Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's switch to something else.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
So, now we've had in the past week, we had
two guests on the show, a current Douglas County Commissioner
Kevin van Winkle former Douglas County Commissioner Laura Laura Thomas
talking about the initial moves by Doug Co commissioners toward
home rule for Douglas County. So joining me in studio
(00:23):
now to give his perspective is Commissioner George Teel. And
I don't even know if you've been on the show
with me before, but you certainly haven't been in studio
with me before.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So it's good to have you here. Yeah, thanks, Drass,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So you probably listened to both of the prior interviews,
I'm guessing, or heard about him, at least we've heard
about him.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, So let's just let's just start at the top. Actually,
what is Are you in favor of home rule? Let's
just start with that. Oh yeah, okay, totally in favor
of home rule.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I grew up in Wild County, Like my whole life
of paying attention to government was always about the state
Legislature's going to do something, the Governor's going to do something.
But it doesn't matter. We're Wold County, we're home rule.
And could I give cit examples. No, I don't remember
(01:16):
what that discussion as a high school sophomore a Grelely
Central High School was like. But it was just a
common refrain. And so when I got out of the
army in nineteen ninety seven moved to Douglas County, I
lived to Castle of Pines first, and then we settled
in Castle Rock. It was always a question of, Hey,
when are we going to go home rule? Because I
grew up in Wild County and I know the benefits.
(01:38):
I've heard the benefits over and over again. And of
course since being elected in twenty twenty one to as
county commissioner, I've got to know old friendships new friendships
up in Wild County with those commissioners. Once again, the refrain,
over and over again every year. We don't care what
the legislature is going to do, we don't care what
the Governor's going to do. They're going to do their craziness.
(02:00):
We're Wild County, we're home rule. I think it's time
for us to say we are Douglas County. Now's the
time for home rule.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay, So let's stick with that angle for a minute.
So I shared on the show, and I'm gonna see
if I can. I'm gonna see if I can find this
right now. But I shared some of an email that
I got from staff at the Attorney General's Office and
(02:27):
the State Attorney General's office because I asked him about Hell,
let me see if I can find it. I asked
him about home rule, and I'm just going to share
one paragraph with you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
There's a lot more to it.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
But municipal home rule, which is what Denver and what
Broomfield have, is very different than county home rule, which
is what Weld and Pitkin.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I think Pittkin is the other one we have. He says.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Municipal home rule, which is governed by a different part
of the Constitution, provides more authority in which the state
can only ride local laws if if they fall within
a quote matter of statewide concern or matter of mixed
state wide and local concern. County home rule provides no
such provision. Some inaccurately conflate the two, arguing that home
rule counties are on equal footing and have the same
(03:14):
broad power as home rule municipalities to follow local laws
over state laws, but that is not the case. So
what I want to ask you, because I understand and
share your desire to to the greatest possible degree, get
out from under the thumb of this really kind of
(03:35):
tyrannical government we're living under in this state right now.
So could you elaborate a little bit more on the
kinds of things that you think Douglas County would not
have to abide by when it comes to state law
if it were under home rule, And maybe you can
also add some things that you would still have to
(03:55):
abide by.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, first and foremost comes from the perspective of Douglas
County right now is a statutory county. I am, by
definition as a county commissioner, an agent of the state
of Colorado, and Douglas County is an agency of the
State of Colorado. And so in the cases where we
have taken the state to court and we've sued, we've
(04:17):
been dismissed summarily by a number of courts right off
the bat because we don't have standing. An entity cannot
sue itself, okay, And case in point, we have a
lawsuit against the state right now about allowing our sheriff's
Department and local law enforcement agencies to work with ICE
to get us out from under this illegal immigration crisis.
(04:40):
We're in state court. First stop said you don't have
standing because you're an agent, you're an agency of the state.
