The Custer Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held their regular mid-monthly meeting in Wetmore on October 19. Actions taken included consideration and approval of accepting additional ARPA funds from the federal Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF), and directing the Planning Commission (PC) to revisit some Zoning Resolution policies on Short-Term Rentals (STRs) and home-based businesses; the latter to allow for more home-based daycare centers in the county. The BOCC also heard a report from County Attorney Clint Smith that included the news that County Clerk and Recorder Kelley Camper is facing a lawsuit.
Under Attorney Items, Smith reported that the committee formed to force a recall vote on Tom Flower had now turned their sights on Camper. Ann Barthrop, head of that committee, has filed a legal action in District Court against Camper, because Camper disqualified enough signatures on the recall petition to dismiss it. Smith recommended to the BOCC that they authorize Camper to hire a private specialist in election law: âI have reviewed the lawsuit and I have found a number of problems with it,â he said: âI would like to share opinions with this [counselor].â
âBy authorize, you mean pay for it?â asked Canda. âYes,â Smith replied: âI donât want to represent [Camper] myself because I worked with Ann Barthrop on the Justice Center project. I have no idea how much the charges would be, could be $10,000 – $15,000. I would feel more comfortable not being involved â I couldnât report to you if I am her lawyer because of attorney-client privilege. I think that the lawsuit can be dealt with expeditiously.â
âI donât want to do this unless we have some idea of how much the retainer would cost â can you represent her until we get answers?â asked Canda. âLet me talk to the attorney up there â I think Kelley can handle this, Iâve reviewed her communications with [the recall committee], sheâs very confident on her reasoning about which signatures were allowed and which werenât.â Smith replied. âItâs kind of hard to understand exactly what their claims are â I will get some more information and let you know.â
âI think this is a frivolous lawsuit,â declared Flower. âAs a county commissioner, my job is to save the county money, would you serve as her attorney if we asked you to? Unless you truly donât feel qualified. I donât care whether you feel comfortable or not, thatâs what we pay you for.â
âIâm qualified to do it,â Smith said.
âTo [Candaâs] point, I canât see spending 20-30 thousand dollars when we have a county attorney,â Flower said. âIf thereâs a real conflict of interest thatâs one thing â I donât want us to be seen as throwing [Camper] to the wolvesâŚif Kelley for whatever reason wants to hire outside counsel, she can.â
âI want to save the county money,â said Camper, who was present at the meeting.
After public comment and a discussion of whether or not Administrative Assistant Jennifer Kriegh should be authorized to send out Board packet documents to citizens who request them, the BOCC turned to new business. Human Resources Manager Braden Wilson introduced a consideration of the 2023 budget review and approval process. December 6 will be the date for the final public hearing. The BOCC voted to set the time and date for 8:30 a.m. on November 7 for a budget workshop.
Flower introduced a motion for the county to accept $836,000 in LATCF funds, split into payments over two years (2022-2023). These funds are intended as a supplement to previously received ARPA (American Rescue Protection Act) funds. Flower explained that the money was a grant intended to be used as general operating funds for the county, and the only restriction was that they âcanât be used for political leverage.â A motion to accept the funding passed unanimously.
In the wake of another instance last month where they had to vote on the PCâs decision to deny an STR permit, the BOCC introduced a consideration of asking the PC to rewrite policies on initial and renewal processes for STRs. âI think we need to schedule a workshop with the PC,â said Planning and Zoning (P & Z) Director Dorothy Carstens. âI think we need to start doing tours again â I donât know if thatâs something we did in the past, it definitely didnât happen in the last year or so. The PC members agree that doing site tours would be very beneficial to all of us.â
âSo, youâre asking for a workshop to help determine how to improve these STR processes,â said Canda. âHave you talked to [PC Chairman] Keith Hood about this?â âNot yet,â Carstens replied.
âI can tell that there have been issues with the process,â said BOCC Chairman Kevin Day: âI would say at this point that we need to address not only STRs in this workshop, but anything else that we need to look at with changes to the Zoning Resolution â so weâre not continually going back. I asked [Carstens] to put together a list of different things so weâre not meeting to change things again three months later.â
Canda made a motion to recommend to the PC a workshop to make changes to the STR policies, and also to address parameters for home-based daycare. Flower seconded the motion, saying, âI think the home daycare stuff is going to affect a lot of other things as well â I think we should make it a BOCC workshop and invite the PC to attend. Let Dorothy set the date and get back to us.â
During discussion, PC member Mary Mowery, who was present, addressed some of the issues that had been raised about the PCâs decisions with regard to STR permits, particularly as it regards to neighbor complaints, which sunk the STR permit for 1680 Keepsake Loop last month.
âHow much weight should we be giving to neighborsâ [opinions]?â Flower asked her. âWe have to change the [neighbor commenting] process to privilege adjacent neighbors,â Mowery replied. âWe canât tell people they canât speak at public meetings, anyone can,â Flower responded.
âSpeaking about it afterwards, we had a mob [at the PC meeting],â Mowery said. âWe maybe shouldnât have given in to it.â âWe canât accuse someone of being guilty before being innocent,â said Canda, who had been the sole BOCC vote to overturn the PCâs recommendation: âWe need to be dealing with facts â donât throw any ideas out before we discuss them.â
âI think too that HOAs and POAs should be coming up with regulations on their own if theyâre so concerned about [STRs],â Carstens added.
Day called for a vote on the motion to set a BOCC workshop to discuss Zoning Resolution changes. âAye, if we do it before the end of the year,â said Flower. The motion carried unanimously.
In other business, the BOCC voted to approve letters of support for the San Carlos Ranger Station and the Custer County Tourism Board in seeking grants, and heard a complaint from Chris Bryson, alleging that the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) was out of compliance with FEMA because its hazard mitigation plans, such as the community wildfire mitigation plan, had expired. He accused OEM Director Adrian Washington of being âdishonestâ about the OEMâs subsequent eligibility for grants.
âYouâre saying you donât believe [Washington] is working on a hazard mitigation plan?â Flower asked. âNo,â said Bryson, âbut the plan is expired.â
âWell, I did talk to Adrian, and he said he updated it last year,â said Canda. Further discussion revealed that Brysonâs concerns were at least partly driven by resentment at being passed over in Washingtonâs favor for the position of OEM Director, a fact that Canda addressed directly in his response, adding: âYouâre charging him with all this and you haven’t talked to him yet. You know where he works â if you really do care about the county and not Chris Bryson only, you can walk over to his office and talk to him.â
The BOCC then adjourned the meeting to go into Executive Session.
â Elliot Jackson