Code of Conduct issue with coucilman

Cowherd advocates in front of BOZAR

By Mark Reaman

A Crested Butte town councilman informed his fellow councilmembers at the December 3 meeting that he had not followed rules set up for council representatives through the Crested Butte town charter.

“I want to disclose that I knowingly broke the town’s Code of Conduct by participating in a DRC meeting at BOZAR,” stated councilman Kent Cowherd at the end of the council meeting.

Cowherd is an architect and the DRC is the Design Review Committee set up to streamline the Board of Zoning and Architectural review process for new buildings in town.

Under the town’s Code of Conduct, the town wants to “prohibit the appearance and perception of impropriety as well as actual conflicts of interest.”

One section specifically states, “No Town Councilmember or board, commission or task force member shall appear before the Town Council or any Town board, commission, task force or similar body where such individual has a conflict of interest as identified in Section 2-4-40.” That section then defines conflicts as, among other things, a councilmember having “a substantial interest as an affiliate of a business or undertaking appearing on behalf of or employed by a person with a substantial interest in any transaction with the Town…”

Cowherd’s work as an architect inevitably brings his professional duties before BOZAR with certain projects.

Cowherd said he had made a similar disclosure earlier in the year and under the town code, disclosure is an important step in the Code of Conduct.

“I don’t want to hide anything and as it gets busier I have more work and those jobs could put me in front of BOZAR,” he explained. “The code is clear that a council person cannot even have the appearance of gaining financially through any town business. I wanted to make it very public that by attending a DRC meeting, I was not following the town code. It is a real struggle for me,” Cowherd said. “It is a real a struggle for a lot of professionals in town who may want to be on the Town Council and still do their professional job.”

The code states that in incidents in which a councilmember veers from the Code of Conduct, the councilmember must either give written notice or disclose the incident in a public meeting. The council as a whole can ultimately determine the seriousness of the incident and take action if clear conflicts of interest are determined. Ultimately the councilmember could be censured or removed from his elected position.

“It is always a problem in a small town,” said mayor Jim Schmidt. “Certainly no council member should ever appear before the council or even be in the room when a personal matter is discussed. I don’t know if we can consider easing the regulation or not. This is something builders, attorneys, and architects run into when serving on the council. It is something the council needs to address.”

Cowherd said he is not scheduled to appear before BOZAR until at least 2019.