We're appealing, and that appeal is based upon the fact
that that doesn't apply here because our duly elected, legally
elected sheriff is indeed his own agent that has to
(05:00):
enforce state regulations, and these state laws are getting in
his way of looking for the health, looking out for
the health, safety and welfare of the people of Douglas County.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So we're pressing it.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We think we're going to have better results in the
federal courts because the federal court will be more likely
to hear why a state should disallow a very specific
cooperation with the federal government. You know what, if we're
home rule, that first stop in the first court wouldn't
have been dismissed the way it's been dismissed. Why we're
(05:35):
not an agency of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
We will be a.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Home rural county, our own independent agency. Much as the
Attorney General did say it did acknowledge in that email
from the office Home rule municipalities are right now, well,
so we can't. Nobody can get around that if we
are a home rule county, so we will have our
(05:58):
own agency within the county to pursue our rights to
resist state laws.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to focus for a moment, specifically on the
sheriff and potential cooperation with ICE to help get criminal
illegal aliens out of Douglas County, which I hope you
would be able to do. I'm trying to understand there
was a matter of law whether being a home rule
(06:27):
county would allow the sheriff to enter into some kind
of a cooperation agreement with ICE that he can't enter
into now as not being a home rule county.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, that's not detailed in section thirty of the Kara
Revised Statutes. So it's something we'd actually have to write
into the charter that our sheriff has that right to
cooperate with any law enforcement agency he or she deems proper.
And maybe it's not going to be that exact language.
Maybe we say federal, state, local agecies and detail that
(07:01):
in the charter.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But do you think that would be legal.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do you think under the provision of law that allows
the county to become a home rule county that it
would allow you to say we are not going to
abide by the state law that I, by the way, oppose,
and I know.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You do too. That turns us into a sanctuary state.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
State law. The people who enforce state law will say
that law enforcement here cannot cooperate with ice, and that's
how the state operates because we're a sanctuary state. Are
you saying that as a home rule county you could
ignore that law?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Our legal analysis is yes, but it's got to be
something we write into the charter because it's not covered
under the enabling legislation under section thirty of the coroador
Revis Statutes. So we got to write it into the charter.
It's a bit like writing a constitution for the county itself.
(07:53):
And that's the times of both Pitkin and Weld have
gotten tripped up and kind of the nature of that
probably pretty quick and not very well researched email from
the Attorney General's office is if it's not in the charter,
And that's important. That's very important because as we write
this charter, we really got to ask ourselves, who are
(08:14):
we what do we want our government to be? Well,
something like that that our sheriff should be able to
cooperate fully at the federal, state, local level. I think
that's something we're going to end up writing in. I'm
going to advocate for it. I'm going to try to
get on the Charter Committee Commission myself. I'm going to
have to go through an election on Gene twenty six. Hey,
(08:35):
no problem. I've already run county wide twice as the
county commissioner. But that's why I want to be on
the Charter Commission, is to make sure that we're very
careful to make sure these provisions that can give us
that agency to resist some of the stupidity I think
we see coming out of the federal excuse me, coming
(08:57):
out of state and local legislation, sometimes federal too.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I think we're pretty good.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Now we'll have that as a home rule county in
the state of Colorado.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We're talking with Douglas County Commissioner George Teele.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'm not a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I will say I suspect that even if you write
that in the charter, I wouldn't be surprised if you
lost in court. I wouldn't be surprised, like if the
state Supreme Court said a home rule county doesn't have
the authority to override that state law about sanctuary stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
And you know that's okay because right now we're in
a position that when we disagree with the state law,
just like we're doing right now with these sanctuary state laws,
we got to.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Sue and you the law because you don't have standing.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And we have those obstacles because of standing. When we
are a home rule county and we're gonna and the
state's going to say, hey, you're going to do this,
and we're like, in the end, no, that doesn't apply
to us. If we can point to a police in
the charter, they got to sue us and prove to
a court of law and probably the Supreme Court of
(10:01):
the state that no, No, that provision in your charter, that's.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Not legal, that's not okay.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Whoa nobody gets through these kind of court cases in
a single year. Us This is these are years to
progress through. If it's the state suing us and we've
got something to point to in our charter, well that's
more time we're buying for ourselves to say, no, State,
you can't compel us to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Kevin van Winkle, who a commissioner along with you.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
When he was on the show, he said he thought
that being a home rule county would allow Douglas County
to not abide by the state law regarding plastic bags,
and that therefore supermarkets in Douglas County, if they wanted to,
could have plastic bags and could have them without having
(10:52):
the charge customers for them and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Do you believe that's correct?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah, I mean it is covered in terms of fee
that the county has the right to levy, and that
is in section thirty of Chlord Revised Statutes as a
specific power. We can double down on it by also
writing it into the Charter that you know, how we
have that capability control fees because I don't know if
you've noticed, are we really a state that's being overtaxed
(11:19):
right now? Or are we being overfeed and we're suffering
from feation without representation. There's a bill up right now
where they're going to create an enterprise to fund our roads.
