BOCC Shocker! Secret Meeting
Initiated by HR Wilson Gets The Despised
County Manager Position Approved and Wilson Hired as CM!
No Others Considered! Illegal?
Day, Flower, Wilson Guilty of Dirty Politics

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
We’ve seen some pretty shaky things at the Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meetings over the last ten years but the meeting on June 29, 2023, takes the cake. In describing what happened that Thursday the words duplicity, arrogance of power, sneakiness, secret discussions, disdain for the citizens and flat out dishonesty come to mind. And it is all about the proposed County Manager (CM) position. Oh my!
All three musketeers were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Tom Flower.
So let’s set the stage: Late last year Day again brought up the proposal to hire a County Manager to do undefined tasks. (To date, Day and Flower have yet to produce a study or analysis of exactly why a CM is needed or the tasks the CM would perform. Why? Because it would clearly show that the very costly position is not needed.) Flower had been pushing that idea for a while. The public, knowing it was a complete waste of money and that the commissioners were not doing their jobs, made a big stink. At the workshop scheduled by the BOCC about the CM position, the citizens opposition to it was virtually unanimous and quite vociferous. The people felt that the muskies were NOT doing their job of managing the employees and the position was totally unnecessary for such a small county.
After much angst, Canda proposed that he set up a committee composed of local citizens with expertise in business and management and analyze the county’s management practices and structure and make recommendations to the BOCC on how to proceed with making the county more efficient. That made a lot of sense before just jumping into a very expensive CM deal. All three commissioners agreed to this. Canda then recruited a team of very highly qualified locals to do the job.
A few BOCC meetings ago all three muskies agreed to have the team present their findings at the upcoming July 27 BOCC meeting. The presentation would provide the commissioners with expert advice on any issues discovered and possible paths to solve them. So the commissioners agreed to hear the management study results before making any decision on whether to establish a CM position or not.
On the agenda for this June 29 meeting a seemingly innocuous item was listed under Executive Session (ES): “Personnel matter – Consideration of employee promotion and administrative reorganization.” This discussion would be held in secret in an Executive Session as it allegedly involved a county employee. This agenda item was added by Day at the request of the county’s Human Resource and Finance Director, Braden Wilson.
Note the county attorney was not present at the meeting.
The only problem with the agenda item was that it was a lie. There was no “promotion” and the “administrative reorganization” was not a proper item for an Executive Session under the Open Meetings statutes regarding Executive Sessions. And Wilson knew that.
So after two hours of the usual clown show, the muskies went into Executive Session. They came out about an hour and a half later. Day goes through the statutory language about doing everything right in the session. He then pauses a long time looking down and says the next item on the Agenda is Employee Promotion and Administrative Reorganization. He looks down some more.
Then, TOTALLY OUT OF THE BLUE, Day makes a motion saying “moves to reorganize our administration by adding the position of County Manager!!!!” (This would change the entire organizational structure and lines of authority within the county government!)
WHAT! Nobody knew about this. The public was never notified. As you will see in a second, it turns out that Wilson apparently made a huge presentation in the ES on why the county needs a CM. IN SECRET. This is the biggest proposed change in Custer County administration in living memory and it is done IN SECRET AND EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! And after all the discussions in the BOCC meetings and the CM workshop last year, Wilson, apparently, deemed the public unfit to hear his arguments as his audience is really just the pro CM boys, Day and Flower. This folks is what dirty, insider politics looks like.
This CM proposal is not a proper subject for an Executive Session. It has NOTHING TO DO WITH AN EMPLOYEE. It is a HUGE change in the county’s admin structure and should be done in public. Not behind closed doors. Wilson hid it underneath the “Personnel Matter” and “Promotion” in his agenda item. There is absolutely NO BASIS for having the CM discussion in Executive Session. NONE of the other times it was discussed at the BOCC meetings was in Executive Session. So why now? It was all done in public so why is it different now? (Day should have stopped it happening as soon as Wilson started his presentation in the Executive Session as it was not a valid subject but, obviously, he didn’t. Day wanted it secret too. See below.)
There are a couple of reasons “why now?” First, Wilson, Day and Flower did not want to hear Canda’s analysis team’s report on July 27th. The report would be done in public and it would clearly show that there is no need for a CM in this tiny county. (Heck, there’s only around 85 employees and about half are under other elected officials. All the others are under department heads. And these three clowns can’t manage that?) This report would torpedo Day and Flower’s quest to add another layer of expensive bureaucracy to the county. And as you will see below, Wilson also proposed himself in the ES to be the new CM!!! Again, in secret.
Also, Flower is up for a recall on August 8th. Based on his deplorable record (and now his votes on the CM, see below), it is pretty certain that Traitor Tom would be replaced and the three conspirators would lose that crucial vote for CM. The candidate running for Flower’s position, Lucas Epp, is a private businessman who does not look favorably at bureaucrat largesse. So Wilson (and his co-conspirators Day and Flower) had to make a move before that date.
