From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

I saw a friend of mine at the park on Sunday. She said the articles about the recall in the papers are “pure entertainment”. What a great line! So I stole it from her. Thanks KS.

Here’s the latest from the entertainment stack:

Silt recall leaders say proof in records
By Mike McKibbin

SILT — A citizens group that wants to recall Silt Mayor Dave Moore says it has documented proof to back up its claims against the mayor, but Moore says the record doesn’t tell the entire story, and he is being harassed in a “witch hunt.”

Say what? A witch hunt? Metaphorically speaking (and don’t I just love Wikipedia?) a witch hunt refers “to the act of seeking and persecuting any perceived enemy, particularly when the search is conducted using extreme measures and with little regard to actual guilt or innocence”.

As I’ve mentioned oh, once or twice before, we are investigating issues involving Mayor Moore that citizens have reported to us. And not just one or two people – but a whole bunch of people from all walks of life, some who live in Silt, some who don’t. The recall effort has opened the flood gate on complaints about the Mayor. People expect us to do something about his conduct. So that’s what we’re doing.

And if, as he said, “the record doesn’t tell the entire story”, then we can assume he at least took the opportunity to tell McKibbon the entire story for this article. Let’s read on …

Moore, who was elected mayor last year, was targeted by a group led by Mayor Pro Tem Tod Tibbetts for a series of actions at board meetings, as a construction company owner, and with town employees.

Tibbetts filed Colorado Open Records Act requests to obtain 400 pages of e-mails sent by Moore and other information to back up the group’s statements.

The group claims Moore hasn’t upheld his oath of office to enforce and follow town ordinances, citing a privacy fence he built next to a town alley without a permit. Moore said while such a permit is required, none is available at Town Hall, and planners told him none had ever been issued.

Wait a minute. Does that last sentence make any sense to you? Me either. Is he saying that because a planner – and what’s a planner? – didn’t walk up and hand him a fence permit he didn’t need one? I’m confused.

“If I’m the only one required to get a permit, that’s harassment,” Moore said. “I’ve been targeted as the lone ranger out there that doesn’t get permits, and it’s interesting this comes up during this recall when I’ve never been asked to get one in my 23 years in business.”

Oh, now I get it, the town is supposed to ask people to get fence permits. Fence permits are by invitation only. Gosh, that’s not how it worked when Ema and Tim Kwiatkowski built their fence. Ema had to go down to the town hall and meet with Janet Aluise, the Community Development Director. She provided Janet with a drawing of their proposed fence. It was approved and Ema paid a fee and received a fence permit.

Moore said he wants to let the town board decide the status of the fence.

New rule! Build your fence then go to the town board and have them decide if it’s a fence or not. So all you folks who paid for fence permits should make a copy of this article and take it to the next board meeting and ask for a refund on your fence permit.

And there’s quite a few of you out there. We put in a CORA request for fence permits issued since 2004. Here’s the recent stats on fence permits issued in the Town of Silt:

2004 – 18
2005 – 27
2006 – 15
2007 – 17

A street in Moore’s Center Town Homes project was recently closed without a permit, Tibbetts said.

Moore said a dirt pile covered part of a street for a time, but it was never completely blocked.

What do you call this?

I call it evidence.

“We rely on the traffic-control companies that are more familiar with the laws and lean on them to provide proper signage,” he said.

So I think he’s saying that because he rented the signs from the traffic-control company it’s their responsibility to know whether or not he needed to get permission to close off the street.

He can’t be serious.

Again, here’s what Silt Municipal Code says about that:

12.08.010 Permission required–Restoration by town.

A. No person shall: (1) Make any excavation, drain or ditch in, or (2) lay, construct or place any culvert, pipe, rock, gravel, fill dirt, or other thing or item in, or (3) injure, encroach upon, obstruct, tear up, or affect in any other manner, any pavement, sidewalk, ditch, drainage way, street, alley, or other public way or any easement or right-of-way dedicated to the use of the public or designated for public use, without first, in each and every instance, having obtained written permission from the town and having complied with all other applicable ordinances of the town pertaining thereto.