I thought my taxes were going to funding my roads.
So it's something I'm a little concerned with. But we
will have those kind of powers. Some of that we
(11:40):
might have to take what's in section thirty of the
Chloride revised Statute, and we might have to have an
element in the charter that does talk about a process
for assessing fees and for accepting fees imposed by say.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
That's the key.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Clearly, as home rule you'd have a lot of power
to decide what fees you want to impose or not.
It's a different question whether you can say that businesses
within the home rule county don't have to abide by
such and such a state fee, right, and that'll be
a different question. All right, we got about five minutes left,
so give me some sort of quick answers. This one
(12:16):
is a listener question that I'm going to slightly reword.
Right now, we see the federal government try and and
this has happened a lot in the past, penalizing states
that don't do things the way the federal government wants
them to do by withholding money.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And they're also doing with his colleges and all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, so a listener wants to know whether you think
there's any risk of the state withholding funding from Douglas
County if they don't like how you behave as a
home ruld county.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Well, probably, but boy, what are they going to take away,
it's a lack of money we're getting for our roads
right now from the state. Because I'll tell you what
I've been on doctor Cock, the Denver Regional Council of
Governments that he handles transportation planning for ten years, both
when I represented cass Rock and now representing dug County.
And hey, I've got three road projects, major road projects
(13:06):
going onto the county right now. You know how much
state money is on them.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Zero?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You know how much federal money is on them over
half the cost. And then, by the way, the other
half is mostly paid for by developers.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
All right, Two more questions.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
If home rule is a good idea, why have only
two counties done it?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I think the process is substantial. It's a nine step process,
and it's not easy. When I first asked that question
moving to Douglas County almost thirty years ago, I am
sure my commissioner, Jim Sullivan, would have looked at me
and said, where are we going to get that money from?
Because Douglas County was a lot smaller than there were
still more cows than people. We're a different county. Now,
(13:50):
we've got some substantial suburban communities between highlands, Ranch and
Parker Castle Rock is almost larger than Pueblo right now,
believe it or not. Well, we do have capabilities. We're
very fiscally healthy. We have zero zero debt at the
county level, and so I think right now we're in
(14:10):
a really good position to take this challenge John, have
this conversation in the community and manage and work through
this process that a lot of other counties they've looked
at it and been like, I don't know when we're
going to find the time to do it. I don't
know where we're going to find the money to do it.
I don't know how we're going to do it, all.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, So, speaking of money, there's a particular thing that's
been going on with Douglas County for a while, kind
of controversial, certainly very controversial between former Commissioner Laura Thomas
and and and you and Abe regarding you said, Abe
and I would who no, no, no, Laura versus you
(14:50):
two who right?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So, and that is the whole water thing, right soever
you are and bringing water up from from the San
Luis Valley to to Douglas County. And I'm sure you're
well acquainted with with my colleague Mandy Connell as the
show after mine. She lives in Douglas County. I don't
she lives in Douglas County, And Mandy wants me to
(15:13):
ask you, is this really? Is this home rule thing
really about an effort to get back to pursuing that
RWR water thing.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Now, Now, I mean Kevin Van Winkle, my new colleague,
made it clear during his campaign he was opposed just
outright to the RWR planned. Abe and I were a
part of that early consideration. It was Abe that killed
it from moving forward. It was his final decision that
really killed that project for at least Douglas County being
(15:43):
involved in that project.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So, no, that's not what it's about.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You know what it is about when you talk about water, though,
is we have some really good water districts in Douglas County.
They're very healthy. You look at Cassarrock, Hiland Ranchwater, Parker Water,
very healthy, very well managed, profess victionally managed, very well
overseen by the citizen boards. And then we've got some
water districts that are suffering. And I think at Castle
(16:09):
Pines North and all the problems they've had, all the
times they've had boil orders, I think we are kind
of coming to a time and home rule will give
us options that we probably do need to look at,
consolidating some of these smaller financially struggling water districts into
the larger, healthier ones. And I know that that's something
(16:30):
that is a real challenge right now, is a statutory
county to take the lead on. We rely on those
water districts to do it themselves, just like Castle Pines
tried to do when merging with Parker two years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
All right, I got about a minute left, so let
me get one other question in here. The way state
government is right now under state law, there are some
jobs in the county that are elected corner right elected,
just as one example others. Do you think there would
(17:03):
be any move and would you support a move? And
if yes, why if you were to become a home
rule county to change some of those offices that are
currently elected to being appointed instead.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
The only one we're looking at is the surveyor job.
