HomeMy WebLinkAbout841341.tiff 'a'
..._._ ._ .._.. •,nn,nI4o`
r i
MINUTES
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL I JUN 1 1 1984
May 3, 1984 4'tto d�
Tape 84/135-136 GREELEY. COLO.
The Weld County Council met in regular session in full conformity with
the Weld County Home Rule Charter at 915 Tenth Street, Greeley, Colorado,
May 3, 1984, at 1 :45 p.m.
ROLL CALL
The following members were present in person: President Ralph Waldo,
Vice President DeAnn Emerson, Patricia Anderson, Don Elliott, and Bill Rupp.
Also present for the meeting were three members of the press and the Council
secretary.
MINUTES
Don Elliott made a motion that the minutes of April 19, 1984, be approved
as written. DeAnn Emerson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
ADDITIONS AND/OR DELETIONS
DeAnn Emerson asked that a Report to the People be reviewed by the Council
members for possible release.
Bill Rupp requested a discussion of bidding procedures.
APPOINTMENTS
The President reminded the Council of their upcoming appointments. Bill
Rupp volunteered to make an appearance before the Board of Commissioners at
their May 23 meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE
The President made the Correspondence File available for the individual
review of Council members.
REPORTS
Bill Rupp was unable to make a report on the Strategic Planning Meeting
as he did not attend.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
In the April 19 Council meeting, a motion was passed that the status of
the Commissioners' overpayment would be audited monthly by the Council and a
Report to the People be made. DeAnn Emerson circulated a draft of a news
release for editing by the Council members prior to submitting it to the media
for publication. Bill Rupp informed the Council that Don Warden has prepared
a letter to each Commissioner indicating a schedule for repayment.
The following resolutions were signed at this meeting: Resolution 42
regarding 1987 and 1988 salaries of County Commissioners and Resolution 43
regarding a conflict of interest ruling for Steven Ley.
On April 25 the Council wrote a memo to the Board of Commissioners asking
for their interpretation of the contract with the Council 's auditor, Hyland
Associates. Since no reply was received, Don Elliott moved that a recess be
called. Bill Rupp seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. The meeting
was recessed at 2:00 p.m. and called back to order at 2:10 p.m. Ralph Waldo
and Bill Rupp reported that Don Warden stated the Council has $10,000 per year
841341
toy n -(Psy
l /"'N
MINUTES, WELD COUNTY COUNCIL PAGE TWO MAY 3, 1984
available for auditor expenses. Mr. Warden said he will have the commissioners
sign a letter stating such to the Council . DeAnn Emerson made a motion that,
depending on when Mr. Hyland would be able to begin the Road and Bridge Depart-
ment audit, a worksession be planned. In this worksession, the Council could
outline some guidelines they would like Mr. Hyland to follow in his study. The
motion was seconded by Don Elliott and passed unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
Bill Rupp moved that the April bills be paid. This motion was seconded
by Don Elliott and carried unanimously.
Bill Rupp stated that he would like clarification on county bidding procedures.
On March 14, the Commissioners awarded a contract to Edwards Chevrolet, even though
Pennington GMC of Denver was the lowest bidder. The Commissioners said the reason
they did so was to show preference to a local firm which was within 1% of the low
bid. On March 21 , the Commissioners awarded a contract to Pennington GMC even
though the lowest bid from a local firm, Greeley Dodge, was only 4% higher. Since
both instances were within the 5% guideline normally used, Mr. Rupp said he would
like an explanation of the rationale followed. He then made a motion to invite
to the June Council meeting the appropriate individual to explain this question.
DeAnn Emerson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Patricia Anderson moved that the meeting be recessed at 2:40 p.m. as there
was no further business to discuss until the scheduled executive session at 3:00
p.m. DeAnn Emerson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
An executive session was called at 3:05 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter.
The regular meeting reconvened at 4:10 p.m.
REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
Patricia Anderson made a motion that the Council release for publication
the Report to the People presented by DeAnn Emerson. Don Elliott seconded the
motion with all members voting yea except Bill Rupp. Mr. Rupp abstained from
voting, saying he was uncomfortable with the process being followed.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The time of
adjournment was 4:15 p.m. , on May 3, 1984.
The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, June 7, 1984, at 1 :45 p.m.
Ralph E. Waldo, Jr. , Presi nt
Vicky S r gu , S etary
Date approved
fei(47;y mEmoRAnDuh
WIDeTo All Elected Officials Date May 4, 1984
COLORADO From Weld County Council
sub;.ctReport to the People
In accordance with the Home Rule Charter Section 13-8-6
and Section 13-8-7, the Weld County Council is sending you
a copy of the enclosed Report to the People.
WELD MINTY COMMISSIOAEA$
0 CEIVE
MAY 0 4 1984 111
' 35"
CREEL . COLO.
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE - REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
P. 0. BOX 758
GREELEY, CO 80632 May 4, 1984
356-4000, extention 4780
We want to report that as of May 3, 1984, the Office of the
Commissioners has not returned the overpayment or made satisfactory
arrangements for the return of the entire amount, $17,312.
