On July 5, Archuleta County Clerk and Recorder Kristy Archuleta approved a recall petition regarding Commissioner Veronica Medina, which cites potential conflicts of interest concerning her votes on purchasing property for a county administration building and on the Archuleta County Land Use Regulations (LUR) as grounds for her removal.
The approval allows for the petition to be circulated to collect signatures, an approval letter from Archuleta explains.
It adds that there is a 60-day window from the approval of the petition to collect signatures.
To trigger a recall election for Medina, the petition must collect 1,829 valid signatures, which is 25 percent of all the votes cast in the last general election for Medina’s office, according to the letter.
According to the approval letter sent by Archuleta, Ashley Springer submitted the petition.
Springer serves as the Archuleta County communications specialist and public information officer.
Springer is also listed on the petition as the “person designated to represent the signers in all matters affecting the petition.”
According to the petition, the cost for the recall election would be $37,634.
In the incumbent statement included as part of the petition, Medina denies that her actions constituted a conflict of interest.
In an interview, Medina alleged that the recall effort is “retaliation” for her role in the departure of former county manager Derek Woodman from the county in May.
The recall petition cites violations of Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) 31-4-404(2), CRS 24-18-109(3)(a), CRS 18-8-308 and CRS 24-18-109(2)(b) as the grounds for the recall.
CRS 31-4-404(2) concerns municipal governments and stipulates that any member of a governing body of a city or town who has a “personal or private” interest in a matter must disclose this interest and cannot vote upon the matter or work to influence the votes of others.
CRS 24-18-109(3)(a) covers rules of conduct for local government officials and employees and, similar to CRS 31-4-404(2), states that members of the governing body of a local government who have a personal or private interest in a matter must disclose this interest and cannot vote on the issue or attempt to influence the votes of others.
CRS 18-8-308 is a portion of the criminal code that outlines the offense of failing to disclose conflict of interest, which it indicates is a class 2 misdemeanor.
“A public servant commits failing to disclose a conflict of interest if he exercises any substantial discretionary function in connection with a government contract, purchase, payment, or other pecuniary transaction without having given seventy-two hours’ actual advance written notice to the secretary of state and to the governing body of the government which employs the public servant of the existence of a known potential conflicting interest of the public servant in the transaction with reference to which he is about to act in his official capacity,” the law states.
It adds that a potential conflict of interest exists when the public servant is an executive officer of or owns or controls a “substantial interest” in any nongovernmental entity involved in the transaction.
CRS 24-18-109(2)(b) forbids a local government employee or official from performing, “an official act directly and substantially affecting to its economic benefit a business or other undertaking in which he either has a substantial financial interest or is engaged as counsel, consultant, representative, or agent.”
The petition alleges that Medina violated CRS 31-4-404(2) by failing to disclose, CRS 24-18-109(3)(a) by failing to recuse, CRS 18-8-308 by failing to disclose a potential conflict of interest “to the state body” and CRS 24-18-109(2)(b) by failing to disclose.
The recall petition continues that Medina is an active real estate agent at Exit Realty under Broker Shelley Low.
It adds, “Veronica Medina has Failed to recuse herself during recent county property purchase votes, and repeatedly voted on Land Use Regulations (LURs) since swearing oath to office January 2023, patterning direct conflict of interest.”
As examples of this conduct, the petition cites Medina failing to recuse herself during discussion and votes on revisions to the county LUR at May 21 and June 4 meetings of the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC).
In addition, the petition states that Medina did not “disclose herself” during a presentation by Low to the BoCC at a May 21 work session of a potential property for the construction of a new county administration building, and did not disclose a conflict of interest and did not recuse herself from a vote on the purchase of property for the county administration building at a June 4 BoCC meeting, a vote in which Medina voted for selecting the property that which was listed by Low.
The BoCC ultimately chose to move forward with pursuing the property listed by Low.
In her incumbent statement, Medina opens by stating that being “a county commissioner who is also a licensed realtor” brings “a unique and valuable perspective to the role” which helps facilitate balanced and informed decision-making.
She summarizes the definition of a conflict of interest found in CRS 24-18-109 before stating that her votes on changes to LUR did not constitute a conflict of interest since they did not benefit her “personal or private financial interest” or a business in which she holds a substantial financial interest.
