Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

BOCC: County Attorney Showdown

by George Gramlich, News and Commentary

The February 13, 2025 Custer County Board of County Com-missioners’ (BOCC) meeting took place at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were in attendance: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.
In Commissioner Comments, Epp mentioned a bunch of meetings he attended since the last BOCC gabfest: CCI (a lobbying group for counties who are a member), a wages workshop with Human Resources, a Public Health meeting to talk about the impact of grants disappearing, met with CDOT on the courthouse sidewalk project and with Redmonds Consulting re: audit strategy. Epp noted as part of the courthouse sidewalk project, a new county employee parking lot will be built which would help with citizen parking next to the courthouse.
In New Business, the monthly Accounts Payable amount ($291k for January) was approved.
Resolution 25-03, Moving $146k
from the Tourism Fund to the Tourism Board was approved.
Next up was Resolution 25-04, approving $5,560 to the Airport from the Capital Improvement fund was ok’d. This was for the three airport gate upgrades.
Vernon Yoder’s Short Term Rental (STR) application was then approved.
The Horton STR application was recommended to be not approved by the Planning Commission, but the Commissioners approved it anyway. Some of the issues surrounding the application was that there were too many STR’s already in the area, the septic size and the shared driveway access. Continue reading BOCC: County Attorney Showdown →

Uncategorized

Feb 13 Custer County School Board Hears Staff & Community

Custer County School Board Prioritizes
Supporting Staff and Community

by Laura Vass
At the end of the February 11 Regular School Board meeting, The Custer County School Board went into executive session to discuss Superintendent Thom Peck’s annual performance evaluation, typically performed this time of year. The agenda item was, “The Board will vote to convene in executive session pursuant to C.R.S. 24-6-402(4)(f)(I) to consider a personnel matter, specifically to conduct the superintendent’s performance review.”
(We anticipated that the written review/appraisal would be more thorough than the last board’s short summary of the previous superintendent (Jackie Crabtree) in 2022 which did not appear to meet state requirements. The Superintendent’s 2025 evaluation for Thom Peck indicated areas of improvement needed on follow-through, policy adherence and improving academic performance. Though not a glowing evaluation, it left room for growth and stated clearly what remaining annual goals he should work on for the school as a whole. It’s available to the public on the school’s website.)
The following day, February 12th, school board members learned that information from the executive session was being shared by Mr. Peck with staff and members of the community. In doing so, the breach caused a major disruption and created discord in both the school and community, forcing the Board to take immediate action. For the Board to discuss Mr. Peck’s breach of executive session and resulting discord an emergency public meeting had to be held. Based on the full board’s availability and urgency of the matter, the best available date chosen was Thursday, February 13th. The agenda listed a public comment section and “DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS:
A: Superintendent Employment
B: Interim or Acting
Superintendent.”
School Board President Reggie Foster’s opening statement included, “Colorado’s Open Meeting Law has confidentiality protections around executive sessions. As the Superintendent of Schools, implicit in Thom’s participation in executive sessions with the Board is his obligation to maintain the confidentiality of those communications. Pieces of that confidential and protected conversation were inappropriately shared, but not in full context, with select members of the staff and public. I am sorry that any of you were put in that position.” Foster continued, “Such behavior is unprofessional and undermines the working relationship between the Board and the Superintendent.”
More than 70 people attended, including parents, community members, and staff. (This came on the heels of Facebook posts on February 11th, both complaining about and supporting Superintendent Thom Peck and the school’s bussing schedule. Apparently, those posts had little or nothing to do with the issues at hand but based on audience questions and comments contributed to the high meeting attendance.)
Board President Foster told the panicked crowd at the meeting that she wrote the agenda items “in a specific way because I did not know what was going to transpire today. We have really hard decisions to make. We pride ourselves on taking [in] all the information before we make a decision. And we are the only ones with all of the information.”
The Board did not comment much during the special meeting. (This is typical since meetings are held “in the public” but not “of the public”. All of those who wanted to speak were given two minutes to voice their concerns.) Note that the Board cannot discuss personnel matters outside of executive session so answers to questions were limited.
Responding to accusations of secrecy, hiding information and blindsiding the staff Foster said, “When a board, of any kind, is doing its job and upholding its oath, then personnel matters are maintained in confidence.”
True to Foster’s earlier professions of considering all information, the Board’s inactions demonstrated that they heard and were contemplating the messages of those who spoke in support of Superintendent Peck. Stories of Mr. Peck’s hallway interactions, outreach to the homeschool community and knowing the names of students appeared to resonate some importance with the members of the Board.
In what was a clear show of Board support for the staff and community and a possible willingness to put aside Mr. Peck’s breach of executive session, the meeting closed without utilizing the latter agenda items. In the end, it appears that the Board has set aside its business focused priorities of performance in favor of the staff’s pleas for stability.
Peck, who came aboard in 2024, currently has a salary of $123,000 per year. If the Board does make a future decision to terminate him, they would have to pay a portion of his remaining salary per his contract. The District would then have to determine an interim and possibly pay an interim’s salary. There would be no cost for another Superintendent search per the District’s contract with search firm McPherson and Jacobsen.
Mr. Peck, viewed by the hiring committee as the best candidate for the position last spring, was removed as a high school principal in Big Fork, Montana and faced a non-renewal of his contract in 2024 with Lewiston Public School Board, with no details available.