Surveyor job is I don't want to speak ill of anyone.
I think we've had some great surveyors. There were professionals,
but their duties right now are a signature and I
and the real work of surveying has been done by
a department that reports to me eventually and my two colleagues,
(17:38):
and I think that's an elected role. I think we
will make appointed. As far as the rest, I've talked
to every other elected official at the county level about
home Rule.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
We've talked about this.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
We did have one who considered it might be better
to be appointed, but then we gave that elected official
time to consider it, and indeed the word they came
back was no, this is an important job. This needs
to remain in an elected position. So other than surveyor
every other elected job at the county level sheriff, coroner, assessor, treasurer, clerk,
(18:14):
and recorder, we're going to keep as an elected position
if I have any say, as a Home Rule commissioner.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Last but question, if you were a betting man, would
you bet that your efforts to turn Douglas County into
Homeworld County will be successful?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Absolutely? I think I got twenty bucks in my pocket.
I'll take that bet right now.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not going to bet against you, and I'm you know,
I'm any anything a county can do to help its
people escape the petty and not so petty, tyrannies of
our state government is something that by default I'm likely
to support. I don't know very much about this process
right now, and all the ins and outs of Douglas County.
(18:53):
There's a lot of stuff that I don't know and
don't claim to know. But you know, any anything that
any politician can do to make us a little bit freer,
especially when we have a state government this aggressively tyrannical,
is something that by default I would be looking to support.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The good news, Ross, we got an election on June
twenty sixth that starts a process. We're going to have
five six months for us all to have this conversation
together and come to the conclusion together.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
George TL, Douglas County Commissioner, Thanks for your time, Thanks
for joining me in studio.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you, Ross
Let's switch to something else.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
So, now we've had in the past week, we had
two guests on the show, a current Douglas County Commissioner
Kevin van Winkle former Douglas County Commissioner Laura Laura Thomas
talking about the initial moves by Doug Co commissioners toward
home rule for Douglas County. So joining me in studio
(00:23):
now to give his perspective is Commissioner George Teel. And
I don't even know if you've been on the show
with me before, but you certainly haven't been in studio
with me before.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So it's good to have you here. Yeah, thanks, Drass,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So you probably listened to both of the prior interviews,
I'm guessing, or heard about him, at least we've heard
about him.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, So let's just let's just start at the top. Actually,
what is Are you in favor of home rule? Let's
just start with that. Oh yeah, okay, totally in favor
of home rule.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I grew up in Wild County, Like my whole life
of paying attention to government was always about the state
Legislature's going to do something, the Governor's going to do something.
But it doesn't matter. We're Wold County, we're home rule.
And could I give cit examples. No, I don't remember
(01:16):
what that discussion as a high school sophomore a Grelely
Central High School was like. But it was just a
common refrain. And so when I got out of the
army in nineteen ninety seven moved to Douglas County, I
lived to Castle of Pines first, and then we settled
in Castle Rock. It was always a question of, Hey,
when are we going to go home rule? Because I
grew up in Wild County and I know the benefits.
(01:38):
I've heard the benefits over and over again. And of
course since being elected in twenty twenty one to as
county commissioner, I've got to know old friendships new friendships
up in Wild County with those commissioners. Once again, the refrain,
over and over again every year. We don't care what
the legislature is going to do, we don't care what
the Governor's going to do. They're going to do their craziness.
(02:00):
We're Wild County, we're home rule. I think it's time
for us to say we are Douglas County. Now's the
time for home rule.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay, So let's stick with that angle for a minute.