And here’s the part about what should be done once the dirt has been dumped in the street:

B. Upon the town’s determination that a person is violating, or attempting to violate, the provisions of subsection A of this section, the town has the right to remove or cause to be removed forthwith from, and to restore or cause to be restored to its prior condition, any pavement, sidewalk, ditch, drainage way, street, alley or other public way or any easement or right-of-way dedicated to the use of the public or designated for public use, any culvert, pipe, rock, gravel, fill dirt, or other thing or item laid, constructed or placed in, or obstructing, encroaching upon, or affecting in any manner, any of such areas. Prior to such removal and restoration, the town shall attempt to notify by the most expedient means possible, the person causing or responsible for such condition existing in contravention of this section, in order that such person may expeditiously and without delay carry out such removal and restoration. Failure to actually notify such person shall not prevent the town from effecting such removal and restoration. The person or persons so causing or responsible for such condition existing in contravention of this section shall pay upon demand of the town all costs incurred by the town, including legal expenses and attorney’ s fees, in effecting such removal and restoration and in enforcing the provisions hereof. (Ord. 5, Series of 1983 § 1)

But Dave hasn’t cleaned up the mess and the town hasn’t cleaned up the mess. I was just over there yesterday and the street still looks like this:

It’s not always easy to follow Dave’s logic but I think what he’s saying is that if you don’t know that you need to get a permit, then you don’t really need one. It’s a voluntary thing. If you do, you do. If you don’t, well no big deal. But don’t you dare mention that someone did not get a permit, because then that’s harassment.

You know what? Screw permits. I think permits are stupid anyway. Let’s just do away with permits altogether. Just go do what you want. It’s your property.

Want to put up an electric fence between you and that neighbor with the 6 kids? Go right ahead. Zap those kids. That’ll teach em to stay out of your yard.

Or maybe you need to do some landscaping. Order up a truckload of rocks and dirt and have the driver dump it in the street, not your yard for crap’s sake. Then just go rent a couple Road Closed signs from A-1, because if they rent you the signs then you don’t need a permit.

Hey! Think of the fun we could have this winter. For the price of sign rental we can block the street, flood it, and play hockey. Woo-hoo!

But wait – Dave’s not finished telling the entire story yet. There’s even more entertaining nonsense …

Tibbetts said Moore intervened in an employee matter, but town ordinances say the town administrator is responsible for managing all employees not directly hired by the town board.

Moore said the board directed him to mediate the dispute, while meeting minutes show the board directed the town administrator to act. Moore said everything he did was board-authorized but not reflected in the minutes, and members were aware of his actions.

That’s not true. The board can’t authorize something that’s not in the minutes. That’s why they have minutes. For the public record. Otherwise what would be the purpose of the minutes? So they can relive old times?

Or maybe I should put it this way, if the other board members did in fact authorize Moore to mediate the dispute between the town and the treasurer (and Tod Tibbetts certainly did not) and it’s not in the minutes, then is he saying the other board members held some kind of secret meeting behind Tibbetts’ back and authorized Moore to mediate the dispute? That’s a no-no. Violation of the Colorado Open Meetings Law (Sunshine Law).

Poor Dave. He’s damned if he did and damned if he didn’t on that one I’m afraid.

“By interjecting himself into this, he’s put the town at risk for a potential lawsuit” from the ex-employee, Tibbetts said. “At some point, the town won’t be able to compensate for his rogue actions.”

Tibbetts said the recall group has gathered more than the 111 required signatures of registered Silt voters to put the issue on a special-election ballot. The deadline is Friday.

Moore calls the recall effort “a witch hunt” to allow Tibbetts to replace him as mayor.

“This is a direct, conscious effort to defame me,” Moore said. “It’s character assassination.”

Doh! Get me Wikipedia!

Character assassination is an intentional attempt to influence the portrayal or reputation of a particular person, whether living or a historical personage, in such a way as to cause others to develop an extremely negative, unethical or unappealing perception of him or her. By its nature, it involves deliberate exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person …

Blah, blah, blah. All of our allegations are backed up with evidence. There are not two sets of facts. And there aren’t supposed to be two sets of rules. So who’s zoomin who?

Tibbetts said he and other recall group members did not pursue Moore’s removal because Tibbetts wants to be mayor. However, Tibbetts said, if the recall group does not feel any other candidate is up to snuff, he will run for the office.

“I’ve become a punching bag for them, and I haven’t reacted,” Moore said. “But my time at bat is coming. I want to win this recall in a big way.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure glad Dave told us the entire story. We wouldn’t want to rely on the public record for the facts when we could be living a life free of rules and permits on Planet Dave.

Or does this new found freedom only apply to Dave? And how will we ever know for sure? Unless someone else breaks the rules like Dave does, then see what happens.

Okay. You go first.

Be sure to let the rest of us know how that works out for ya.

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