BOCC Doubleheader! New Courthouse
Project Starts Again, Local No Kings March Organizer Unveiled, Employee Terminated
BOCC: Lodging Tax Increase? Employee Terminated
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The June 11, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting was held at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Epp said two IT vendors made a site visit to our IT Department concerning providing contract IT services to us (especially in the cyber security arena). Epp said a couple of more vendors were interested. He was hoping they could get one signed by August 1st.
Canda said he visited a Colorado State Agency when he was up north at a big meeting and asked them to delete us (somehow) from the infamous Fed Sanctuary List.
In New Business, Accounts Payable was up first. Epp read off the items over $5k (which is very helpful). The total two-week amount was $210. It passed.
The Commissioners then approved a contract with an insurance broker, Acrisure, for them to find us some insurance companies to replace our current vendor, CTSI.
Custer County Clerk Kelley Camper then asked the Commissioners to approve the payment to a firm she hired to do the election ballot printing, mailing, etc. This was ok’d.
The Office of Emergency Management’s Director, Robyn Knappe, was next with a proposal to spend around $3,500 total to purchase an 8×10 wooden shed so she could store some of OEM’s stuff. (This was a lot better than her prior proposal a year or so ago where she wanted to build a whole building for her office and staff and to house her OEM stuff.) This caused a discussion about location, timing, was a concrete pad needed. Near the end of the talk fest, a citizen emailed in and said for the same amount of money you can get a big, metal Conex box that is secure and lockable. This amazed the Commissioners (none of them thought about that) and they finally voted to have Knappe explore this more logical solution.
Next was a request from Custer County’s Workforce Housing Committee for a Letter of Support regarding pursuing a path to build affordable housing on the 12 lots in Silver Cliff that the BOCC donated a while back. It seems nobody or no local organization actually wants to “own” the lots, build on them and run the operation. Apparently, there is a new non-profit, the Custer County Community Development Corporation that might be able to do it. However, it is new, has no people and needs to get going. Somehow this requires $100k to do and the Committee wants permission to ask for that moolah from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). The DOLA grants requires a 20% match ($20k) from us. It looked like Westcliffe and Silver Cliff will both chip in $5k each so the County would need to cough up $10k. The Commissioners ok’d it.
Next was a discussion item about raising the County’s Lodging Tax. (It is currently at 2% but Colorado has just given local governments the okay to rape and pillage tourists throughout the state by allowing the local government entities to up it to a max of 6%.) To do this however, the County’s citizens must ok it in a ballot initiative. (We are currently getting about $90k from our 2% tax.)
Canda opens the discussion with the mandatory question, “Will this hurt our tourism?”. This of course caused the pro tax folks in the audience to bombard the Commissioners with how high other towns, cities and counties’ Lodging Tax rates are, trying to convince our supposedly small government, low tax, conservative Republican Commissioners that raising the price of staying in Happy Valley will have no effect on people coming here. (Only one person actually said it may affect it some, or a lot of tourists come here because it is cheaper than other places. Also, the comments noted that the various jurisdictions use other fees, etc. to raise the effective Lodging Tax rate with some as high as 16%.)
The person who raised the affordability issue was none other than our Director of Tourism, Deb Adams. She said if we raise it too much it will hurt us. Adams said our Lodging Tax receipts for last year were down $10k from the year before. She stated that “doubling it” to 4% “might not hurt us too much”. (Hey Republican Commissioners, if you do this you are raising taxes. NO real need for more money was made during the discussion. Going forward, we need SMALLER government not bigger. You are setting us up for a catastrophe when the well goes dry. We need Custer County to be a place where regular people can visit.)
No decisions were made.
(All taxes should be a ballot item.)
Next was a Personnel Matter concerning our Planning & Zoning Director Dorothy Carsten. (You recall that just a week or two ago Vogelsong made a motion to fire Carsten because he alleged she violated the County’s firearm carry rule where she supposedly open carried a pistol at a septic installation. After a huge discussion at the meeting, Vogelsong voted against his own proposal and with Epp’s also “Nay” Carsten didn’t get fired. Now, we are up for round two.)
Canda opened the discussion with blah, blah, blah about how the BOCC manages the County workforce. County Attorney Slater then said that Carsten chose to have the discussion in public rather than in Executive Session, and since she did that, she is waving a lot of confidentiality.
Vogelsong then said, “that after receiving additional information on concealed carry”, “ I carefully reviewed everything” and that “on county property, on duty or off duty” weapons must be concealed. He then made the motion to fire Carsten.
