Thomas threatens suit over legal fees

Teal, Laydon disagree

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A long-running con ict between Douglas County’s elected leaders could continue after county Commissioner Lora omas signaled she might take action to have her legal bills paid back if the county doesn’t decide to pay the cost.

Her two fellow commissioners on the board appeared not to entertain that idea.

“If you want to sue the county and cost the taxpayers more in legal fees, that is entirely up to you,” Commissioner Abe Laydon responded during a Jan. 31 meeting.

omas accused Laydon and Commissioner George Teal of conducting a “witch hunt” investigation into whether omas created a hostile working environment. omas said the investigation “exonerated me of any wrongdoing.”

Thomas under scrutiny

At the center of the con ict are multiple layers of legal wrangling that stem from an investigation Teal and Laydon initiated after accusing omas of circulating an anonymous letter that criticized speci c employees in the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, allegedly creating a hostile work environment. ey also accused her of emailing county legal representation with a request not authorized by the full board.

time and money spent on long commutes, more air pollution, and greater economic and workforce challenges,” Polis said. Polis added that rising housing prices are “putting the dream of homeownership out of range for more and more Coloradans.” e governor’s assessment squares with the ndings of Colorado Community Media in our four-week series exploring what many experts say is a housing crisis — one that a ects practically everyone in the Denver area.

Lower-income workers are seeing larger chunks of their paychecks go to landlords. Young families can’t nd starter homes they can a ord. Retirees don’t see any attractive options for moving and downsizing, meaning their homes stay o the market, helping keep prices high.

“Just look west,” Polis said in his address. “In California, decades of poor planning has led to interruptions of drinking water and electricity for entire towns and cities, average home prices over $1 million in major cities and 16lane freeways” with “bumper-to-

SEE STRESSES, e $17,000 investigation into omas by outside legal counsel found that while omas had distributed the letter, doing so did not create a hostile work environment. It also found she did direct legal representation to provide her with information the board had determined to keep secret. omas appeared in a CBS Colorado news story in July discussing the con dential report that showed the results of the investigation, prompting the Douglas County government’s attorney to nd that omas could have broken the law by doing so.

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