HomeMy WebLinkAbout850823.tiff IIYLANll ASSOCIATES [ COP\F?
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1733 MISTER LANE ' CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO 80104 • TELEPHONE (303)088-6623
E. LAWRENCE HYLAND • CERTIFIED PROTECTION PROFESSIONAL
RAYMOND J. PDX
WILLIAM J. MALONE TREDERICE M. YOLZ r n 5'IM O,C fir,,,_,.5
September 10, 1984
t M, 1 '48o
Ralph Waldo, Esq .
WALDO c. WALDO
F. 0 . Box 775
Greeley, Colorado 80632
Dear Ralph,
Enclosed are reports of interviews with eleven more
individuals in Weld County who are familiar with the
County Engineer ' s operation of the Road and Bridge Division.
These individuals include retired, fired, and current em-
ployees, as well as citizens of Weld County who use the
roads, but all are qualified to comment on possible serious
deficiencies in the Toad and !ridge operation. This makes
a total of sixteen people who were interviewed in depth
durinc this audit .
The inquiries have been discontinued per your telephone
instructions. As a result several of the people contacted
have not been recontacted to sign their statements . This can
be done at a later date should you desire to reinstitute the
audit .
A final statement is also enclosed for that portion of
- the audit conducted after July 21, 1984 .
r
Sincerely,
E. Lawre le Hyland
Csset
850823
Mr . Loren Peden, 4949 State Highway 52, Dacona , Colorado
phone: 833-2239, was interviewed on August 9, 1984 . He furnished
the following information:
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Peden retired from the : oad and Bridge Division, of Weld
County on May 1, 1982 . He started as a Grader Operator on
September 1, 1969 . In approximately 1979 or 1980 the County
engaged an efficiency organization from Texas to review procedures
of the Road and Bridge operations . As a result of a review by this
group, it was decided by the County that Road and Bridge had too
many Grader Operators. Peden was transferred to the Bridge Dept .
under the direction of Dave Decker. That Fall Becker was promoted
and Dice McKnight was made the Bridge Supervisor . the following
Spring Peden was transferred to Richard Jump's crew. He was on
Jump's crew at the time he retired. Prior to being employed
by yield County Peden had spent many years in construction work
. for various companies operating heavy ,equipment . He started in
this work immediately after coming out of the U. S . Armed Forces
in 1945.
During the time Peden operated a Road Grader for Weld County
he worked under four different supervisors . Ed Horst was the
supervisor until he retired around 1972 . Don Morgaq took over
•
for about two years and was succeeded by Ed Glendenny, who was
supervisor for about three months . After Glenndenny, John Noyes
became supervisor until Peden went to the Bridge Department .
Peden believes that Noyes became supervisor sometime in the mid
1970 ' s . Noyes was a Road Grader at the time he was made supervisor.
He was assigned to the Dacona area, suceeding Peden's son, John
in that position. This was in the early 1970 ' s sometime around
1974 .
John Peden had made a request of the supervisor, Ed Horst,
to move a trailer onto the property on which the grader shack
was located. John was "turned down cold" . Without this incentive,
John felt that he "couldn't make ends meet", so he quit and went
into the dry cleaning business in the Denver area. Immediately
after John resigned Noyes was hired and given permission to move
a trailer onto the Road Grader property. Noyes has lived there
ever since. It is Peden's understanding that Noyes pays no rent
and all plumbing, heating and electric and foundation expenses
involved with the set-up of the trailer, were paid by Weld County.
About the only thing Noyes provided was the trailer. Peden is
of the belief that until approximately six months ago Noyes'
electric and heat bills were paid by the County as well . He is
also of the opinion that Noyes moved his trailer onto the property
before he ever started working for the CountyPeden�aware of
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all the forgoing information because of his close relationship
with John Peden and the fact that he lives in close proximity
of the Dacona Grader shack property .
At the time Noyes started work for Weld County he did not
know how to operate a Road Grader . To overcome this obstacle
Ed Horst, the supervisor at that time, put him with his (Noyes )
nephew, Earl Sturkle, (phonetic) who taught him how to operate
the equipment. Within a couple of months, after Noyes assumed
his duties, he was given a brand new Road Grader.
Peden has observed on many occasions that Noyes and his
son have brought automobiles to the Road Grader shacks, to work
on them. While working on the private cars the Road Grader
equipment is moved outside into the elements. Peden is certain
that the welding equipment and other tools operated by Noyes
and his son, use Weld County power, provided in the Road Grader
shack. It is Peden's understanding that Noyes and his son,
have bought numerous wrecked cars, fixed them up in the Grader
shack then resold them.
According to Peder. Noyes was "a joke" as a supervisor. He
was never around when he was needed and when he did come around
he gave the graders all the wrong information. It is Peden's
opinion that ?:oyes was totally inept and unqualified to be a
supervisor . At that time, Grader Operators were told to call
in and report the miles of road they graded . It is Peden ' s
opinion that the reports called in were highly inflated and
inaccurate . Supervisors were supposed to inspect the roads at
random to determine the quality of the work and the accuracy of
the reported work done . Peden never did see a supervisor inspect
this work while he was a Road Grader Operator or while he worked
on the Bridge crew.
Not long ago a reorganization went into effect with respect
to Road Grader Supervisors . Three Road Grader supervisory
positions were cut to two. Jack West was kept as a supervisor
for one of the areas . Dean Jackson and John Noyes were reduced
to Road Grader Operators, and Bud Small (phonetic) was moved from
the job of Foreman of the Road Repair and Sign shop to the second
supervisor's position. Noyes assumed his old position as Road
Grader for the Dacona area . Within the last month, on at least
three or four occasions, Peden has . seen Noyes returning to the -
Road Grader shack at Dacona about 2 :30 or 3 :00 PM. (Road" Graders
are supposed to be on the road at 8 :00 AM and not return until
4:30 PL. ) Peden has personal knowledge that on several occasions
Noyes has left the Road Grader shack at the same time as another
operator but will return to the shack within/6
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an hour or two and stay there until about 3 : 30 PN. He would then
leave the load Grader shack and return about 4 :30 P,1 about the
same time the other operator arrived from a full day's work.
Peden worked on the Fridge crew with Richard Jump, Andy Garcia
and Bay West . He stated that this was an exceptional crew that
produced a large volumn of work of very high quality. He also
stated that Richard Jump was "as fine a man as I ever worked
for" . He said Jump worked along side his men, not demanding more
from them than he himself was willing to give. Peden was of the
opinion that Jump' s dismissal was unjustified. It is Peden's
understanding that Jump's dismissal was due to excessive
accidents . Peden, having worked for Jump over a long period of
time, knows first hand that the alleged accidents were very minor
in nature and should not have been a cause for dismissal .
Peden is of the opinion that Jump's real problem was that he
spoke hp to supervisors and always said what he thought. Jump .
didn' t get along with Dale Elliott, Randy Hoover and Fuzzy Clymer.
This was to Jump's disadvantage since these three were well liked
by top management. Peden definitely felt that it was Weld County's
loss when Jump left the job .
N ti /`h
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Mr. Ali Zenhari, 7761 E . Easter Place, Englewood, Colorado,
telephone 773-3694 was interviewed on May 24, 1984 . He furnished
the following information.
He is presently employed as an engineer, in the office of
the Jefferson County Engineer, 1801 19th Street, Golden, Co .
telephone 277-8726 . He was employed as an engineer by Weld
County from 1/19/81 to 1/19/84 . He was hired by Weld County
engineer, Wayne Smythe who left the county in October, 1981 .
Drew Scheltinga was appointed to replace Smythe and became
Zenari ' s immediate superior. Zenari resigned his position at
Weld County because of "obvious" favoritism on the part of
Scheltinga which led Zenhari to conclude he would get nowhere
in the Weld County Engineer' s Office despite his qualifications.
Zenhari graduated from the University of Utah with a degree
of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, which was conferred
on him on December 16, 1976 . On July 16, 1982, he was certified
as a "Professional Engineer" by the Board of Professional
Engineers, State of Colorado . On September 19, 1973 he was
certified as a "Professional Engineer" by the Wyoming State
Board of Examining Engineers .
In approximately June or July 1982, the position of Admini-
strative Manager, in the Weld County Engineer' s Office was
created . Don Carroll a draftsman in the office was appointed
by Scheltinga to fill this position. Zenhari could not understand
why he had been passed over for this promotion but was not too
concerned because he felt it was the "end of the line" for Don,
whereas he (Zenhari ) would be given other opportunities superior
to that position. This was confirmed in Zenhari ' s mind by the
evaluation given to him by Scheltinga in July 1983 . Scheltinga
stated in the evaluation that Zenhari would be given the oppor-
tunity to advance if a position became available .
In September, 1983 , the position of Assistant County
Engineer became available . The position' was then advertised
in the paper. Zenhari told Scheltinga that he wanted the position
and wondered why it had been advertised since he Zenhari was well
qualified . Scheltinga told Zenhari that the Weld County Personnel.
Office had recommended that procedure , x ,
54. 41 Zanhari then went to
Dave Warden, Assistant Personnel Manager with the same question.