So I shared on the show, and I'm gonna see
if I can. I'm gonna see if I can find this
right now. But I shared some of an email that
I got from staff at the Attorney General's Office and
(02:27):
the State Attorney General's office because I asked him about Hell,
let me see if I can find it. I asked
him about home rule, and I'm just going to share
one paragraph with you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
There's a lot more to it.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
But municipal home rule, which is what Denver and what
Broomfield have, is very different than county home rule, which
is what Weld and Pitkin.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I think Pittkin is the other one we have. He says.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Municipal home rule, which is governed by a different part
of the Constitution, provides more authority in which the state
can only ride local laws if if they fall within
a quote matter of statewide concern or matter of mixed
state wide and local concern. County home rule provides no
such provision. Some inaccurately conflate the two, arguing that home
rule counties are on equal footing and have the same
(03:14):
broad power as home rule municipalities to follow local laws
over state laws, but that is not the case. So
what I want to ask you, because I understand and
share your desire to to the greatest possible degree, get
out from under the thumb of this really kind of
(03:35):
tyrannical government we're living under in this state right now.
So could you elaborate a little bit more on the
kinds of things that you think Douglas County would not
have to abide by when it comes to state law
if it were under home rule, And maybe you can
also add some things that you would still have to
(03:55):
abide by.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, first and foremost comes from the perspective of Douglas
County right now is a statutory county. I am, by
definition as a county commissioner, an agent of the state
of Colorado, and Douglas County is an agency of the
State of Colorado. And so in the cases where we
have taken the state to court and we've sued, we've
(04:17):
been dismissed summarily by a number of courts right off
the bat because we don't have standing. An entity cannot
sue itself, okay, And case in point, we have a
lawsuit against the state right now about allowing our sheriff's
Department and local law enforcement agencies to work with ICE
to get us out from under this illegal immigration crisis.
(04:40):
We're in state court. First stop said you don't have
standing because you're an agent, you're an agency of the state.
We're appealing, and that appeal is based upon the fact
that that doesn't apply here because our duly elected, legally
elected sheriff is indeed his own agent that has to
(05:00):
enforce state regulations, and these state laws are getting in
his way of looking for the health, looking out for
the health, safety and welfare of the people of Douglas County.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So we're pressing it.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We think we're going to have better results in the
federal courts because the federal court will be more likely
to hear why a state should disallow a very specific
cooperation with the federal government. You know what, if we're
home rule, that first stop in the first court wouldn't
have been dismissed the way it's been dismissed. Why we're
(05:35):
not an agency of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
We will be a.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Home rural county, our own independent agency. Much as the
Attorney General did say it did acknowledge in that email
from the office Home rule municipalities are right now, well,
so we can't. Nobody can get around that if we
are a home rule county, so we will have our
(05:58):
own agency within the county to pursue our rights to
resist state laws.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to focus for a moment, specifically on the
sheriff and potential cooperation with ICE to help get criminal
illegal aliens out of Douglas County, which I hope you
would be able to do. I'm trying to understand there
was a matter of law whether being a home rule
(06:27):
county would allow the sheriff to enter into some kind
of a cooperation agreement with ICE that he can't enter
into now as not being a home rule county.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, that's not detailed in section thirty of the Kara
Revised Statutes. So it's something we'd actually have to write
into the charter that our sheriff has that right to
cooperate with any law enforcement agency he or she deems proper.
And maybe it's not going to be that exact language.
Maybe we say federal, state, local agecies and detail that
(07:01):
in the charter.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But do you think that would be legal.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do you think under the provision of law that allows
the county to become a home rule county that it
would allow you to say we are not going to
abide by the state law that I, by the way, oppose,
and I know.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You do too. That turns us into a sanctuary state.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
State law. The people who enforce state law will say
that law enforcement here cannot cooperate with ice, and that's
how the state operates because we're a sanctuary state. Are
you saying that as a home rule county you could
ignore that law?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Our legal analysis is yes, but it's got to be
something we write into the charter because it's not covered
under the enabling legislation under section thirty of the coroador
Revis Statutes. So we got to write it into the charter.
It's a bit like writing a constitution for the county itself.
