Fairplay: “30 below, 50 mile an hour wind, and that’s on a good day! …Colorado is not Pennsylvania!” – A Wisselism

I wouldn’t be surprised if the temperature in Fairplay has, at one time or another, dipped to -30°, though I can’t find any record of it happening. Indeed, winds in Fairplay gust at 50 mph and even greater. Wissel says extreme cold and high winds occur on the good days. If so, I wonder what he perceives happens on the bad days. But all that is only incidental to what we need to consider.

NOTE: The final interviews of the three candidates for county manager will be in an executive (secret) session on January 7, 2025.

The agenda and Zoom link for the 9 a.m. Work Session is here.

The agenda and Zoom link for the 11 a.m. General Meeting is here.

The December 31, 2024, Park County Commissioners quasi-judicial session was short and uneventful. However, after dealing with their agenda items, the BOCC (Commissioner Elsner was not present) conducted an informal work session at which the second interviews for the three finalists for county manager were discussed.

Wissel and Mitchell are uncomfortable conducting the interviews in public. For all their rhetoric about transparency, truth, justice, and the American Way, one is left to conclude their opposition to interviewing the three finalists in public belies their MAGA We, the People principles. The People will shell out more than $100,000 in property tax revenue for the next county manager. We should be privy to not only the answers finalists give but also to the questions posed by the committee, specifically Wissel and Mitchell.

It’s called transparency.

Wissel was especially adamant that the public be barred from hearing him pose “what-if situations that are fairly delicate” to finalists. He saw no “upside” to that occurring in a public setting.

The upside would be hearing the answers and, perhaps more importantly, the questions themselves. Many of us have witnessed Wissel’s aggressively acerbic demeanor when questioning others, especially Assessor Monica Jones. He wears his pathology on his sleeve when he does that: an assault out of all proportion to the situation and the subject matter at hand. Will he pursue the same inappropriate aggressiveness with the finalists? Or only with the finalists he doesn’t like? Will he be testing the finalists to determine which will gladly follow the lockstep regimentation he demands of his minions? He has, after all, written the book on lockstep regimentation.

Indeed, who would get the softball questions? What hardballs would be thrown at whom?       

Or would public scrutiny of the questions and answers unnecessarily expose the shortcomings of Wissel’s and Mitchell’s favored candidate?

We don’t know the answers to the above questions because Wissel and Mitchell prefer secrecy over transparency.

Here’s a thought: Why not pose questions to the finalists in a public setting, and for those questions that may be sensitive, sure, go into executive session for those. Wouldn’t that be a WIN/WIN?

Here’s Mitchell’s ruminations about public interviews:

“So I know that we didn’t really, um, discuss and come to agreement on the, the, this second interview structure in public versus executive session. Um, and I know that was something that we, um, kind of floated around, but we hadn’t made any decisions on. Um, You know… You know, and my only thought is, you know, these are three candidates. Um. You know, two live in Colorado, and one does not. But you know, we want them to be as open and transparent and honest and to really…be very vulnerable in their answers to us. And I, I just not sure if the public interview will, will bear as much fruit as it would… Of course, we will deliberate in public because, you know, we have to hash out, um, perceptions. But I just… You know, I’ve never… I’ve never thought that interviews were something more than… than really trying to get to the heart of a person. And I… I just fear that we may not get as open and, and as fruitful of answers as we would in a public setting. Um, I don’t know. I just thought I’d bring it up because it just doesn’t quite sit right with me. …I just…what after…you know, thinking about it… I just want to think it through because…. We don’t want to… We want the public to know who they are and over time, though, they for sure know who they are. Um. I just want… I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated or… I Don’t know. Public setting when you’re trying, when you want somebody to be really, really open and honest. Um.  I don’t know if that is, is conducive. And I’ll. I’ll liken it to and… I see… You know, talking to the press. I always try to be absolutely honest and open, but I’m guarded because you just have to pick the right words because words matter, you know. And So. You still provide the information you need to provide, but you do it in a little bit different way that’s not totally you. So just kind of, that’s kind of where I’m going.“

Here’s Wissel on public interviews:

“Yeah, I never thought that we would go anything other than the same protocol we used before with the first round for the second round. I think the second round is important. I think the second round will give us that last bit of insight to come to that total conclusion. At that point, certainly that person would be subject to the public and, and public asks, public request for their background and so forth. And ladies, I’m aware that you have been coming up with questions. I have some I will offer myself, and one of the reasons I want to keep this nonpublic at this point is simply because I have some what-if situations that are fairly delicate that I would like to ask these people. And I don’t know that there’s any upside in doing that in a public setting.”

