HomeMy WebLinkAbout770958.tiff • MINUTES
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL
May 31, 1977
The Weld County Council met in special session in full
conformity with the Weld County Home Rule Charter at
9th Avenue and 9th Street, Greeley, Colorado, May 31,
1977 at the hour of one thirty.
ROLL CALL: The meeting began with an invocation by Nancy Clark, President.
The following members were present:
Nancy Clark, President
Bob E. White, Vice President
John T. Martin, Councilman
Floyd Oliver, Councilman
Bob Martin, Councilman
Also present: Mr. Bob Miller, District Attorney; Mr. Thomas David,
County Attorney; County Commissioners: Mrs. June Steinmark, Chair-
person; Mr. Leonard Roe; Mr. Ed Dunbar; Mr. Norman Carlson; Mr.
Victor Jacobucci. Also present: Mr. Clarence Tietmeyer; Mr. Jerry
Burnett; 6 other landowners; five members of the press; and
secretary, Bev Thomas.
MINUTES: Floyd Oliver made a motion the minutes from the regular May 18, 1977
meeting and the minutes of the special May 25, 1977 meeting be
adopted. John Martin seconded the motion and it was unanimously
carried.
CORRESPONDENCE: Copies of the County Correspondent were distributed. Nancy
Clark read a memo from Mrs. Steinmark regarding the use of abusive
language being endured by the County switchboard operators.
John Martin presented the Council's press release for June, 1977.
Nancy Clark assigned Council member Bob Martin to write the next
press release to be ready by July 1, 1977.
Nancy Clark noted an invitation by the Greeley Stampede Committee
for the Council members to ride in the July 4th parade. It was
decided to inform them who would be participating at a later date.
OLD BUSINESS: Nancy reported that Mr. Gray of Stone, Gray and Company had
two men whom he would like to immediately get involved with the
Council's proposed audit of the Road and Bridge Division. Mr. Gray
suggested that the Council meet with these men so they could receive
some direction from the Council. Then they could do preliminary
investigating for several days and report back to the Council their
initial findings and give some idea of cost. A meeting time was
arranged for Thursday morning, June 2, 1977 at 10:00 A.M.
REPORTS
FINANCES: Bob Martin stated that there were apparently no payments being
made for Special Legal Counsel in the Encumbrance Claim Cis+-
770958
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County Council Minutes ' Page 2
_..,.,,.May 31, 1977
USE OF ATTORNIES BY THE COUNTY COUNCIL: Mr. Thomas David presented
his problem of conflict of interest in fulfilling his duties because
he is primarily counsel for the County Commissioners, but at the
same time has been asked to give legal help to the Council. This
conflicts with his initial, professional loyalty to the Commissioners.
He recognized that the County Charter provides that the department of
law will represent all county officials. He felt that the Council
would be better represented by independent legal counsel to insure
the total loyalty of their counsel.
Mr. Bob Miller stated that from the beginning his duties were
strictly controlled by state statute which he does not believe the
County Charter can alter. He could forsee the legitimacy of himself
as the Council's counsel being questioned. Bob said that he had no
problem representing County officials he had traditionally represented
but he wondered if a county can add elected officials to those listed
in the state statutes.
Bob Martin suggested that there waemany things in which the County
Attorney could advise the Council that would not be in conflict with
the interests of the Commissioners. Ed Dunbar said that it was in
the interest of the people of the County and economy for both groups
to use the County Attorney when possible. However, Mrs. Steinmark
pointed out that the County Attorney might begin to help the Council
with a matter that seems to have no conflict, but in the end a
conflict would develop.
Mr. Davis stated that the present state statutes have no
provisions made for county councils. He said he felt the Council
was entitled to better than piecemeal representation. Neither he
nor Bob Miller saw any problem with the Caancil hiring their own
special legal counsel.
Nancy Clark said that initially the Council would have to make a
decision regarding who would write their resolution regarding the
Loustalet conflict of interest case. Bob Martin moved that the
Council ask the District Attorney to draw up the Loustalet
resolution. John Martin seconded the motion. Discussion followed
regarding what type of counsel the Council should have. John
Martin suggested the Council use the District Attorney until they
got someone else. The District Attorney disclosed he had counseled
with Mr. Loustalet in the early stages of his conflict problem and
so Mr. Miller felt he was unable to write the Council 's resolution
on that matter. The motion was defeated.
Nancy Clark suggested each member of the Council bring a name of an
attorney who might represent the Council to the June 2, 1977 meeting.
Nancy assured the Commissioners that the Council would be having
further discussion on this problem.
County Council Membp-c Page 3
May 31, 1977
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE COUNCIL AND THE COMMISSIONERS: Nancy Clark said
that a communication problem between the Council and the Commissioners
had been obvious and the Council was interested in resolving the
problem.
Ed Dunbar said that the Commissioners are receptive to advice and
recommendations from the Council as outlined in Section 13-8 (6)
of the County Charter. He said that recommendations as to how to
improve County Government were welcomed. He felt that the Council 's
previous presentations had not been adequately researched. He then,
upon invitation of Council members, gave several examples of
statements that he felt the Council had incorrectly given out
regarding the Dunbar conflict of interest case.
Floyd Oliver asserted that no Council member had made obviously
untrue statements, and that he felt it was important that the
Commissioners verify the validity of statements that they hear. It
was mentioned that the press, while usually doing a good job, often
thrives on conflicts and that statements found in print should be
verified with their source for validation and context. Nancy Clark
emphasized that such problems and misunderstandings could be cleared
up with regular communication between the parties involved.