Medina adds she also does not own, manage or have a financial interest in any short-term rentals.
She comments that she would disclose any conflict of interests she has and recuse herself from voting on them.
The BoCC did not make any decisions at its May 21 work session, Medina states, adding that she disclosed that she is a “licensed realtor” at the June 4 meeting, but stated that she “would not receive any financial benefit from the County purchasing either property.”
Medina adds, “Recalling me would deprive the county of a dedicated and knowledgeable advocate who is deeply invested in our county’s well-being. My record demonstrates a commitment to fairness, ethical conduct and effective governance. I urge you to consider the benefits of my professional background and allow me to continue serving our county with integrity and dedication.”
In an interview, Medina commented that the recall effort is “strictly retaliation because Derek Woodman’s contract was not renewed.”
The BoCC voted 2-1 to not move forward with renewing Woodman’s contract at its May 7 meeting, with Medina and Commissioner Ronnie Maez voting in favor of not moving forward and Commissioner Warren Brown voting against.
Prior to the vote, Brown gave a statement listing a variety of Woodman’s accomplishments as county manager in support of retaining him.
Woodman commented in an interview following the board action that consideration of whether or not to move forward with his contract and the vote to not do so were unexpected.
He alleged that Medina and Maez coordinated outside of meetings to arrange his removal.
Woodman departed from county employment the next day in what he claimed in an interview was a forced departure in which Medina played a significant role.
He also alleged that Maez and Medina violated Colorado Open Meetings Law by frequently meeting with each other and discussing county business outside of noticed meetings and that the commissioners would perform “favors for their friends,” citing a dispute over county maintenance of a road in the Arboles area on which he claimed a friend of Maez lives.
The vote to not move forward with renewing Woodman’s contract and his departure are covered in the May 9 issue of The SUN, while his comments on his departure, his separation agreement and his allegations about the behavior of the commissioners were covered in the May 16 and June 13 issues of The SUN.
In the interview, Medina continued to state that, from reviews of Woodman’s emails, “it’s apparent that Woodman did favors for Ashley Springer.”
In one email she saw, Medina explained, Woodman wrote to Undersheriff Robert Hill about Springer’s sister’s boyfriend.
“It was talking about a warrant that was out for his arrest, but … Undersheriff Hill said it was taken care of, that they were able to contact [the man]. … I couldn’t see any more detail on that specific email, but it’s apparent that Derek had called in a favor based on the email. And I don’t know if that’s why Ashley Springer feels obligated to him and that’s why she’s pushing this forward, I don’t know. … It doesn’t make any sense. I had a great relationship with Ashley Springer, so this was … definitely surprising that she … took this stance. … It’s just all very concerning. We’re, as a county, trying to make some good movement forward and doing the right thing for the constituents and instead these frivolous accusations that have no basis or grounds are taking up a lot of county time and time that doesn’t need to be spent on these types of things.”
She added that Springer “insisted” on moving her office from its previous location next to Medina’s office in the county administration building to the Archuleta County Public Health Department building.
Medina further stated that Springer wrote the list of Woodman’s accomplishments read by Brown at the May 7 meeting, which she emailed to Woodman and Woodman then emailed to Brown.
She added that Springer then revised the accomplishments and sent an updated copy to Woodman, who forwarded the updated version to Brown.
Emails provided by Medina show that Springer sent Woodman an email titled “Typed Up! #2” on May 6 at 4:49 p.m. which was blank except for an attachment containing a list of Woodman’s accomplishments as county manager.
Another email from Woodman to Brown on May 7 at 8:09 a.m. titled “Accomplishments 2” states, “Use this version” and contains an attachment with the same list of accomplishments contained in Springer’s email from the previous day.
The accomplishments cited by Brown at the May 7 BoCC meeting are all contained on the list transmitted between Springer and Woodman and Woodman and Brown, and were provided in the order of their appearance on the list from Springer, although some items included on that list were skipped.
When asked if the petition has any connection to Woodman’s departure from the county, Springer states in an email that the recall effort is based on Medina violating state statutes by not recusing herself from the June 4 vote by the BoCC to purchase the property listed by Low for the purposes of constructing a county administration building.
This article has been updated to reflect that Medina said she did not have a conflict of interest when voting on changes to LUR since they did not benefit her “personal or private financial interest” or a business in which she holds a substantial financial interest.
