The Trib Hit Piece on Sheriff Smith:
Situation Normal
by George Gramlich, Commentary
Well, we really want to pass on commenting on this piece of yellow journalism, but it is low hanging fruit, and you know what that means: time for some plucking. The Editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune, Jordy “Red Bug” Hedberg wrote a very long article last week in his paper attacking our Sheriff, Rich Smith, over hiring a highly experienced and qualified Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) to be his part-time “Chief of Staff”. It was indeed low hanging fruit. So, the article needs some light thrown on it.
It is full of speculative allegations, which when reviewed in context, show an extreme prejudice against the Sheriff, and LEO in general.
Smith just hired Mike DeLaurentis as his part- time Chief of Staff (three days a week at $35 per hour and no benefits). An admin job. Smith has known DeLaurentis for a long time as both were stationed in the same building in Florence, with DeLaurentis being the Florence Police Chief and Smith being Captain of our local Colorado State Patrol section.
Hedberg’s hit piece reviews some of the well-known drama about Florence’s Ex-City Manager, Mike Patterson, who was accused of sexual harassment by multiple Florence employees. (Florence hired him even though he was a convicted felon!) Patterson was also involved in a host of other shenanigans as City Manager and was eventually arrested and convicted again.
A lot of the alleged dirt centered around one female employee who claimed that a whole bunch of city employees, including DeLaurentis, had sexually harassed her. This was very early in her employment at the City of Florence. Eventually the city settled and paid her a bunch of money. (A red flag here folks is the number of people the lady accused. In a very short time.)
Hedberg also mentions some lawsuits filed against the Florence PD which were settled for money and unfairly implies somehow that all of those issues were DeLaurentis’s fault. (Folks, in today’s victim society, you can’t run a police department or a Sheriff’s Office without a constant barrage of lawsuits. Sad stuff, but true.)
Hedberg also knocks DeLaurentis for taking out a loan from the city and paying it back. This was a common practice among city employees with the blessing from the City Manager but this practice was later alleged to be “against city policy”. So somehow this is a black mark against DeLaurentis for having fully paid back a loan?
Hedberg then somehow implies that something fishy is going because no agency, even when asked, wanted to investigate DeLaurentis’s alleged wrong doings. (Wonder why?)
DeLaurents retired in 2019. Hedberg then lists a bunch of issues that occurred in Florence years later (eg, 2022), after DeLaurentis was long gone, and again tries to implicitly link those issues to DeLaurentis.
You got the drift. Somehow DeLaurentis is bad. And Smith is bad for hiring him. Note that DeLaurentis was never charged with a crime and never convicted. But that doesn’t count.
With regards to hiring DeLaurentis, take a look at Smith’s extensive management background with the Colorado State Patrol and his policies on responsibility and transparency. Smith has been totally above board with the public. Smith would never hire anyone who had any ethical issues and Smith would never hire anyone whose actions would reflect badly on the SO or himself.
Smith knew DeLaurentis for a long time. He worked closely with him. DeLaurentis has 42 years of LEO experience at various levels. Smith was stationed in Florence when all this Florence City Manager drama went down. He knows the truth. There is nothing wrong with Smith hiring a guy he knows, who he worked with and trusts, and who has an incredible work background. (Some additional background: DeLaurentis is the president of the Christian Motorcycle Association in Cañon City and is the head of the executive council at his church. In addition, DeLaurentis is a volunteer at the Cañon City Literary Center helping children to read.)
So why did Hedberg write the biased hit piece? Maybe because Hedberg has had multiple run ins with our legal system over the last few years and is not a big fan of LEO?
Or look at this: The three main county employees/officials that Hedberg has repeatedly attacked in the Tribune since he bought the paper, all have three things in common: Dr. Clifford Brown, our Public Health Director, Commissioner Bill Canda, and now Sheriff Rich Smith are all bedrock Christian conservatives. Is that a reason? Who knows?
At the end of the article. Hedberg states he will be attacking another recent SO hire, Undersheriff Susan Barnes, in his next edition. Barnes has an incredible resume and is highly qualified for the job. Hedberg said several SO employees have filed complaints against Barnes and that, apparently, warrants another hit piece.
With regards to Barnes and the complaints against her know this: Rich Smith, in his first two years, has dramatically remade the Custer County Sheriff’s Office. He has a new management structure and has brought in a bunch of highly experienced LEO’s with special training and knowledge that the office didn’t have before. This, of course, will ruffle some feathers of employees who were there when he was hired, but that is normal. A lot of people resist change, and some can’t accept it. So, complaints are to be expected. Note that when reading Hedberg’s attack piece on Undersheriff Barnes.
( Bottom Line: Another biased hit piece on a good man trying to build a better government agency. All of Hedberg’s attacks on Brown and Canda failed miserably. And this will too. And you have to ask, what is going on in Hedberg’s head that makes him attack good people? Hopefully someday he will wake up and see the goodness and light in humanity. This type of gutter journalism serves only to divide an otherwise peaceful community. After reading the Trib’s hit piece, one of the Sentinel’s proofing ladies said, “That was just mean.” That folks, is the bottom line.)
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The April 3, 2024 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting started at 9 a.m. at their royally appointed abode across from the County Courthouse. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and
Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Canda noted that the two local TV stations (11 and 13) operating off the mountain should be operational by next week.