He pointed out to Warden that the Weld County Personnel Department
policy recommends promotion from within if cualified personnel are
available . Warden advised that Personnel had Q�-=�Yoncdi +
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Scheltinga tcpremee from within but he insisted on advertising .
Prior to these two contacts, Scheltinga had mentioned on
several occasions that his friend Rod Hutchinson was tired of
working in Denver and wanted to return to work in Greeley to
avoid the commuting problems . Zenhari surmised from these
circumstances that Hutchinson was "earmarked" for the position.
The ad in the newspaper stated that 10 years experience
was required . Zenhari is almost certain Hutchinson did not
have 10 years experience because he would have been qualified
to take the Professional Engineer Certification Examination.
This exam requires only 8 years experience to take it. Zenhari
feels he would have taken and passed the exam as soon as possible
since most people working in the profession do so.
As the selection process progressed, Scheltinga told Zenhari
that an interview panel board had been selected to interview
candidates . Scheltinga was a member of this board . He offered
to give Zenhari a copy of the questions stating "you should
have an edge" . Zenhari refused this offer.
At7Jr/ 4
On one T,_.^.• c-.ay in late October, 1983, Scheltinga stated
to Zenhari that Hutchinson had been selected for the position
because his experience exceeded that of Zenhari . Zenhari
disputed this and went to the Directo of Personnel, Pat
Persichino, the first thing the ne-' oning . Persichino and
his assistant, Dave Warden, advised that the selection had not
been mad _
. — frThey did not identify the prime candidate;-. --- - Thev. told Zenhari that the final decision
er
would not be made unt S(> r ' , -may y� Members
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of the Selection Board were Scheltinga, Persichino, Dave Warden,
Commissioner Norm Carlson and Steve Lay a local Chevrolet dealer,
who was a member of the Road and Bridge Advisory Committee .
Zenhari "heard" that Scheltinga insisted on using his "prerogative'
to select Hutchinson for the position. 'P piaptit n
hil°49R. stated that he ha d that authority to overrule t -6.e. seisef,ar
commi#-tct- with use. of l„s rev-la-hue_ t3t_ In-
Several letters from Zenhari to Personnel and other Weld
County Officials followed . He received a letter from Don Warden,
Director of Finance and Administration, dated December 2 , 1983 ,
which stated no final selection had been made and that Zenhari .._
remained as one of the finalists . He further advised that hiring
of all management positions in Road and Bridge, including the
Assistant County Engineer had been frozen. Persichino followed
with another letter dated January 6, 1984, stating the position
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/ was still frozen, but if he was still interested, to complete
the declaration contained in the letter and return it "within
5 days of receipt of the letter" . It should be noted that this
letter is dated one day after Zenhari ' s letter of resicnation .
Zenhari did not return Persichino ' s letter since he had already
accepted a position in Jefferson County. Zenhari heard that
shortly after his departure from his position, Hutchinson was
appointed Assistant County Engineer4a_
Zenhari advised that Hutchinson' s friendship with Scheltinga
dated back to the period when Scheltinga was Assistant County
Engineer under Wayne Smythe . During that time the County
awarded a contract to Hutchinson to build a bridge . Scheltinga
turned over to Hutchinson county material which was cut up by
Hutchinson to shore up the bridge and use as concrete forms.
The material was returned to the county in small pieces and not
suitable for further use . The bridge was located east of Evans
or LaSalle . Zenhari believes it is bridge number 48-57 and
was built around 1979 or 80. 4er s was SI! Hearsay in''e,-maf,o7 rat
Zenhari is very willing to discuss the. in£ormation above
with members of the Weld County Council.
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Mr. Adolpph Heinle, Pox 9, 90 Main Street, Pziggsdale, Color—
ado 80611, was intersiead August 15, 19?a when he furnished the
following information :
He is a native of the Brig::sdale area, but was away from there
during VA' II when he: served with the ,U.S. Army Signal Corps in
India.
He was hired by Weld Co. February h, 1965 and retired as a grader
operator May 31, 193b. }e began working as a grader operator im-
mediately, being trained by another operator, Adrian Stifer, for
about three or four days before being put out on his own. He
pointed out that there is no training of new operators under the
present set up and new men are just put on the machines and told
to get tc work, with no other direction.
He feels that morale is not good among the current operators as
there are too many "military types" in administration and they
are always pushing for production as measured in miles covered
each day. He pointed out that prior to 1979, when there was an
overhaul of the whole road maintenance system, the morale was
good and the roads were maintained much better and more efficient-
ly than they are currently.
He stated that the area N.E. of Greeley is covered by six grader
operations and that their sheds are at Grover, New Raymer, Vim,
Hereford, Stoneham and Briggsdale. He feels that the immediate
supervisor for those stations, Jack West, is a good man and kcnows
road maintenance and how to work with the men, but feels that the
two men above him, Bud Schmuhl (ph) and Dave Becker, do not know
what they are doing as far as road maintenance is concerned and
just ride around to no purpose when checking that area.
He said that his morale was affected by the merit and bonus system
being used by the county as in 19 year's time he received only one
merit raise and was only nominally promoted to a Grade-3 Operator
I just before he retired, a meaningless gesture as no money was in-
volved. •
With respect .to morale in general, he pointed out that the county
. has a strange way of recognition for service performed, as shown
by a planned ceremonial picnic at Island Grove Park on August 24th,
where he is to receive a pin and a plaque for his past service even
though it is his understanding that a retired grader operator by the
name of Del Martinez, who retired a year or two ago with some 25
years of service, never received any recognition. He feels this
shows a double standard of recognition and is really not fair.
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He stated that prior to 1979 there were only 'three county commis—
sioners and that each commissicner was responsible for the roads
in his district, each district having a road overseer and a gravel
foreman. That system worked well and he believes that if the co—
unty would go hack to that system, and let the men do their work
on their own responsibility with little supervision and paper work,
the work would be done better andccre efficiently with a resultant
improvement in road care. -
Regarding general grading policy in the county, he stated that the
condition of the roads is generally good, bat the policy of cutting
weeds with the grader blades since mowing was eliminated is causing
the roads to "narrow down" and he does not feel that is a good tech—
nique.
He said that in relation to roads running from 9riggsdale to the
Grover area, road 77 north from 11: to 122, recent repairs have been
made to "pot holes" and "washouts" using a technique called "blade—
patching" and the repair areas have not been properly prepared, so
they will not hold up for long, He pointed out that the procedure
described is a poor one, but probably only reflects a lack of budget
to dothe job properly.
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Ur. Norman Palley, 1i100S?,eld Co. Road 49, was interviewed on
August 15, 1984 when he furnished the following information; •
He has lived at that location for about four years, since retiring
from the United States Civil Service, where he worked for the Air
Force in a civilian capacity in production jobs using various types
of machinery. He has handled all kinds of equipment in the past,
although never a road grader; but it is still his observation that
the local grader operators are doing a poor to mediocre job on the
county roads.
He stated that just that day road 49 in front of his place was "cut"
by the grader and a poor job was done, even though for the first time
in a long time an attempt seemed to be made to "cut out" the "wash-
board" ridges that had become a permanent nuisance in the road, making
driving at a normal speed almost impossible.
He has observed that the road by his place has been narrowed down
progressively since he has lived there and in some stretches nar-
rowed down about four to six feet, pointing out that the right-of-
way is supposed to be 60' , but is not that wide. Also, crowns are
being "cut" by the improper use of the blades of the graders,which
are being used flat rather than angled, and ridges of gravel and
dirt are being left in front of driveways all along the road. He
further remarked that in general the snow removal technioues in
the winter time are very poor and could easily be improved, making
the roads more useable and safer to drive on.
He questions the depth of barrow pits in the Eaton to Gelton area
which he feels are being dug so deep that a dangerous situation is
• being created that will probably end up killing someone if they
should inadvertently drive into the ditches.
• He pointed out that just last winter, sometime between New Years
and Easter, a girl named Laurie Knapp was badly injured in an ac-
cident caused by abnormally deep ruts in one of the county roads,
believed to be in the general vicinity of Rriggsdale.
He stated that he feels the local grader operators are not using
their operating time to the best advantage as he has seen in the
past one, and sometimes two, grader operators parked for several
hours at a time at the intersection of county roads 49 and 86,
and then running their equipment "wide open" back towards the
Gelton shed.at the end of the day. He feels this is inefficient •
in use of the equipment, man hours anc fuel and reflects an-
favorably on thl road supervisors. It is his opinion that the
county must have one poor county engineer
He would like to see improvements in the maintenance of the local
road 69 as about 100 people use the road regularly going from state
highway 14 to the bluffs at the Wyoming border.
kr. Garry Meisner, 22236 weld County Rd. 39, no telephone, out
rho can be reached through telephone no, 356-1706, was interviewed
August 9, 1984 nhen he furnished the folloninE. information:
He is self employed delivering newspapers on a daily basis for the
Greeley Tribune. His route is generally south of Greeley in the
La Salle and Platteville area and his running distance is approx-
imately 90 miles.
He feels that the county roads Le sees are poorly and inefficiently
maintained in general and that there is much room for improve-
ment in the pork of the grader operators.
He poihted out as an example of poor operations the work of a female
grader operator who apparently does not }a ow how to handle grader
equipment as shown by big and unusual cuts in the road and severe
washboarding of the surface of roads in her area of operation. Also,
trash pilled from the borrow pits is left by her on the right.-of-Hay.