(07:53):
And that's the times of both Pitkin and Weld have
gotten tripped up and kind of the nature of that
probably pretty quick and not very well researched email from
the Attorney General's office is if it's not in the charter,
And that's important. That's very important because as we write
this charter, we really got to ask ourselves, who are
(08:14):
we what do we want our government to be? Well,
something like that that our sheriff should be able to
cooperate fully at the federal, state, local level. I think
that's something we're going to end up writing in. I'm
going to advocate for it. I'm going to try to
get on the Charter Committee Commission myself. I'm going to
have to go through an election on Gene twenty six. Hey,
(08:35):
no problem. I've already run county wide twice as the
county commissioner. But that's why I want to be on
the Charter Commission, is to make sure that we're very
careful to make sure these provisions that can give us
that agency to resist some of the stupidity I think
we see coming out of the federal excuse me, coming
(08:57):
out of state and local legislation, sometimes federal too.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I think we're pretty good.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Now we'll have that as a home rule county in
the state of Colorado.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We're talking with Douglas County Commissioner George Teele.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'm not a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I will say I suspect that even if you write
that in the charter, I wouldn't be surprised if you
lost in court. I wouldn't be surprised, like if the
state Supreme Court said a home rule county doesn't have
the authority to override that state law about sanctuary stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
And you know that's okay because right now we're in
a position that when we disagree with the state law,
just like we're doing right now with these sanctuary state laws,
we got to.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Sue and you the law because you don't have standing.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And we have those obstacles because of standing. When we
are a home rule county and we're gonna and the
state's going to say, hey, you're going to do this,
and we're like, in the end, no, that doesn't apply
to us. If we can point to a police in
the charter, they got to sue us and prove to
a court of law and probably the Supreme Court of
(10:01):
the state that no, No, that provision in your charter, that's.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Not legal, that's not okay.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Whoa nobody gets through these kind of court cases in
a single year. Us This is these are years to
progress through. If it's the state suing us and we've
got something to point to in our charter, well that's
more time we're buying for ourselves to say, no, State,
you can't compel us to do that.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Kevin van Winkle, who a commissioner along with you.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
When he was on the show, he said he thought
that being a home rule county would allow Douglas County
to not abide by the state law regarding plastic bags,
and that therefore supermarkets in Douglas County, if they wanted to,
could have plastic bags and could have them without having
(10:52):
the charge customers for them and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Do you believe that's correct?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah, I mean it is covered in terms of fee
that the county has the right to levy, and that
is in section thirty of Chlord Revised Statutes as a
specific power. We can double down on it by also
writing it into the Charter that you know, how we
have that capability control fees because I don't know if
you've noticed, are we really a state that's being overtaxed
(11:19):
right now? Or are we being overfeed and we're suffering
from feation without representation. There's a bill up right now
where they're going to create an enterprise to fund our roads.
I thought my taxes were going to funding my roads.
So it's something I'm a little concerned with. But we
will have those kind of powers. Some of that we
(11:40):
might have to take what's in section thirty of the
Chloride revised Statute, and we might have to have an
element in the charter that does talk about a process
for assessing fees and for accepting fees imposed by say.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
That's the key.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Clearly, as home rule you'd have a lot of power
to decide what fees you want to impose or not.
It's a different question whether you can say that businesses
within the home rule county don't have to abide by
such and such a state fee, right, and that'll be
a different question. All right, we got about five minutes left,
so give me some sort of quick answers. This one
(12:16):
is a listener question that I'm going to slightly reword.
Right now, we see the federal government try and and
this has happened a lot in the past, penalizing states
that don't do things the way the federal government wants
them to do by withholding money.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And they're also doing with his colleges and all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, so a listener wants to know whether you think
there's any risk of the state withholding funding from Douglas
County if they don't like how you behave as a
home ruld county.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Well, probably, but boy, what are they going to take away,
it's a lack of money we're getting for our roads
right now from the state. Because I'll tell you what
I've been on doctor Cock, the Denver Regional Council of
Governments that he handles transportation planning for ten years, both
when I represented cass Rock and now representing dug County.
And hey, I've got three road projects, major road projects
(13:06):
going onto the county right now. You know how much
state money is on them.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Zero?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You know how much federal money is on them over
half the cost. And then, by the way, the other
half is mostly paid for by developers.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
All right, Two more questions.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
If home rule is a good idea, why have only
two counties done it?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I think the process is substantial. It's a nine step process,
and it's not easy. When I first asked that question
moving to Douglas County almost thirty years ago, I am
sure my commissioner, Jim Sullivan, would have looked at me
and said, where are we going to get that money from?