In New Business, the Short Term Rental Application (STR) for the Urbiztondo STR was up. This is the third go at this STR. The Planning Commission had previously voted to recommend that the BOCC deny the application due to the vehement disapproval by its neighbors. Continue reading April 3 BOCC: in County Facilities, High Drama, Lib Meltdowns→
BOCC: We Are Now a Non-Sanctuary County!
(Local Lib Doesn’t Like That.)
Plus: Anti Porn Internet Resolution Passed
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The March 27, 2024 Custer County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) regular meeting got into some hot topic political issues, and we are happy to report, that the “good guys” won to the weeping angst of the County’s political left. The meeting was at the Commissioners lavishly appointed throne room across from the courthouse. All three Commissioners were in attendance: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Canda reported that the equipment for the TV towers has arrived and the contractor is testing it. Epp noted that the County’s accounting system provider, CIC, will be training our troops on various dates in April. Continue reading March 27 BOCC: Non-Sanctuary Proclamation→
BOCC: Donated Fuel Tanker, Finance Rumblings, UACOG Money Woes,
Late EOM Grant Issues
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The February 29, 2024, Custer County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting started at 9 a.m. in their gilded throne room in the building across from the courthouse. All three Commissioners were in attendance: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Canda noted that the State of Colorado will be donating a fuel tanker truck to the airport. This can be used to refill rescue and fire helicopters in emergencies. It will be available in April. Continue reading February 29 BOCC→
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting held on February 24, 2024, occurred at that Wetmore Community Center. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda (via Zoom from France) and Lucas Epp. From the Zoom video, it appeared that only one meeting spectator was present.
In Commissioner Items, Epp mentioned that the accounting consulting firm they selected (Redlands Consulting) will be starting next week and will work Monday through Thursday on the audit and adjusting entries issues.
Old Business was next: Epp talked further about what Redlands was going to do next week. They will put in 40 hours of work analyzing the issues and put a plan together to get the mess fixed. This includes the audit issues plus a bunch of accounting problems we are having. They will then present the plan and the cost to the Commissioners hopefully in two weeks’ time. Epp gave a shout out to our IT guy, Vernon Roth, who is putting a lot of time in at Finance to keep the ship from sinking.
In New Business, Day presented his Agenda Item, Money for Playground Equipment for Wetmore. Day said Ruth Roper has been working for years trying to get a playground built in Wetmore “for the children”. She has found a piece of playground equipment from a company that is on sale for $9,281. Day said we have money in the LATCF fund and
the CTF fund that can be used for this. Day said there are around 30 children in the area.
Epp wasn’t too happy with the timing of this request. He said we just turned down two department head’s requests for a vehicle so they can do their jobs two weeks ago and giving money away for playground equipment now is not right. Epp said the state of the LATCF AND CTF funds is unknown, and it would not be wise to tap into those now. He said he will look into their status. Epp concluded saying we have several purchases that have to be made and we need to prioritize them.
Canda then piped up from the Riviera in southern France and said he agreed with Epp, that the timing for this is bad. He requested that we “table this until we understand how much money we really have.” He continued, “We had issues with the LATCF stuff. Can we wait a few weeks?”
Day, trying to salvage the spending “for the children”, said “we don’t have to move on it today.” But he added that this price is special and if that equipment is sold, we have to pay more for it down the line. (Day should have pulled this Agenda Item. Absolutely the wrong time to ask for money when we can’t even provide a crucial vehicle for county employees. But Day lives in Wetmore and this is gravy for his homies.)
Canda responded, “We need to make sure we have the money for priorities.” Canda ended with, “I think we ought to wait.”
Epp noted that he will “look into” the LATCF slush fund and see what is left.
They then decided to hold off on this until a later date.
The next item was Consideration of Signing a Letter of Recommendation for Greg Felt. This letter is a recommendation for Mr. Felt to become the next General Manager of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservation District (UAWCD). (This is a big deal. UAWCD is the big water player around here and very powerful.) Canda put this Item on the Agenda. Canda does a love minute dance for Felt saying he knows the guy, blah, blah, blah. Felt is also on the UAWCD Board.
But Epp smells a rat. He asked Canda, “Is there anybody else running for the same job?” Canda responded, “There are several others. I know one other that is qualified is a Mr. Jord Gertson.”
Epp turns the screws with, “This letter carries a lot of weight. If we are going to endorse someone else, we need to know about the other candidates. I don’t know the other candidates.” Canda replied, “I will send you Jord’s resume.” Day then chipped in, “We need to reach out and get information on the other candidates.” Epp finished with we need to put it on the Agenda “before the deadline.”
(Here is the skinny on this UAWCD Manager opening. The current Manager Terry Skanga, who helped start UAWCD is stepping down. Our very own ex Board Chair of UAWCD, local Bob Senderhauf’s choice is one Jord Gertson. Jord is a professional water guy who has worked for UAWCD for a long time (he’s their resident hydrologist) and even has his own water consulting business. He also has a B.S. in Watershed Science from Colorado State University. His resume is astounding. His has done everything you can think of re: water management. Bottom line, if Senderhauf wants this guy, HE IS THE ONE. Canda’s boy, Felt, has very limited actual water management experience and no degree. He owns a rafting company on the Arkansas River and with him on UAWCD there could be conflicts of interest. Plus, and I can hear the snowflakes whining already, he is supposedly a Democrat and the last thing you want is someone with that lib orientation running a locally powerful organization controlling our water. Canda should not have recommended this guy without giving out the resumes of the other candidates. In fact, the BOCC doesn’t know jack about water and the UAWCD and should probably not endorse anyone. If they insist on it, they should definitely invite Senderhauf in and let him educate them on the candidates.)
