The Custer County Board of County Commissioners solemnly declared January 31st as Ben Rusher Day in memory of Ben Rusher’s heroic effort to save his drowning brother last summer. Shown is Commissioner Printz reading and presenting memorial plaques to Ben’s father, John Rusher, and mother, Elin Parker Ganschow.
Photo by George Gramlich
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—December 29, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Commissioners Printz and Canda were present via phone. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Minutes for November 30th, December 5, 6, 7, and 14th were approved unanimously.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Canda had a great meeting with the Road & Bridge crew in Wetmore. He reported an enjoyable tour of the “world’s greatest grader.” He missed meeting with the folks from Wetmore at the Community Center but did get a tour. Regarding speeding issues on Kettle Lane, there will be one additional sign posted to let folks know that they’re approaching a speed limit change. He also attended the Airport Board meeting. Continue reading BOCC: December 29, 2017
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—December 6, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Since yesterday’s meeting, there were no Commissioner, Attorney or Admin Assistant items.
Staff Reports
Dallas Anderson, from the Airport Advisory Board reported that the Capital Improvement Plan was finished and submitted to the Aeronautics Board. The Advisory Board will draft a letter to one of the hangar owners regarding the rules for parking. Anderson discussed the board appointments with the commissioners and how his board could stagger two-year positions on the executive board. He also asked about getting road base put on taxiway three as there are individuals that want to build hangars that will use that taxiway. The Board asked him to put together a plan and to get with Gary Hyde from Road & Bridge about getting that done. After discussion, the Board agreed to allow the Advisory Board to have the authority and flexibility to change fuel prices as they see fit (within certain parameters) to make sure the Silver West Airport is competitive. And finally, after receiving a letter from the company that put the fuel pump in – regarding the disputed billing – it was agreed that Attorney Smith will send a letter inviting them to meet with the Board to negotiate a settlement. Continue reading December 6th BOCC: Staff Reports
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—December 5, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Canda continues making his rounds and will meet with Road & Bridge this week if possible. He hopes to go to Wetmore to have coffee with the residents at the community center.
Commissioner Flower asked what the commissioner items section of the meetings was for. Commissioner Printz informed him it was a time for the commissioners to report on what they’d been doing and any items of interest to the rest of the Board.
Commissioner Printz reported that he’d met with Jackie Hobby in the Zoning Office. Also he’s working with Dawna Hobby regarding the December 7th interview for the IT position and advertising the custodian position. Continue reading BOCC Meeting: Dark Skies, Bad Roads, CCEDC
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—November 30, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, Colorado
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Commissioner Items
All three commissioners reported on the CCI (Colorado Counties Inc) conference. The new commissioners commented on the quality of the training. Mr. Printz spoke with DOLA manager Christy Doon regarding broadband, Dark Skies and building issues. There were discussions with Representative Crowder about losing the Underfunded Courthouse grant. They were encouraged to apply again at the next opportunity.
Chairman Flower stressed the importance of making sure that the voters know how each commissioner votes on each issue. Kelley Camper stated that she lists these details in the minutes.
Attorney Items
Mr. Smith reported on the Planning Commission workshop. The Dark Skies issue was postponed until the December 11th meeting (1:30 in the court room.) He also reported on two airport billing issues that he’s working to resolve. Continue reading The New BOCC: November 30 Meeting
Commissioners Bill Canda, Tom Flower and Jay Printz.
Photo by Jackie Bubis
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)
—November 22, 2017
WESTCLIFFE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 10 a.m, after Tom Flower and Bill Canda were sworn in, with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Due to the size of the crowd, the meeting was held in the courtroom.
Attorney Clint Smith and Clerk Kelley Camper drew lots for a temporary chairman to open the meeting. Commissioner Printz won the draw. He opened the meeting. All three commissioners wanted the chairman position and reported why they would make a good chairman. The men then voted in a chairman (Tom Flower) and vice-chairman (Bill Canda) to serve until the first meeting in January.
