BOCC: Big Attorney Kerfuffle, Justice Center Update,
Veterans Trust Fund News

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

The February 16, 2023 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting started at 9 a.m. with all three mighty musketeers at the helm: Chair Kevin Day and members
Bill Canda and “Traitor” Tom Flower (AKA “TT”) present.
Under Commissioner Items, Canda said the Upper Arkansas Water Conservation gang signed an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the Round Mountain Water District. He also said the county and town’s broadband effort has gotten some new money put in.
Traitor Tom opened with talking about the death of ex-county attorney Clint Smith. (He will be missed.) (Smith was also the attorney for County Clerk Kelley Camper in the lawsuit filed against Camper by the Recall Tom Flower Committee. Since Smith can no longer handle the case and the county needs an interim and a permanent county attorney, the muskies at last week’s meeting agreed to look for candidates.)
Flower then said the VFW would apply to run the Veteran’s Trust Fund grant. Last year’s volunteer director had decided not to do it again and without a director there is no grant. The VFW stepping in is great news for our local veterans.
(Editor/GG: American Legion is also applying. See page 5.)
TT then brought up the news that Canda had found an attorney for Camper and it was one Brenda Jackson (she is the Fremont County Attorney and also has a private practice). Flower didn’t seem to be a happy camper when saying this. County Clerk Camper then spoke and said Bill had spoken to Jackson last week and now she is my attorney on this case. Camper said Jackson had, “put it in.” (That is, notifying the court trying the case, that Jackson would be representing Camper, a “Notice to Appear”.) Camper said she was going to meet with Jackson Tuesday. Camper then addressed Canda saying to him, “I need to handle this on my own. Thanks Bill, but this is my case.” (She was not happy that Canda had gotten Jackson to fill in. )

Canda then explained about all the effort he went through contacting various government and private government supporting agencies in trying to find a lawyer for Camper and the county. Camper then said to Canda that, “You have more invested in this with the recall” and “ You signed the petition.” (To recall Traitor Tom.) 

Day then jumps on Canda saying, “I would agree with Kelley…Both of you (Canda and Flower) have an interest in this case…Kelley should make the call on who represents her…Kelley was not contacted by Brenda Jackson and she filed anyway…You stepped too far…That decision was taken away from her.” (After the meeting the Sentinel reached out to Canda and requested an interview about this attorney issue.) (More on this interview and Canda’s take on this at the end of the article.)
Traitor Tom, now filled with fake rage as he hates Canda, loudly croaks out to Canda, “You over-stepped your bounds. None of our business to hire an attorney for an elected official .” He then faux rages on for a bit more and finishes with, “We have no business hiring an attorney for Kelley.” (There is more to this than these comments, folks. See Canda’s interview below.)
(Flower is something else. “None of our business” he says. TT seems to have forgotten the BOCC meeting where Camper’s recall lawsuit first came up and she needed a lawyer. Camper was at the meeting taking the minutes. All three muskies, with Flower being the most vociferous, asked then County Attorney Smith if he would do the job. Smith said he would rather not do it as he knows the plaintiff and Camper. (And also he was very sick.) But Flower kept hammering away at him to defend Camper. On and on he kept on Smith. Finally, after a ton of pressure from Flower, he said he would do it. So the muskies have no business choosing a lawyer for Camper? Flower did it that day. As did Day. Now TT says it is wrong for Canda to try to help Camper get a lawyer. Ultimate hypocrite. Traitor Tom indeed.)
Canda, clearly upset that his work to find an interim county attorney and to help Camper find one is getting trashed, throws a zinger at Traitor Tom, “ You voted for Debbie Adams. You had Debbie Adams signs in your yard!” (Flower, supposedly a “republican”, supported the far loony lefty Adams against Canda in the last election. Flower completely redefines the acronym, “RINO”.) Flower, actually stunned by facts about him supporting an extreme lefty over a conservative republican, loudly gasps and blurts out, “Oh my God!”. TT then mumbles a few words, and for the first time in living memory, SHUTS UP! (Glory be!) And that stopped the mugging of Canda. Almost.
Day then asked for Public Comment. Nothing in the room but out of the Zoom internet world comes Happy Valley’s recurring nightmare, the spherically challenged, perpetually aggrieved wokester, owner/editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune, the one and, thankfully, only one, Jordy “Red Bug” Hedberg, with his high pitched arrogant/indignant voice saying, Canda is not listed as a party against Kelley and Canda has no authority over this. Going full Karen, the Bug says, “This conduct is a crime.” Then a few more sentences of woke self-righteous indignation.
(The comment about “crime” is precious coming from Red Bug as he was arrested two years ago for Domestic Violence and had another criminal case against him for harassing a local business lady. This guy has a moral and ethical basis to criticize anybody?) Day says thank you and Red Bug goes silent.
New Business was next. Day opens with the details of the Justice Center Committee status. (The Justice Center Committee basically shut down after last year’s huge defeat of the disastrous proposal to spend like $32 MILLION on a new court, jail and county administrative offices.)
Day wants to continue looking at the issue. Flower says there is still some grant money left over and he wants to move forward. He said the three of them should decide to move forward or not. Canda says it is not a “Justice Center” concept anymore as the jail is closed and it is mostly about a new court room. This goes on for a bit. Flower, always looking for where the wind is blowing from, astutely notes that the words “Justice Center” might have a “bad connotation politically.” (Duh.) He also said he wants new people (that is “his people”) on the committee. The muskies then do more blah, blah, blah. Finally Day puts it on as an agenda item for the next meeting to further discuss.
Next up was “Discussion to Consider Other Options for Low Income Housing”. Dorothy Carsten says a local contractor, Ed Lyons, has a proposal he would like to share with the muskies re low income housing. Mr. Lyons then takes the stage. He said he has a 40 acre lot on CR251 behind his shop (just off of Oak Creek Grade, CR 255) that he would like to develop into “affordable housing” for families. He is looking at a max of 24 modular units and starting with just five or six. He said he is not calling it a trailer park but that is what it would be. He doesn’t want any government money and wants good families there to help our workforce. He has a drawing of the parcel and the proposed lots. This sets all the muskies off with a ton of questions with Flower going full inquisitor. This goes on and on and on. Finally, Lyons asks the muskies what do I have to do and they say go to the Planning Commission with your proposal.
The last agenda item was the Johnson Short Term Rental application. The Planning Commission recommended that the all powerful musketeers vote to approve. After a much too lengthy a discussion, the muskies approve it.
And that was that.