This observation has been made in the area of county road 503, east
of La Salle near tefan's (ph) market.
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I have read the above statement consisting of one page
and find the information contained therein to be true
and correct to the best of my recollection and belief.
I have initialed any changes or corrections made thereto.
Mr. Steven Meisner, who can be located through his grand—
parents, Mr. and Mrs. August Weisner, 2700 C Street, No. 177
Villa West Mobile Home Park, Greeley, telephone 356-1706, was
• interviewed August 9, 19St: when he furnished the following
information:
He wanted to call attention to a fatal automobile accident that
had occurred on a county road earlier in the year which he under—
stands was partially caused by poor roads in the county. The
accident was in the Firestone and Frederick area about May of
this year and a girl nated Jana reining, daughter of Dan Veining,
who' lives at 19529 highway 60, who was returning from a basketball
game with friends was thrown from a pick—up truck that had rolled
over and was killed. The cause of the accident according to accounts
in local newspapers as learned from the Colorado State Patrol tro.cer
who investigated the happening was the poor condition of the county
road.
He pointed out that after that accident, it appeared to him that
road graders normally working the area of his paper route for the
Greeley Tribune north of Greeley were pulled out for use in the
south of Greeley, causing neglect and deterioration of the roads
that he travels regularly in the Ault area.
He also stated that any Greeley Tribune carrier can attest to the
poor and deteriorating condition of roads in Weld County.
— 1 —
I have read the above statement consisting of one page
and find the information contained therein to be true
and correct to the best of my recollection and belief.
I have initialed any changes or corrections made thereto.
Mr. Cary Knapp, 35527 7.eld County Road 51, Eaton, Colorado,
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telephone L5L-3781, was interviewed August 21, 193h, when he
furnished the following information:
He is currently employed as ”asiness Representative for Carpenter's
Local Union 510, 270 'fountain 1ve. , aerthoad, Colo, telephone 532-
370L. He has been living in the Eaton area for several year,.
He advised that there have been two serious accidents in what is
known as the "Fed Fill" area ne=r Hereford in the past 3 months.
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One involved a bus which ran off the road in December of 1933 and
the other involved his 17 year old daughter, Laurie Knapp, whose
car turned over after running into deep ruts in the same area ,
April 28th of this year. His daughter was seriously injured in
that accident, but might have been killed if most of the sand and
gravel from the road had not teen graded into the barrow pit where
Laurie was thrown, which tended to cushion the accident; however,
the rats in the dirt road that threw her out of control would
probably not have been there had the road been properly maintained.
It is his opinion that the grading of roads in the county is def-
initely not what it used to be, and the grader people seem to use
any excuse not to work the roads, especially during wet weather,
and he feels that contributes to the worsening conditions of the
roads. He feels also that the grader operators covering the Red
Hill area are very poor and are not getting the job done.
Ee also stated that county road L3 is an example of a road that
was once very good, but is now sh^wing signs of deterioration as
evidenced by dangerous pot holes that are developing and are not
being attended to by the maintenance people soon enough to prevent a
serious breakdown. He feels that immediate attention to such problems
in the road would be much more efficient than the present system of
repair.
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Concerning county road 51, which was also .a good road, but is now
showing signs of going down hill, it is his observation that heavy
trucks are leaving state highway 114 at 'county road 51 on their way
to Greeley on a regular basis, probably using that short cut to
save fuel, but also to avoid the state Fort-of-Entry station on
• 1j, , 85. He said this situation has been reported to the state
Patrol and county road people but nothing is being done about it.
He further stated that he would like to see an improved road mainten-
ance policy carried out in his area of the county, and in this coon- _ . .• ;..,, .
nection expects t: appear at the Weld County road hearings to be
held in September of this year.
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The foilo”ing information was determined from records of the
Colorado State Patrol Station, 201—'th Avenue, Greeley, Colora o, •
on August 15, 193b:
h/23/3!.• a one car accident occurred on Veld County read B? in—
volving the driver and only occupant, one L&'JRIE F.`:APF. Trooper
Bailey investigated. aio further details sere available.
• 2/e/3L a fatal accident occurred at 7 ;!15pm on Wald County road 15,
South of `ierra Vitt: Road. S pickup trick driven by one jr-
OPATIL, 16135 ?7. County Rd. 25, Platteville, Colorado, 755-2960,
turned over and threw two occupants free. The two occupants,
who were killed were:
1. Robert Carl sekich, 17, 7251 Elm t . , Longmont, Colo.
2. Chester Lee Atkin, 71:07 Maple, Longmont, Colo.
There nas no violation and cause of accident was listed as :
"build up of mass under oversized tires". Trooper John Mitchell
of the Ft. Lupton Station investigated,
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• IIYLANDPASSOCIATES SEP 2 6 12
dr/ li,,Rnd44ortf&✓.FC//T(*ti T,
1733 MINTER LANE • CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO 80103 • TELEPIIONE (303)680.5525
E. LAWRENCE I YLAND• CERTIFIED PROTECTION PROFESSIONAL
RAYI(OND J. FOX
WILLIA)( J. MALONE
FREDERICK N. VOLE September 10, 1984
For Professional Services Rendered Weld County Council Re : Engineer ' s Office;
Road u :ridge
Period of audit 8/7 throuch 8/23/84 .
DATE MAN DAYS MILEAGE
8/07/84 0 .5 191
8/8 2 .0 253 (2 cars)
8/9 1 .0 60
8/12 1 .0 74
8/13 0 .5 --
8/14 • 2 .0 295 (2 cars)
8/15 1 .0 104
8/16 0 .5 82
8/17 1 .0 81
8/18 0.5 --
8/20 1 .0 100
8/21 0.5 --
8/23 0 .5 94
1-2 .0 1334
Recap:
Man Days 12 3 $300 $3600 .00
Mileage 1334 @ .30 400 .20
Total fees & expenses $4000 . 20
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Mr. August (Gus) Meisner, and wife Aldena Meisner, 2700 C.
Street, No. 177 Villa West Mobile Homes , Greeley, telephone 356-1706,
were interviewed August 9, 1954 when they furnished the following
information:
They have lived in the Greeley area most of their lives and (gas has
been employed for some 25 years in construction and maintenance,
last working for the United Sank of Greeley as a maintenance man,
but for the past two years they have carried rural routes outside
of Greeley for the Greeley Tribune. Their son, Gary, and grandson,
Steven, have worked with them on the routes, which they travel on a
daily basis seven days a week.
Gus pointed out +hat he had been a carpenter on the construction of
dam forms and had run trucks in connection with heavy con=traction
in the past and through those experiences feels he has seen enough
road grading being done to 'Clow something of proper methods and
procedures of road grading. Consequently, upon reading in the news—
: paper that County Council member Sill Rupp was interested in public
input concerning the maintenance of Weld Co. roads, he wrote a letter
to the County Council on March 19, 1934. (See Xerox copy attached to
this page) He reiterated the information contained in that letter,
' He also pointed out that he was the writer of a letter to the Greet.
ey
Tribune which appeared on page A—i5, Saturday, May 23, 1933. (Fee
Xerox copy attached to this page) He reiterated the information in
that letter and stated that he would stand behind everything he wrote.
He said in that connection he found it interesting that even though
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his letter to the Tribune was published May 25th, it was written prior
to an article appearing in the Greeley Tribune, Saturday, May 21, 1983
under the column "Other Opinions", which dealt in a humorous way in
general with the topic of his letter. (See Xerox copy attached to
this page) He stated that there is much referred to in that article
that is true concerning the county roads, in his opinion.
He stated that he originally wrote to the Tribune because about that
.time he had seen somewhere along his route delivering papers a county
road grader slip into a barrow pit, thinking at the time that the
operator was certainly using his equipment in a very careless way.
Mr. and Mrs. Meisner stated that they drive together on the paper •
route which goes from the South Platte River bridge on road 3911
south to road 26-23 and then to road 13 and Colo. highway 66, a
distance covered each day of 112 miles, affording them a chance to
observe the county roads in that area in some detail. They are
particularly concerned about the following methods of operation by •
the Weld County grader operators in their area of experience:
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1. During the winter, when there is still snow on the roads,
they will often see graders on their way back to their
sheds. with blades up, and sometimes as early as 2:oo to
3 :09fm, a very wasteful practice, as oh iou-ly there is
still much to be done that could be done of the return run.
2. Grader operators will often pull wet and middy material from
the barrow pits on to the roads unnecessarily leaving debris
and excessive mud on the road, making; it difficult to drive.
3. They have observed operators parked near other units just
visiting and wasting time and one time a woman operator
was involved. Just this past week a grader operator at
the intersection of road 25 and road Le was sitting with
his feet up and his motor idling for fifteen minutes or
more. The operator was a white, male about 35-ho years old.
They have also seen in the past grader operators parked in
the shade just taking it easy near the Youth Platte River.
h. Grading techniques seem in general to be wasteful and in-
efficient, for example, after grading barrow pits on each
side of the road, they will grade—out only one side of the
road, leaving the other side for another time. At inter—
sections and driveways they do not raise the blade, causing
ridges to be left at those points and the ridges are some—
times left for a week or more. Just this week they say on
road 35 between roads 23 and 25 on the north side of the road
a ridge of mud that was almost impassable.