2025, Uncategorized

Kirkpatrick Bank Names Mike Steppenbacker To Lead Colorado

Kirkpatrick Bank Names Mike Steppenbacker
To Lead Colorado

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado
—January 28, 2025

Kirkpatrick Bank names Mike Steppenbacker as Colorado Market President and Head of Colorado Lending. He brings over twenty four years of experience to the role.
“We are extremely excited to have Mike join our team,” said Trent Stafford, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer for Kirkpatrick Bank.
Most recently, Mike served as Director/VP of Corporate Banking at Ent Credit Union, specializing in commercial lending and business banking oper-ations. Before joining Ent Credit Union, Mike held the position of Vice President of Business Banking at ANB Bank from 2005 to 2010. His foundational experience includes serving as a Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in Cleveland, Ohio, where he developed a deep understanding of regulatory compliance and banking oversight.
Mike holds an MBA from Colorado State University and a Bachelor of Science in Financial Management from Grove City College.
Mike has been married to his wife, Linda, for nearly two decades. Together, they are proud parents to three children, ages fifteen, thirteen, and eleven. Mike remains actively engaged in the community, serving as a youth basketball coach for seventh-grade club teams and strongly involved in his local church congregation.

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Joan Marie Kelly Barnett- Obituary

Obituary
Joan Marie Kelly Barnett

If it’s true that everyone leaves behind a legacy, then Joan Marie Kelly Barnett’s legacy is Love.  Born May 16, 1938, in Miller’s Crossing, Newfoundland, Canada, Joan passed away peacefully on February 6, 2025, in Cotopaxi, Colorado. In her final days, she was surrounded by loving family members and caregivers, all of whom adored her.
Joan’s deep faith was unshakeable, and her love of Jesus was always front and center. Her caring and caregiving nature meant she cherished people, especially those with special needs, whom she worked with for many years. Music
brought Joan great joy, and Leonard Cohen’s voice often filled her home. She saw the beauty in every-thing, particularly the
natural world, and she relished camping, hiking, and being outdoors. She could out-hike younger people well into her 70s and always enjoyed pointing out various plants and flowers like the lupines she loved.
Joan never met a stranger—only friends she hadn’t gotten to know yet. “Love,” “My Love,” and “Me Love” rolled off her tongue often and never failed to make the recipient feel like they were just a little bit extra special—even though everyone was special to her. She loved sharing stories about growing up in Newfoundland and her lifetime of travels around the globe, and she never failed to make people smile and laugh with her funny anecdotes and her charming “Newfie” accent. She was a wonderful cook and her fried bread was legendary.
Joan is survived by her devoted husband, David Barnett; her four sons: Rick, Ken, Glenn, and Paul Kreibich; her two sisters: Pauline (Kelly) Hines and Mary (Kelly) Rootes; two brothers, Emile
and Kevin Kelly; seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, as well as spouses and friends.
Joan was truly one of a kind—a bright light and a sweet and funny soul—and her absence is deeply felt. Rest in peace, Me Love.
A service will be held at 10 a.m on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Westcliffe, Colorado.

