EPC Commissioners settle to pay $200,00 to settle 2 claims

harrassed while working under former el paso county sheriff terry maketa are getting a payout. county commissioners agreed to pay more than two hundred thousand dollars to settle their claims. krdo newschannel 13’s dana molina explains what that means for tax payers. with those votes… county commissioners approved… nearly 88 thousand dollars for emory gerhart. and 120 thousand for charles kull. 1:19 – 32 they were a fair dollar amount, they were different b/c even though the same event caused this to come about, the impacts and how each person responded were different. So every settlement is weighted differently. shimon kohn, who represents gerhart and kull says his client’s are grateful … 45 obviously we always hope for more…but we felt this was a just settlement for mr gerhart and mr kull some of the 200 grand will come from the sheriff’s budget. 2:02 – 10 But it’s all county money. It’s all taxpayer money. it’s money commissioners say is already there. 2:10 the bulk of that is coming from sheriff’s salary item, that money has been in there ready to be used. 2:25 – 39 the smaller amount will come from what we call our risk fund, we are self-insured and we set aside money for just these types of contingencies every year. hisey says going to court with these claims could’ve easily cost more. but new sheriff bill elder says the price is still high for a department that’s been distracted by the controversy for almost year. 19 – 34 Just the pure existance of this kind of turmoil, this personnel issue, is beyond distracting. And the sooner that we can find fair settlements the better. We need to get these things behind us as a group. dana molina, krdo newschannel 13. the investigation into former sheriff terry maketa is still active. a spokesperson with the colorado bureau of investigation, which is leading the effort, says they can’t comment on an active investigation. pueblo police