Commissioner Canda and Commissioner Flower then took an opportunity to express their thanks and their priorities for the job of commissioner. Both expressed that the citizens are their boss.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz reported on a meeting with the Wetmore Community Center board. He stated that the Board accepted the idea that, with the future online streaming of meetings, the frequency of meeting in Wetmore might change. He also reported on the E911 meeting. Continue reading The New BOCC: November 22 Meeting
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—October 31, 2017
Westcliffe, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Mr. Kattnig was present via phone. County Attorney Smith was not in attendance. State Senator Crowder was visiting. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
The Board approved the minutes from the October 18th meeting.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz is working on the replacement for the sink at the Wetmore Community Center – after saying in the previous meeting that the Wetmore citizens were just stuck with it. The new one should arrive on Thursday.
Commissioner Hood commented that she has spoken with Centurlink and the phone lines that are in the tree at the Wetmore Community Center will be fixed no later than November 10th. She reported on attending the VSO workshop and commended Tim Swartz on the quality of the workshop.
Commissioner Kattnig had no items but welcomed Senator Crowder and also spoke of the success of the VSO.
Administrative Assistant Items
Mrs. Gaide reported that the grant for the Hermit Bridge project was received and that there needed to be a discussion with Road and Bridge Supervisor Hyde about what comes next. She stated that the live streaming test run last week revealed that the sound could not be heard. The work is ongoing to get that running. The contract with CTSI for health insurance was signed and meetings are set up with departments to get the applications completed. The savings to the county are in the range of $50K and she reported that the employees are pleased with the change.
Continue reading BOCC: Wetmore Sink, New Health Insurance, CCEDC Grants, Live Streaming Issues
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—October 18, 2017
WETMORE, CO
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. County Attorney Smith was not in attendance. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Hood reported that the Tourism Board will be hosting local organizations who want to get events on the calendar. That meeting will be at Tony’s Pizza on November 14th. She also emailed Bill Nobles and reported that the application deadline for the Custer County agent position is December 7th. She spoke about the four-day budget hearing process and stated that the Board did a really good job trying to approve all the budgets. She did mention that one elected official was a no-show. (Note: that elected official that she was chastising was Kit Shy, who only had one mandatory thing on his budget – his roughly $2K/year salary. Continue reading BOCC: Heated Discussion on Wetmore Center Building
In a possible historic first for Colorado, on August 24th, 2017, Custer County Clerk sent a letter to the Custer County Recall Committee stating that sufficient recall signatures have been certified thereby placing the entire Custer County Board of County Commissioners up for recall in the upcoming November 7th general election. (See page 23 for the letter.)
Research by Sentinel staff indicates that this is apparently a first for Colorado in that an entire county commissioner board has been successfully been placed on a ballot for recall.
County Clerk Kelley Camper also provided the recall petition statistics in her letter. Considering there are only about 3,700 registered voters in Custer County, the number of signatures gathered in just four weeks is impressive.
For Commissioner Bob Kattnig, there were 79 petitions turned in with a total of 833 signatures. 470 were required to put Kattnig up for recall. Out of the 833 signatures submitted, only 70 were disqualified leaving an impressive 763 valid ones.
A similar story for Commissioner Jay Printz with 814 signatures submitted on 78 petitions. 582 signatures were required to place Printz on the ballot for recall. Out of that, only 69 signatures were rejected leaving an emphatic 745 accepted.
A somewhat different story occurred in Commissioner Donna Hood’s recall effort. Due to the voting history in her district, a high number of signatures were required to recall her. That number was 735. The Recall Committee submitted 79 petitions for Hood with a total of 849 signatures. 71 of those submitted signatures were rejected leaving 778 valid ones, ensuring that Hood would be up for recall albeit with a tighter margin than Printz or Kattnig.
So, what’s next? After the recall was certified (August 24th), there is a 15-day dispute period where petitions can be challenged. After that, Colorado law has a five-day “Resignation Period”, where if one or more of the three Republican Commissioners resign, the Custer County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) gets to appoint a successor(s) to fill out the entire term of the resigned Commissioners. The CCRCC has ten days to fill any vacancies.
On the November 7th General Election Ballot, there will be a recall question for each commissioner. There will also be a recal petition statement and a commissioner statement from each commissioner The question will look something like, “Shall John Smith be recalled from the office of Custer County Commissioner?” There will be a “Yes” box or a “No” box to check. If there are more “Yes’s” than “No’s”, that commissioner is recalled. If there are more “No’s” then the commissioner will finish out his or her term.