John Martin asked what authority the County Commissioners have to
rule on conflict of interest and Mr. David explained that the
Commissioners issued a resolution on conflict of interest on his
advice. He stated that if the Council thought that was out of
order, the Council should have taken the Commissioners to court.
Mrs. Steinmark said that she felt the Council's lack of consistency
in giving rulings on conflict of interest indicated that the Council
was not sure in its mind what constituted a conflict of interest.
She felt strongly that the decision should be made in the courts
as to who has the final say regarding conflict of interest. She said
the Council's option regarding the Commissioners resolution on
conflict of interest was to file suit against the Commissioners.
Nancy Clark stated the surprise of the Council in saying that the
Council had no idea they should file a big lawsuit and cost the
County a lot of money. Mr. David stated that such a suit was a
simple and not costly procedure. Nancy noted that the Council
had certainly learned from that discussion.
John Martin said that he did not feel that the Charter was written
in a spirit which requires going to court to enforce its provisions.
In any case, he thought it would be the role of concerned citizens,
not the Council to initiate lawsuits.
Victor .Jacobucci said that the Council should completely stay away
from policy and just make recommendations such as having Mr.. Loustalet
make a disclosure every six months regarding his conflict of interest
stock. John Martin said that when the. Council begins making policy
County Council Minute: Page Pa e 4
May 31, 1977 g
•
they should be told by the Commissioners they are stepping out
of bounds. A heated discussion ensued as to the reasons behind the
Council's decision that Mr. Loustalet did not have a conflict of
interest.
Bob White felt that the idea the charter expresses about conflict
of interest is that those persons who think they have a conflict
have a chance to bring it out in the open. Nancy Clark said
that there was little information available as guidelines for
making conflict of interest decisions and that the Council was
attempting to gather such materials as they could locate.
Leonard Roe stated that he had received only two detailed written
reports from the Council. He suggested that so the Commissioners
would not be dependent upon the media for their information, the
Council should provide written, detailed reports including their
recommendations. Nancy Clark said that the Council had so far
concentrated their efforts on a few projects; their reports would
not be coming with any regularity or frequency. The Council will
gladly share such reports as they do compile.
Council members suggested an interest in changing their meeting
times to a time that the Commissioners could sometimes attend.
Mrs. Steinmark said that Mondays and Wednesdays were impossible
for them. Leonard Roe suggested that the Council members also
make an effort to attend the Commissioners ' meetings.
LANDOWNERS FROM DROVER AND HEREFORD AREA: Nancy Clark recognized a group
of eight landowners from the Grover and Hereford area who spoke
to the meeting about the serious problems with the roads in their
area. The Commissioners stated that the roads, though in bad
condition, would not be allowed to revert to gravel. Eventually,
they would be significantly upgraded. The County policy to have
less newly-oiled roads and to hold on to the ones already in
existence was stated. Mr. Jerry Burnett was concerned about how
long it would take to get more oil in their area as it had taken
twenty years to get what they had.
sides
Mr. Clarence Tietmeyer said that he thought the best roads in their
area I the ones requiring the least maintenance were the gr sside
roads. Tie thought the County should pursue this type or road, and
said that in many cases the landowners would even provide the seed.
This would solve the problem the farmers have when the County
continues to blade the existing gravel roads and thereby backsloping
into the landowners' wheat fields, and spreading bind weed which at
the same time money is being spent to control.
CENTRALIZATION OF ROAD AND BRIDGE: Mr. White told the Commissioners that from
the Council's first discussion of having an audit of Road and Bridge
the Council had wanted to talk over the matter with the Commissioners
and make sure any recommendations would be utilized.
County Council Minutia' ^ Page 5
May 31, 1977
Mrs. Steinmark said that morale goes way down in a division when it
gets the kind of publicity that the Road and Bridge Division had been
receiving. The Division had even lost employees recently.
Bob Martin raised the matter of what time the Road and Bridge person-
nel report to their work sites. Ed Dunbar said that they do go out
to the job site and return to Greeley on County time which puts them
on the job late in the morning. He was corrected by Mrs. Steinmark
and Leonard Roe. Leonard stated that since the fifteenth of January
the personnel were at the job sites at 8:00 A.M. , and returned on
County time. He further stated that it was futile to argue about
such discrepancies at this time. He said that since the Council
was hiring an investigator such discrepancies could be checked out
and if problems really existed they could be reported to the
Commissioners by the Council.
Ed Dunbar expressed his feeling of frustration concerning the
Commissioners' loss of touch with the public since the centralization
of Road and Bridge. Victor Jacobucci explained the process now
required to write memos to be handed down through the chain of
command to attempt to solve problems that are referred to the
Commissioners. The lack of direct control the Commissioners now
experience, and their lack of direct contact in the hiring process
was expressed. Floyd Oliver stated that he feels that having control
over the man at the top is till the most crucial factor.
Leonard Roe said that he thought centralization of Road and Bridge
would improve the division, but it would take time for the bugs in
the new system to be worked out. Bob White stated that this was the
very reason the Council had decided to have the performance auditors
look into the system and find ways to improve it. Mrs. Steinmark and
Leonard Roe agreed that that was a wise decision. Mrs. Steinmark said
that it was obvious that after having three districts for so many
years and then going to a new system that after only six months
there may still be problems.
Nancy Clark welcomed the Commissioners attendance and input to the
meeting the Council had scheduled with Stone, Gray and Company on
June 2, 1977.
MISCELLANEOUS: Bob White wanted to clarify to the Commissioners that none of
the Council members were planning to run for County Commissioner and
that furthermore he felt that none of them would be able to get a
nomination from either party because of the nature of the Council's
role.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Bev Thomas APPROVED41,n g-_/ ( • (
Council Secretary
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