Sheriff Maketa accuses commissioners of violating 1A
El Paso County Sheriff Maketa says El Paso County Commissioners violated 1A by taking control of the Office of Emergency Management away from the Sheriff’s Office.
He sent out the following release Thursday (10/2) night. We are waiting for a response from El Paso County Commissioners.
There has been a lot of discussion in the last week concerning the County repealing Resolution 98-439A, which was the 1998 Resolution that delegated the function of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to the Sheriff’s Office. By repealing that Resolution and making it effective on that date, the County also repealed the statutory element that created eligibility for OEM to be funded by voter approved 1A funds. Additionally, Resolution 14-368 also removed the Hazardous Material (HazMat) response function from the Sheriff’s Office thus, removing the eligibility for 1A funding.
As of this date, the Commissioners are in violation of the will of voters and the specific language contained within the 1A original Ballot. After consulting with two outside independent legal counsel, it is very clear in the ballot language, those funds cannot be used for any other reason but the, “urgent public safety needs identified by Sheriff Terry Maketa, …, as critical to performing his statutory obligations to all El Paso County residents, …”. The Ballot presented to the voters further states “…, with all revenues generated to be restricted to the following and used for no other purpose”. (See attachment page 13, Exhibit A) Additionally, on 08-30-12 and time stamped at 02:20:22, County Attorney Amy Folsom stated: “…The next sentence as was directed by the board and by Sheriff was we wanted to make sure that folks knew the intended purposes that were clearly defined by this by this ballot language and that was to directly fund the El Paso County Sheriff and his Office for the specifically identified critical needs that he’s articulated over the past couple of board hearings.” County Citizen Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) member Patrick Carter on 08-30-14 at 02:26:15 into the meeting stated: “Due to the level of funding that was requested by the Sheriff the CBOC unanimously supports the narrow scope of the ballot question encompassing only the Sheriff’s Office at this time”.
No where does the Ballot give the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) the authority to legislate this ballot to fit their personal agenda. No where in the language does it specifically state to fund OEM. It speaks to hiring planners, which the Sheriff, as the Fire Marshall, has a statutory obligation to meet State and Federal requirements for the development and ongoing development of wildland fire planning and response, and at the time of this Ballot, the Sheriff had a statutory obligation to perform the OEM function by the 1998 Resolution.
Technically speaking, the BoCC can and did assume the Office of Emergency Management, however, since 98-439A was repealed effective September 23, 2014. By their action, the BoCC is now misusing or directing the unauthorized expenditure of 1A funds by paying for salaries of positions that are not the “statutory obligation” of the Sheriff, but are now the statutory obligation of the BoCC. I demand that all expenses concerning 1A funded OEM employees, since September 23, 2014, be reimbursed immediately by the County back to the 1A fund.
The 1A Ballot was developed and authored specifically to prevent current and future politicians and bureaucrats from misappropriating these funds. The Ballot language specifically sets out the specific projects and expenditures. During the hundreds of appearances I made publically to explain the benefits of 1A, numerous citizens expressed concern the County would try to redirect or pilfer these funds away from the Sheriff’s Office and against the will of the voters. It was for that reason the ballot language was crafted in a very restricted scope as confirmed on public record by three commissioners on 09/06/12, at 03:08:41 into the meeting, Commissioner Hisey: “Our duty and our responsibility to allow sheriff access to the voters for statutory purposes”. Then at 03:18:45, Commissioner Lathen while speaking about 1A stated: “Blank check mentality I would not support”…”Critical that we leave the list as it has been presented because it has been review by CBOC and it is very specific”. At 03:51:35 into the meeting Commissioner Clark said: “This has specific accountability what you see, is what you’re going to get”.
Commissioner Lathen was then quoted in the CSIndy on September 28, 2012, “…the resolution behind the ballot measure assures there would be maintenance of the sheriff’s budget – meaning the commissioners wouldn’t bait and switch the voters by claiming for general fund purposes the new tax revenue”. Here we are today, two years later, and those very politicians are trying to do exactly what the public feared. Their actions are willful and deliberate. I have witnessed in the recent past, where the BoCC ignores outside counsel’s legal advice and they should be held accountable if they did so in this case.
The County Resolution 14-368 also asserted “direct control and supervision of all personnel, facilities, radio frequencies, vehicles and any other assets associated with OEM function and/or response and/or support thereof, to include Hazardous Material response and Command and Control and as delegated by this resolution. Based on a review of County Policy and Colorado State Law, the BoCC has no authority of Sworn Sheriff’s Office employees. They cannot legally exert authority of a Sheriff’s Commission, only a Sheriff can appoint or remove Deputy Sheriffs, per C.R.S. 30-2-106, 30-10-506. The Board of County Commissioners has no power to decommission them as Deputy Sheriffs and reassign them. See Tunget v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs of Delta Cnty., 992 P.2d 650, 652 (Colo. App. 1999) (court noted that “the General Assembly conferred upon the sheriff, not the county, the power to appoint and remove deputies . . ..”) The Sheriff’s Hazardous Materials Response Team is made up of sworn Deputies. They often respond to criminal HazMat activity such as Meth Labs, yet the County has no criminal investigative authority. They have claimed they are taking control of the Emergency Services Division (ESD) building paid for by 1A at a cost of $3.2 million. This building houses Wildland Fire, HazMat, Arson investigators and OEM, of which only two of the four OEM personnel are not 1A funded.
This recent Resolution is laced with illegal administrative actions. Many of the assets including the Emergency Services building were purchased with 1A funds for a specific law enforcement purpose. The BoCC or its administrative units are not law enforcement nor do they have authority as a first responder. The BoCC does not have the legal authority to modify the language of 1A. They cannot self legislate authority they are not granted by the people of El Paso County or Colorado Law. The voters approved the acquisition of a Sheriff’s Office “Emergency Service Vehicle Response Center”, further defined in the actual budget back-up documents for the 1A ballot as “Sheriff – Capital, Storage Facility – Emergency Services.” The BoCC is completely ignoring the language they adopted, contradicting their own statements made in 2012 and deliberately attempting to redirect funds and assets intended specifically for the Sheriff’s Office. This inappropriate action and behavior of the BoCC should be investigated immediately as should the County staff supporting this measure. Their self-serving, “ready, fire, now aim” approach is similar to that of DC politics. The underhandedness of the BoCC and County staff was further illustrated when they released a press released attributing quotes from me, which were from 2012 and taken completely out of context to trick the public into believing I supported this action. I would challenge them to provide my quotes to the public in the full context of what I was speaking about. The public deserves the facts, not excerpts that intentionally mislead the public.
This action has very little impact on me or my administration as I will soon be retiring after 27 years of dedicated service. However, I did not support, make tremendous personal sacrifice and push for this funding over a 10 year period, to sit by and witness this BoCC misuse and redirect these funds against the will of the voters. I became more concerned when my successor silently went along with this action probably not realizing the BoCC intent is illegal based on 1A language. I attempted to communicate these concerns with the Chair of the BoCC, but my concerns were ignored, as were those expressed to Diana May by my legal advisor. I even plead with the Chair of the BoCC to take the time to plan this action and that request was ignored.
I have been left with no option, but bring this action to the attention of the public. I have attempted to address this with the County Attorney and the Chair of the BoCC to no avail. Therefore, I am submitting this formal complaint to the citizens of El Paso County who voted in support of 1A in 2012.
Respectfully,
Terry Maketa
Sheriff of El Paso County