At the end of the lovefest, Epp said the February 29 BOCC will be on Thursday so that Day can attend some meeting on Wednesday.
BOCC: A Political Vignette
Who Will Run the Republican Central
Committee? Will the Voters Get
More Manageable Precincts?
ommentary
There is a problem in the Custer County Republican Central Com-mittee (CCRCC): It is the balance between the number of elected officials on the committee and the number of citizens on the committee. Before the last two election cycles, the elected official members and a few of their cronies had the majority. Now, the citizens on the CCRCC, along with some brand new elected officials have a slim majority. But with having only three county precincts, the balance between the Old Guard elected officials and the citizens could switch at any time. There is a movement to permanently fix this problem and have the Republican party members of the county run the CCRCC and the latest episode of this struggle
occurred last week.
The other problem in the county is that the precincts are huge for such a small county and are impossible to manage properly by the political parties. Smaller precincts would allow for a much more engaged citizenry and a more robust and knowledgeable voter base.
So how did we get here?
Six of the ten party members on the Republican Committee are the Precinct Committee Persons (“PCP’s”). Each county precinct has two PCP’s. Custer County
has only three precincts so that is only six on the CCRCC.
In the vast majority of counties in Colorado, the civilians easily control the central committees as they have a multitude of precincts. Precinct sizes can vary, from just two people (in one very weird case in Colorado) to 2,000. Custer County’s precincts are huge, the number of 1,400 per precinct is often
stated. Counties similar to Custer County have MUCH smaller precinct sizes.
Smaller precincts are much easier to manage for the political parties than large ones. The smaller make it easier for the parties to interact and engage with the voters, which in turn encourages voter participation. This is a good thing.
There has been a movement over the last few years by some members of the CCRCC and other concerned citizens to have the county create more precincts to help the voter management and engagement process, but also to ensure that the CCRCC is run BY THE PEOPLE rather than by a clique of elected politicians.
This has been met with heavy resistance from the established elected Republicans on the committee as they don’t want to lose power.(However, two new elected county officials, who believe the citizens should run the committee have been recently elected which has switched the balance ever so slightly to the people.)
The latest effort by the people to have the county create new, more manageable precincts occurred last week at the January 10, 2024 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting where citizen Jack Canterbury (who is also the CCRCC Chair but he was representing himself on this subject) made a proposal to the BOCC on having the county move from three precincts to nine.
Jack’s presentation quoted multiple Colorado statutes concerning the creation and maintenance of precincts. On the surface, it looks like the BOCC has the authority to create new precincts, however, there are some statements in the statutes that might throw some doubt on the BOCC’s authority, but they are in the minority. (However, see Joy Anderson’s scholarly research into the issue at the end of this article.)
So why does the statutory conflict matter? If the BOCC has the power, it appears that BOCC members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp would favor the expansion while member Kevin Day is against it. (Despite Day’s claim at the meeting that he was “open” to it, his actions state otherwise. On the County Clerk side, Clerk Kelly Camper it is not clear if she is in favor of it but she did say was also open to it.)
At the meeting, after Canterbury’s presentation, Day read from a memo he got from the County Attorney, Dan Slater, (who is a big time state Democrat political big wig) stating that although the statutes are a bit murky, in his opinion, the County Clerk is the boss on this and it is solely up to her to make the call. His main argument was that the wording that says the Clerk is the boss is “specific” and, Slater alleges, that the wording saying the BOCC is in charge is
more “general.” (Based on Canterbury’s statute quotes, it is for sure not certain that the Clerk in charge.
Canterbury’s statute word-
ing is specific, too.) Day had asked for Slater’s opinion before the meeting. Slater was even called into the meeting to defend his conclusion.
Now, precinct structure today is solely a political item. With there being NO actual election voting activity taking place at the precincts (it is all done now via mail and at the courthouse.) There is a little
extra work required by the County Clerk in setting up precincts and syncing with voter records. There is NO argument that extra precincts would result in any substantial work increase for the county (once the precincts are set up).
So why would anybody object to having much smaller, normal sized precincts that would allow the political parties to
work more efficiently? The extra work is AT THE
PARTY LEVEL and NOT at the county level.
The ONLY reason why some of our elected officials want to have only three precincts is that it is the ONLY way that they have a chance at controlling the CCRCC and prevent The People from running our local political party. Small precincts are STRONGER precincts. Why would an elected Republican official not want a stronger party? Folks, as usual, it is all
about power and control. The Old Republican Guard
here in Custer (and the state) is scared of the new, MAGA style, power of the people, voters that are demanding that the PEOPLE run our local political party and not career political operatives. (Note, Fremont County, has TWENTY precincts. Canterbury did a big review of other counties similar or a larger than Custer and they all had many more precincts than us.)
The process to add new precincts takes many months. Mrs. Camper noted in the meeting that we are having four elections in 2024 in Happy Valley and it would be a big problem for her to do the work this year to have new precincts. Fair enough.
