Decline Rumblings,
$60k Lawsuit Payment, Roth Gets the Finance Director’s Position, More County Attorney Drama

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The January 30, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) meeting started at 9:01 a.m. at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room in Westcliffe. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Epp said the Commissioners were “mandatory” reporters for the Department of Human Services re child protective services and they must undergo training because of that mandate. Epp also said he had talked to our Public Health Department about their grant funding and what level of services that could provide if their state and federal grant for income declines. (And it will. All of Custer County’s departments and offices should prepare contingency plans for a probate grant income decline.) He noted that the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments (UAACOG) (a government grant dispensing non-profit machine in Cañon City) might also have some serious funding issues going forward. Epp commented, “Grants are up in the air. If certain things go away, what are we going to do and what is it going to look like?)
( It’s called small, efficient, prioritized government focusing on the essentials.)
Canda chimed in, “Fed funding is the issue. We need to know what grants are federal.” (Note a LOT of “state” grants are actually fed money that was given to the state…)
In New Business, Accounts Payable was first up. Epp stated that the monthly AP amount was high as it is in the beginning of the year and also it contained a $60k bill from the county’s insurer (CTSI) for the deductible amount we have to pay for the settlement of the tasing lawsuit brought by a minor who
was in custody by the Sheriff’s Office. (This was before Sheriff Smith came on board. Rumor has it the settlement was for around $700k.) The incident occurred in 2022 and involved alleged excessive force. The total A/P for January was $365k and it was approved.
The next report was from the Wet Mountain Fire District. It was reported that the District received the most calls for service ever last year, 340 calls. There were 16 fires responded to.
The Tourism Bureau’s report involved a slide presentation. They said they were doing a good job as the Lodging Tax was up for last year. The online Zoom system went out during their report so much
was missed.
Our County Clerk and Recorder, Kelley Camper, then was up requesting the ok form the Commissioners to apply for a $144k grant from the state fund that grabs $2 from every electronic document recording the Clerk’s Office does. The Commissioners gave their approval.
Brian Anderson gave the Airport report. The $650k eight-foot fence that a donor put up and paid for was about completed. However, the three access gates to the airport need to be upgraded to keep deer and other pesky critters out. The Airport has a $50k grant it can use. They received a local bid to fix the gates for around $21k. This passed.
Next Agenda Item was, “Consideration of the Finance Director’s Position”. Epp handled this. (As you know, we haven’t had a Finance Director for over a year after the big County Manager debacle. The Commissioners were only offering $125k for the job and the real-world price to get anybody decent is over $200k. Vernon Roth, our IT Director has been basically doing the job (with help from Redlands Accounting) and all reports say he is doing a great job. So, after a year, something finally happened….) Epp kind of laid out some background on where we are re the position saying we had an employee (Roth) in this position (on an interim basis) now for a year. Epp proposed to “move that employee into this Finance Director’s position” and we “will keep Redlands or another consultant here as backup.” Epp proposed a salary of $95k. Epp then read a letter from a local citizen who is a very high-speed accountant saying Vernon can do the job. Vogelsong commented that if we bring somebody new in it “would be a big learning curve.” A couple of peasants then spoke up supporting Vernon. The vote was then taken and all three Commissioners voted to give Vernon the job. (Good move. Vernon is super smart and a very hard worker.)
The next subject was pretty controversial, “Review and Consideration of the Contract for County Attorney”. (Remember there was a personnel issue with our County Attorney, Dan Slater, and a county employee. The Commissioners voted to fire Slater for it. They took away Slater’s contract with the department where the issue occurred but kept him on for the BOCC and the Sheriff’s Office until they found a replacement. Until now, they haven’t found anybody.
This Item is Canda’s baby. He said he has an attorney, Rachel Maxam, who just moved here and has a practice in Colorado Springs and she wants the job. She wants $5k a month and $100 per hour for
extra hours.
Canda went on a bit about Maxam then Slater rose to his defense saying she would cost 43% more than what he was getting. Epp said he thought her flat fee was way too high and was concerned that we would normally not use that many hours. Slater said his average monthly fee for 2024 was $3,290 per month and her proposed contract doesn’t cover “litigation” which his does and this could cost a ton more. Slater then said he “continues to have questions to why you still want to change.” Epp responded something about, “legalities of conflict of interest”. At some point in the discussion, Slater said the “issue” had been resolved (so no point in trying to get rid of him.) This went on and on. Finally, as it is a personnel issue, the Commissioners decided to have an Executive Session on it (date to be decided). So, Slater is still our County Attorney. (Well, Slater was removed re his “personnel issue” from one of his contracts with the county and apparently the “issue” is resolved now. The problem is, getting an attorney who really knows county/municipal law is difficult. And the gov’t legal arena is complex and complicated. You need a lot of experience to get good at it. Watching Slater now for years, he knows his stuff. The only real blem on his work here was the County Manager vignette where he did not give the Commissioners proper advice on how to follow the law regarding setting up a County Manager position and filling it. Other than that, he has done a good job. He had his hand slapped over the personnel issue. It is going to be real difficult to find someone with his experience who will charge us a reasonable rate….  Maybe change your minds mighty Commissioners and give him a second chance?)
And that was it. Pretty good drama quotient. Stay tuned for the next chapter of “Happy Valley”.