Wissel’s Paradigm Shift

“If ifs and buts were candies and nuts…”

On June 29, 2023, at a Commissioners’ Town Hall in Bailey, Colorado, District 3 Commissioner Dave Wissel said he didn’t like the abrogation of his authority to a county manager, which, he said, was done by “design.”

Many of us understand Wissel’s sense of himself; only he knows what’s best for the county, from property assessments to policing, everything in between, and water. Oh, indubitably water. He is the only source of authority that matters. To have someone else, a County Manager, for instance, who exerts authority that is rightly Wissel’s, cannot help but upend Wissel’s universe, turn his world upside down, take God from his heaven, and spread chaos throughout the land. The paradigm must shift. The MAGA imperative depends on it! Wissel must micromanage! The eternal balance of the universe is in jeopardy.

We should, though, look at some history.

On October 25, 2012, the Park County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) created via Resolution No. 41-2012 the position of County Administration Officer under Colorado Revised Statute 30-11-107(1)(n). The duties of that position were comprehensive, giving the administrative officer authority to run all aspects of the county on behalf of the BOCC.

The purpose of the office of the CAO is to provide the centralization of the administrative responsibilities of the county, such administrator to be the administrative head of the County Government under the direction and control of the Board of County Commissioners and to be responsible to the Board of County Commissioners for the efficient conduct of the office.

The relationship between the Board of County Commissioners and the Administration Officer was explicitly spelled out in Section 8 of that resolution:

Individual members of the BOCC shall have no authority to give direction to the CAO regarding the performance of the duties set forth in Section 5 above. Direction to the CAO may only be given by a majority of the BOCC acting in a public meeting complying with the requirements of the Colorado Open Meeting Law. The BOCC and its members shall concern themselves with the administration of the county directly through the CAO, and no BOCC member shall either dictate the appointment or dismissal of or direct or interfere with the work of any officer or employee serving under the CAO.

It appears that for at least a decade, the day-to-day administration of Park County government fell to an unelected, appointed person serving at the pleasure of the county commissioners. Piecing together the historical record of that fact is not easy. Still, enough of a record has been found to substantiate that the position mirroring what today is called a county manager is long-standing in Park County.    

In the summer of 2011, Sandy Berryman, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer since at least 2005, resigned. In December 2011, Tom Eisenman, the County’s Development Services Coordinator, served as the Interim County Administration Officer, presumably filling the position Berryman had left that summer. In May 2012, Eisenman signed a contract with the BOCC to fill the position permanently. Following the creation of the County Administration Officer position via resolution in October 2012 (as above), Eisenman segueued into that position. In May 2017, Eisenman’s title was changed to County Manager via resolution.

Eisenman retired from the county manager position in 2024.

Thus began the current commission’s search for a new county manager.

With the advent of an exclusively MAGA-oriented Board of County Commissioners, ideologically led primarily by Dave Wissel, who is also the Chair of the Park County Republican MAGA Central Committee, and with his intent to change the “paradigm” of the county, don’t be surprised if the position of county manager either goes away or the duties of the position are significantly modified. Don’t be surprised if the MAGA BOCC begins eliminating the County Manager’s direct supervision of unelected county departments and placing the same under the three commissioners, with each commissioner assigned the duty to oversee (or supervise) one or more departments.       

On the face of it, Commissioner Dave Wissel’s comments at the Bailey Town Hall in 2023 suggest that Park County’s administrative structure was somehow established nefariously, as documented in Tom Eisenman’s contract, to take authority away from commissioners. Something Wissel says was done by design.  

“What I’ve observed is that everything goes through the county manager’s office, everything goes through the county manager’s office. And that’s set up by design. Matter of fact, finally got a look at the contract of that situation, and we have basically delegated our authority to an individual. And I do not accept that model. I want to see… You know, I’m old enough to know when commissioners actually ran the counties. That actually worked. And it still does. …The Weld County model, and the Arapahoe County model is something I’m very interested in. And they do not in their history, or existence, large metropolitan counties, [do not] have a county manager. Directors report directly to commissioners.”

Wissel misstates the truth here. Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Adams, and Larimer counties (all in the top 10 counties per population) have a county manager or an unelected administrator, as do at least 50 other Colorado counties.

Reviewing the little definitive history on this subject, Park County operated, at least for two decades and probably longer, according to a structure that placed non-elected departments under the direct supervision of the administrative officer or county manager. The 2010 organizational chart below is most likely representative of that decades-old structure.

Evidence shows that at least one commissioner had a more hands-on relationship with non-elected departments during the first few years of the 2000s. For Example, Leni Walker, an incumbent commissioner running for reelection in 2004, told a candidate forum that the Road and Bridge Department was restructured in 2003 to a team approach, with Walker chairing the department. To what extent commissioners “chaired” non-elected departments is unsure.

Leni Walker is a curious character. She served eight years as District 2 Commissioner, beginning her incumbency in 2000. She said she decided to run for the commissioner seat because of the 1998 recall of all three Republican commissioners. She may best be remembered for her 2007 proposal to augment funding for Road and Bridge equipment purchases with a $75 to $100 flat tax on all properties in the county. She supported exempting said tax from Tabor restrictions.

