New law to fix government dysfunction in the Town of Boone

BOONE, Colo. (KRDO) -- For more than six months, the Town of Boone has been embroiled in controversy over alleged violations of local and state ordinances, but a new law will soon bring clarity to the small town.

In February, nearly the entire staff and government officials for the Town of Boone resigned. Crystal Breckenridge, the mayor at the time, claimed one of the town’s board members wasn’t following local ordinances. That board member was Rita Rhoads.

“Everybody resigned in February — the town clerk, the town accountant, the town lawyer, everyone on the town council, except for Rita,” Breckenridge said.

Breckenridge said Rhoads self-appointed herself as mayor.

“We all stepped down and then she just went and took over everything,” she said.

Rhoads said she was never self-appointed but was voted by the town board to be mayor pro tem, therefore, with no other town officials, Rhoads said that made her mayor.

“I stepped up to the plate,” Rhoads said. “Bottom line, I stepped up to the plate.”

However, without a town board, Rhoads didn’t have a quorum to pass laws or schedule an election. Instead, Rhoads hand-picked her town board without holding an election, which Breckenridge said was a violation of state and local laws.

“She put people on the town council, which isn't the way we're supposed to do it,” Breckenridge said. “It's supposed to be the board. You're supposed to have an election.”

According to the Colorado Municipal League, the Town of Boone is governed by state statutes as a statutory town, as well as the town’s own ordinances.

Those state and local ordinances say a town board has the power to fill vacancies but doesn’t account for when there isn’t a town board. Rhoads argues it was her job to get a quorum to keep the town running.

“The duty through what I've researched is for the mayor to step up, get your quorum and go until the next election — keep it running,” she said. “Well, that's what I did.”

Rhoads is also accused of firing staff she didn’t agree with. However, state and local laws said only town boards can vote to fire or hire staff. But again, there was no elected town board.

“She should have went through the process and had an election and replaced the people on town council, but instead she was just power hungry,” Breckenridge said.

Rhoads argues the town board she appointed held multiple meetings, which met the necessary quorum and voted to fire certain staff.

“They voted her off, not me,” Rhoads said of the town board. “There was a quorum and they said, ‘We don't want her on.’”

Due to the controversy surrounding the town’s governmental positions and the lack of an election as called for by state and local laws, residents of Boone protested outside Rhoads’ house, calling for her resignation.

The situation boiled over when the town locked Rhoads out of town hall in what she calls a “hostile takeover” in July. In a text to an employee, she said she was “no longer mayor” because she “can’t stand it any longer.”

That same day, Rhoads went to the bank and drained the town’s accounts of more than $400,000. The three checks were made out to the Town of Boone, then she closed all the accounts. Rhoads said she took the checks home but never took any money for herself.

For three weeks, the town wasn’t able to pay its overdue bills, totaling about $14,000, from electricity to trash services. The town has opened new bank accounts and its bills have since been paid.

“It's the only way to save the town,” Rhoads explained.

Rhoads claims she closed the accounts to avoid misappropriation of funds. She said she even called local authorities to investigate the town’s financial accounts.

“It was in the best interest of the town,” Rhoads said. “I will guarantee if (the checks) weren't out to the Town of Boone and that wait period wasn't there, that money would not be there.”

Breckenridge said she has never misappropriated funds but that the Town of Boone has a history of previous mayors not paying bills.

“We've talked about having an audit because we had a mayor in the past that did that,” Breckenridge said. “But that has nothing to do with us.”

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office and the 10th Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner said there are no criminal complaints or charges regarding the Town of Boone.

The Colorado Office of the State Auditor said the state has limited oversight in the operations of local governments.

“Colorado is a local control state, which means that the State is limited in monitoring, regulating, or otherwise directing the operations of any local government. They are separate legal entities with separate governance structures.”

After Rhoads left the mayor position, Breckenridge was asked to return as mayor after she resigned in February. However, the town is still without a board.

A new law that goes into effect Monday will solve that problem. Amendments to House Bill 1185 will address Boone’s situation after something similar happened to the City of Florence in March 2022.

The entire Florence City Council resigned in protest of a corruption scandal. The only remaining elected official was the mayor, meaning the city had no quorum. This new law says if a city doesn’t have a quorum to fill a vacancy, the city clerk can call a special election to fill the positions.

The Colorado Municipal League said this new law, which they helped draft, “will be greatly helpful to Boone to hold a special election and get the seats filled. That will be critical to getting the town back on track.”

The Town of Boone plans to announce the special election on the first day this new law takes effect. Breckenridge said the election will be held in early September.

“The future is going to be better with the right people in place,” Breckenridge said of the Town of Boone. “I feel there are some good people running, so I'm going to count on them to try to get things back the way it should be.”