News
Elbert 11.20.13
Elbert County
Elbert County, Colorado • Volume 118, Issue 43
November 21, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourelbertcountynews.com
Hardball report looks at leaders Commissioners don’t fare well in analysis By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com
County commissioners discuss removing Elbert County planning commission chairman Paul Crisan prior to their Nov. 13 vote. From left to right are Larry Ross, Robert Rowland and Kurt Schlegel. Rowland and Schlegel voted to fire Crisan, while Ross abstained. Photo by George Lurie
Planning official fired mid-meeting Two commissioners vote for ouster; third abstains By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com Calling his recent actions “disruptive” and “counterproductive,” the Board of County Commissioners removed Paul Crisan as the chairman of the county planning commission. “Something had to be done,” said BOCC chair Robert Rowland. “Mr. Crisan has made a laughingstock of the county by the way he’s run recent meetings,” Commissioner Kurt Schlegel said. The controversial move to oust Crisan from the planning commission occurred at the BOCC’s Nov. 13 regular meeting. Rowland and Schlegel voted in favor of a motion to remove Crisan, and Commissioner Larry Ross abstained. The dramatic turn of events is just the latest chapter in an ongoing effort by the BOCC and county planning commission to craft a set of new regulations concerning future oil and gas development in Elbert County. Members of the county planning commission, together with an ad hoc group known as the editing committee, had spent two and a half years attempting to write new oil and gas regs. But in July, in a move that surprised many around the county, Rowland and Schlegel voted against the revised oil and gas regulations forwarded to them by the planning commission. Ross voted in favor of the revised regs. And last month, the editing committee was officially disbanded by the BOCC. The nine-person planning commission serves on a voluntary basis. Members are appointed to three-year terms by county commissioners. The move to unseat Crisan, Rowland said, is “unprecedented” in county history. POSTAL ADDRESS
‘The planning commission is simply an advisory board. But there are some on the commission who believe whatever they say goes.’ Elbert County Commissioner Kurt Schlegel “I’ve spent a great deal of time in recent days studying our relationship with the planning commission,” Rowland said during the Nov. 13 BOCC meeting. “We’ve had repeated instances of Mr. Crisan demonstrating disrespect to our staff and elected officials …” Rowland said Crisan “disrupted and delayed” the process of writing a new set of oil and gas regulations. “Instead, Mr. Crisan has used his position to promote his own partisan politics,” Rowland added. Schlegel supported Rowland’s charges. “I was contacted by several members of staff and at least 12 members of the public who attended the (most recent planning commission) meeting in Simla and was told it was a goat rope,” Schlegel said. (The Urban Dictionary defines goat rope as “when good intentions go bad, messily.”) Crisan, an Elizabeth resident who has served on the planning commission for more than 10 years, was out of town and could not be reached following the Nov. 13 meeting. But Tony Corrado, a member of the now-defunct editing committee, attended the Nov. 13 BOCC meeting and said he did not support Crisan’s removal. “Paul didn’t do anything wrong,” said Corrado. “He was operating within his rights. I didn’t hear anything today that added up to grounds for his dismissal.” Because they are asked to rule on decisions made by the planning commission,
county commissioners are prohibited from attending planning commission meetings. But at the recent planning commission meeting held in Simla, a number of heated exchanges occurred between Crisan and Kyle Fenner, the county’s director of community development services. Rowland said the reports he’d heard after the Simla meeting prompted him to seek Crisan’s removal. Explaining his decision to abstain from voting on Crisan’s ouster, Ross said he “did not have firsthand knowledge of the event that provoked the action. That’s the only comment I want to make at this time,” Ross added. After the Nov. 13 BOCC meeting ended, Schlegel elaborated on his reasons for removing Crisan. “The planning commission is simply an advisory board,” he said. “But there are some on the commission who believe whatever they say goes.” Bob Ware, who was appointed to the planning commission this past January, said he agreed with the BOCC’s decision. “Paul has caused a lot of problems in the community and at the meetings,” Ware said. “He’s knowledgeable about what the planning commission is supposed to do but his operating style wasn’t in the best interest of the county. Personally, I think it was a good move by the board.” With Crisan’s removal, there are now two vacancies on the planning commission — former commissioner Paula Koch resigned earlier this year before moving out of state. Rowland said in the next few weeks he planned to “talk with people in the community who are interested” in joining the planning commission. “But honestly,” he added, “we’re in no Printed on recycled newsprint. Please hurry to fill the vacancies. The work that recycle this copy. the planning commission is doing right now on the oil and gas regs is extremely important. I’d rather let them finish that first and then at the appropriate time, we’ll make the reappointments.”
A scathing, post-election report written by a local consultant blames the Board of County Commissioners for the recent defeat of several key bond measures, and criticizes the BOCC for “infighting” and escalating “dysfunction.” Tim Buchanan, an Elbert-based consultant hired in September and paid $15,000 to help publicize the November bond issues and evaluate county leadership, delivered his no-holdsbarred report at a Nov. 12 standing-room-only public meeting attended by county commissioners, department heads and dozens of county employees. The meeting was Buchanan held a week after an election in which county voters resoundingly defeated several ballot initiatives proposed by the BOCC to shore up the county’s ailing finances. In the first part of his report, Buchanan describes the conditions under which he was hired: “Faced with insufficient revenues to run the county effectively, growing conflicts and distrust with the BOCC, diminishing confidence from many elected officials and department heads, and growing attacks from political factions within the county, I was engaged by the BOCC to assess the increasing challenges and provide actionable solutions.” The report also included what Buchanan referred to as “a 360 survey,” unedited and extremely critical comments concerning the leadership styles and abilities of the three commissioners, comments that were submitted anonymously to Buchanan by county employees, including department heads. “Elbert County has long been a county in which much of the politics focuses on the Board of County Commissioners,” the report stated. “As the county has grown and the demand for increased services has increased, citizens comment that as far back as 1994, there were serious problems growing in the county about how it was run.” Buchanan estimated that for almost 20 years, “the county has been struggling to reach some sort of consensus over management of county services, resources and employees.” The report blames the “most recent economic downturn” for “exacerbating” the county’s precarious financial position, resulting in what Buchanan characterized as a “decline in county employee morale and organizational stability.” The report summarized the bond Report continues on Page 16