The meeting ended with the understanding that Canterbury would form a “bipartisan” committee to study this further and make another presentation at a later date. This committee idea originated with Day. It is a joke and possibly an attempt to side-track the whole deal as the local dems will be totally be against it. (Why make our adversaries stronger?) And the unaffiliated shouldn’t even be involved in it.
Perhaps the best course forward is for Canterbury to have the CCRCC officially endorse the nine precinct concept and then present it to the BOCC and the County Clerk. At that presentation, ask them to vote yes or no on it. (The three BOCC members and the County Clerk.) No need to actually create the precincts this year, but get the commitment to do it next year. We need to know where they stand. Are they for the citizens or are they for themselves?
Bottom line: It doesn’t matter who is in charge of adding precincts, it is the RIGHT THING to do
for the voters of Custer County. The more the
citizens are involved in the political process, the better off the county is. BOCC and County Clerk: Do what is right, fix our precincts and help our voters. For once put the county ahead of petty politics.
(Local Citizen, Joy Anderson, has written a memo on who has the power in Colorado to control the creation of new precincts. The memo looks rock solid: it is the BOCC. See page 22 to read it. Download the pdf here: https://sangredecristosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/011924-pg-22.pdf )
by George Gramlich, News
The Custer County Board of County Commissioners held a Special Meeting, January 8, 2024 to select the new Human Resources (HR) Director. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
Day opened with the statement that they had selected three finalists for the position.
Epp then took the stage. He said the new HR Department has to be built “from the ground up.” There are kinds of issues to be addressed such as procedures, reporting, etc., “so the new guy has a big task load.” Epp then stated, “the applications we have received don’t represent what I think is needed to build a new department from the ground up.” Epp continued, “We need to caste our net further” noting that maybe we should have a salary range rather than a fixed advertised salary.
Canda disagreed. He said, “I think we have a candidate that does meet the criteria,” but noted he would not be against doing some more advertising.
Then it was Day’s turn, “There is one of the three that I can support, but, they would need additional help to succeed.” Day said he “shared your concerns, it is a big load. I would support putting it out for bid…. I don’t want to set somebody up for failure.”
This discussion went on for a bit. Finally, the Commissioners decided to put the job out for bid for an additional two weeks and try to find more outlets to advertise it.
The next and last Agenda Item was where to put the HR office. After a lot of talk, it was decided to put the office in the BOCC’s building. Some renovations would be necessary.
For more information on open county positions see https://www.custercounty-co.gov/employment
Job Description Summary
The Director of Finance and Accounting for Custer County
The Director of Finance and Accounting for Custer County, Colorado, is responsible for overseeing the county’s financial systems and operations, including managing accounting records, preparing financial reports, and ensuring compliance with auditing and accounting standards. This role involves supervising the finance department, monitoring departmental budgets, and acting as a financial advisor to the County Commissioners and other officials. The director also plays a key role in developing and administering the county’s budget and capital improvement plans, while ensuring efficient financial internal controls and compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. For the full description click here.
Hedberg Attacks Another
Custer County Citizen Files Spurious Criminal Complaint Against Commissioner Canda
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
updated January 5, 2023 (See links to more documents at the end of the article.)
In a scene that regrettably seems to happen over and over again, the Editor of The Wet Mountain Tribune, Jordan “Red Bug” Hedberg, has again viciously and without merit, attacked another Custer County conservative citizen. This time it was Custer County Commissioner Bill Canda.
In September, Hedberg filed a Criminal Complaint against Canada alleging Criminal Forgery and Abuse of Office. Wow! To get to the bottom of this, we contacted Commissioner Canda to get the facts, and as you will see, reality collides with Hedberg’s false allegations. Again.
As a preface to our findings, below is background on the scandal and Canda’s comments on what went down.
Where did this start, you may ask? It is about the Braden Wilson/County Manager fiasco that Commissioners Kevin Day and Tom Flower manufactured, which in the end, predictably, caused the County great harm and money. The one guy who tried to stop the County Manager (CM) inside job was Commissioner Bill Canda. And for his completely legal and courageous move to attempt to block the blood money severance paycheck to Wilson because he believed the CM Contract was invalid, Hedberg then, out of pure malice and vengeance, filed a criminal complaint in September with the Custer County Sheriff and the 11th Judicial District Attorney alleging that Canda committed criminal Forgery and Abuse of Public Office when he went to the local bank which has the county’s accounts, and filled out a Stop Payment Form on a $54k check written to Wilson after he was fired. The $54k check was composed of regular salary and benefits from Wilson’s last days as Finance Director and a $45k “severance” payment (which was included in Wilson’s CM contract upon the insistence of Day and was in effect the moment Wilson was hired. Day inserted the poison pill penalty in an attempt to restrict any future BOCC from firing Wilson. It was completely unethical.)
As we will see, as Canda pointed out in our interview, Hedberg’s complaint was completely devoid of merit, filled with erroneous facts and allegations, and motivated solely by Hedberg’s long time push to discredit Canda due to a variety of past issues: Canda led the way to “open up” Custer County during the Covid debacle which Hedberg histrionically resisted in his newspaper; Canda also defended our Public Health Director against Hedberg’s unrelenting and unproven accusations against the Director; and Canda’s voting to give the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel the County’s Legal Notices contract instead of to the Tribune (which hurt poor Jordy’s feelings.) (Hedberg’s irrational hatred for Canda recently manifested itself again, with Hedberg, a very recent “registered Republican”, endorsed a very left-wing unaffiliated candidate running against life long Republican Canda in the recent election cycle by displaying her campaign posters in the Trib’s window. Note no other candidates’ campaign signs were visible. That sign posting, folks, is all you need to know about Hedberg’s RINO leanings and his hatred of Canda.)