Carsten, who was in the audience then made a statement, “I don’t feel comfortable. I fear for my life and the safety of my family. That is all I have to say.” Audience member, local democrat bigwig, and a motor mouth commentator at virtually every BOCC meeting, James (Dr. Doom) Gilbert then couldn’t resist taking a swipe at Vogelsong. Gilbert told Vogelsong that a local newspaper (of course it was the Sentinel and we are SOOOOO joyed that Gilbert enjoys our coverage) said that Vogelsong “caved” (regarding his prior vote on not firing Carsten) and this current action, “sounds like a political hatchet job” (which is a precious comment coming from a democrat). Vogelsong, to his credit, came back strong saying that the paper said he “folded”. (Actually we made a little funny out of Vogelsong’s name by referring to him as “Vogelfold” after his no vote.) Vogelsong rebutted Gilbert saying, “At that time I did not have enough information. I was informed” that Carsten was open carrying at the County’s impound compound, “plus other times”. He again mentioned that the County Handbook says, on or off duty”.
The three Commissioners then all voted
to terminate Carsten.
In Public Comment, Gilbert, now unchained, went on a dribbling harangue about Custer County helping the feds arrest illegal aliens. (The usual lib stuff. I think our local libs are scared of losing cheap, slave labor.)
In perhaps the most enlightening exchange of the day, the County Clerk then asked the Commissioners, “Any employees that open carries can be fired” implying that a County employee, off duty, going about their business around town, can
be fired for open carrying? (Remember our Colorado Constitution explicitly allows open carry, the 2nd Amendment might have something to say about that, plus the Commissioners have declared that Custer County is a 2nd Amendment county.)
Vogelsong replies, “Yes”.
Kelley responded, “So you might as well fire half the staff”. (Go Kelley!!!).
No response from our 2nd Amendment Commissioners. (Maybe they should take a serious look at what the Employee Handbook says and FIX IT.)
(Kelley is the Sentinel’s Happy Valley Elected Official of the Week. Congrats Kelley.)
(NOTE: We got the actual Employee Handbook wording for the firearms policy. It applies only to County property. So if you are off duty AND not on county property, you can open carry.)
And that be it. Wait ‘til next week, folks.
BOCC: New Courtroom Project Starting Again, Local No Kings March Organizer Unveiled
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The June 19,2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting started at 9 a.m. and was held at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Items, Vogelsong said that all three Commissioners had attended the most recent Liberty Rocks get together at Tony’s Pizza where they discussed Custer County and the flap about CC being a sanctuary county for illegal aliens or not. Vogelsong noted that CC is NOT a sanctuary county.
Canda stated that the new Courtroom project committee will start work next month. (Colorado is trying to force CC and various other small counties to build new courthouses because the current ones are in violation of the state’s crazy requirements. Folks, we are talking a cost exceeding 15 MILLION DOLLARS to build their Taj Mahal. (And since we are going to have to borrow a ton of money to do it, a TRUE payback cost of maybe $30 MILLION. For one courthouse. Liberal insanity.)
Elected Officials Reports were first.
First up was Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith. Sheriff Smith noted that the new avjet fuel tank at the airport was being used by multiple rescue helicopters which helped them avoid a long trip back to their bases to refuel. He said he had met with Family Crisis Services on finding a “safe place” locally for domestic violence victims to stay rather than going all the way down the hill to Cañon City.
Sheriff Smith then talked about last Saturday when there were two “First Amendment Events”. (One being a U.S. Flag Day Celebration in front of the Sentinel where local patriots waved American Flags for two hours to celebrate Flag Day. The other being the lib, nationwide protest rallies against President Trump. These were labeled “No Kings” day. One was held in Westcliffe at the west end of Main Street (at the ‘Bluffs) at 10 a.m. That group then marched east of Main Street on the sidewalks to school and then marched back. You can read about that in last week’s Sentinel 06/20/2025.)
Sheriff Smith stated that before the No Kings rally started, he went down to the ‘Bluffs to meet with the “march organizer”, one “Dr. James Gilbert” to discuss security and walking protocols.