5. They question the data recently reported in a local news—
paper article which pointed out that funds for the county
roads are being depleted by overtime payments to employees,
as they never see graders working at odd hours. •
— 2 —
I have read the above statement consisting of
two pages and find the information contained
therein to be tree and correct to the best of
my recollection and belief. I have initialed
any changes or corrections made thereto.
ADDENniM (to 'tatement of 8/9/914 )
Mr. August (Gas) Meisnor, and wife Aldena `Ieisner on
August 1L, 193h furnished the following additional information :
While on their paper route August 13, 193h, about 3:OOpm they
observed a road grader which they believed to he out of the rhed
at Colo . highway 66 and ''weld Co. ronid no. 17 in the area of the
(?utenfelder place. They felt that from their observation- the
operator had started road grading 23 at the intersectir,n of
road 32i north for one mile and then east on 36, but had ski:ncd
the first half mile on his way to road 2„ where he turned north
to road h0. He then skipped the next mile before turning west on
road L2 that deadends at the Outenfelder home, He graded back to
Colo. highway 60 then made a U—turn and parked near road L2
heading west.
They both felt that a good deal of time and fuel was probably
wasted by the procedure of the operator as described above,
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ADDENDUM (to statement of 3/9/54)
Mr. and Mrs. Meisner additionally advised that one time this
suer they saw a grader operator working a drivenay belonging to
Fete Sikich (ph), who is located at 12598 Weld Co. Road 19 and
which is about : mile south of road 23. They have seen other
operators doing driveways i❑ the past but could not recall where
or when, and yonder how the operators have the time to help on
private property when the county roads seem to be getting -worse
and worse.
r Saturday, ;-„y 28, 1983 GR£ELEY (Colo.) TRti)UNE A-ice
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Frequent Weld County road user laments conditions
To The Tribune: neSS, it fails to produce
I am usually very re- p in it'so thu, roads deep aep worm a grader was 8t
the desired result. again hubcap work (again cutting P�
luctant to criticize, but I Blow sand is graded (µVCR 42) with huge sand and mud) out oflthe
have reached the break- out of the borrow pit and rocks ranging in size borrow pits on Road 31
log point- spread across the roads from a baseball to half and Road 34. The grader
For the lack of a with a ridge left on one the size of your head. On finally bogged down in
phrase that will include side or the other (some- roads 31 and 33 at some the mud on Road 3-0 anii
the rural resident I shall times on both sides). The intersections a curb-like had to be towed back
entitle this letter '"A next day it rains or snows rise was left to jump onto the roadway.
Newspaper/Letter Can-i- and the roads are coy- across. Every time a Signed a disgruntled
er's Lament." ered with a 10-inch layer road was graded a ridge newscarrier
My complaint concerns of mud, and when it is left on one side or the
the condition of the finally becomes passableGreeleysner
county roads and the (you guessed it) more mailboxes,
blocking xen, newspaper pas to Greeley
county's method of main- blow sand is cut from the tubes
vewa
tenance or the lack borrow pit and spread tubes and driveways
thereof. P f preventing omrunning
storm waters
across the road again from runi off into the r.I question and criticize and you drive again borrow pit. Is this de- 1
the way the roads are hubcap deep in sand. At signed to create an
being graded. If there is one time this winter on obstacle course for the
a method to this mad- VCR 33 snow drifts filled ,tews/letter carriers or tom
rata
the borrow pit and the ' make sure residents stop
east side of the road, the before • entering their TRIBUNE
Leashes • snow was graded out of roadway or is . the
purpose to find how much
required the aansSIFIED ADS
mixture of sand and abuse an'automobile will 352.6510 ro The Tribune: spread across the road. take before falling apart?
y finally put some. Today after the latest •
This a reply to letter The
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An individual who is currently employed by the void County
Road and Bridge Depart.ment, who is considered to be reliable and •
• trustworthy, but whose identity must not be disclosed, was inter— /-
viewed in mid-August of 19914 when he furnished the following
information:
He has had a great deal of experience in the operation of all
types of heavy equipment such as that used by the R 4 R Depart-
ment, both before and d...ring his employmnet by the county, and
feels he has a good background, and is well qualified, as an
• operator of machinery. He has also been with the county long
. enough to know the personnel and about the personnel policies
at all levels of R & B operations.
He pointed out that there have been many changes in R & B operating
procedures in recent years and not always for the betterment of the
operation, some, in fact, being detrimental to the condition of the
•roads and to the general morale of the workers.
He stated that-in his opinion there is rampant favoritism being
practiced in relation to assignments, promotions, bonuses and
so forth and often those who are not efficient or who are not
palling their weight on the job will be favored over better men.
In this connection, he cited one example which concerned an employee
of one of the bridge crews by the name of Jump, who was a good man,
always did a good job, but who was let go some time ago. He stated
that Jump could do anything reeuired.o£ him, often did more than
required, and was an asset to the department.
He feels that the P. & B Department is being poorly run from the
County Engineer on down, adding that he feels that the Co. Dng.
is not qualified for the job, having only the training of a
draftsman, and that his whole staff is top heavy at present,
with eleven men on the staff. Also, among those men are too
many "military types" or miliary retirees, who are not cost
concious and efficient.
Re also pointed out that safety is not stressed on county jobs,
'probably due to an attempt to economize, but this is Salsa Econ-
• omy and is dangerous for the men. As an example, he stated that
often where it is obvious that flagmen are needed on a job for
safety and efficiency of operation, they are not there.
It is also his observation thatthere seem to be a policy developing
of contracting out jobs to private companies for road work, where
in his opinion the county could do the work cheaper and better on
its own. As an example, he noted that the Greeely Excavating Co.
is going to do the repairs on the three mile stretch of the Gelton
road.
He has also heard that one of the large companies the county is
going to deal with in a coming job is working on the basis of
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returning money to the county if they are under budget, but that
the county will pay them for any cost overruns , a system that he
has heard experts from other c:mf:anies r_.: will not wort, He
personally wonders of the county finance officer is making these
decisions on his own.
Concerning road grader operations , he feels that the current
supervisors are men of insufficient ex erifnce and are therefore
incompetent. Current grader operators are at the lowest end of
the county pay scale compared to operators in the Larimer County
- • system and consequently morale is not what it should be , he c^served.
He feels that the high morale of the Larimer Co. operators , many of
whom are at the Grade 3 level of pay, is probably shown by the good
condition of the roads there in general. He stated that Weld Co.
has good men working the graders but due to poor supervision and
pay the work is not being done the way it should be.
He also feels that grader work is not as efficient as it used to
be due to the use of blades to cut weeds, where in the past mower
crews handled the cutting of weeds along the road sides, and
mowers row would certainly do a better job of holding down weeds
than weed sprayers that are alec used.
It is his opinion that much of the problem with the R & 9 Depart—
ment began when efficiency experts were brought in a few years ago
who recommended getting rid of much of the equipment being used.
After that, tracks , several graders, chip and sealers, lay—down
equipment, mowers and ether equipment was disposed of in an econ—
oomy move that proved to be "false economy" as now the county is
beginning to replace some of that equipment.
According to his observation, about that same time the system of
three county districts that were closely supervised by three
county cerissioners was changed to the present system, and it
does not work well. The commissioners should be out in the field
• on a regular basis in order to know what is really going on out
there, according to his way of thinking.. •
He feels that the biggest problem R & 9 has is one of morale
among the men,who have no input into decisions concerning work
conditions , insurance, bonuses, pay scale and so forth, and
that will not be corrected until there is a change in the
chain—of—command from the County Eng. on down with a resultant
change of attitude towards the workers.
He stated that he wanted to point out one more thing concerning
contracting work of to private companies and that is the example
of the county rock crusher operators at m.ew ?aymor, who do double
the work of the contract people but who are to be phased out anyway.
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Mr. Cary Cole, 333 E. 27th Ftreet, Greeley, telephone 3:2-6510,
was interviewed on August 3, 1931.1 when he furnished the following
information:
He was employed by Weld County July 27, 1932, and was fired in April
of 19311 due to an incident where he had taken a set of side-view
mirrors from the bed of a pick-up truck that he had considered to
be an abandoned wreck on one of the county maintenance yards which
he had worked out of for over a year.
He readily admitted to his superiors that he had taken the mirrors ,
thinking it was not a serious matter, but he ras fired nevertheless.
Even so, he has no animosity towards anyone at the Boad and Bridge
Department and is willing to discuss shortcomings in the operation
of the Department solely as an interested taxpayer who wants fiscal
and operational efficiency in the work of all county departments.
He was originally hired to work on a bridge crew, with the understand-
ing that at some later date he would replace the foreman, who was then
Dean Mc Lain, who retired in December, 1933. At that time Dale Elliot
wanted Harland (Fuzzy) Clymer to have the foreman's job, even though
Clymer did not "know concrete work" and Cole was experienced in that
type of work.
A test was to be conducted to determine those hest qualified for the
job, but even though he took the test and scored 100% to Clymer's
80%, he was fired two weeks later and he believes Clymer was given
the job, which to his way of thinking showed favoritism in hiring
practices because Clymer was not qualified for the job.