So, what happened? During Commissioners Day and Flower’s battle to force the county to create the County Manager position last year, and bully their candidate, Wilson, into the position, Commissioner Canda fought tooth and nail to stop it. Day and Flower cut corners, refused to post the job for a reasonable length of time and violated multiple provisions of the Colorado Open Record Act, Section 3.5 which states the procedure that must be followed to create an executive position in a county. The two commissioners ignored the statutory provisions and voted to create the position, write a CM employment contract with an unethical poison pill severance clause and then hire their pre-chosen candidate, Wilson, for it.
This was flat out dirty, dirty, inside politics. Like stuff you see in Denver. No place for that here.
Commissioners Day, Epp, and Canda
Just after they hired Wilson, recall candidate winner, Lucas Epp replaced Flower as County Commissioner. In one of the very first meetings after Epp was sworn in, Canda and Epp voted to eliminate the CM position and Wilson. That happened near the end of the meeting. Right after that, hearing that Wilson no longer had the job, the new Finance Director, without being authorized by the BOCC, cut a $54k severance/salary/benefits check for Wilson and stamped Day’s name on the check as signor. She then immediately gave the check to the fired Wilson. Wilson had only “worked” as CM for five days. (So he got $45k of our tax money for nothing. Thanks, Day.) The Commissioners knew nothing about this outrageous act. (Internal controls? Nonexistent in the Custer County Finance Department.)
When Canda found out about it, he immediately went to United Business Bank and asked to fill out a Stop Payment Form to stop the check. According to Canda, his basis for doing this was his belief that the CM contract was invalid and void as the BOCC did NOT follow the state law on creating the CM position and the hiring process was bogus.
Canda said that he believed the CM contract was invalid and void, and thus the severance payout was invalid. At the bank, Canda requested a Stop Payment Order. When the bank clerk produced the computer-generated form. The form had the County’s Treasurer, Virginia Trujillo name preprinted on the form in the signor area, under the signature box. See below:
Canda, as a VALID ACCOUNT SIGNOR, and as a County Commissioner, lined out the Treasurer’s printed name and title, and signed his name and printed his title, “Vice Chair”. Perfectly legal. Zero forgery.
Not much later, after Day called Trujillo and told her what happened, Trujillo called the bank and said Canda did not have the authority to do that and to cancel the Stop Payment Order. As we will see, Trujillo did NOT have the authority to do that. Only the County Commissioners, all three of them, have the SOLE authority to distribute county funds (with some minor and narrow exceptions for the County Clerk and Treasurer to execute their duties in those offices.) The Treasurer has NO authority to control BOCC disbursements. Note that CRS 30-10-707, “Treasurer to Receive and Pay Moneys”, explicitly states that the BOCC is totally in charge of disbursements, “It is the duty of the County Treasurer to receive all moneys belonging to the county, from whatever source they may be derived, and all other moneys which are by law directed to be paid to him. All moneys received by him for use of the county shall be paid out by him only on the orders of the board of county commissioners, according to law, except where special provision for the payment thereof is otherwise made by law.” (Emphasis GG.)
The Commissioners decide who gets paid. Not the Treasurer.
At the next BOCC meeting Day made a big deal about Canda not having the authority to do what he did and what he did was bad, but, as it turns out, Day was again dead wrong.
Canda said that CRS 30-11-107, “Powers of the Board”, clearly states that only the BOCC can disburse county funds. (Plus, Canda was a registered, valid, signor on the account.) Thus, based on the shaky legal standing of the CM contract, and the fact THAT NO COUNTY COMMISSIONER SIGNED THE CHECK (the Finance Director, without any BOCC authorization, stamped Day’s signature on the check), Canda PROPERLY signed the Stop Payment Order. Trujillo, who does not have authority over disbursements, then later called the bank and cancelled the Stop Payment Order. So, Wilson got his $45k severance pay for a few days’ work and the county took a beating.
According to Canda, Trujillo did not have the authority to overrule a County Commissioner regarding the County’s bank account (e.g., the County’s bank account disbursements). The Commissioners have total control over disbursements according to Colorado law. In fact, the Treasurer’s name should not have been on the Stop Payment form. (It was there as a “place holder”. The form should have been blank as any Commissioner signor can sign a Stop Payment Order for disbursements.) Thus, Canda, with full legal authority, properly signed his name and title on the form.
