The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sheriff’s race draws most attention
The Crested Butte News Candidate’s Forum packed the house—in this case the Town Council chambers—on Friday, October 10, and at times got a bit heated. The majority of the crowd appeared to be from the south end of the valley and they took advantage of their opportunity to question the candidates.
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Kristi Hargrove and Ian Billick of Yes for Sustaining Our Schools made their case for the school district mill levy override. Responding to why the Gunnison school district wasn’t seeing any money from the state tax on retail marijuana, Hargrove explained that money was going toward capital projects in districts with a bigger need than Gunnison.
“This measure is really about local control,” said Billick. “It is a local fix for local schools.”
A similar answer came from a question about Amendment 68, on the ballot this fall and intended to earmark some gambling revenues toward schools.
“At the best it would address maybe 10 percent of the problem,” said Hargrove. “But if we would get money from there, the local mill levy would then be reduced.”
“When we are counting on marijuana and gambling to fund the schools, there’s a question,” added Billick. “If we are going to support our kids, we should stand up and do this.”
They said a citizens’ oversight committee would be formed to help oversee the $2.5 million in revenue that would be collected from the mill levy override. But ultimate responsibility rests with the elected school board.
The six candidates running for contested seats to lead county offices stated their case and answered questions for about 90 minutes. Debbie Dunbar and William Spicer are running for treasurer. Kathy Simillion and Jane Wyman are vying for the clerk/recorder position. Incumbent Rick Besecker is being challenged by his lieutenant for the office of sheriff. The majority of the audience questions were directed to the sheriff’s candidates.
Treasurer: Dunbar vs. Spicer
Dunbar has worked in the treasurer’s office for 17 years and is currently the deputy treasurer. “I know how it works and I can walk in there immediately and run the office,” Dunbar said. “Experience counts in this one.”
Spicer is currently the senior assessment analyst for the Gunnison County assessor and said he has been the main liaison between that office and the treasurer’s office. “I have a strong background with the software in both offices. I feel there are positive ideas to improve customer service by using modern technology.”
When asked by forum moderator Denis B. Hall how the candidates would make things better for the Crested Butte end of the valley if elected, Dunbar said improving the email options is a first thought. She said delivering tax notices and online payment status electronically made sense. “The office represents the county as a whole,” she said. “We don’t segregate Gunnison and Crested Butte. We’ll take the money no matter where it comes from.”
“There are lots of things we can do,” said Spicer. “We can do a lot of different things with email notifications. We can let people know if their mortgage company paid their property taxes or if they are late. We can keep them aware of what they owe. There are smart phone apps they can use, for example. It’s not even unique. Several other places are already doing that. Overall I think there could be better integration between the treasurer’s and the assessor’s offices. We can do a better job of providing a single customer portal.”
Clerk/recorder: Wyman vs. Simillion
Running for the clerk/recorder position are Jane Wyman and Kathy Simillion. Wyman said she has worked in many management positions at both ends of the valley while living in Gunnison County. She currently is a senior accountant with Gunnison County. “My background has been in management and I know how to manage people and run departments,” she said. “I am the most qualified candidate.”
Simillion has 34 years of experience in the actual office and is currently the chief deputy clerk. “I know the ins and outs of the clerk’s office,” she said. “It is a very well run office with good workers. I can help take it into the 21st century.”
When asked how they would improve service to the north end of the valley, Wyman said it starts with depth, “cross-training employees so they can cover the office up here when someone is sick for example,” she said. “Broadly, I want to save all the taxpayers money. We can decrease expenditures. That’s a high priority.” She also said she wanted a “healthy environment” in the election’s department. “I would not allow those employees to actively campaign in an election.”
Simillion said the Crested Butte office has never been closed due to illness. “Sometimes there are meetings that keep it closed but we have gone up there even in some treacherous weather. It is a priority. As for cross training, we all work the different departments already.” Simillion said she would make some changes to the motor vehicles department to give a better customer experience and improve the flow.