Cole said the then Supervisor, Aay . Becker, who handled the question-
ing up to his firing, is t-ittilev,tarat a poor handler of men, citing
the following incidents as examples of his charge against Becker,
sating that the incidents also reflect unfavorably upon the upper
levels of R & B administrations
1. Dave Recker at one time accused him of calling security
guard Bob Strohman (ph) a "pig's ass", because of Strohman' s
own charge that he was called that by Cole. He was to be •
put on 6 months probation due to the alleged incident, but
upon confronting Strchman as to the accuracy of the state-
ment, 5. . admitted that Cole probably said, "in a pig's ass",
and he might have misunderstood Cole. Fbllow:ng S's re-
traction, Becker shortened C's probation to 2 months, say-
ing he had to take some action in the matter, even thrugh
C. had been somewhat exonerated. This indicated to Cole
that Becker was indecisive as a leader and a man of poor
judgment
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2. As further evidence of Becker' s poor leadership abilities
and judgment, C. pointed nut that Recker, Utah Pepin and
Hid Bi..alf'regularly take lengthy lunch periods together
and often drive around in a leis rely fashion on county
time, ostensibly checking R ? B projects, a job one man
would be capable of handling.
3. Pecker favored Penn Mc Loin as Le •.as : rood friend , fail-
ing to recognize as a superior t:.at Mc Lain only doing
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enough at his job to get by, leaving C. to handle most of
the material and supplies on their jobs ac well as all of
the paper work.
U. Another example of p.,or administrative procedure was noted
by Cole as involving Harlar.d Clymer who was then supposed
to be a "piler" operator at a grade 4 level, but who was
not qualified to do so. When it was learned that Clymer
• was not performing in that capacity, he was dropped to a
grade 2 level, but still received the pay of a grade 4.
He was later upgraded to a grade 3 in the same job for
no reason.
C� ..a
5. He also pointed c ,.at there was a curious procedure
adoptdd a£! t4 r after Gen Fisher quit that any employee
taking a foreman's job who later was not able to handle it
would not be demoted but would be fired.
6. He stated that there was lack of supervision in the work
of grader operators, pointing out that the machinery was not
properly used and -was worn out prematurely by Eraggine
or going toofast-with the blade down, also causing less
economy of fuel consumption. This was a competency
problem which should have been corrected by higher cup-
ervisory levels.
7. There was a poor job done about two years ago on the re-
surfacing oil roars from. county no. 77, which goes from
+: . Briggsdale north to county no. 122, and then east to Grover,
• a distance of about twenty miles, where "blade. patching"
• w'as done on the pot holes prior to resurfacing, which is
not a proper and adequate procedure and will cause earlier
than normal deterioration of the road and be costly to
again repair.
• B. There has in the past been poor supervision of the portable rock
crusher used on county roads as shown by one instance when the
unit was sent to the Ft. Lupton area for a job where there was
already adequate crushed rock available, and also by the fact
that one of the supervisors, Henry Schroeder out of Windsor does
not know how to run or maintain a rock crusher in the field. He
suggested that any field supervisor should have the ability to
trouble-shoot all equipment inthe field or else you get loss of
manpower and equipment waiting for a mechanic to arrive from
the shops, a supervisory failure at a higher level, obviously.
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9. Also curious to Cole were the employee assignments of both
Harland Clymer and Randy Hoover who were known as "goof—
offs" and trouble makers in the truck department, but who
were later transferred to R & R where they were groomed
as foremen. This did not make sense to Cole from the
standpoint of morale or efficiency throughout the work
force.
Cole stated in sum-oary that he feels the entire operation of the
R & B Deportment needs overhauling admini^tratively from top to
bottom for a more efficient man Eement at every point in the chain—
of—command.
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I have read the above satn'ent consi -ti ng of three
pages and find the inforraticn contained therein tc
be true and correct to the best of my recollection
and belief. I have initialed any chen. es or corrections
made thereto, �J� G__ _G
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Mr. Delfinio Martinez, 246 E. 4th `treet, Ault, Colorado,
telephone 83h-2502, was interviewed on August 12, 1984 when he
furnished the following information :
He worked for Weld County as a grader operator for about 25 years, until
he retired in the fall of 1932, operating on the vest side of U.$. e5 for
approximately 22 years and on the east side for his last three years. He
was told he was a "good grader operator" by former County Commissioner
Glen Billings (ph) and others and his roads were always in good shape,
having been properly graded by him.
When he started as a grader operator they just pat him on the equipment
and told him he could learn on the job. That was the extent of his
training and he understands that the currently new operators are trained
the same way.
During his last years with the county he maintained an area from county
road 76 to road 100, which goes as far as Nunn, Colo. , an area that once
took two graders to cover, bat was covered by him with one grader, He
thinks that was inefficient in that he had to cover ta-' much area in too
little time and as a result the equipment was used hard and more fuel
than necessary was consumed, and blades would wear out faster.
He believes that much of the r'washboarding effect that can be seen on
county roads today is caused by grading done at too fast a paco, which
sets in motion a vibration of the machinery and the blade and that fast
operation, about 6 mph, was due to the supervisors wanting to show high
production of mileage each day.
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Also, in recent years, grader operators have been required to clear the
sides of the roads of weeds, where in the past the weeds had been mowed,
and as a result of that practice the roads tend to narrow down over a
period of time, in some areas making it difficult for two vehicles to pass.
Two complaints about grader operations have been made to him lately. The
first from Jack Cooper, a mail route carrier out of Ault, who told him that
it seems as a matter of practice the grader operators are leaving ridges on
both side of the road and that the crown of the roadshe travels have in some
cases been graded down to the point where there is no longer proper drain-
age during rainstorms and that results in the roads staying muddy longer
than usual.
Also, a farmer, name unknown, but who lives seven miles east of Ault on
state highway 14 and 12 miles north of 14 in the first house, told him
recently he had complained to one of the grader operators that ridges
are being left in the front of his driveway, and the operator told him
he could not remove them without the okay of his supervisor and they
were not removed. Martinez pointed out that a good operator would not
have left any ridges to start with or if one was left, all an operator
has to do is reverse the machine and pall the ridge out. The grader
operator in this incident works out of the Celton shed east of Eaton.
- 1 -
r �J
Martinez also pointed out that current operators seem to make it a
practice to make a pass down a stretch of road, then dead-head it
back to the starting point where they begin another pass , rather
than grading on the way back, a practice that seems to be waste-
ful of time and fuel. This may be an individual problem or a
supervisory problem, or both.
- 2 -
I have read the above statement consisting of two pages
and find the information contained therein to be tree
and correct, to the best of my recollection and belief.
I have initialed any changes or corrections made thereto.
A former employee of the Weld County Road and ?ridge Department,
who is considered to be reliable and trustworthy, but whose identity
must not be'disclosed, was interviewed in early August of 193L, ashen
•
he furnished the following information :
He worked for the county for over 10 years and much of that time as a
grader operator on county roads . He had no background or experience
in that type of work when he first started with the county but his
only training when starting in that capacity was to drive a grader
down a road for about ten minutes, and after that he was pat oat
on county roads as an operator, essentially training himself. He
said this seemed unusual at the time, but after a few, years on the
job, he realized that he knew much more about grading than any of
the foremen or supervisors, so they probably had little capability
to train new men.
He feels that proper grader operator training and a good training—
manual would make for better and more efficient operators for the
Road and ?ridge Department. In that connection, he pointed out that
Chuck Norris is nominally in charge of what passes for training of
grader operators and he is one of the worst operators in the county,
receiving many more complaints than any other man-about grader work
done.
It is his opinion that county roads were efficiently maintained and
in better condition than they are now before a group of Texas road
and efficiency experts came in around 1979 and recommended a drastic
overhaul of existing practices and procedures. Prior to that time
there were three road districts that were each under the control
of one of the three county commissioners. Now the control is under
the County Engineer and the budgeting has been changed.
As an example of changes made by the Texas people, he pointed out
that operating speed of the graders was set at 6 mph in order to
increase production of so many miles per day for each unit, when
h mph is really the best speed for efficient and proper gracing.
They also checked for time of maintenance of each grader and allot
so much time for that, but each piece of equipment is different in
manufacture and size, number of grease zerks and so forth, so it is
• unreasonable to expect each one to require the same maintenance time.
He said that there are many good men on the approximate' 30-35 graders
• currently run by the county and most of them take good care of their
equipment, performing the daily light maintenance such as greasing,
oiling, tire and blade checks. and so forth in a proper manner, usually
each morning before leaving the shed.
He feels that the units are worked too hard now, explaining that when
he first started to work he had about 50 miles of mad to work, but
when he last operated he was covering up to 150 miles, and that is
too much mileage for the operator and the equipment. An example of
this is the area around New Raymer supervised by Jack West.
—'1 —
He stated that there was much confusion after the Texas people left.
Equipment such as laydown machines , chip and sealers and mowers were
disposed of and the whole operation was changed, causing "foal-ups"
such as two graders, each from a different shed, covering the same
area of roads and other such foolish assignments.
