Part II -The BoCC considers removal of Victoria Turner on March 21st
Victoria Turner, a newly appointed Planning Commission (PC) member, is being considered for removal from her position on the PC at the next Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) regular meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 (agenda item 11). The cited reasons for removal are "misconduct and nonperformance". There are two reasons listed as grounds for removal in the Planning Commission bylaws (PC bylaws section 5.4). One is four or more consecutive unexcused absences from regular PC meetings; the other is non-performance of duty or misconduct, for which the action of removal falls under the sole discretion of the BoCC. Ms. Turner was appointed on February 7, 2023 and has served on the commission for just three regular sessions. She first publicly voiced her concerns about the possible PC bylaw violations in the first meeting she attended as a member on February 8th, 2023. She also cited all the potential violations of the bylaws during the last PC meeting on March 8, 2023.
March 8, 2023 PC meeting, which allegedly got Ms. Turner in trouble, had two items on the agenda: a public hearing on a multipurpose event venue in Delta and the PC bylaws. At the beginning of this meeting, Ms. Turner requested a parliamentary inquiry based on Robert's Rules of Order which are used by the commission (PC bylaws section 6.12). Her concerns were that the chairman, Tom Kay, was serving a third term, despite the limit being two consecutive one-year terms (PC bylaws section 8.5), and that there are members who are serving on the commission despite not living in unincorporated Delta County (PC bylaws section 5.1). Ms. Turner requested that the commission address these issues before continuing with business and stated that any decisions made while the commission is violating their bylaws are null and void. This dialog is available for viewing in the recording of this meeting.
The Colorado Revised Statute (CRS) 30-28-103, which regulates county Planning Commissions, states that the members shall reside in the county. A written memo from Delta County attorney, John Baier, read aloud at the meeting stated that a 2018 resolution signed by the BoCC (Resolution number 2018-R-025) directed the PC to ensure that the rules adopted by the PC are consistent with this statute. The resolution also gave the BoCC the authority to appoint PC members within the limitations of the state statute. This resolution is cited as the reason for not removing members of the PC who are violating the residential status defined in Section 5.1 of the PC bylaws which were adopted on February 1, 2019. According to Mr. Baier, the PC has no authority to limit its membership to those people who live in unincorporated areas of Delta county. Therefore, the current PC bylaws conflict with the state statute. However, there are other PCs in Colorado, such as in Arapahoe County (see Section 5-1.3.A.1 of their Land Use Code), that restrict their membership beyond the state statute to unincorporated county residents.
In his memo, Mr. Baier also stated that any PC officer who has served two years in a particular position is ineligible to be reelected to that position until after one year has passed. As a result of Ms. Turner’s inquiry and the legal guidance of the county attorney, Tom Kay stepped down from his position as chair. The agenda for the upcoming PC meeting on March 22 shows the previous vice chairman, Jacob Gray, in the chair position and the vice chair position vacant.
During the March 8th meeting, Carl Holm, the Delta County Community Development & Natural Resource Director, stated that the planning commission may amend their bylaws. Mr. Holm also stated that the PC is not obligated to have bylaws and advised the commission to consider that. No written statement from the county attorney on this manner was shared during the meeting; however, the CRS 30-28-104 Part 1 states: "The commission shall adopt such rules and regulations governing its procedure as it may consider necessary or advisable and shall keep a record of its proceedings, which record shall be open to inspection by the public at all reasonable times." Mr. Holm recommended an executive session with the county attorney to get legal advice on the items discussed. An executive session is a closed session and it is listed on the agenda for the next PC meeting on March 22.
Part of a recording of the March 8th PC meeting was posted on the Delta County YouTube channel on Friday, March 10th. The missing part of a recording of this meeting, the part that included the initial dialog about violations of PC bylaws, was withheld until three days later. When this section was finally posted, it was titled "before power-outage." Two power outages occurred that evening and both are visible at time marks 28:24 and 1:09:47 of the recording which was released first.
The next BoCC regular meeting on Tuesday, March 21 is when the BoCC will consider removing Ms. Turner from the Planning Commission and charging her with nonperformance of duty and misconduct. The meeting will start with constituent time at 8:30 am, as all regular BoCC meetings do. The location is 560 Dodge Street in Delta. The public is encouraged to demonstrate their support for justice, accountability, and rule of law by attending this meeting, either online via zoom or in person, and to speak during the constituent time.
