Commissioners discuss oaths and sheriff's sale

SUPERIOR – During the weekly meeting of the Mineral County Commissioners, complaints about the communication gap in appointing board members was discussed along with the fate of an abandoned mobile home.

Staci Hayes, county clerk, and Kelann McLees, deputy clerk, wanted better communication between the two offices. According to Hayes, the clerk and recorder’s office does not know when the commissioners have meetings to appoint board members.

“Quite honestly, if it doesn’t involve our office, I really don’t pay attention to what you guys are doing,” Hayes said. “When [Cindy Grimm, administrative assistant to the commissioners,] sends me the agenda, I look at it to see if there’s anything I have to be there for and then it goes bye-bye.”

To close the communication gap, Hayes wanted the commissioners to send her an email when new board members were to be appointed. Roman Zylawy, commissioner for the county’s east end, thought this was already happening. McLees said the commissioners had been sending emails for a month, but there were still some problems to sort out.

Another communication gap became apparent when it was noted some people were appointed to a board but never filed an oath of office. Hayes said it was common for people to get busy and forget to sign the oath.

The clerk and recorder thought Grimm was sending the oaths to appointees, while Grimm thought Hayes was sending them.

“We totally were under the impression that she was doing it,” Hayes said. “Then when we go back to that meeting that we had and we look at the minutes, lo and behold, there’s nothing in there specifically about what we decided. All it says is that we were talking about districts and boards.”

Even though the meetings have the audio recorded, Hayes said there should always be something in the written minutes about board appointments. She felt this would help clear up any confusion and verify who was appointed to what position.

Hayes also felt it was not enough for the meeting agenda to say the commissioners planned to appoint a board member. If the commissioners told the clerk and recorder’s office about it personally there would be no question everyone knew about the meeting. An alternative was for the commissioners to send the newly appointed board members to the clerk and recorder’s office as soon as they were sworn in.

“We have to do something, because we don’t have time to run around and hunt these people down to get their oath of office,” Hayes said.

Laurie Johnston, commissioner of the county’s central region, said she would help hand deliver the oath of office if needed. This way everyone would know it was taken care of. Another suggested solution was to draft a letter to let people know about the consequences of not filing the oath with the clerk and recorder promptly.

At another point in the meeting citizen Herb Stelling talked with the commissioners about an old mobile home. He said the vehicle has been vacant since approximately November 2011.

Stelling sent a letter to the owner asking them to remove it, but got a reply from someone other than the owner. Stelling said the owner needed to pay him approximately $1,500, as well as various back taxes, but has never been in touch. Because of this, he considered the trailer abandoned.

Stelling wanted the mobile home’s title signed over to him so it could be removed. The problem was, he felt the cost to do so made it impractical to remove. Another option would be to hold a sheriff’s sale. Sheriff’s sales are public auctions held by the county for abandoned vehicles or foreclosed homes.

Stelling wondered if it was possible to skip the sale and remove the mobile home another way. He felt it was unlikely anyone would bid on the vehicle because of its condition. The trailer has been abandoned for over two years and was never winterized. Because the water was never shut off, the mobile home has been filled with mildew. Stelling felt it was a liability and had no assets beyond selling the siding panels.

The commissioners were not comfortable with skipping the sale.

“I’d like to help you out now, myself,” Zylawy said. “But we have this formality, this step we’re required to take.”

Roni Phillips, controller for the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office, was consulted on how the sheriff’s sale worked. She said the sale needed to be advertised for two weeks to raise interest. If there were no bids on the property, it defaulted to the county.

“I think that’s why we have not done one, because we did not want to have to be responsible for cleaning it up, tearing it apart,” Phillips said.

There was some question of who would be responsible for removing the trailer if it defaulted after the auction. The description of the sale suggested it would fall on the county to remove it, but the wording could also be interpreted to mean the landowner was responsible. It was agreed this needed to be figured out before they continued to find a solution.

The commissioners wanted to talk with County Attorney Marcia Boris to get more information about the legal sides of the issue. They decided to table the subject until Boris had been consulted. The discussions will continue at the commissioner’s meeting on Friday, March 14.