He pointed out that under current procedure the sign crews do all
of the striping and patching of roads and that they are using a
method of repair referred to as "blade patching", w:hich is not an
adequate method, as proper preparation is not Made for the repair and
wheel packing is done , rather than using a rollers and they some-
times use CETA workers who are not trained and do not know what they
are doing, sometimes just pouring oil in the holes without cutting the
loose material out and without packing and tamping properly afterwards.
He cited one example of interesting road policy as concerning an area of
oilroad towards Hereford which was being allowed to go back to dirt and
gravel, but because of so • many complaints from residents - in that area
the higher-ups had to change the policy. He feels that the County
Engineer and Dave Becker should be supervising the roads more and that
policy should be standardized.
He said it his observation that county officials seem to be trying to
cut down the costs of maintaining the roads, but on the other hand seem
to buy an excessive amount of new equipment each year, especially pick-
up trucks for the overseers and supervisors.
In his opinion, the following changes should he made in the Poad and
Bridge Department operations :
1. More training on a regular basis for the grader operators.
• 2. Better supervision of techniques used by the operators.
3. Improved and ongoing public relations in the field with
farmers and homeowners along county gravel roads from
all levels of county workers.
h. Earlier attention to repairs of roads, before requiring
- major repair.
5. Budget priorities should begin at the road maintenance level,
with new support equipment such as pickup trucks receiving
the lowest priority.
6. Areturn to the old three district system of supervision,
lowering the speed of graders to h mph and lowering the
required number of miles for each grader to cover.
— 2 —
1 . Jump Interview
Numerous examples of personnel deficiencies on the part
of Management involves favortism, disregard of County
policies , and shoddy performance .
A. Favoritism :
Pace 1 , Par . 4 (middle ) Elliott not warned of accidents;
• Jump fired for accidents .
Pace 1 , Par . 4 (last 4 lines) Uneven distribution of
work .
Page 2 Par. 1 Elliott, a draftsman, made Bridge Foreman
over Bob Strohman. No experience whatsoever vs .
3 yrs . experience .
Pace 3 Par. 1 Jump is punished by withholding merit
raises because of problems between him and Elliott .
Matter apparently not even discussed with Elliott .
B. Disregard of County Personnel Policy:
Pace 1 Par. 1 Jump fired because of crew accidents .
Personnel Manual, Page 11, Disciplinary Actions,
states to provide reasonable means for cor-
recting misconduct prior to resorting to dismissal .
Many questions could be raised concerning the dis-
missal of a loyal county employee with eight years
seniority and an excellent work record .
1 . What did the management do in way of education and
counseling directly with the employee to reduce
accidents?
2 . What counseling, education, and training was given to
supervisors to reduce crew accidents?
3 . Was there any help at all from top management to reduc:
accidents?
4 . Couldn' t Jump have been suspended without pay before hE
was dismissed?
5 . Couldn' t Jump have been demoted to crew member? He.
said he would have accepted demotion but it was never
suggested .
C. Shoddy Performance
Pace 2 Par . 2 Installation of culverts. Faulty installat
• / •
,. 3
cost about two weeks work to correct about two
years later .
Pace 2 Par . 4 Late arrival of material to repair
damage to road because of inadequate culvert size .
D. Fraud Allecations
Page 3 Par 2&3 Elliott left his job, and worked on
construction of his garace . Misused county vehicle
while doing it.
E . Sex Discrimination
Pace 3 Par. 4 Elliott told Billie Jo Hill he didn' t
want any bleeping woman on the R & B crews .
2 . Chuenchit Interview
A. Favoritism
Pace 1 Par. 3 & 4 Donna Montogmery promoted to job over
more qualified people .
Pace 2 Par. 2 Don Carroll promoted ahead of Ali Zenhari
Pace 2 Par. 2 Hutchinson promoted over Zenhair.
B . Disrecard of County Personnel Policy
• Pace 1 Par 3 & 4 Job not published and rules not followed
Personnel Manual pane 3, Equal Opportunity and pace 3
Vacancies;
C. Shoddy Performance
Page 2 Par. 3 Scheltinga didn' t know what an employee
reporting directly to him, did in the office . Evalua
tion report not provided to an employee by Scheltinga
for 2 years . Supposed to be done every 6 months .
D. Training and Qualification Deficiency
Paae 2 Par. 2 Don Carroll, draftsman, made Administrativ.
Manager of the entire division. Body repairman was
promoted to Parts Manager; had no experience and the
office provided him no training .
3 . Espinoza Interview
•
A . Training Deficiencies
• Pace 1 Par. 3 Test used in selection of Road Graders
is lacking .
Pace 1 Par. 4 Once Road Grader is selected there is no
supervisory follow-up on his performance or qualifica
B . Supervisory Deficiencies
Page 1 Par . 3 Supervisors never show up to see graders
leave and return on time .
Page 2 Par . 2 One grader spent two hours picking aspara2
Pace 2 Par. 4 Supervisors aren' t qualified to handle
equipment, how can they know good performance?
Page 2 Par. o Supervisors "goofing off" at Production
Office .
Pace 3 Par. 2 Supervisors taking 90 minutes lunch hours;
supposed to have 30 minutes .
C. Shoddy Performance
Throughout the interview it comes through "loud and clear"
that supervisors are very guilty of shoddy performance .
Page 3 Par. 3 Motor grader equipment held up in shop for
six weeks for a job that should have taken one week.
D. Favoritism
Pace 2 Par. 5 Nerit raises to favored individuals .
E . Waste of Money
Pace 3 Par. 4 This is a judgement call and would have to
)e checked out carefully. Are motor graders replaced
unnecessarily?
7.
•
4 . Warren Meyer Interview
A. Favoritism
Pace 2 Par . 1 Eliminated a job Meyer should have had
and replaced it with a new job that was given to a
friend . (Assistant County Engineer) Brought in a
friend from outside to fill this position, ignoring
a highly qualified employee in his own office who
wanted the job.
B. Waste of Money
Pace 2 Par. 2 Refused to give a small raise to Meyer .
Instead he contracted out to a private firm at
$3000 par month, a job that Meyers was very capable
of handling .
5 . Zenhari Interview
A. Favoritism
Pace 1 Par. 4 Don Carroll, a draftsman, promoted to
Administrative Manager over Zenhari , a Certified
Professional Engineer in two states . (This was
also over Chuenchit, who handled much of the ad-
ministrative duties in the office . )
Pace 1 Par. 5 Brought in less qualified man from out-
side to fill the position of Assistant County Engine_
again ignoring Zenhari ' s qualifications.
•
This situation has left the County very vulnerable to a
discrimination suit by Zenhari who is a U. S. citizen from a
definite ethnic and minority background. The County is still
extremely vulnerable to such action.
•
Mr. Richard Jump, 1505 6th Avenue, Greeley, telephone
352-2727 was interviewed on May 15, 1984 . He furnished the
following information .
•
Jump was employed with Weld County from September, 1975
until October, 1983 in the Road and Bridge Department of the
County Engineer Office . He was made Foreman of a bridge crew
in 1978 and worked as such until he was dismissed in October
1983 because of safety violations by his crew. Dice Mcknicht
was his foreman from 1979 until his dismissal. Jump now feels
he was treated unfairly but did not appeal his dismissal because
Drew Scheltinga , the County Engineer, was too powerful . He is
of the opinion that Scheltinga shows favoritism and he (Jump)
is not one of the favorites .
Jump readily admitted his crew had suffered accidents but
he considered them to be of a minor nature and not worthy of
causing his dismissal . As examples he cited the cases of
Ray West who was hurt by a swinging crane bucket in the Spring
of 1982 . He received a bruised shoulder and refused treatment
for it. In fact he finished out the day on the job. West was
again hurt in the fall of 1982 when he was hit in the chest
with a steel beam when he let go of a "stringer" he was
supposed to be holding . Jump assumed responsibility for the
accident but now denies he was responsible . There were several
other minor accidents over the years which Jump contends are
normal perils of a bridge crew, such as cut fingers and mashed
toes.
• The accident that resulted in his termination was suffered
by Ken Moody. Moody is a welder who suffered burned eyes when
he failed to wear his dark glasses . Jump was blamed for
Moody's accident despite the fact that he warned Moody, an
experienced welder, about the dark glasses before the accident.
Jump is certain that Dale Elliott, the other bridge Foreman,
would not have been blamed because he is a good friend of
Scheltinga . Jump cited an incident in 1982 wherein Elliott
knocked down an old man with a county vehicle . Nothing was
ever said about the incident. This is one incident in which
Jump suspects favoritism. Jump also maintains that his crew
accident rate was probably due to the uneven division of the
work load. Jump contends that his crew built 4 bridges to each
one built by Elliott's crew.
In Jump's opinion another axample of favoritism shown by
Scheltinga was the appointment of Elliott as a Bridge Foreman.
•/ f-
•
/ In the spring of 1979 the second Foreman' s job became available .
Bob Strohman who had three years experience in a bridge crew
applied for the job. Dale Elliott who was a surveyor at the
time and who had had no bridge building experience whatsoever
also applied . Elliott, a good friend of Scheltinga, got the
job an3 spent the first three months with Jump' s crew learning
how to build a bridge and use the various pieces of equipment .
