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Two peas in a 'White's' pond.
What happened at the Montrose County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday morning can be described with one word: embarrassing. Wait, let's go with: ambush. No, let's go with: debacle. I think you get the point.
Be patient with me as we navigate every poor decision, gaslighting and egregious behavior that unfolded centered around two tone-deaf county commissioners.
The first item involved a clerical error, but commissioners Scott Mijares and Sean Pond pounced on the opportunity to scratch the itch of the conspiracy theorists. This involves the hiring of Dr. Mirza Ahmed as public health director. Never mind that County Attorney Martha Whitmore verified that Dr. Ahmed was properly hired. Never mind that this had been discussed ad nauseam in the past few meetings, except Monday's work session when it was known it was going to be on the agenda. Never mind that Dr. Ahmed presented his department flawlessly at the last board of health meeting, answering every one of Mijares' goofy questions precisely as he should have. No, Dr. Ahmed doesn't believe in mandated vaccines. No, his department will not be supporting abortions. No, he won't be bringing WHO policies to Montrose. Yes, he understands the health needs of Montrose County. He was learning how to navigate government at the county level, but he forgot to wear armor on his back. The knives were out and they are now inserted.
You see, a clerical error was discovered in the original resolution bringing Ahmed on board and was to be corrected yesterday. It was an easy, no-brainer decision. But when Commissioner Sue Hansen made the motion to accept the corrected resolution that all three commissioners voted on just a few weeks earlier, Pond swallowed his tongue when it was time to second. He knew what his little buddy sitting to his left wanted. Mijares had telegraphed his intent weeks ago. The fix was in and Dr. Ahmed was left twisting in the wind. The paranoids got a tingling feeling up their collective legs. No need to be afraid anymore of the big bad man who speaks with a funny accent and doesn't look like them. But, they jump when they see that darkened image at their feet — psst, don't tell them it's their own shadow, they'll just call you a liberal, their go-to name when they can't comprehend what's happening around them or craft an intelligent argument.
Mijares and Pond could hardly contain their excitement when the vote was final. Mijares then declared they would go through the hiring process and in the meantime Dr. Ahmed would be the interim public health director. Interim? Does Mijares own Dr. Ahmed? Does Mijares own a big enough mallet to pound the amount of sand that Ahmed should tell him to go pound? I'll give you three guesses who had to sit Dr. Ahmed down and give him the confusing news that he's no longer the health director. The first two don't count. I highly doubt it was the two who should've had to take on that task. But that would take courage. Let's see, Ahmed was hired legitimately, confirmed by Whitmore, fired and then it's assumed he'll stay on as interim? That's what we call Junior-Trump-wannabe logic. Only members of Montrose DOGE can follow that dysfunctional bouncing ball. Actually, a good employment lawyer probably could as well. But, hey, it's not Mijares or Pond's money, so no biggie.
Speaking of DOGE, Mijares found another way to waste money by placing on the agenda to hire outside counsel to review the approved and signed contract for the north campus construction. The $24 million contract has been the proverbial bee in Mijares' bonnet because the previous board didn't wait for Mijares to sign off on it. If only we were all as important as Mijares thinks he is.
Mijares wants us to believe that it's simply a second set of eyes. That's a $10k set of eyes. But Mijares, who can't seem to keep up with his own maze of words, tried to reassure the audience that it's up to $10k and it could be as low as $500. Yep, that's how lawyers work. I'm guessing Mijares won't spend a penny over $9999.99, then will try to convince us he's saving the county money. He's already asked Stryker Construction for their contract buyout price, which is a meager $2.8 million, unofficially. Stryker's team is working onsite now. The buyout price will probably rise, as it should. In Mijares' logic, that's a net savings of just over $21 million, except there wouldn't be anything to show for the money if the buyout goes through. That's $2.8 million of nothingness and a building that houses over 100 employees in disrepair. In Mijares' logic, 30% of the 'C' commercial rated building is unusable, so the best solution is to move everyone into the 70% that's barely workable. Mijares should lead by example and move his office into the money pit. He won't — after all, county employees are just collateral damage for him to carry out his personal agenda.
Mijares talks transparency and he's a man of his word. He's so transparent we can see right through him and on the other side is David White. White's lips barely move when Mijares speaks. Two weeks ago Mijares took a trip to Delta County to meet with the county administration. There's nothing wrong with that. Mijares could learn how functioning county leadership works. The problem is he had David White in tow. If he's asked about that trip I suppose he'll try and convince everyone he called for an Uber and White just happened to be the driver. Maybe Mijares doesn't realize he's handcuffed himself to a political corpse — failed campaigns for city council and DMEA board, not to mention the second lowest winning percentage by a county commissioner in the last 24 years in a contested race against a single opponent when he was the incumbent. White got two votes in the selection process when the Republicans had to fill Rick Dunlap's seat. I'm guessing he voted for himself. Do you suppose he has a family member on the central committee? I can't imagine any other explanation for the second vote.
Pond appears to be along for the ride as long as Mijares indulges him with his resolutions. The second amendment-reaffirming resolution was a political layup, yet he was a proud papa when he read it into the record and the audience approved. Mijares opined that maybe this will bring the county together. He's tone deaf.
Pond's CORA resolution read like an angry "I'm a victim" Facebook post. He broke out his Junior-Trump lingo card when he proclaimed people are "weaponizing" CORA to cripple his ability to govern. No, Pond, people don't trust you. They want to know what's true or not. As I told David White, who was sitting behind me during the meeting, surely he can't support this resolution — after all, the city of Montrose could make the same "weaponizing" claim about him. He had the same response Pond did when presented with the question: the resolution really doesn't mean anything. Thanks for wasting our time.
Let's see where we are at, the termination of an employee without cause, the sham review of a signed contract while negotiating a buyout with no follow up plan and the possibility of a David White shrine at a local whiskey bar and the potential of flushing $2.8 million down the drain. Catch your breath, we're not done.
Then there's the utter throwing of the county attorney under the bus by Mijares. Essentially saying he doesn't always get the advice he wants to hear from Whitmore. By the way, Whitmore has the ultimate poker face. If I'm ever invited to the same poker game as she is I'm just going to hand over my cash. No sense wasting my time. Mijares also claims that Whitmore's staff goes past the scope of CORA requests, capturing screenshots off of Mijares cell phone that aren't required. There's that scary shadow harassing him again.
In the next edition of my op-ed we'll discuss Montrose County Republican Chair Monte George using public comment period for party business, as well as his over use of the term "Local Liberal Media," which is so 2016 and also just strange, considering the fact that my last ballot was probably filled out identically to his, unless of course he's a closet liberal. And a PS to Pond and Mijares: those people who showed up to speak out against your "not the truth" upcoming agenda weren't liberals, they were your constituents. Unlike you Johnny-come-latelys, I know most of them. Their politics are as diverse as your excuses as to why you can't seem to govern effectively.
Dennis Anderson is the publisher of the Montrose Daily Press and the Delta County Independent.
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