[Interesting. So, James (Dr.Doom) Gilbert, a local democrat big wig was the local “march organizer”. So Gilbert (and maybe other local libs) are responsible (or at least partly responsible) for bringing in all those out of towners who jammed the sidewalks up and down Main Street screaming crazy chants and displaying 4th grade cardboard signs with crayon sayings scribbled on them. All to protest a duly elected U.S. President. (You didn’t see conservatives do that after Biden sort of got elected.) So, let’s look at what happened during their Main Street “march”. Main Street Westcliffe is the tourist center of the county. The street is lined with all kinds of shops, restaurants, bars, art galleries, etc. They depend on street traffic for sales. Saturday is the biggest revenue day of the week for them. It is June. A big tourist month. The weather was perfect that day. Tons of tourists coming to town including many Colorado day trippers. They come driving onto Main Street to park, walk and shop and what do they see? A long column of angry, freaky looking people, yelling and chanting, with crazy signs, jamming the sidewalk. What does a tourist do? Get out of there as fast as humanly possible. Never to come back. Our merchants take a BEATING. Westcliffe’s reputation as a nice, quiet spot to spend a day is shattered. The delusional local and out of town demonstrators think they are making a difference, and they are. Every time they do this, more people come to oppose them and their efforts as they disrupt our economic lifeline: tourism. Their myopic, self-absorbed view of themselves as being at the front of the lib effort to get rid of Trump (and democracy) means that they have NO concerns about how their behavior affects others. Especially economically. You want a rally. Fine. Have it at the ‘Bluffs but don’t march up and down Main Street, jamming the sidewalk, scaring off our merchants’ clientele and hurting our community. A lot of these merchants are barely hanging on and the loss of big Saturday revenue intake is devastating. But libs don’t care about others. It is all about themselves. Hey Gilbert! Grow up. This ain’t the sixties again. Have a little consideration for our community and our merchants. It is beyond a waste of time for left wing freaks to shuffle up and down Main Street in Happy Valley. The locals dislike it and every time you do it — you LOSE support.]
Sheriff Smith then (adroitly) mentioned the local lefty who “pulled a gun on several people” at the Sentinel’s Flag Day celebration. Smith said they “caught him out of town” and it was up to the District Attorney now. (Read about that horror show in last week’s Sentinel.)
Custer County Treasurer, Virginia Trujillo, was next. No surprises. The County’s ending bank balance in April was $11,250,000.
Brad Baltzly, our County Coroner, was the next speaker. Brad said they had only one death lately but since it was a younger person he is having an autopsy done.
County Clerk Kelley Camper, then gave her report. Kelley said the Clerk’s Office collected about $248k in fees in May. The County gets to keep about half of that.
The Veterans Service Office Report was next. Director Dominic Edginton delivers it. He said he expected another million dollars in compensation by the end of May from the VA for our veterans via the VA claims he has made. Dominic noted that 228 vets have received new compensation since he came on board. There are 581 veterans “on paper” in Custer County. He is also helping a lot of vets from Fremont County as their VSO Office there is way below par and the vets aren’t getting the help they need.
Bob Smith, our Director of Human Resources, gave his department report. Bob said they had completed the County insurance policy review. Also, our Worker’s Compensation broker was selected and he is getting quotes.
Vernon Roth, Finance Director, was next up. Vernon said he has four proposals from IT companies for contract services for his department (a lot of that is cyber security). Vernon said he is looking hard at the county’s Century Link landlines as it is costing us around $7k a month for them and a bunch of lines are not even being used.
The Information Technology report was given by its Director, John Mapes. He has been super busy with the landline audit, VOIP research, the SO’s IT issues and various internet outages.
No surprises in the Human Services report. EBT outlay for May was $128k. Total Child Support case load is 72.
Road & Bridge reported that their diesel tank dispenser is leaking and four test holes for contamination must be drilled which will cost up to $10k. The cost to fix the new fuel system could be around $20k.
Epp gave the Recycling Report. YTD, 120 bales of various materials have been produced.
Robyn Knappe gave the OEM report. She said the wildfire mitigation program is doing good with 13 neighborhood ambassadors. They have had three chipping “events”.
Our County Kids Council had good news. They are working with Family Crisis Services to find a local place for domestic violence victims. Last week’s Family Day had close to 400 attendees. It was noted that all of Kids Council budget comes from the state and things are looking a little shaky down the road with funding. Interestingly, it was stated that there are 900 kids under the age of 19 in the county and that Custer County had the second highest child growth in the state between 2019 and 2023.
The Public Health report stated that the most recent case of measles in Colorado was in Boulder County and that if you want to get vaccinated against the measles go see them. There are concerns about future revenue stream income as the fed flow is drying up. Their staff has been reduced by 40%.
And that was that.
Alfred Earl Nelson, age 86, beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend, passed away June 20, 2025, in Cañon City, CO, with his family by his side.
Christopher John Watson, age 53, of Florence, Colorado, passed away on June 16, 2025. Born July 12, 1971, Chris was a devoted spouse and father, proud grandfather, beloved son, and loyal
Susan “Sue” Ruth Menz, age 76, passed away on December 27, 2024, after a brief battle with cancer, which she faced with her typical good nature. She was a resident of Westcliffe, Colorado, for 12 years and was formerly a resident of Omaha, Nebraska. She spent most of her career as a computer programmer, starting out with punch cards and mainframe computers.