Elliott knew nothing whatsoever ,about bridge construction.
pp ����,,� rf--' 3 inexperience showed up on several occasions .
ce-^" Jump ci ed. two incide^ts as examples . In the spring of 1980
\ � t t c-k ��_ _ t�
-f\dump w>> ,•---- "� a culvert on County Road 44 .
/2U Jump co!d a thd' culvert was being installed too deeply.
t9.1;0 Jut:p to mind his own business and install the
culvert o an
culvert was inbo' h in the area of Mead . Jump rwas
again told to install the culvert as he was told. About two
years later both culverts had to be dug up and raised about
one foot each. It took the crew three days to raise one and
about a week to raise the other.
Jump advised that Loren Peden who lives in the Dacona
area can testify of mistreatment and favoritism on the road
crews . Peden is a former road grader operator in retirement .
He lives on Highway 52 , West of Dacona on the North side of
the road about a mile out of town. Jump believes his phone
number is 833-2239 . He retired in the spring of 1982 .
In June 1983, several farmers threatened to tear up a
county road because the culverts were too small and restricted
the flow of water. As a result the water overflowed onto the
farmers land. A judge was involved and ordered the county
officials, (Commissioner Carlson, Scheltinga, and Dave Becker)
to correct the situation immediately. ' Jump was told to report to
the area at 6 A.M. on the following Friday. Jump, David Garcia
and Dice McKnight arrived on the scene about 6 :30 A.M. They
waited around until about 9 :30 A.M. before the gravel, tubes,
and other material arrived to correct the problem. At that
time McKnight told Jump that he (Jump) was the only one that
could be depended upon to complete the job.
In the spring of 1981 McKnight told Jump to take some
material to a site on County Road 44, South East of LaSalle .
He told Jump that Elliott might be short a man on his crew and
if so, to leave one of Jump' s crew with him. When Jump arrived
at the scene he saw that Elliott had a full crew. Jump and one
./WA-11/1/19
•
member of his crew then returned to LaSalle to prepare for
f a bridge cleaning job in Ft. Lupton that was needed for re-
surfacing. Before departing he told his second crew member
to finish delivering the material to Elliott then meet them
in LaSalle from whence the three would proceed to Ft. Lupton.
When Jump arrived back in LaSalle, McKnicht was waiting for
them. McKnight :accused Jump of disobeying an order since
Elliott was short a man and had to overrule Jump and prevent
the third man in his (Jump' s) crew from returning to LaSalle .
- Jump tried to explain to McKnight that Elliott had a full crew
and that he ordered his man to join him in LaSalle just as
McKnight had directed . McKnight was extremely upset and told
Jump that since he couldn' t get along with Elliott, he(McK.nicht)
would see to it that Jump never got another bonus or merit raise .
Jump has not received one since .
Grant Fisher;a welder on Elliott's crew reported to Jump
that last spring (1983) , Elliott would leave the job and go
home to work on a garage he was building. He would park the
county pick-up next to the garage so that he could answer
any calls received on his two-way radio . He did this for about
a week..
"Fuzzy" Clymer ' also said the same thing to Jump about
the same time .
Billie Jo Hill told Jump that she wanted to transfer from
the Johnstown Sign Shop to the Road and Bridge Department.
Elliott, at that time was filling in for McKnight who had suffer(
a heart attack. Elliott told her he didn' t want any bleeping
woman in Road and Bridge .
Dean McClain, telephone 353-7398, a retired Foreman in
Bridge Repair, ,stated to Jump that on many occasions he had
to leave his own work to help Elliott who seemed to get into
"problem after problem".
Jump cited most of the above as examples of the favoritism
shown toward friends of Scheltinga and to support the fact that
Scheltinca would appoint his friends to positions irrespective
• of their qualifications . He advised that he would be willing
to testify before the County Council to the above information.
QL., IT -e D I 45 T Tr `'i 11 T OF
-c q / T 5 Tl k P T o 7Ijr QYc I'
O ` Aty fie- c- 9e //c f
Mrs . Sandy Chuenchit, 2609 19th Avenue , Greeley, Colorado
telephone 352-0746, was interviewed on May 16, 1984 . She
furnished the following information .
She was employed by Weld County from approximately 6/7/76
to March 15 , 1984 , when she resigned . Her first position was
as Administrative Clerk with the Motor Vehicles Office . On
November 3, 1980 she transferred to Accounting to do accounting
work in the County Engineer' s Office for IGA, Road and Bridge ,
and Engineering . Late in the year 1981 she was officially trans-
ferred to the County Engineer and worked under the direction of
Wayne Smyth. She had responsibility to maintain control over the
office budget including acuuunts payable , accounts receivable ,
inventory, payroll and audit conferences, as well as consider-
able typing in the office . Road and Bridge budget was around
8 million, IGA about 1.5 million and several hundred thousand
in the Engineer' s Office . She was under the impression that
she had done an excellent job with those responsibilities.
Around February 1, 1984 an announcement was made that Road
and Bridge would be reorganized . The reorganization resulted in
the demotion of a couple of supervisors to crew members (John
Noyes and Dean Jackson) and cuts in pay for some others . No
real changes were made in organizational chart. A new job was
created in the department that was called Complaint Coordinator.
The person in this position was to receive complaints from Weld
County residents whose roads were in disrepair. Supervisors were
apprised of the complaints, investigated the situation, then re-
ported back to the Complaint Coordinator. The Complaint
Coordinator then reported to the complainant the action that was
taken to correct the situation.
This new job was given to Donna Montgomery, the Office
Secretary, before it was ever known that it existed. According
to Chuenchit the County personnel rules require that it should
have been published and any qualified county employee given a
chance to apply and interview for it . Chuenchit 4o of the
per: e.--=- �-�i:er.. _c: ?f --- o= ff:- .
- � a: -�.-6.
b �niority nannd el d the
secretary' s position and actually trained Montgomery when she
first came to work in the office . .She feels she should have
been given a chance to fill the job and would have liked to do
so because the position was much easier than her job and paid
much better. This is one of the reasons Chuenchit resigned.
^-4 c.G4 tiTcU
w Chuenchit did contact Dave Warden to ezh th ,c. the r
—advertized and-n e-had-,. -^hanr2 gam^ .
o� r /� crr
V p.vet..-J f re- "1� l.o-t�Tn+Y� �o-A-2 �+ /� ..
'( ro-tet.�.w . /LL a...2.4.4-- ez 1t r� a t( it a .AL ist_a# f-et:c ct it
\^� f�� )t//I-1un+c�4-tt-tL.....t A/-c.c_OfaAcceto-c t ,��/),[Q.�—.iJ'w'‘Lt.L(V-<-Lt.IJ' f�/�C��u..•z {-; -t;'
\. /) Clew-•1.--tte-t t.. Ai,-k- .k .4l-rt.--C �lt t ii-a— <�.`-{- A-C--ec.,.�c� t� errje-i4CtiAC7_
.� n • . •1i' / n e• . D ar• P 7--O
C.1 . Lri
•
•
Warden told Sa _g,,a, t .Fersonr�.el was opposed to the creation
of the positiook ucivere o rr daen1 by[1'the County Commissioners .
He also advised that Scheltinga j i€,jseiected Donna for the
position !` ^ r� —z�T -- • — rte,
Mrs . Chuenchit said this has only one example of the less
than satisfactory fashion that Drew Scheltinga handled personnel
in his office . She believes that training for most positions
4/JS, def� • e Y • la kking . Don Carroll, a draftsman, was promoted
� —to f,namsnast-a�i-vp Manager of the whole department sometime in
1982 . Carroll was promoted ahead of Ali Zenhari who is a
Certified Professional Engineer in two states.°'
Qmeit'''Rod Hutchinson, another friend of Scheltinga , was
also selected over Zenhari for the position of Assistant County
Engineer. Hutchinson also was less qualified and had less
seniority than Zenhari . In another case , also around 1982, a
body repairman _
P�irman ����F���c�-=:�==-��so.._,. . .1.F :��-�..,,_.�
s. l `rwas promoted to Parts Manager. Chuenchit advised that it is
not at all unusual for people in the department to be demoted or
get new supervisors with no prior notice whatsoever about the
change .
Mrs. Chuenchit advised that she resigned because of the
£avortism and personnel handling in the office . She felt like
she was becoming no more important than "a stick of furniture"
and noticed about as much. As an example of this comment, she
pointed out that she received a performance evaluation in 1981
by Wayne Smythe. She didn' t receive another one until May of
1983 . At that time Scheltinga told her that he had to get the
opinion of "others" about her performance and he had had no
complaints about her. He told her "I don't really know how to
evaluate you, because I don't know what you do" . This seemed
incredible to Chuenchit because by that time she had worked
for Scheltinga for over two years and had reported directly to
him in the supervisory line .
This hurt Chuenchit deeply but the final straw was the
handling of the new Complaint Coordinator's position. At that
point she concluded that the only course of action open to her
was resignation.
Mrs. Chuenchit advised that she was reluctant, but would
be willing to testify before the County Council to the above
information.
`� - / IG44. i is Get U 1
• - A Z
etc_ __,l��G
•
r- 1)
Mr. Edward L. Espinoza , 24085 Road 64, Greeley, Colorado,
telephone 351-8397, was interviewed on May 17, 1984 . He
furnished the following information .