And, Wilson knows the public does not want to waste our tax money on this nonsense. He saw the beating Day and Flower took at the CM workshop earlier this year. So instead of making his presentation in public, he decided to deceive the people and use “Personnel Matter” to illegally have it done in secret so the public would not have a chance to rebut. This is dirty and extremely sneaky. This is NOT transparency. This is back room, filthy, self promoting politics and there is NO ROOM for that nonsense here in Custer County. And obviously Day and Flower went along with it. They wanted it. This was indeed, a dark day in Happy Valley politics where two commissioners and the HR director collude to deceive the public and promote their own agenda IN SECRET.
Back to the meeting: After Day announced his motion to add the CM position he also said that this will be “two separate items.” (What does that mean?)
Flower then proposed we should proceed with this as Canda “had ample time to bring forward another plan and he hasn’t.” (Classic Traitor Tom.) Remember just a few meetings ago, Day and Flower agreed to have Canda’s team make their presentation on July 27th. Flower and Day both lied to Canda and us on allowing the analysis team to report. Disgusting. Flower declared it is the “best thing for the county” and “we decide what’s right for the county” and not the citizens. (He likes saying that. We hear it often. Flower needs to “govern” over us peasants.)
Quiet at first, Canda then asked, “You gonna vote on this now?” (Even Canda doesn’t believe Day and Flower will vote now without a public hearing but he is wrong. Day and Flower KNOW it is now or never as the public would castrate them in a meeting.) Canda says “you heard my arguments” and “we don’t need it.” Then, “We put together a team and we will be reporting at the end of July.”
Day says, “I hoped that was going to be done earlier. I feel it is time to take action.” (Again, just two meetings ago, Day agreed to hear Canda’s team report July 27. Now he doesn’t. Day, another “man of his word” politician stabbing Canda and the public in the back.)
The muskies then vote to create the County Manager position. “Back Door” Day votes aye. Traitor Tom votes aye. Canda nay. (This was an illegal vote per the Colorado Statute regarding County Manager positions. See below.)
And it gets even worse.
Unbelievably, Day then moves to “promote” Wilson for the job!!!! Apparently in addition to peddling the CM position creation to the muskies, Wilson also made a presentation that he, and only he, the chosen one, should be the new CM. Again this was done in secret.
Canda immediately says, “I oppose that. Why is Braden the best for the job? The job should be competed, at least within the county.” (Day’s motion is flat out illegal. This is a newly created position in the county and it should be posted for all to apply. Wilson, the HUMAN RESOURCES director, who is supposed to be looking out for the welfare of our county employees just stabbed them in the back by attempting to exclude them from a great job opportunity. A very lucrative job opportunity. Plus, who says there were not better qualified people in the county or elsewhere? This is insider trading at its worst. Wilson is simply making a desperate, dirty power play to get the extremely well paying job before anybody else can apply. Totally illegal and unethical.)
As you will see, Back Door Day and Traitor Tom agree with Wilson that he is so special that no one else may apply for the job. Yea, they are truly equal opportunity employers.
Now Day moves “that we promote Human Resources Director Braden Wilson to the position of County Manager for the salary of $100k a year.” (Canda can’t believe this is happening!) Flower then makes a pathetic attempt to look like a concerned muskie and says $100k is too much and he likes $90k better. Day goes with that. (Plus 35% in benefits brings us to around $120k or so. Add in office expense, all the “training and seminars” that he must go to, travel expense then the poor thing is going to need a secretary at about $50k with bennies. We’re talking a $200k a year office here folks!)
The motion is then voted on: Back Door and The Traitor vote to give Wilson $90k a year to do their jobs. Canda votes no.
So, behind closed doors, Braden “$90k” Wilson, Back Door Day and Traitor Tom sold the citizens of this county down the river. Does the phrase, “consent of the governed” ever come into these clowns’ heads. And if Wilson does this type of secret dealings here, what else has he done or WILL DO. This disgusting dirty insider move by $90k shows extreme ego, greed and deception. All three are ethically challenged and are a disgrace to Custer County.
(Folks, this is easily, other than the Sheriff, the most powerful position in the county. All must kowtow to the CM. We need somebody with some morals in that if it ever happens.)
Citizens of Custer County, we have a problem.
(Colorado Revised Statutes 30-11-107 states that the creation of a County Manager position must be done “by resolution duly adopted.” Day and Flower did not pass a resolution in this meeting so at this point, they have NOT legally created a CM position and therefore with no CM job created, they can’t hire anybody for it. So, another clown world job by Back Door Day and Traitor Tom. Let’s see how they fix this at the July 6 BOCC meeting. There WILL be citizens there at that meeting. Gonna be fun…
Plus, folks, remember this, there is a recall election against Flower coming up in a few weeks. And with regards to the CM position, what is done can be undone.)