A charge by four members of the Crystal River Caucus that Pitkin County Commissioner Dorothea Farris had a conflict of interest because she spoke out about Filoha Meadows at a recent caucus meeting was dismissed by commissioners on Wednesday.
Four of the Pitkin County commissioners voted to approve a “determination” drafted by Pitkin County Attorney John Ely that found there was no basis to conclude that Farris had a conflict of interest simply because she expressed an opinion on a matter before the caucus.
Farris did not vote on the motion to approve the determination. Commissioners Jack Hatfield, Patti Clapper, Rachel Richards and Michael Owsley voted to approve the document, which absolved Farris of any conflict.
“I do not find that she has demonstrated a conflict of interest,” said Richards.
“Dorothea acted in a proper, right manner,” said Owsley.
Farris has been a commissioner since 2000 and is known for her passion, eloquence and ability to cut to the heart of a matter. Due to term limits, she is in her last year in office.
Farris lives in the Crystal River Valley and is a member of the Crystal Valley Caucus. She spoke at the beginning of an April 24 caucus meeting in Redstone in her role as a county commissioner. Later in the meeting, she stood up and said she wanted to comment as a resident and teacher, and not as a county commissioner. She then read a prepared statement that argued for public access to Filoha Meadows, a parcel of open space along the Crystal River below Redstone owned by Pitkin County.
The county’s Open Space and Trails Board has issued a draft management plan for Filoha Meadows and recently took additional public comment on its draft plan, which includes allowing the public to walk through the meadow on an old stage road during the summer months.
The Crystal River Caucus voted on April 24 to urge the Open Space and Trails Board to allow the public to have access to the meadow only on guided tours, which was counter to Farris’ position. The caucus voted to submit a petition to the board that was signed by 312 county residents in support of guided-only access. Some members of the caucus are concerned that the public would need to walk through an existing subdivision to reach the meadow.
The management plan for Filoha Meadows is to be approved only by the Open Space and Trails Board, and not the county commissioners, unless the plan also requires amending the existing county land use code.
The Crystal River Caucus, and other caucuses in the county, are advisory groups that operate under the jurisdiction of the county, but caucus members are not appointed by the county.
On May 27 Philip Gaylor, Raymond Pojman, Bob Dupre and Tom McBrayer filed a “complaint petition” with Pitkin County alleging that Farris “used her official position as a Pitkin County commissioner to prosper a personal agenda concerning an issue that is currently pending and proposed before the Crystal River Caucus and the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners.”
McBrayer ran against Farris in 2004 for her seat on the BOCC claiming she was misrepresenting her constituency. He lost by a count of 5,123 to 2,439. The complaint stated that Farris “should have at a minimum reasonably known and believed that her stature as a County Commissioner in a position of trust, her participation in formal County activities at a formal County function, and her actions relevant to the presentation of her personal views could and would place undue influence upon members of the Crystal River Caucus.”
The complaint also claimed that Farris’ actions “irrevocably compromised” her “objectivity and
impartiality.”
County Attorney John Ely told the commissioners Wednesday that the county’s home rule charter requires that complaint petitions be addressed at the next regular meeting of the commissioners, which happened to be yesterday, May 28, a day after the complaint was received.
Commissioners added the issue to yesterday’s meeting agenda, but did not include it on the previously released printed agenda.
In his determination document, Ely quoted the sections of the home rule charter dealing with conflicts of interest. “A conflict of interest is a disparity between the private interests and the official responsibilities of an individual in a position of trust in government,” the charter states.
It also requires that “no current County policy maker” should “attempt to influence or communicate directly with any County staff member or other elected or appointed official on any pending or proposed matter in which he/she has personal, financial, possessory, ownership or beneficial interest other than the common public interest.”
The charter also prevents policy makers from appearing before certain boards, including volunteer boards “whose members are appointed by the BOCC,” and requires that no policy maker “shall vote or otherwise participate in a decision making process which affects any entity in which he/she has a financial interest.”
Ely and four of her fellow commissioners found that Farris “has no personal, financial, possessory, ownership or beneficial interest in the matter of Filoha Meadows other than the common public interest;” that Farris “was clear that her participation in the Crystal River Caucus meeting was of a personal nature, and not on behalf of the BOCC;” and that Farris did not appear before a volunteer board whose members were appointed before the BOCC.
The determination also states that the Filoha Meadows management plan is to be approved by the Open Space and Trails Board, and that the BOCC is only going to make a recommendation to that body about the plan. It also says that even if the management plan does reach the BOCC, Farris’ comments regarding the plan “does not of themselves constitute a conflict of
interest.”
Finally, the determination states that “Pitkin County citizens expect their public officials to be informed and intelligent citizens.
“Presuming that County Commissioners must remove themselves from a public dialogue on issues concerning our citizens would only foster isolation of elected officials from the citizens they serve.” Farris’ four fellow board members complimented Ely on the determination he drafted and voted to support it.
“Clearly, there is no conflict,” said BOCC Chair Jack Hatfield, adding that the Crystal River Caucus “should move away from personal matters.”
bgs@aspendailynews.com