Espinoza was employed as a Road Grader with the Road and
Bridge Department of the County Engineer from February 1982
to March 1984 . He started at $985 per month and was making
$1157 per month when he left. He was dismissed for "conflict
of interest" . He used his motor grader during non work hours
in an attempt to pull his stuck van from a marshy area . In
the attempt his motor grader became stuck and County equipment
had to be used to free both vehicles . This is the only blight
on an otherwise good record. It seemed to Espinoza at the time
that no harm would result. Espinoza is not bitter about his
dismissal but has no desire to return to employment in that
position. He is of the opinion however that much can be done
to improve performance of the employees .
Espinoza feels that little or no training is given to the
Road Graders. If a person is able to "bluff" his way past an
initial 15 minute performance test he is given a motor grader
and is on his own. As an example, he advised that Roy Cosby
who was hired with him had never run a motor grader. He had
operated other heavy construction equipment however and was
able to "get by" . The test consisted of scraping a pile of
dirt from an area off to one side while driving the vehicle in
one direction. The applicant then turned the grader around,
this time smoothing out the piled dirt to its original position,
on the return run. As stated above the entire test takes about
15 minutes and any heavy equipment operator could pass it with
"a little luck" . No further tests are given, no check runs are
made by supervisory staff, and in fact no further training is
given. .
Once a motor grader operator is hired he is given his piece
of equipment and a territory to maintain consisting of about
65 miles of road. The road is to be scraped on a weekly basis.
The theory is that the equipment operates at about 6 miles per"
hour on one side of the road . Since the road must be scraped on
both sides the equipment is operated 130 miles each week. At a
rate of six miles per hour, this would take 22 hours. There
must be added to this, deadheading time , equipment maintenance,
`and"shouldering" which must be done approximately once in every
four passes. Espinoza is of the opinion that a good operator
can do the job, including all the extra duties, in about 32
hours. He considers this job to be a real "cushion" position
that gives the operators quite a bit of time to do nothing.
Because of this, the motor grader operators often leave the
P�. _ .iVP •
shacks late and return early. Espinoza was not particularly
well-liked and not totally trusted because he refused to
take part in this practice .
On one occasion Bill Naughton (phonetic, possibly Norton) ,
was caught picking asparagus for about two hours . This
occurred in May 1933 . A citizen saw the unattended motor grader
on the side of the road . It was still there about two hours
later so he called the office to report a possible problem. The
supervisor went to investigate . When he arrived at the scene ,
Naughton was coming up the road with a sack full of asparagus he
had picked.
Espinoza considers lack of training and poor supervision to
be a major deficiency. No physical exams are given, no mental
aptitude tests, and very little personal supervision. He has
yet to have a supervisor take a check ride with him. He feels
the supervisor should ride with a new operator on several runs
at the start then check ride at least semi-annually.
It is possible, according to Espinoza, that the supervisors
do not ride with the operators because they personally cannot
handle the equipment. For example Dean Jackson a former
supervisor always had "training wheels" on his equipment while
he was an operator. These were wheels that prevented the blade
from dicging too deeply into the road bed . John Noyes another
supervisor, was not qualified to handle the equipment. Bud
Schmull the present overseer in the south territory has never
worked a road :grader.
Espinoza feels that favortism is definitely shown among the
employees of the Road Maintenance Department. As examples, Dick
Brown ran over a car for the third time in November or December
and still got his bonus in January. He has been in the job 12
years. Naughton got his bonus in July after the asparagus
picking incident. The "C" Region had 11 operators and 9 got
their bonuses . "B" Region has 13 operators . John Noyes gave
bonuses to only three of his favorite men, Dick Hennison, Chuck
Norris, and Vic Schaeffer.
A waste of manpower definitely exists in the Production
Office . This office is supervised by Dave Becker, the number
one man under Drew Scheltinga . Personnel in the office include
Jack West, Utah Pepin, Kenny Schrader, George Martin, "Red"
•
(Head mechanic) and Bud Schmull. All but Becker should be out
•
•
•
.> r / -2 o
c
in the field supervising before 8 A.M. They never leave the
building before 10 or 11 A.M. Becker' s office is in the build-
ing and he personally observes this . Becker participates in
the donut and coffee cliques, liars poker games, lottery tickets
purchases and "just plain goofing off" . This situation is known
to most everyone in the department.
Becker, Scbmull, and Pepin are supposed to have one half
hour for lunch. They usually meet at "Farmers Inn" in LaSalle
and spend about an hour and a half . This is almost a daily
routine .
He feels that the maintenance shop is operated by in-
competent personnel or the "slowest workers in Colorado" .
In May, 1982 he put his grader in the shop to replace the front
king pins . This job should take at the most, a week . Espinoza
knows the parts were in the shop within a week. The grader
was not repaired for six weeks .
Espinoza advised that in his opinion motor graders are
replaced unnecessarily. When he started in February, 1982,
the County had 27 motor graders . In June 82 and June 83, three
new graders were bought. Five new graders are on order for June
1984. This means that 11 new pieces of equipment will have been
bought in three years. This means that one third of the entire
fleet has been replaced in 3 years . Espinoza advised that Utah
Pepin makes the decision for equipment replacement.
When Scheltinga dismissed Espinoza he appeared to be very
. sympathetic . He told Espinoza that he was glad he had not been
put into the job market at that time' because he really wasn' t
qualified for the job he held. He "beat around the bush", but
implied he didn' t have the educational requirements .
Espinoza advised that ze is willing to testify to this
information before the County Council if requested.
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Mr. Warren Meyer, 2027 26th Avenue Court, telephone
330-1131, was interviewed on May 29, 1984 by E . Lawrence
Hyland . Mr . Meyer furnished the following information.
Meyer retired from his position in the County Engineer ' s
Office in 1983 . He had actually resigned in protest of that
office ' s mistreatment of him as a loyal employee of the
county. His termination papers were changed to show he had
retired, but he was so eager to leave the situation that he
signed them indicating retirement rether than resignation.
He felt that Drew Scheltinga chanced the papers because a
resignation by someone eligible to retire may have raised
"too many questions" . Meyer was not particularly concerned
from a financial standpoint whether he retired or resigned
because he was not eligible for retirement benefits since he
had not joined the retirement plan.
Mr.Meyer succeeded Brad Slife in the position he held
with the County Engineer. Meyer had the responsibility for
inspecting rights of way to be used by oil and gas drilling
• companies when they moved a drilling operation from one site
to another. Prior to his position in the County Engineer's
Office, Meyer was with the County Environmental Office . In
that position he inspected the drilling sites before drilling
commenced and after it was completed . The purpose of these
inspections was to determine if the operation would cause
permanent damage to the land at proposed drilling sites or
if the operator had left the area in the condition, after
drilling, that he found it before he started .
In his first position with the County Engineer, Meyer
was supervised by Gil Olsen. Olsen was responsible for the
issuance and collection for moving permits when a drilling
company moved its operation over a county road. The permit
•
was required each time a rig was moved, even though a fee
had been paid when the same rig was originally moved into
the county for its first operation. The $500 was much more
than the state charged for moving a rig and the drilling
companies protested vigorously. Since the fee was so high
Weld County Commissioners agreed to deliver the permits to
• any companies that intended to move an operation. In addition
the Commissioners agreed that the companies did not have to
completely disassemble a rig when moving it from one site to
• another, within the county borders . It is Meyer's understand-
ing that the Commissioners agreed to these points as an extra
service because of the higher fees . Meyer is under the im-
pression that the agreement was authorized by a resolution
•
published in the minutes of the Commissioner's meetings.
Approximately three years ago, Gil Olsen retired . Meyer
approached Drew Scheltinga about the possibility of a promotion
to Olsen' s spot . Scheltinga refused to promote Meyer but in •
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stead combined Olsen' s and Meyer ' s positions into one job to be
handled by Meyer at his same pay. When he eliminated Olsen's
job, Scheltinga immediately created a position of Assistant
County Engineer . Ali Zenhari , a very capable engineer in the
office, applied for the position. Scheltinga then decided he
would not fill the position right away. Zenhari resigned a
short time later, apparently in protest. Scheltinga filled
the position immediately after Zenhari ' s resignation, with a
close friend, Rod Hutchison.
In the summer or fall of 1983 , Meyer again approached
Scheltinga for a raise . Scheltinga said he had to have per-
mission of the County Commissioners before he could grant such
a request. Meyer insisted that Scheltinga call Commissioner
Norman Carlson then and there . Scheltinga did so and Commiss-
ioner Carlson agreed that because of the additional duties Meyer
had assumed, he was entitled to more pay and so authorized it.
Meyer still did not get his raise . Instead (according to Meyer)
Scheltinga contracted with Landmark Engineering, a Loveland firm,
to do pre-inspections and post-inspections of oil drilling sites
and to assume the duties of inspection of right of way routes
used by drillers in the mr;vement of 'rigs . Scheltinga paid
Landmark $3000 per month o perform a function that Meyer was
fully capable of handling . At that point Meyer decided he had
"had enough", and began his plans to leave .
Meyer advised that he would be willing to testify before the
County Council to the above information.
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