Underneath the recall question will be list of one or more potential successor candidates that have successfully petitioned to be placed on the ballot for that district. Whether you vote “Yes” or “No”, you can vote for a successor candidate. The successor candidate with the most votes for that district will be the new Commissioner for that district.
Note that there will be a recall “Yes” or “No” for each commissioner and a separate list of successor candidates for each commissioner.
As we go to press, we know of seven citizens seeking to be placed on the ballot. Three of them, Bill Canda (District 1 against Commissioner Kattnig, Sandra Attebery (District 2 against Commissioner Printz) , and Kit Shy (District 3 against Commissioner Hood) are running as a “Slate” or team. Also announcing they will run are Dan Fischer (District 1), Richard Posadas (District 2) , Tom Flowers (District 3) and John Johnston (District 3). All Republicans need 300-plus valid petition signatures to be placed on the ballot.
by George Gramlich
Monday, August 14, 2017, marked a milestone in Custer County politics as the Take Back Custer County Recall Committee delivered 236 notarized recall petitions with enough signatures to have a recall election for each of the three Custer County Commissioners, Bob Kattnig, Jay Printz and Donna Hood. The recall election would be placed on the regular November 2017 election ballot at no extra cost to the county.
The Recall Committee was formed as a grass-roots, non-party affiliated, effort to replace the current Custer County Commissioners due to the Commissioners activities since Commissioners Printz and Hood were sworn in January 2017. Commissioner Kattnig took office two years ago. Some of the items that motivated the Recall Committee to form included the incredible mismanagement and lies surrounding the Colorado Extension Agent Robin Young affair; the seemingly endless drive to impose a building codes ordinance on Custer County despite the obvious vast majority opposition to it; the attempt to impose a ‘dark skies’ outdoor lighting amendment to the zoning ordinance that has criminal and financial penalties if you use the wrong outdoor light bulb or fixture; the continued public false statements by Printz concerning whether he is indeed returning the 30% salary increase to the county and not taking the county health benefits; more false statements by Printz concerning his repeated assertions that a building codes ordinance was required to get federal flood insurance; the failure of the BOCC to listen to the people in the public meetings on Young, building codes and dark skies; the obvious arrogant attitude by the BOCC towards the citizens of the county, both in public meetings and on the street; the disrespect shown to the Custer County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) by all three Commissioners when after they were elected in (Kattnig in 2015 and Hood and Printz in November 2016) and using the CCRCC to get elected, then failed to come to any of the regular monthly meetings. In addition, they incredibly refused to attend the most important CCRCC event of the year, the Lincoln Day Dinner (with Kattnig attending the Democrat dinner instead!); and the lies of omission during the campaign last year by Printz and Hood in failing to mention that their intention their top priorities after getting elected were building codes and dark skies.
The trio leading the recall effort and the signees on the applications for the recall were Custer County citizens Ann Barthrop, Ann Willson and Mike Haga. They in turn recruited a non-partisan Recall Committee team consisting of 61 Custer County residents who turned in a astounding 79 petitions handed in for Kattnig, 79 for Hood and 78 for Printz.
The Recall Committee needed the following number of signatures to place each Commissioner on recall in the November 2017 election: Hood – 735; Printz – 582; and Kattnig – 470. The Committee easily beat each number with citizens delivering an amazing 839 recall signatures for Hood, 780 for Printz and 780 for Kattnig. All in just four weeks!
The petitions were delivered to Custer County Clerk Kelly Camper last Monday who will review and certify each signature. If enough signatures are certified for each Commissioner, their name will be placed on the November ballot for recall. The ballot will ask if one wants to recall the specific Commissioner, yes or no, and will also allow one to vote for any candidate who successfully petitioned to get on the ballot.
Ann, Ann and Mike stated that they were honored to have a committee that worked countless hours and gave of their time to represent the voice of the Custer County citizens. The citizens have shown Courage, Bravery and Strength to have their voices heard in this recall effort and need to continue this effort and VOTE on November 7, 2017.
This is possibly the first time in the history of the State of Colorado that all of a county’s commissioners have been placed on the ballot for recall. This is huge, folks.
