BOCC: Sheriff: Why Do We
Have So Much Crime?
Nobody Goes to Jail

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
We are so blessed to have two, yes two, Custer County Board of County Commissioners meetings this week. And surprise! NO temper tantrums this week!
December 5, 2023 BOCC:
All three County Commissioners were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Canda said the mil levy reduction topic will be on the BOCC’s December 13 meeting. He then wants a “town hall” mil levy meeting with all the taxing districts after that.
In Unfinished Business, Epp gave the Finance report. He said they have gathered up “the majority” of the leases that the county has, except for the airport leases. They will then be given to our auditors for review. (Why the auditor has to review these, and not our Finance Department was not said.) Finance is still working on entering the adjusting journal entries. After that, they need to finally reconcile cash to the general ledger. This has not been done IN YEARS.
In New Business, re the county lots for sale in Silver Cliff, there was only one bid. It was for $7,001. There was some silly discussion from the peasants about how this was done and was the bid good enough. The commissioners voted to accept the bid.
Resolution 23-11, vacating a portion of CR 155 (Cortez Road), eventually passed after a too long of a discussion.
The 2024 BOCC meeting schedule was the next topic. Epp made a sensible suggestion to have the meetings every Wednesday at the same time. He said he doesn’t like the back to back meetings (like these two) because you don’t have any time to get things done after the meeting as you have another meeting the next day. This, of course, triggered a long discussion including having some department heads submit a written report instead of showing up. (The Sentinel has been suggesting this for years.) A wise peasant commented that at the last meeting
the mighty commissioners spent a great deal of time talking about a fuel filter during one department head’s report. The citizen said the commissioners shouldn’t be wasting their time, and the public, on such trivial stuff. The schedule discussion went on and on. Day wanted to know of any holiday conflicts, so the final decision will be made in the next meeting.
Canda brought up the strategic development, management and leadership skills workshop he had been working on. He wants a “closed business meeting” with the department heads and others with local management experts (like Michael Foster) giving the presentation.
Canda noted that moving forward with hiring a new Finance Director is on the December 13 agenda.
December 6, 2023 BOCC
In Staff Reports, Sheriff Rich Smith laid out the somber truth on crime in Colorado and here in Happy Valley. He started out saying that murder has gone down overall in the Untied States but has gone up in Colorado.He said Colorado is Number One in violent crime among the top 22 most populace states. And, bringing it home, Smith said, “In my 16 months here in Custer County, I am not aware of a SINGLE CRIMINAL THAT HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO PRISON.” (The judges, in the 11th District (with one county judge exception) are a disgrace. See next paragraph.)
Smith said he was just in court with one of Custer County’s “most dangerous criminals” (Aaron Jones) and “he will be walking out in a minute.” (Meaning he was just in court on another criminal charge and the judge let him walk again.) Smith commented that the judges are not taking threats seriously. Smith said Aaron Jones fired three shots at Custer County Deputy Jason Sabalto last year, and the Pueblo SWAT Team had to be called to help eventually arrest this guy. (This dirt bag tried to KILL our deputy.) So what did the judge give him” Smith said 30 days in a (worthless) rehab center and a three year suspended sentence. Smith lamented that Jones had violated his probation THREE TIMES and the judge basically did nothing. So this guy is now out and is a threat to the community.
Smith then segued to the recent triple homicide off Oak Creek Grade a few weeks ago. He said it was a property dispute and the county has a whole bunch of these going on all the time with most of them being over subdivision lines. He said, “these civil situations are not improving.”
Sheriff Smith then reviewed the basic facts of the triple homicide focusing on what happened when law enforcement first arrived on the scene. (We covered this last week.) He especially thanked the County Coroner Brad Baltzly, and a Deputy Coroner, Nikita Phillips, for their bravery in helping to rescue the sole survivor of the incident.
Smith then noted that he has been in discussions with the Planning & Zoning Director, Dorothy Carsten, over having a deputy work with P&Z on Compliance issues and visits. This would be a half-time position. (The other half would be normal Sheriff’s Office work.)
Smith finished noting that the county’s 911 call center bill will be around $200k next year.
Dorothy Carsten gave the Planning & Zoning report. She said new permits are way down from last year (about half). The big news was that a Canon City company, Colorado Quarries, is going to be applying for a permit for a mining operation on CR 328, just past the landfill going east. They have a 640 acre lot there. This whole process, including the state review, will take a while. Carsten then talked about her safety when doing compliance visits and was very receptive about having a deputy help out.
Landfill reported that the state has still not responded re ok’ing using the new trench for garbage. (This has been going on for LONG TIME. The person responsible for this at the state simply does not respond to inquires. We are about out of space and this is critical.)
In New Business, the major item was Coroner Brad Baltzly’s request to make the Coroner’s portion full time. (It is presently half time.) Brad reviewed his recent incredible workload (including a huge amount of time spent in Fremont County on the 190 bodies left at the funeral home in Penrose). There was then a whole bunch of people speaking supporting the move to full time. At the end, the commissioners voted to approve the full time move. (The pay is $75k per year.)
Canda then brought up the bid to replace the TV translators/transmitters. Canda has been working with the two stations on this. The company making the bid, Thin Air Communications, is the top company in the state on this type of remote TV transmission. The job will be in two phases, the first being installing new translators and antennas in the existing structure on the hill. The second phase would be to move the new equipment from the old structure to a dedicated and specially built “cabinet” in the spring. (The new cabinet has a built-in air conditioner which is needed for summer operation.) The cabinet can’t be built now in the winter as it will require some excavation and a concrete pad to be poured in the spring. There were a couple of things missing from the bid so Canda is going to get a correction letter from the bidder and the commissioners will consider this again at the next meeting. The whole deal, including new equipment and installation will cost around $54k.
And that was that. Another day in Happy Valley.