great suggestions that came from the audience including such ideas as hiring a qualified consultant to make an assessment of the problem, solve the problem and leave. Thus the expense is temporary and not a permanent one. The matter of the CM will be revisited in another workshop the date of which will be announced soon. Stay tuned to the Sentinel as we bring you fresh news and regular updates on this ongoing situation.