April7,2022  The Board of Bent County Commissioners met in their office at the courthouse at 9:00 a.m.  Those present were:  Chairman Chuck Netherton Commissioner Jean Sykes Commissioner Kim MacDonnell Clerk to the Board Lynda GI Moss  Approved minutes from March 24 and March 29 on ai motion from MacDonnell and seconded by  Sykes.  Approved payroll on a motion from MacDonnell and seconded by Sykes.  Netherton told the commissioners that he asked Sheriff Six if Lane Elliot was still working for the Sheriff'soffice. Six said Elliot was still working full time, while also selling real estate. Approved a letter of support for May Valley Water in Wiley to receive a federal grant on a Approved a letter of support for the City of Las Animas to receive a federal grant on a motion Netherton said the CDOT inspection showed only one sign over Huckleberry Creek needed to be replaced, everything else was fine. Netherton said Robert Darnell West End Road & Bridge Sykes said the culvert on County Road 34 that needed repaired is being worked on by the East Sykes said Gale Tempel of the Wiley area called with concerns about Viaero putting in fiber optic lines close to his water lines. He asked ift there had been a permit issued for the work. The commissioners did not remember one being issued, since Viaero wasn't supposed to come very far in to the county. MacDonnell said Calvin Feik, former County Administrator was supposed Netherton has a call in to Amy Tanabe from Otero County about the inmate contract. Six is supposed to meet with her and the Otero County Sheriff to see if Bent County can borrow a few Netherton said the parts for the water heaters at Social Services and the water bottle filler at the courthouse were paid but the labor had not been paid. So, the county could have another plumber come in and finish the work. Netherton called Valley Plumbing to see if they could  motion from MacDonnell and seconded by Sykes. from MacDonnell and seconded by Sykes.  Foreman said he would take care ofit.  End Road and bridge.  to be in later this afternoon and she would ask him ifhe remembered.  oft the Otero jailers tol help at the Bent County, jail.  finish the projects.    Netherton said Darnell asked him to look for ai new pickup for him. Netherton said he would do Treasurer Kathy Brown presented the quarterly Public Trustee report to the commissioners. She told them SO far this year she had only received one foreclosure and she did not expect it go Accepted the Public Trustee quarterly report on a motion from MacDonnell and seconded by  some checking, but vehicles are really scarce right now.  forward. Sykes.  While at the meeting Brown also asked the commissioners to allow her to strike two things off the tax rolls. One for Danny Owen in the amount of $6.07 and one for Heritage Rail Leasing in Approved the two requested abatements for $6.07 and $160.69 on a motion from Sykes and Attorney Vigil sent a contract to be signed that went with Transit Contract that was approved last week. Netherton said he didn't feel comfortable signing a blank document. MacDonnell said Approved signing the contract after clarification on a motion from Sykes and seconded by The next appointment was not until 10:30 SO the meeting recessed at 9:55 a.m. for a small break  the amount of $160.69. seconded by MacDonnell.  she would ask Feik about it this afternoon.  MacDonnell. until 10:30 a.m.  The meeting reconvened at 10:30 a.m.  Bob Stwalley and Bryan Simmons, members of the Ark River Conservancy Board, met with the commissioners to talk about the Arkansas River levee. The levee needs to be re-certified. The Army Corp of Engineers used to do the certification. Now FEMA does the certifications. The board is not seeking certification on the north levee, SO that area would be placed back in to the flood plain. In order to get the certification for the north levee it would cost millions of dollars and that area is mostly swamp land with only one structure located in it. The board is going to focus on the south levee. The first step was to hire an attorney to prepare the proposal and submit it to FEMA. It took them quite awhile to find an attorney who could do the job. Simmons said they would probably need a PAL extension from FEMA for two years to get everything done and FEMA will want to see that we are working on it. The money will probably be an issue. There are grants, but they are not available until next year. Stwalley said the Simmons said Bent County has a flood mitigation plan, but the Conservancy Board was not a participant, SO the board cannot get funds. That might have to be fixed at some point in the future toi include the Conservancy District. In order for the district to get more funds, the properties in  certification is a long process.    the district would have to be reassessed. The attorney they hired to find an engineering firm, Stwalley said the CDOT study on State Highway 194 will have funds included in next years budget. Part oft the certification process is that the county has an emergency action plan in place, so Troy Abdulla, Emergency Preparedness Manager, will have to be involved in that process as Sykes asked about dredging the river. Stwalley said the board had talked about it. Pueblo did a million-dollar project on part of theirs and then the river came up and now you can'te even tell it was done. The Corp said ifit was dredged it would have to start in La Junta and go all the way Simmons said the board might be back for more requests as the process continues. Until we Stwalley said, Wood, the engineering firm, has done an assessment, SO ift they don't get the bid, After Stwalley and Simmons were finished Commissioner MacDonnell asked them to stay, sO members oft the public could be present. Also present in the room were Economic Development Commissioner MacDonnell read from a prepared statement. That statement along with several other documents are attached to the minutes following this paragraph as MacDonnell requested.  