Canda Interview on Friday, February 17th at the Sentinel:
The Sentinel asked Commissioner Bill Canda for an interview about this Camper/Recall lawsuit attorney issue and Bill was gracious enough to drop by to give us the details on what he did.
Canda started with saying that after the muskies received County Attorney Clint Smith’s resignation letter they all agreed to start looking for a interim County Attorney and also an attorney for Kelley Camper and her lawsuit with the Recall Committee. Bill said he spent a lot of time on it and contacted various entities like Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI), Colorado Technical Services, Inc. (CTSI) and the Colorado Association of County Attorneys (CACA) and spoke with people at each place. He said Flower was also looking for an attorney. Canda also noted that by Colorado statute, the commissioners are required to find lawyers for any elected official subject to an official lawsuit.
Canda said Kelley had a court hearing on February 13 deadline coming up on the law-suit. After talking to several attorneys, the Fremont County Attorney, Brenda Jackson was recommended. Bill said he talked to her and she agreed to handle Kelley’s case. There was a filing deadline coming up on Kelley’s case and Bill wanted to help Kelley make that deadline.
Bill said he informed Kelley at the February 9 Custer County Republican Central Committee meeting that Jackson would file for Kelley the next day. Bill said he talked to Kelley about it that night and then texted Jacksons’s contact information the next morning at 8:24 a.m. and asked Kelley to contact her. Canda then followed up with a phone call at 8:29 a.m. to confirm that Kelley had received the text. Apparently, Kelley did not contact Jackson. So without instructions from Kelley, Jackson assumed she had the go ahead to file for Kelley and she did. And that caused the big kerfuffle.
So Bill tried to do a good thing and it didn’t turn out well. Jackson probably should not have filed to be Kelley’s lawyer as she had no verbal or written confirmation directly from Ms. Camper. But, in the end, it is not a big deal. Jackson can simply withdraw her filing and Kelley can get another attorney. No harm done and blown way out of proportion.
So an attempt at helping backfired in the muskies royal chambers. Situation normal.