I will assume Walker has been active in the Park County Republican MAGA Party for a long time following her stint as commissioner. It was Walker who, on April 18, 2023, appeared as Amy Mitchell’s and Dave Wissel’s guest at the BOCC work session, purporting to address how to restore voter confidence in Park County. (The general citizenry of Park County had not lost confidence in their elections, but the South Park Outsiders and every Big Lie conspiracist in the county had.) Walker brought a fellow named Stanley Hugh Anderson, aka David Justice, with her.

Justice, allegedly active in the Sovereign Citizen Movement, had operated his motor vehicle years before with a driver’s license and plate issued by the Kingdom of Heaven. Justice filed suit against the State of Colorado in 2022, alleging vote recounts were invalid. So, naturally, he was given the floor at the April 18, 2023, BOCC work session by Wissel and Mitchell to argue Dominion voting machines were infested with imps changing votes. Walker would occasionally speak up to iterate what Justice was alleging, righteously proclaiming she, as a taxpayer, demanded certainty that Park County elections were fair. I won’t recount the details of that meeting, but the video “Theater of the Absurd” does provide some interesting insights.

More recently, ex-commissioner Leni Walker nominated Amy Mitchell for reelection at the county assembly in March 2024. Walker has been selected to evaluate candidates for the still-open County Manager position.

Wissel has a way of gaslighting anything he dislikes or disagrees with so that, to the unschooled, it sounds nefarious. He appears to suggest that having a county manager in charge of the day-to-day administrative functions of the county is ipso facto evidence of the extent of that nefariousness. It isn’t. Wissel’s observation that “everything goes through the county manager’s office” was not established by Eisenman’s contract but was a requirement of the 2012 Resolution approved by the Board of County Commissioners.

The reason that the 2012 Resolution was written and passed is a little cloudy, but it is alleged that one or more commissioners at the time had caused significant employee upheaval by being directly involved with the operation of non-elected departments. Something had to be done, and a strong administrative officer was created, with the concomitant requirement that commissioners stay away from unelected directors and county employees.       

Of Colorado’s 64 counties, a county manager or administrator provides the day-to-day administration of over 50. Park County is surrounded by counties—Chaffee, Teller, Summit, Freemont, Lake, Jefferson, and Clear Creek—that have a county manager or administrator.  

Wissel, being Wissel, does not focus on mountain communities in comparison to Park County; instead, he cites Weld and Arapahoe Counties as models for his paradigm shift in Park County government administration. Let’s look at them.

Weld County’s population is 360,000, and its proposed 2025 budget (expenditures) is around $570 million. Weld is one of two counties in Colorado that are Home Rule. Weld County was the first Home Rule County in Colorado (1976) after the 1970 constitutional amendment allowing for the same. Municipalities have had the constitutional authority to adopt Home Rule charters since 1902.

Is it notable that Weld County is home to 32 incorporated towns and municipalities, including Greeley, Longmont, Brighton, Thornton, etc., while Park County has two—Fairplay and Alma?

Park County has a population of 18,000, and its proposed 2025 budget (expenditures) is about $20 million. As noted, Park County has two statutory towns–Fairplay and Alma.  

One of Dave Wissel’s Campaign Promises is to look into Home Rule for Park County, which, he says, “…may be an option for ensuring county sovereignty.”

Wissel’s suggestion that we “declare” Home Rule is a little short on process.   

To establish home rule in a county, a petition must be signed by 5 percent of voters or by an ordinance from commissioners to begin the process. Then, an election must be held to decide if a charter commission will be formed and who will sit on it. The charter commission must then create a charter. The proposed charter must then be presented to the electorate for approval.

The statute distinguishes between municipal and county Home Rule entities. There are differences; besides being restricted to state-mandated election processes, home rule counties must continue to provide all mandatory county functions, services, and facilities delegated to them by Colorado law, in addition to powers identified in the charter.

As a general rule of law, in matters not pertaining solely to the county but also of “statewide concern” or general concern to the people of a state, county Home Rule charters and ordinances that conflict with state statute are superseded by state law.            

Wissel’s “sovereignty” concern would run into trouble if, for instance, some commissioner got a bug up to outlaw abortion, red flag laws, or willy-nilly exceptions to state statutes regarding the definition of agriculture for assessment purposes.

That word, sovereignty, is a hot button for Wissel. Its demagogic significance is that it roils the juices of his fellow so-called Constitutional Conservatives, as well as his large following of Tactical Civics devotees, all encouraged by MAGA, all adhering to the call of America First, exemplified by a mob who swarmed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and attempted to dishonor the Constitution by trying to halt the Constitutional affirmation of the presidential electoral process. The demagoguery provides that the sovereignty enjoyed by We, the People, is empowered to deconstruct the Constitution to their liking and that those who engage in such are not treasonous but patriotic.

The Weld County Charter provides that commissioners shall “coordinate” the county government departments. Whether or not coordinate means the same thing as Wissel’s contention that “directors report directly to commissioners” in Weld County is unsure. I suspect Weld County commissioners do not direct the day-to-day activities of whatever department they coordinate.