County assessor Kristi McFarland asked Wyman why she chose to not attend Gunnison County Leadership Academy classes when they were offered to county employees. Wyman said she was in the midst of budgeting at the time and she feels that classes are not always the best use of one’s time. Real-world experience matters more in a lot of cases, she replied.
McFarland said she found the classes very beneficial. So did Wyman’s opponent, Simillion. “I took the Leadership Academy course and it was amazing,” she said. “There is so much to learn. I think it would be good for all the county employees to take.”
Sheriff: Besecker vs.
Jackson
With county commissioner Phil Chamberland running unopposed, the marquee race is for county sheriff. Incumbent sheriff Rick Besecker is running against long-time sheriff’s officer Lieutenant Scott Jackson.
Besecker cited his more than four decades in law enforcement and his longtime history in the county. “Crested Butte and Gunnison are like brothers,” he said. “They’ll compete and fight hard but they always pull together.”
Jackson has been in the county 37 years and said he has worked under four different sheriffs. “This is about managing style. It is about having a motivational style and ethics. The ethics are so important for the sheriff’s office.” Jackson said his training makes him better qualified to hold the office and his “boots on the ground” experience is a plus over his boss.
Hall asked both candidates about returning a sheriff’s office presence to Crested Butte South.
Besecker responded that putting in a full-time substation in the subdivision would cost about a half million dollars. He said having even a part-time officer there would be a duplication of service with the Mt. Crested Butte police department, which is contracted to serve as the sheriff in the north end of the county.
Jackson said returning at least a part-time officer to serve Crested Butte South would be one of his priorities if elected. He said this worked really well in the past and it wasn’t that expensive to rent an office.
Warren Wilcox asked Jackson, with the county facing some tight budget issues, where the money would come from to fund a Crested Butte South substation, and another of his stated priorities. He also asked about returning the Victim’s Advocate role to the county.
Jackson said adjustments could be made to justify the necessity of a Crested Butte South officer. “As for the Victim’s Advocate, that was funded through grants along with contributions from the municipalities so it cost the county zero,” he said. “I would immediately look to see if that grant funding was still available.”
Besecker said there were some issues with the paperwork when applying for a major two-year grant to fund the Victim’s Advocate and the grant was not applied for. He said after the forum that Gunnison police chief Keith Robinson is working to reestablish that grant.
“As for the Crested Butte South substation, through the budget process we had to cut back that part of the budget by the direction of the county manager,” Besecker said.
In response to a question, Besecker said having a regular sheriff’s officer presence in Crested Butte South was “a benefit.” The officer lived there and was available on-call. “He was doing a lot of things out there, including things like monitoring the dog situation, but we lost that officer.”
“The officer was placed there for safety concerns brought up by the residents,” said Jackson. “He had a good rapport with the community. He took the pressure off of Mt. Crested Butte. There is a serious response time, whether the officer is coming from Mt. Crested Butte or Gunnison.”
Former Crested Butte marshal Jerry Heal said having the Crested Butte South officer was a great benefit. Even more was the Victim’s Advocate. He said the advocate was invaluable and great asset to the community. He then asked Besecker why the sheriff’s office wasn’t the original lead investigator when a Western student was found hanging on land eight miles outside of Gunnison.
“I can’t comment specifically on that case because elements are still under investigation,” Besecker responded. “Now, hypothetically, there is a responsibility for the sheriff to investigate such situations. He is responsible to make sure the best possible investigation takes place. So the question is can other departments, whether it is the CBI [Colorado Bureau of Investigation] or the city of Gunnison be more experienced in a particular situation. It was recommended to me by the investigator that we hand it off.”
“If I were sheriff I would have gone on-scene,” said Jackson. “That’s part of the job. As for the Victim’s Advocate, let me apologize to those victims who haven’t received coverage since she left. She did an excellent job.”
When asked by businessman Gary Hausler what sort of budget experience Jackson could bring to the table, he said he attended the Managing for Results workshops in the county and had budgeting experience in a small business he was part of. “The last four years I’ve been circumvented from that process,” he said. “My opponent didn’t have budget experience before he was in the office. He learned. I can too.”