We, the Weld County Council , do not find the handling of this
situation on the part of the Commissioners acceptable or creditable.
We once again call for the return of the $17,312 to the General
Fund of Weld County.
The following are our answers to some questions asked and accusa-
tions levied.
THE WELD COUNTY COUNCIL
alph E. Waldo, Jr. , Presmden
n
WELD COUNTY COUNCIL - REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
To the Editor and readers of the
QUESTION: What are the accusations levied against the Council?
ANSWER: The Council is accused of being inefficient, irresponsible,
incompetent, unprofessional , unnecessary, loud mouths, trouble
makers, witchhunters, late with the information to the people of
Weld County, plus a few more choice words.
All this because we discovered an error of over $17,000 in over-
payment of the commissioners. No wonder we are not liked. We
make it difficult sometimes to pull the wool over the eyes of
the people.
QUESTION: How did it go?
ANSWER: A. We found a problem--overpayment of County Commissioner salaries.
B. We requested an explanation from the Finance Director.
C. A document was produced that was false--a letter that was
purportedly from the County Council .
D. Letter and other evidence found by the Council was given to
a special prosecutor.
E. Approximately six weeks into the investigation, the Council
informed the people of Weld County.
QUESTION: If the Council had not found the problem, who would have? Would
it have ever surfaced?
ANSWER: Let's see:
The Budget Director didn't find it.
The budget balanced.
County auditors didn't find it.
Outside auditors didn't find it.
Commissioners didn't know it, or did they?
Who's left?
QUESTION: Why did it take so long to discover it?
ANSWER: We assumed, obviously in error, that the Commissioners would
follow an official three-year-old document dated and signed in
1980 by five members of County Council (Resolution 22). The
document plus seven copies was delivered to the Commissioners'
office in 1980. Where are they?
QUESTION: Why did they not follow Colorado State Constitution Article 12,
Section 11 , which forbids increasing salaries of elected officials
in the middle of a term?
ANSWER: No acceptable answer given.
Report to the People, Weld County Council Page 2
QUESTION: Why did they not follow Home Rule Charter Section 3-9--
Compensation.
1 . Compensation of members of the Board shall be fixed by
the County Council .
2. No member' s compensation shall be increased or decreased
during his term of office, except as permitted by law.
ANSWER: No acceptable answer given.
QUESTION: Why do they not follow the Weld County Administrative Manual?
(Adopted August 2, 1983, by the present Board of County
Commissioners) Personnel - Payroll Policy, page 56.
Procedure to correct payroll errors.
When an error in pay is identified by either the department
head/elected official or the employee, they will notify the
Personnel Department immediately so all the corrections can
be made. It is the responsibility of the Personnel Department,
Accounting Department, department head/elected official and
employee to review pay information monthly to insure accuracy
and to report errors in a timely manner.
Any over or underpayment must be identified to the Personnel
Department for resolution. Should an error be discovered,
department heads/elected officials, or employees must notify
the Personnel Department immediately so that all corrections
can be made.
All overpayments discovered will result in a collection action
for the total amount. Retroactive pay will be calculated up to
a maximum of two pay periods prior to date of notification.
ANSWER: They have said that this section does not apply to them, due to
the fact they are elected officials.
QUESTION: Why didn't the Board of Commissioners take the honorable way?
Reduce their salary immediately, pay back the $17,312, admit
there was an error, and work to correct it immediately?
ANSWER: They appeared to be preoccupied with everything but the situation
of the overpayment.
Report to the People, Weld County Council Page 3
QUESTION: Why did they react "to the messenger, instead of the message"?
(Messenger - Weld County Council )
(Message - overpayment of commissioners)
ANSWER: They chose to lash out at the Council for having the audacity
to find fault and worse yet, point it out to the people. What
an eye opener! We thought it was their job to see these kinds
of screwups don't happen.
QUESTION: What about escrow?
ANSWER: The Council sees this as a "copout" as well as a flagrant move.
What is the purpose? Obviously they want to keep the "piddly"
(as they call it) sum of money. Maybe that is why we never
have enough to go around, (so they say). All of the 50 million
dollar budget maybe is handled as "piddly".
This is surely not a very wise investment since it goes into a
non-interest bearing fund - until when? Until the investigation
is over? So what? Or is it until there is a lawsuit and more
money is spent to get back what should have been returned in
the first place? Should the taxpayers have to spend $10,000
or any amount of money to get the money reimbursed to the county?
QUESTION: What about credibility? What about upholding the oath of office?
ANSWER: Sadly, they are still confused as to the real issues.
QUESTION: The Big Question: What else might there be?
ANSWER: No comment.
STATEMENT:
Remember, friends of Weld County, the Commissioners received
$17,312 overpayment of their salaries, which at this time, they
still have not returned.
The Charter calls for a Council that is the eyes and ears of
the people. As long as a Council is called upon to report to
the people, that is how it will be, regardless of name calling
or the implications.
WELD
�� �
COUNTY COUNCIL
Ralph E. Waldo, Jr. , Presi nt
Hello