Because Douglas County was a lot smaller than there were
still more cows than people. We're a different county. Now,
(13:50):
we've got some substantial suburban communities between highlands, Ranch and
Parker Castle Rock is almost larger than Pueblo right now,
believe it or not. Well, we do have capabilities. We're
very fiscally healthy. We have zero zero debt at the
county level, and so I think right now we're in
(14:10):
a really good position to take this challenge John, have
this conversation in the community and manage and work through
this process that a lot of other counties they've looked
at it and been like, I don't know when we're
going to find the time to do it. I don't
know where we're going to find the money to do it.
I don't know how we're going to do it, all.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, So, speaking of money, there's a particular thing that's
been going on with Douglas County for a while, kind
of controversial, certainly very controversial between former Commissioner Laura Thomas
and and and you and Abe regarding you said, Abe
and I would who no, no, no, Laura versus you
(14:50):
two who right?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So, and that is the whole water thing, right soever
you are and bringing water up from from the San
Luis Valley to to Douglas County. And I'm sure you're
well acquainted with with my colleague Mandy Connell as the
show after mine. She lives in Douglas County. I don't
she lives in Douglas County, And Mandy wants me to
(15:13):
ask you, is this really? Is this home rule thing
really about an effort to get back to pursuing that
RWR water thing.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Now, Now, I mean Kevin Van Winkle, my new colleague,
made it clear during his campaign he was opposed just
outright to the RWR planned. Abe and I were a
part of that early consideration. It was Abe that killed
it from moving forward. It was his final decision that
really killed that project for at least Douglas County being
(15:43):
involved in that project.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So, no, that's not what it's about.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You know what it is about when you talk about water, though,
is we have some really good water districts in Douglas County.
They're very healthy. You look at Cassarrock, Hiland Ranchwater, Parker Water,
very healthy, very well managed, profess victionally managed, very well
overseen by the citizen boards. And then we've got some
water districts that are suffering. And I think at Castle
(16:09):
Pines North and all the problems they've had, all the
times they've had boil orders, I think we are kind
of coming to a time and home rule will give
us options that we probably do need to look at,
consolidating some of these smaller financially struggling water districts into
the larger, healthier ones. And I know that that's something
(16:30):
that is a real challenge right now, is a statutory
county to take the lead on. We rely on those
water districts to do it themselves, just like Castle Pines
tried to do when merging with Parker two years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
All right, I got about a minute left, so let
me get one other question in here. The way state
government is right now under state law, there are some
jobs in the county that are elected corner right elected,
just as one example others. Do you think there would
(17:03):
be any move and would you support a move? And
if yes, why if you were to become a home
rule county to change some of those offices that are
currently elected to being appointed instead.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
The only one we're looking at is the surveyor job.
Surveyor job is I don't want to speak ill of anyone.
I think we've had some great surveyors. There were professionals,
but their duties right now are a signature and I
and the real work of surveying has been done by
a department that reports to me eventually and my two colleagues,
(17:38):
and I think that's an elected role. I think we
will make appointed. As far as the rest, I've talked
to every other elected official at the county level about
home Rule.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
We've talked about this.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
We did have one who considered it might be better
to be appointed, but then we gave that elected official
time to consider it, and indeed the word they came
back was no, this is an important job. This needs
to remain in an elected position. So other than surveyor
every other elected job at the county level sheriff, coroner, assessor, treasurer, clerk,
(18:14):
and recorder, we're going to keep as an elected position
if I have any say, as a Home Rule commissioner.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Last but question, if you were a betting man, would
you bet that your efforts to turn Douglas County into
Homeworld County will be successful?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Absolutely? I think I got twenty bucks in my pocket.
I'll take that bet right now.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not going to bet against you, and I'm you know,
I'm any anything a county can do to help its
people escape the petty and not so petty, tyrannies of
our state government is something that by default I'm likely
to support. I don't know very much about this process
right now, and all the ins and outs of Douglas County.
(18:53):
There's a lot of stuff that I don't know and
don't claim to know. But you know, any anything that
any politician can do to make us a little bit freer,
especially when we have a state government this aggressively tyrannical,
is something that by default I would be looking to support.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The good news, Ross, we got an election on June
twenty sixth that starts a process. We're going to have
five six months for us all to have this conversation
together and come to the conclusion together.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
George TL, Douglas County Commissioner, Thanks for your time, Thanks
for joining me in studio.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you, Ross
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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