2025, Uncategorized

Cosme Daniel “Danny” Hernandez -Obituary

Obituary
Cosme Daniel “Danny” Hernandez

Cosme Daniel “Danny” Hernandez left us February 8, 2025. Danny was born in Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, in 1927, and from a very young age learned to be resourceful and quite the entrepreneur. His careers in Cuba included serving as a police officer, the Cuban Navy/Coast Guardsman which they call a Marine and he worked at an American electric company. It was the day he was handed a communist newspaper and told this is what he now was to read that he tore it into two pieces and knew it was time to go to the United States. Unfortunately, his family stayed behind in Cuba. He landed in New Jersey and once again his entrepreneurial spirit prevailed working multiple jobs, one of which was selling quality women’s dresses and jewelry. This would be his most important job as he met the love of his life when he sold several dresses to Hildalisa Chavez.
Quite smitten, she said to him she could not pay him in full but that he must come back weekly for payments. They were married August 30, 1963. Shortly after they married, they moved to Miami where they created their beautiful life together. Throughout their 62 years together, they traveled the world, visiting France, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Austria, to name a few. He was a successful business owner, always considering his family, supporting where he could. He was generous to a fault. Never denied any financial requests. A true living angel.
He even went back to Cuba decades later to visit his sisters and was able to build them a home with indoor plumbing. One of his proudest moments in life. Danny and Lisa were sweethearts to the end, always loving with each other, always holding hands, a true love story.


He will be missed dearly by all. He is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Hildelisa C. Hernandez, sister-in-law, Esther (Rodolfo, deceased) Barrio, niece Barbara (Ron) Beckner, and many many nieces and nephews and even more dear friends.

Memorial services to be held at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church, 109 South Fifth Street, Westcliffe, CO 81252, February 20,
2025 at 9:30 a.m.   Rosary at 9:20 a.m.

Uncategorized

Custer Deputies Bust Four Mexican Illegals Plus, a Sinister Twist

Custer Deputies Bust
Four Mexican Illegals
Plus, a Sinister Twist

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

About 1:25 p.m. on Wednesday, January 29th, Custer County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Santiago was patrolling State Highway 96 (aka, Hardscrabble Road, or just the Scrabble. It runs from Wetmore up the mountain to Silver Cliff and Westcliffe.) and got behind a somewhat older (2002) white Ford box van. Around mile marker 18 (near MacKenzie Junction). Noticing that the van had a defective taillight, the Deputy lit up his lights and pulled the van over. Continue reading Custer Deputies Bust Four Mexican Illegals Plus, a Sinister Twist →

2025, Uncategorized

Motions Hearing for Alleged Triple Murder Accomplice Kochis

Nancy Rae Medina-Kochis
Photo: 2023 Custer County Sheriff’s Office

by George Gramlich
The alleged accomplice to the triple murder in 2023 off of Oak Creek Grade, Nancy Rae Medina Kochis, had a “motions” hearing last Tuesday, February 4, 2025 in District Court in Custer County. District Court Judge Lauren Swan presided. The Defendant’s attorney was Mr. Cutler while the 11th Judicial District’s District Attorney, Jeff Lindsay, represented the state.
Ms. Kochis, who is out on bail, is charged with five Level 5 felonies in regard to the alleged homicides. The hearing was an attempt by the Defense to get the charges dismissed based on allegations that the Custer County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office were delinquent in delivering evidence to the defense.
Mr. Cutler called Custer County Detective Sergeant Elizabeth Robinson as a witness. Detective Robinson is the lead deputy on the case. Detective Robinson testified that there were over 200 pieces of evidence “discovered” or turned over to the defense including thousands and thousand of pages of documentation. Mr. Cutler, laboriously, attempted to show that a few items were turned over late. This went on and on. Detective Robinson explained over and over again how the process worked and how she responded to requests for information in a timely manner. It appeared that Mr. Cutler did not make much progress.
After Mr. Cutler was done, DA Lindsay reviewed the
evidence procedures with Detective Robinson and how the Public Defenders Office reviewed all the evidence at the Sheriff’s Office.
The result was that Judge Swan ordered another motions hearing on March 31, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. in District Court in Custer County.

2025, BOCC, Uncategorized

Jan 30 BOCC: Lawsuit, Roth Get FD Position, Attorney Drama

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”. Continue reading Jan 30 BOCC: Lawsuit, Roth Get FD Position, Attorney Drama →