Now, let’s take a look at Hedberg’s Criminal Complaint against Canda alleging criminal Forgery and Abuse of Office. In the Complaint, Hedberg alleges, “He committed these crimes when he went to United Business Bank in Westcliffe to attempt to place a Stop Payment Order on a check that was written by Custer County Treasurer Virginia Trujillo to former Custer County Manager Braden Wilson. William Canda knew that he was not the account holder, and he also knew that he had no authority to access the account or place a Stop Payment Order. Regardless, he falsely convinced the Bank Teller …”
This statement is at the very beginning of the Complaint. It is so wrong, it is laughable. Apparently, Hedberg, “Mr. Journalist”, failed to do any research or due diligence before filing this error filled and bogus Complaint. Note that the check was NOT “written by Custer County Treasurer Virginia Trujillo”. The signor was Kevin Day, as improperly stamped by the Finance Director. (Hedberg can’t even get right who signed the check! Good grief! This is the level of accuracy throughout the whole complaint. Totally incompetent.) And, “William Canda knew that he was not the account holder” is flat out wrong. He was indeed an account signor. In fact, he was one of the three people (the three Commissioners) who are actually in charge of disbursement for the account.
Hedberg alleges that Canda in signing his own name and title, as a valid signor on the account, and acting as a County Commissioner (who have sole control over disbursements in the account) somehow committed criminal FORGERY is a malicious attempt to harm an
innocent man.
Hedberg then states in the Complaint, “the document makes it clear that the only listed person on the account with authority is Virginia Trujillo and her office of the Custer County Treasurer.”
Just because a computer preprints the Treasurer’s name on the form DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE TREASURER IS THE ONLY PERSON ON THE ACCOUNT! Good grief, Hedberg knows the checks coming out of the County’s A/P system have Kevin Day’s signature on it. Maybe that is a clue that there might be more than the Treasurer on the account, Hedberg? In fact, if you had simply asked the bank or a Commissioner, they might have told who were the signors on the account and that Canda was one of them. The Treasurer has NO authority to control BOCC disbursements. (As noted above in CRS 30-10-707.)
Hedberg’s second criminal allegation, that Canda Abused his Public Office was stated like this: “In addition, when William Canda fraudulently altered the document and signed the document with his officially elected position as Vice Chairman of the Board of Custer County Commissioners in an attempt to maliciously cause financial harm to Braden Wilson, he Abused his Public Office under Colorado law § 18-8-404 which states: (1) A public servant commits first degree official misconduct if, with intent to obtain a benefit for the public servant or another or maliciously to cause harm to another, he or she knowingly: Commits an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official function; “
This claim is absolutely fraudulent. Like real fraudulent. Canda had literally ZERO malice here. As explained above, he had every right to try to protect the County based on the violations of the CORA provisions that occurred during the CM debacle which put the actual CM contract in dispute regarding its validity and the fact that no Commissioner authorized or signed the huge check. In fact, Canda was under a DUTY to protect the county and he did the right thing in signing the Stop Payment Order. (Remember, delaying the payment was not denying the payment. Canda wanted to determine if the CM contract was valid or not before paying Wilson. It was more than a fair reason to do it. It was a LOT of money.)
Section (1) (a) also was not violated. He was totally authorized as a County Commissioner and as a a Signor on the account to sign the Stop Payment Order. So that was another bogus allegation.
Let’s look at one more Hedberg false allegation, near the end of Complaint lament, “William Canda has already claimed in a public meeting on August 31, 2023, that he had the authority to place a stop-order payment to Braden Wilson and denied wrongdoing. But in my conversations with Virginia Trujillo and looking at Custer County laws, it is clear that William Canda has never had authority on the Treasurer’s bank account, and his actions of altering bank documents prove that he knew he had no authority whatsoever.”
Hedberg’s statement, “it is clear that William Canda has never had authority on the Treasurer’s bank account” is delusional. It is the County Commissioner’s bank account with regards to distributions according the Colorado law. Not the Treasurer’s. And, Canda WAS a signor on the account. Also, Colorado state law determines what the Commissioners’ authority is not “Custer County laws”. (Hedberg is so far off here it is unbelievable, and it looks like he is just making things up.)
Hedberg doesn’t stop there in his attempt to shame Canda; he called his homies at KRDO and told them about this and they start drooling like dogs over road kill as it is a Christian, Republican, career ex-military, Custer County Commissioner who is being accused of Forgery and Abuse of Office. For KRDO this couldn’t be any better. Canda says KRDO called him up but he wouldn’t talk to them as it was an ongoing criminal investigation. So without ANY verification of Hedberg’s (false) claims, they ran the story big time on their TV station and website. ( NOTE THIS LINK takes you outside the SDC Sentinel Website)
Thus, Canda was shamed publicly by Hedberg and KRDO FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING with the proper authority. Situation normal for libs.
And again, much government time and money is wasted on a false Hedberg allegation. (The DA had to process this bogus complaint, assign an Investigator to it and waste time writing up the report. At the same time, the DA has got a Custer County triple homicide case investigation case going on. Nice.)
(This story will be forwarded to the reporter who wrote the story at KRDO. And the GM. We’ll see if they issue a retraction or a follow up noting that Canda was falsely charged. We also will see if Hedberg issues a retraction. I doubt it.)
So Hedberg filed a bogus, malicious Criminal Complaint against the Christian, conservative, Republican, had his lib media homies, KRDO, play it up big time, and tried to destroy a good man’s reputation. SOP for Hedberg. The Complaint will be dismissed by the DA. But Hedberg doesn’t care. He’ll just look for the next victim.
Bill Canda did the right thing and he can walk tall. A shame allegation won’t ruin a good man’s reputation. The “man” that made the allegation is the shamed one. And everyone now knows where the shame, deceit, and dishonor lies. And it ain’t Canda.
