Monday’s Garfield County Commissioner (BOCC) meeting, minus Tom Jankovsky, started off as expected with the county libraries as the subject of the open public comment period. Library board trustee candidate Carole O’Brien was first out of the gate, scolding the BOCC for its lack of communication to candidates about the changes to Tuesday’s scheduled special library meeting. 

O’Brien set the scene with a brief timeline of her application process, stating that she initially sent her letter of interest to the library district’s director, Jamie LaRue, on March 1. 

“Since you all had just usurped the function of appointing [library] trustees, the application procedures were a little unclear at that time,” she said. The BOCC passed a resolution on Feb. 26 to “take control” of the library trustee appointment process.

LaRue, continued O’Brien, forwarded her letter to the county. By March 18, she still had not heard anything from the county about how to proceed. She then emailed her letter to county manager Fred Jarman, who she said advised her that the interviews would take place at 1pm on Tuesday, April 2. 

“On March 27, The Sopris Sun published an article quoting you, John, that the April 2 interviews were being postponed indefinitely,” she said. “That was the first I heard anything about that.” (The Sopris Sun did not indicate in its coverage that the postponement was “indefinite.”) 

Martin replied, “You can’t always believe what you read in the press.”

To clarify, in response to a March 25 email from The Sopris Sun to county employees Jarman, Renelle Lott and Vola Mercer about the April 2 meeting, Martin called this reporter at home and said that the meeting was postponed. He emphasized “postponed,” stating that the meeting had not been “canceled.” At Monday’s meeting, Martin changed the characterization from “postponed” to “continued.” He said nothing about the phone conversation, but his reasons for putting off the April 2 meeting remained the same as what he told The Sopris Sun during that call: namely, that Jankovsky is currently out for medical reasons and that the full board should be present during the special meeting.

O’Brien questioned when the county would have notified candidates about the change in the April 2 meeting and made her thoughts known about the BOCC’s role in trustee appointments. 

“You cannot be trusted to do this in the best interests of the library by bending to the will of a fringe group that is aligned with those trying to undermine our democratic institutions,” she said. “You have politicized a process that should not be political.” 

Martin said during Monday’s meeting that everything has to go through a motion and a process.

“We will have a motion, and then we can go ahead and see if we’re going to hold our hearings tomorrow or if we’re going to temporarily postpone them until we have a full board and the library board is available,” he said. 

Martin and Commissioner Mike Samson unanimously passed a motion to continue the library trustee candidate interviews to April 30 at 1pm.

In other news, the BOCC moved quickly through a short agenda, including approval of a liquor license for the Rough Bar in Rifle, the consent agenda, approval of a request for use of a county front-end loader to help clean up Hubbard Mesa as well as a contract to purchase a lot at 450 West 11 Street in Rifle for $195,000. Commissioners also approved a letter to state lawmakers opposing House Bill 24-1178, concerning local authority to regulate pesticides. 
The entire meeting is available in the archived meetings section of the Garfield County website, www.garfield-county.com