Montrose County residents are collecting signatures to recall Montrose County Commissioner Scott Mijares, a new county commissioner who “has come in like a bull in a china shop,” according to citizens. He’s only lived on the western slope since 2019.
The signature-gathering effort started on July 15 with more than 100 volunteers. They now have 150 volunteers gathering signatures. They need to submit 4,500 valid signatures of registered voters but are aiming to collect 5,500, anticipating the election board will throw some out. So far, recall proponents estimate they are about half of the way towards meeting their goal with 16 days to go.
Montrose County citizens are concerned about transparency, over-spending, having their voices shut out of public decisions, having public comment blocked at public meetings and actions Commissioner Mijares has taken that have destabilized the County.
Citizens say Mijares has repeatedly violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, CRS §24-6-402, and conspired with another commissioner to force the termination of the county manager and county attorney. Along with the two other commissioners, Sue Hansen and Sean Pond, Mijares has been making decisions about county government outside of public meetings, and shut down public comment at public meetings.
Recall proponents say the County has wasted over a half a million taxpayer dollars on unnecessary costs like severance packages, backfilling positions, and outside legal fees, and that Mijares demoted the Montrose County Public Health Director without a valid reason, only to retreat from that decision after generating public outrage. Citizens say Mijares has violated their trust and created a toxic, fearful workplace where employees are afraid to speak up.
You can read a chronology of the case for a recall here.
If you’re a resident of Montrose County, a list of locations where you can sign petitions is here.
For how to donate and support the recall effort, go here.
A Montrose Business Times article about the controversies leading up to the recall can be seen here.
In my opinion, it’s important information. The length of time a person has lived in an area is an indicator of the amount of familiarity and knowledge a person has of the area and its residents, its history, culture, subcultures, political past, key players, previous local government actions and the public’s reactions to them, previous mistakes local government has made, as well as prior successes local government has had, the public’s preferences, etc. A person’s familiarity with or lack thereof of these characteristics can influence the quality and direction of an elected official’s decisions.
Why mention how long he’s been a resident? Who does this trigger and why? That’s 6 years, how many years does one need to be a resident to run for office?