Also see the 11th District’s statement concerning investigation which the Sentinel obtained after going to press HERE which shows that Commissioner Canda is indeed a signor on the County’s bank account.
BOCC: Some Audit Progress, Day Continues to Try to Kill Hiring a New Finance Director, Has Another Temper Tantrum
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
The November 30, 2023 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting started at 9 a.m. in their gilded throne room across the street from the main county building.
All three commissioners were in attendance: Chair Kevin Day, and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Canda brought up the Justice Center project. (Remember, the BOCC and the ex-county Sheriff, Shannon Byerly, spearheaded an effort to build a new “Justice Center” a few years ago that would include a big new jail, offices for most of the county officials, and a court complex that would rival Genghis Khan’s royal quarters. They said it would cost about $18 million to build but the county would wind up eventually paying over THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS for the 30-year bonds. The voters shot this down big time. The deal now is they are trying to build just a courthouse complex.)
Canda said the architect working on the project has a preliminary drawing of the building which would hold a courthouse, a courthouse employee complex and an area to house prisoners. He said it will be a modular design so additional sections can be added on later. Canda noted that the county “will decide later” on funding. (At the last courthouse committee meeting, based on the architect’s drawings and similar recently built courthouses in Colorado, we are talking around $18 million to $28 million to do JUST THE COURTHOUSE. That number is just the construction costs and NOT the finance cost. Based on current interest rates, the actual cost to the county could be $35 to $40 million. Insane.)
Canda said he was making good progress on getting the two TV stations’ broadcast translators up and running. He got the engineers from the two stations up to the hill and is getting firm prices on the job and the equipment needed. He is hopeful that it will be up and running by the end of January. (If you recall, this was Day’s job but he couldn’t get it done. Canda volunteered to take it over and is now making it happen.)
Epp then gave the Finance report. He said he and Finance are still gathering all the lease information from the various departments. (Remember, this lack of information on the county’s lease obligations was the big audit flag from the 2022 audit.) Epp then reviewed the progress they are making on the various other audit issues. He mentioned that the county’s accounting software company, CIC, is coming December 15th for a training session. The price that the county is paying for CIC also came up. It was previously mentioned that we are paying CIC around $200k a year. Epp said that was wrong, that we are paying them $50k a year.(Epp is doing a good job on cleaning up the Finance mess.)
In New Business, Canda said he is getting the 11 taxing districts in the county (e.g., library, Wet Mountain Fire, hospital district, etc.) together with the county’s assessor to figure out the deal on them lowering their mil levies to reduce our tax burden that the new property assessments will have on the taxpayers. (Note that the taxing districts don’t have to lower their rates. It is up to each district to make the call.) Canda said he hopes that the county’s property tax increase will be around two to four percent higher next year if they adjust down the mil levy. He said the school district has already lowered their levy 1.5%.
In Public Comments on this topic, the the West Custer County Hospital District spokesman said their ex-enses have skyrocketed over the last few years and they might not be able to reduce their tax burden
on us.
After some other comments, the head of the Custer County Democrat Party, James “Dr. Doom” Gilbert then blessed the audience with a rambling, convoluted discussion on “inflation”.
After this MENSA level discourse, he stated he was fine with NOT reducing the mil levy and having everybody cough up huge money for the county and the tax districts. (What alternative universe are these libs living in? Nice to be rich, Dr. Doom.)
The TV station fix was up again. Canda said the contractor recommended a self-contained cabinet for the TV translators. The contractor will submit a bid shortly.
It was mentioned that there were three or four applicants for the Human Resources Director’s job.
The contentious County Finance Director job posting then came up. Canda said he would like the county to post the job next week and have it widely posted and kept up for a long time so we can get a good number of candidates. This, of course, opened up a can of worms.
Epp then asked what the new Finance Director’s duties were going to be and how this will affect the current two people in the Finance Department. (Note that the BOCC voted in the last meeting to post the job, with Day voting no on that.) Day, refusing to accept the prior vote, then attempted to kill the move by saying the current staff in the Finance Department are getting the audit issues resolved (supposedly), finally saying, “I question the need of a new person.”
(The BOCC, in the last meeting decided to go forward with getting a new, QUALIFIED, Finance Director. Day is continuing to try to sandbag that decision. Folks, the county’s budget is around $9 MILLION a year. We have around 90 employees. A whole bunch of different departments. Tons of state and federal regulators to comply with. THIS IS NOT A BOOKKEEPING JOB. WE need a person with a real accounting degree, and good accounting and finance experience in this position. Plus, it looks like we might have to get a new county accounting system which means another conversion. We need a person who truly understands accounting to lead that conversion. Note that the recent conversion to CIC, under the ex-Finance Director Braden Wilson was very problematic. Wilson did not have an accounting degree.)
This discussion on getting a new Finance Director went on for a bit with Day refusing to get on board.
When Public Discussion was opened on this subject, the pro, new Finance Director advocates, and the ‘nay’ crew saying the current Finance Director, Lisa Bivins, can do the job, all went at it again repeating the same arguments as the last few meetings.