“I was involved in the budget with the previous sheriff,” countered Besecker.
Marcia Landwehr confronted Besecker about why he had joined a lawsuit trying to overturn state legislation dealing with recently passed gun control laws. He admitted that he hadn’t taken any poll of the local citizens to solidify his actions.
“Why did I get involved? The measures were unenforceable,” he said. “Am I against gun control legislation? Not necessarily. Am I against stupid gun legislation? Absolutely.”
The lawsuit argues that universal background checks and a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds violate the Second Amendment. Besecker said it is essentially impossible to enforce whether a magazine holds more than 15 rounds.
“I would not have been involved in the lawsuit,” said Jackson. “It would be my job to enforce the laws passed by the legislature.”
Former Gunnison County sheriff’s department officer John Gallowich said his main concern was leadership and wanting the sheriff to respond to the scene of major incidents like violent crimes and make sure the officers had everything they need to do a thorough investigation. “The last couple of years, neither the sheriff nor the undersheriff have responded to these types of calls. I don’t understand that. You need to be there at a command level and know how to lead your men at a major crime scene.”
“I agree with you John,” said Besecker. “Often I was out of the loop on a couple of calls initially. I should be in that inner loop.”
“As sheriff, I would be there and available to support those officers,” promised Jackson.
Gallowich gave kudos to both men for receiving Life-Saving Awards in the past.
As the forum continued past the hour-and-a-half mark, the audience became a bit feistier with the sheriff’s candidates. Moderator Hall had to remind them more than once not to make personal attacks on the candidates and that instead of making a series of comments, the opportunity was there for citizens to ask questions.
Brad Tutor asked Jackson why as the number-three officer in the sheriff’s office, he didn’t take a larger leadership role in the way he was criticizing Besecker.
“Early on I addressed an issue that was disciplinary in nature and didn’t receive support,” he said. “I felt I would not have support in the department.”
“That’s a cop-out,” responded Besecker. “It’s just that simple.”
Another audience member asked Jackson why he criticized Besecker for not showing up at incidents if he didn’t either.
Jackson said he manned the radio dispatch during the major incident of a drowning on the Crystal River, for example. “The sheriff doesn’t need to show up at every scene. He has to have faith in his officers. But the sheriff should show up at major incidents to show support,” he said.
“As the number-three man in the department, do you feel at all culpable for the leadership issues you bring up?” asked Gunnison County emergency manager Scott Morrill.
“I try to lead the guys down there the best I can,” Jackson responded. “I am under restraint.”
“The issue of not being accessible? I understand things can get thick in a campaign but really,” said Besecker, “we had a weekly administrative meeting and there was virtually no participation by the lieutenant. He didn’t miss a meeting, he just didn’t participate.”
“Was he inadequate as a lieutenant?” asked a member of the audience.
“Yes,” responded Besecker.
“Then why do I have glowing evaluations?” asked Jackson.
Sean Besecker asked Jackson why former sheriff Rick Murdie didn’t appoint him undersheriff over Besecker if leadership issues were a concern.
Jackson said he didn’t remember if he ever applied for the undersheriff job. “He moved me up through the ranks through promotions,” said Jackson.
Colorado state senator Gail Schwartz asked Besecker why he characterized gun control laws she supported in the legislature as “stupid,” when it could save lives.
“There is nothing stupid in that respect,” he said. “I was talking about the law and the enforcement of the law. When something is unenforceable, it is not right. Even the governor and my opponent have expressed such concerns.”
“It is the law,” said Jackson.
Both candidates summed up the reasons people should vote for them for sheriff. Jackson again emphasized better leadership and training qualifications. Besecker said his experience came into play. He then tagged Jackson as “shameless” for suddenly deciding to run for sheriff last spring instead of training for the top job and “actively engaging in the uncomfortable expectations that come with the responsibilities related to the position of lieutenant.”
Voters should receive their ballots in the mail this week. They must be signed and returned to the county election office before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4.
