Montrose County’s Public Relations Problem

Montrose County has a public relations problem.

As a reporter covering various issues that are often contentious, and with varying viewpoints, I work to believe that all parties are acting with the best of intentions, that they have good reasons for what they do and say.

In our region of small municipalities and counties, stretching from the North Fork Valley to Norwood, Telluride and Naturita, most of the time, this is true. Yes, there are conflicting perspectives, but most people have good, reasonable reasons for acting the way that they do.

Living in Montrose County, I’m finding that belief harder to hold on to.

In the course of covering the constant back-and-forth of the county’s dealings with a possible second Fixed-Base Operator at the Montrose Regional Airport, I was surprised to see that announced on the agenda for Monday’s regular Montrose Board of Commissioner meeting, in the small BOCC meeting room, on Monday, June 16. I had heard numerous times – directly from the commissioners, as did most interested parties – that when the proposed agreement with Majestic Skies went before the BOCC, that would take place at an evening meeting at Friendship Hall where more interested parties could attend, and weigh in on the proceedings.

It was also promised that the commissioners would have a representative from Majestic Skies on hand to answer questions from members of the community.

Imagine my surprise, at 7:18 p.m. on Friday, June 13, when I received an email noticing the commissioners’ meeting agenda for early Monday morning, the very next business day.

Yes, the FBO agreement with Majestic Skies was on the agenda. No, it wasn’t at the long-promised evening meeting. No, it would not take place at the relatively spacious Friendship Hall. And no,  it turned out, there was no Majestic Skies representative taking questions.

After several postponements of the agenda item, supposedly to allow for more public participation, why the sudden rush?

Despite hearing from members of the public who did attend the abruptly called Monday morning meeting that had not been given time to review the agreement under consideration, commissioners David White and Ron Henderson basically said the time had come to approve the agreement, and that’s what they did. Commissioner Gary Ellis, sticking to what the commissioners said previously, dissented, and said repeatedly that the decision was too big for that time and that venue.

For Henderson and White, it didn’t matter.

As a reporter, I want to believe White and Henderson had reason to approve the Majestic Skies agreement, then and there, but what I didn’t hear was anything about why they had reneged on what they promised the community they would do. Henderson and White’s decision to push the issue made me wonder, “What’s really going on here?”

Making it worse was how Commissioner White tried to explain his decision-making process, complaining that he  tired of the lawsuits, name-calling, legal threats, Colorado Open Records Act requests, and so on. In essence, White threw up his hands, telling the community, in effect, I am doing noble work here;  stay out of it. Maybe White is acting aboveboard and has the community’s best interests at heart – he, like other participants in the public arena, can start with the benefit of that doubt.

But if White is acting reasonably in this matter, he sure isn’t explaining the reasons for his actions at all clearly.

From the very beginning, the process of approving a possible second FBO at MTJ has been anything but understandable. The delay in announcing the name of the company wishing to be an FBO came first. Why the secrecy? If I were the commissioners, I would have stood up at first available meeting and said look, “We’ve been contacted by a company wishing to be an FBO at our airport. Here’s the email they sent. We, by FAA regulations, have to consider it.”

I am fairly certain Montrose County’s residents, by and large, would have accepted that explanation. Instead, the identity of the proposed new FBO operator was kept secret. The county continues to withhold Majestic Skies’ initial proposal. For what? From my perspective, it seems Majestic proprietor Larry Danielle has deep pockets and wishes to build and operate a FBO. What trade secrets are they obligated to hide?

White was very critical of citizens who have been critical of this process. As a citizen, how can you not be critical? The county is spending tens of thousands of dollars defending lawsuits. The commissioners, in my view, regularly discuss county matters amongst themselves, off the record. (Ellis and White went out the back door during a meeting recess into the alley during the last gravel pit hearing; Watch photographer William Woody snapped a photo of all three of them huddled in a recess at the April FBO hearing.) Now maybe they are simply discussing the shade of their brown boot polish or their dislike of ObamaCare, and maybe not? What I do know is that discussions like that create a public relations nightmare.

Why don’t they just release the records under Colorado Open Records Act? What do they have to hide? Their willingness to fight CORA requests creates skepticism.

And there are other actions I believe create public skepticism as well. For instance, the commissioners have a relatively new rule that now, in the public comment portion of their meetings, they will not engage with the public – meaning that they no longer have open conversations, on the record, with constituents. Is this what it has come to? Your elected officials, as an entire body, are no longer willing to have a conversation with you in front of others? This makes me skeptical of the commissioners’ intentions.

White suggested at the June 16 meeting that the county has been inundated with CORA requests. Over the better part of eight or nine years as a reporter covering local government in San Miguel and Ouray counties, including the towns of Telluride, Mountain Village, Ridgway, and Ouray, I’ve never had a problem getting my hands on public documents. In fact, the documents I request are readily made available, for accuracy’s sake. Before taking the Montrose County beat, I had never once been told to file an official CORA request. Boy, did that change, when I stepped into the Montrose County political landscape.

And while it took some practice to figure out Montrose County’s labyrinthine online system to get actual commissioner meeting packets, it was doable. I feel for those residents who tried to find the actual agreement between the county and Majestic Skies: I know firsthand that it wasn’t easy.

So, if I could make a suggestion to Montrose County when it comes to meeting documents and packets, I would suggest they take a look at Ouray and San Miguel counties. Getting a hold of meeting documentation, no matter how thick and elaborate it may be, is easy. But in Montrose County, it’s not easy, and that’s a big problem.

If we are to believe the Montrose County Commissioners have the best of intentions, then they should start acting like they have the best of intentions. Right now, all they’ve done is create a world of suspicion, and then placed the blame on  constituents, for suspecting the worst. I am not saying they’ve done anything illegal, but they certainly haven’t done anything to keep public suspicions at bay.

Perhaps the commissioners should hire an effective PR firm to help them communicate their intentions. It certainly would be cheaper than the barrage of lawsuits they are continuing to defend.