Of all the commenters, citizen Bill Parker made the best observations on the subject. (Parker is a very successful, retired businessman.) Parker started out saying “the qualified audit is a big red flag” and it is “not taken serious by you guys.” He addressed Day saying, “Kevin, you said the current staff is fixing the issues and you said we don’t need a new Finance Director.” Parker then went on to demolish Day’s position. Parker said, “We need professional help. We need a trained accountant in here to manage the Finance Department. You are kicking the can down the road again.” Addressing the staffing issue, Parker said, “I understand your concern about current county employees” but, “What about the concerns of the citizens about proper financial management in this county.” He continued, “We don’t want another qualified audit. We want the audit and books done in time. We need a trained financial manager.”
Addressing the fact that the commissioners want a workshop to determine the structure of the Finance Department and the employees’ duties, Parker stated the obvious, “The person who you are hiring knows how to organize the department. Why are YOU trying to do it. Let the new guy do it.” (Parker’s point is well taken. The commissioners want to discuss the whole structure of the department without knowing anything about how a professional Finance Department works. LET THE PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT WE ARE GOING TO HIRE FIGURE THAT OUT. HE KNOWS WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND HOW TO DO IT. Letting three people who don’t know squat about this trying to do it is a disaster waiting to happen plus it is a colossal waste of time. If you don’t know what you are doing, get some professional help.)
Nadine Petersen then spoke up. Trying to get things done rather than delay this forever, she asked, “Is there any reason why that job can’t be posted now?” (The answer is NO, except Day is trying to kill it.) She then said, “No reason not to post it today. We need a new Finance Director. Please post this immediately.”
Jimmy “The Plumber” McMahon took the stage at one point and did his ‘Day doesn’t know what he is talking about’ routine. Usual Jimmy. A little aggressive but nothing we haven’t seen before. His main point was Day is making bad decisions and hurting the county. Again.
A few more people commented pro and con on this. Joy Anderson, then spoke, “All three have no finance or accounting backgrounds.” (Meaning Wilson, Bivins, and the new Finance Director’s assistant. Which is insane. A $9 million dollar Finance Department with NO trained accounting people in it. You wonder why we are in trouble.) Attacking Day’s position, Joy said, “You really don’t want somebody in here with finance experience to see what is going on in the county. You don’t want a qualified person. You should be fighting for the most experience. YOU ARE KNOWINGLY BACKING PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB.” Joy continued with, there is “evidence that you do not know what you are talking about. What do you have against experience? Get the expert in there to organize the department.” (Duh!)
Somewhere during this melee, Canda said that most of the counties that he contacted during this Finance Director deal had Directors with accounting degrees. This comment somehow set Deb Adams, our lefty transplant from California, who is the county’s Tourism Board Director, off. She loudly and aggressively jumped on Canda saying, “You are lying” about the fact that other county’s Finance Directors have accounting degrees. She yelled at Canda saying prove it. Canda replied that he will get a list together and publish it or send it to Adams. (This was way out of line. The bottom line is Adams hates Canda cause she lost to him in the last county election and is seeking revenge in the usual lefty, hate filled way. Plus, Canda represents the left’s worst enemy, a career military veteran and a devout Christian. This little vignette represents exactly the battle going on here in Custer County and in many parts of our country. The progressive left, like Adams, from failed leftist cities and states, move to rural America to escape their own failures, and then try to change our moral, Christian places into the stinking, godless cesspools they came from. Self destructive, self hating, sick people, folks.)
Some more jousting went on and finally it was quiet. However, it was not over. Day had another temper tantrum apparently triggered by McMahon’s comments and possibly Parker’s (Parker’s were absolutely polite while Jimmy’s was a little aggressive but not over the top). Day, visibly angry, raises out of his throne, points his finger towards the back of the room, yells, saying you “three” back there are “disrespectful” and he will not put up with it. If it happens again, he is going to have them leave. Day is all red in the face when he is saying this. He was pointing and yelling at McMahon, Parker and Len Arrigo. Parker said nothing wrong and Arrigo DIDN’T EVEN SPEAK AT THE MEETING! (Day, if you can’t take constructive criticism from the citizens of this county you are in the wrong job, dude. If it wasn’t for these guys, Nadine, Joy and Miles, trying to help the BOCC through difficult times, we would be in a world of hurt. You should be thanking these folks for all the time and research they have done. It is the citizens’ RIGHT to criticize public officials when they have done bad. Put your big boy pants on and thank these people for the help they are bringing to the table. And put that temper to bed. No room for that here. You are a politician, Day. Not a dictator. And somehow, Day, Adams aggressively calling Commissioner Canda a liar with NO evidence at all, is “respectful”? Why wasn’t she called out? Hmmmm….)
Yup, that was it. Another wasted BOCC meeting. We’ll see what happens next week.
by George Gramlich, News and Commentary
Sangre de Cristo Sentinel
Some background: Earlier this year Custer County Commissioners Kevin Day and Tom Flower pushed to dramatically change the structure of our county government by adding a whole new, all powerful, layer of government to our small structure: That is creating the position of a County Manager (CM) who basically would run the whole show. Apparently, Day and Flower thought that the job they were elected to do was overwhelming and they didn’t have enough time to attend meetings around the state with our bureaucrats and elected officials begging for money. So, they wanted somebody to do their work for them.
Well, that didn’t go well with the citizens of Happy Valley and they made a huge stink. Day called a workshop meeting, and the citizens flattened him and Flower. Commissioner Canda volunteered to form a study group on that idea and to also review the entire county government structure and function. Day and Flower then backed off waiting until Canda’s study group gave their report.