Would Wissel intend to interfere with the day-to-day activities of Park County departments, right down to the employee level? Would this be his new paradigm for county governance?

Does Wissel’s interest in the Weld County model have anything to do with the apparent willingness of some Weld County honchos to secede from Colorado and become part of Wyoming? Probably not. However, could Park secede and become part of Wyoming even though other counties landlock us? If that’s possible, hell, we could become part of Texas or Florida.

Arapahoe County’s population is 656,000, and its proposed 2025 budget (expenditures) is $270 million. Yeah, I know. With almost twice the population of Weld County, Arapahoe has half the budget. The answer: 60% to 70% of Weld County’s property tax income comes from oil and gas operations.

Is it notable that Arapahoe County is home to 13 incorporated towns and municipalities, including Aurora, Englewood, Centennial, Littleton, etc., while Park County has two—Fairplay and Alma?

Arapahoe County provides the following to describe itself:

Counties are one of America’s oldest forms of government, dating back to 1634, when the first county governments (shires) were established in Virginia. Arapahoe County is a constitutional subdivision of Colorado state government, which means the County can only exercise powers specifically expressed in statute or in the state constitution.

Arapahoe County acts through its Board of County Commissioners, which serves as the administrative and policy-making body for the County. The five-member board adopts ordinances in those limited areas for which specific authority has been given by the State Legislature, and it adopts resolutions to conduct all of its other business. 

The other constitutional officers elected to four-year terms are the Assessor, Clerk and Recorder, Coroner, Sheriff, and Treasurer. Constitutionally and statutorily, these elected offices are independent of one another and from the County Commissioners. Their powers and duties are prescribed by state statute. The County Commissioners have no direct authority over the other elected officials in the County, except that the Board approves budgets for all other elected officials’ departments.

The relationship between the Arapahoe County Commissioners and the various departments is described on the county’s website: “Arapahoe County does not have a County Manager; instead, the Board of County Commissioners serves in both a policy-making and administrative capacity. The Board of County Commissioners Administration Department provides executive-level support to the Board.”

Arapahoe County Commissioners coordinate the day-to-day operations of county departments. I will bet, though, that the extent of their administrative departmental duties is generally undertaken by their administration department, with the commissioners, like Weld County, coordinating, not micromanaging departmental operations.              

Why Arapahoe County is unlike the vast majority of other Colorado counties in not having a county manager presiding over departmental administration is, I suppose, a matter of semantics. I suspect the county’s Administration Department is the touch point between the Commissioners and the day-to-day operation of the county. It is the buffer between elected officials and the unelected department heads responsible for the county’s day-to-day operation.

Weld County does not have a county manager because the 1976 Home Rule Charter did not provide for one.        

Reiterating what Arapahoe County says about “other constitutional officers”–the Assessor, Clerk and Recorder, Coroner, Sheriff, and Treasurer–is essential: “Constitutionally and statutorily, these elected offices are independent of one another and from the County Commissioners. Their powers and duties are prescribed by state statute. The County Commissioners have no direct authority over the other elected officials in the County.”

Note to Dave Wissel: Read the above paragraph. This also applies in Park County, whether you like it or not. Attempting to micromanage the elected Assessor because of egocentric pathology reveals character traits that some may find juvenile, even darkly obsessive. Besides that, it’s downright silly.

Again, Park County has a population of 18,000, and its proposed 2025 budget (expenditures) is about $20 million. Unlike Wissel’s model counties of Weld and Arapahoe, Park County is downright puny. We’ve got a lot of land, 2200 square miles, but few people and dismal revenue? Yeah, there’s not much here. We’re a mountain community.

So, Wissel’s paradigm shift, which, as he says, will be modeled on Weld and Arapahoe counties, is a maneuver born of that egocentric pathology I mentioned above. It is fed by Wissel’s ideological doppelganger, Amy Mitchell, and most likely will be doubled down on by the newest MAGA-centric Commissioner, Jason Gemmer.

Will this MAGA trio, this America First Troika, and their new like-minded county manager (yes, I think I know who that will be) endeavor to shift the paradigm in Park County? Will they take Wissel’s ball and run with it? Will anyone who gets in their way—former Interim County Manager Mike Smith, for example—be tossed aside as unworthy of their trust? Will county employees who don’t toe the line be dismissed as conspiracists controlled by evildoers? Will ideologically inspired MAGA mandates continue to trump the desperate needs of Park County’s citizens?

Will Wissel be elected Chair of the Board of County Commissioners in January?

Meanwhile, when and how do you plan to fix and maintain the roads? Will 24/7 public safety ever rise to the top of your to-do list? And what about health care east of Kenosha? What about affordable housing? What about another dozen issues that should concern sitting commissioners rather than ideological paradigmatic pirouettes?

I know: “If ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a better Christmas. OK!!!!!!”

NOTE: I’m all ears if anyone has a more definitive history of Park County’s administrative structure over the past several decades. The public record does not offer much to work with.