Wissel and Mitchell miss the essential point of interviews conducted in a public setting. Both laud the opportunity for the public to get to know the successful finalist, whoever that may be after the decision by the MAGA-centric board is made. But what about the other two candidates and what they had to offer via their answers to questions? Wouldn’t the public benefit from that as well?

Of course, the MAGA-centric board of commissioners will make the final decision. But shouldn’t the public have the opportunity to contrast and compare to know whether or not the final decision was made fairly, without bias?

Ms. Gharst said, “It might be at this juncture an opportunity for the public to hear their answers and feel good about the three different candidates and what they bring to the position.”

Wissel, Mitchell, newbie District 2 Commissioner Gemmer, and the South Park Outsider Kitchen Cabinet would argue it is a decision solely left to the elected commissioners, and the public is sorely mistaken if it believes their input is needed or valued.

During the work session, when the conversation segued to the two instate finalists and the one out-of-state finalist, Nathan Jay Bish, who would have to travel from Pennsylvania for an in-person interview, Wissel said he’d be willing to cover some of “Mr. Out of State’s” travel expenses.

If you’ve watched Wissel closely, you know he makes up or uses names for persons, places, and things he doesn’t like. Saudi Aurora, Disneyland on the Platte (Colorado State Legislature), Sleepy Joe, and now, Mr. Out of State. It’s part of his pathology. He can’t help it.

Perhaps Wissel is uncomfortable with Bish because, as Mitchell said during the meeting, “Yeah, I mean his, his, his experience… I mean, he’s young, but his experience and his, his demeanor was really, really attractive. I mean, he’s a sharp young man. And we definitely, it would be… You can’t really read a person unless they’re in person, you know, and so definitely we’re serious. And so I would second Commissioner Wissel’s comment that we could definitely participate in cost. And. We’d like… I’d like to eyeball them.”

When Cindy Gharst said she’d relay that message to Bish, Mitchell, perhaps realizing her exuberance for Bish might be misinterpreted by Wissel, provided a soliloquy about “…the challenges of Park County, and I think that it’s not unknown to anyone listening in on Zoom. You know, we’ve got housing shortages. Um. Our weather is harsh. We’re rural. I say we live in an EXTREME environment. And. And it may, you know… We just want him to, to know what he’s getting into also. You know, because I, I hope that, that this change would be good. Would be excited to come to someplace really different and EXTREME, but you never know, and I don’t think you know until you really… Eyes on either. So.”

Wissel took the ball and added, “Even with our other people. I mean, Fairplay is different than Platte Canyon, which is different than Lake George. Which is not the garden spot of Guffey. Right? So. Winter is the great equalizer. Unless you’ve done one winter here, it’s sometimes not appreciated how difficult it can be. 30 below, 50 mile an hour wind, and that’s on a good day. You know the, the accidents we’ve had, the whiteouts that we’ve lived with. I’ve lived with 45 going on 46 years now. And that is a… Call it culture shock, but it’s really climate shock. Because Pennsylvania is not Colorado, and Colorado is not Pennsylvania. And I’m, I’m, I… I know, Cindy, you’ve had some discussions with him to really do his homework on what South Park the reality is where we are.”

Sure, that “sharp young man” should be made aware of everything Wissel and Mitchell mentioned, but I suspect he’s already done his homework. Shame on them if their cautions were intended to dissuade him from pursuing the county manager position to the bitter end.

Unfortunately, it may be a bitter end because I believe the MAGA-centric commissioners have already decided who will be our next county manager. Regardless of Wissel’s and Mitchell’s feints to the contrary, I think they know, and have known for some time, who that will be.

But will the best interests of Park County be served when the interview committee, including Wissel, Mitchell, and Gemmer, realizes who the most qualified candidate among the three finalists is? Can ideological biases be set aside long enough to affirm the next county manager will be someone equipped through training and experience to provide the county’s citizens with their expertise on day one?

Would that be asking too much?

You can review the job requirements/qualifications and each of the final three’s bona fides below.