may also be able tol help them find funds.  well.  to. John Martin Dam and it would be really expensive. have aj plan, we don'tknow what we might need.  we would have to start all over again. Wood should hopefully receive the bid.  Director. Amanda Leck and Commissioner District 2 candidate Ross Stotz.    The following concern was stated on record by Kim MacDonnell at the 4/7/22 meeting of the Board of Bent County Commissioners regarding the Employment Process for East End Road and Bridge Foreman Iwould like to express for the record that the process of hiring a new East End Road and Bridge Foreman is being conducted in violation of Bent County Policy 2.8- - Nepotism. A copy oft the Policy is attached. In addition, the process is being conducted in a way that is not fair and equitable, and does not provide Doug Sykes, son of. Jean Sykes, was recently appointed as Interim Foreman for East End Road and Bridge. At the meeting where he was appointed, Commissioner Sykes recused herself from the vote. Following the vote, however, Commissioner Sykes continued to influence the hiring process. Specific actions of Commissioner Sykes in this matter include Illegal discussions with Bent County Commissioner, Chuck Netherton regarding the development of the job description for this position. The 2003 (most recent). Job Description provided the following with respect to Education and/or Experience: "High school diploma or general education degree (GED) and extensive knowledge of highway maintenance and construction procedures gained through at least four yearso of experience or Commissioners Netherton and MacDonnell met on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 to review the 2003. Job Description, and regarding the education/experience requirement, Commissioner Netherton said that the requirement needed to be changed because as written, it would exclude Doug Sykes. Commissioner MacDonnell was noti int favor of lowering the bar for the requirements of this position and indicated that the current language gave the Commissioners flexibility to consider 'equivalent combination of  equal opportunity for all applicants.  equivalent combination ofe education and experience."  education and experience," sO should not be changed. This was the end of the conversation that day.  On Monday April 4, Commissioner MacDonnell asked Commissioner Netherton when they were going to get together again to continue the revision process. Commissioner Netherton said that he was "having Shawn work on it." When Commissioner MacDonnell inquired of Shawn how she was approachinga The Commissioners met in a Work Session on April 5. At the end oft that meeting, Commissioner Sykes left, and Commissioner Netherton handed Commissioner MacDonnell a revised Job Description. When asked where it came from, Commissioner Netherton said that he'd created the Draft the previous day, and that it had taken half the day as he is a slow typer. Commissioner MacDonnell later learned that the The revised draft provided the following regarding Education and Experience: "High school diploma or general education degree (GED) and knowledge of roadway maintenance and construction procedures While Commissioner Sykes for all appearances was not part oft the conversation regarding the hiring process, in fact she and Chairman Netherton developed the process and job description without the  new draft, Shawn said she knew nothing about it.  new draft was created by Commissioner Sykes.  gained through experience or combination of education and experience." input of Commissioner MacDonnell and outside of a public meeting. This was the end of my (Kim MacDonnell's) written comments.    p.2of2  Following my written comments, lalso stated fort the record that  The hiring process needed to bet fair and equitable for all applicants, and that iti is my opinion  that this is not the case currently.  The process must be ina accordance with County Policy. That my comments are not about any individual, but about integrity of process. That the practice of Commissioners conducting county business outside of public meetings cannot continue, and that the publici is not being served. That we need to conduct County business and ourselves in integrity; and Commissioners cannot conduct business when outright lying is exercised int the course of business. Ini thisi instance, Commissioner Netherton lied to me both on 4/4/22 in telling me that the County H.R. Director was working on the. Job Description and on 4/5/22 when he told me that he'd created the. Jobl Description and that it had taken him half a day to do SO. Finally, lasked Bent County Clerk, Lynda Moss, to include these comments in the Minutes oft the April 7,  2002 meeting. Attached to these comments are: 1. Bent County. Job Description, adopted. July 22, 2003 2. E-mail from Kim MacDonnell to Chuck Netherton 3. Revised draft ofJ Job Description (undated) Commissioner's request on 4/5/22).  4. Screen Shot oft the Microsoft "Properties" page oft the revised draft job description. (The document was emailed by H.R. Director Shawn Cardinelli to Commissioner MacDonnell at the  5. Copy of Bent County Policy 2.8-E Employment of Relatives (Nepotism)    After MacDonnell spoke, Netherton said he had spoken to Cardinelli about the salary stuff. He also spoke to Sniff and the other road and bridge employees and that is what they wanted. MacDonnell replied that she did not think it was being handled correctly and legally. Netherton asked MacDonnell what do you want us to do? MacDonnell replied she was not sure, but it Netherton had one other item to discuss. Emergency Preparedness Manager Troy Abdulla requested to work remotely sO that he could accompany his wife on a trip. Consensus was that it  needed to be said in an open meeting.  would be fine for him to do SO.  With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 11:21 a.m.  Respectfully submitted  Clerk to the Board  Chairman oft the Board