In the photo above, we see Archuleta County Commissioners Warren Brown, Ronnie Maez and Veronica Medina interviewing Deputy County Coroner Shannon Balderas for an interim County Coroner position. We also see, far right, County Clerk Kristy Archuleta, recording the meeting.
The wall behind the commissioners has been recently remodeled and newly hung with statements… Mission, Vision, Service, Accountability, Balance… goals that the BOCC apparently wants to strive towards.
In the top left corner the Mission Statement mentions “Maximum Transparency”.
We will be discussing that idea today. “Maximum Transparency”.
The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners conducted lengthy interviews with two County Coroner candidates on Tuesday afternoon, April 25, and then convened in a closed-door executive session to discuss the candidates prior to reconvening in open session to appoint Bradley Hunt as the interim Coroner.
Mr. Hunt will fill the remaining term of office, for former Coroner Brandon Bishop, who resigned earlier this month to take a job as a school resource officer with the Archuleta School District. The voters will have their next chance to vote on Coroner candidates in November 2024.
The two candidates presented very different personalities and experience levels, and we will dig into those differences… in a moment.
But first, a quick discussion about the Executive Session, which was (in my humble opinion) illegally convened. The Colorado Open Meetings Law requires discussions and decisions made by government bodies — boards, commissions, panels, etc. — to occur in open public session. In a very few circumstances, government boards can meet behind closed doors, in executive session.
At the April 25 meeting, following the candidate interviews, Commissioner Warren Brown made a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) 24-6-402, subsection (4)(f)(I) to discuss the two potential appointees privately.
Subsection (4)(f)(I) permits an executive session for the purpose of discussing employees. But the County Coroner is not one of the BOCC’s employees. It’s an elected office. Unfortunately, Commissioner Brown and his fellow commissioners had not been advised by County Attorney Todd Weaver that Subsection (4)(f)(I) is specifically limited by the following paragraph:
Subsection (4)(f)(II).
(f) (II) The provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (f) shall not apply to discussions concerning any member of the local public body, any elected official, or the appointment of a person to fill the office of a member of the local public body or an elected official or to discussions of personnel policies that do not require the discussion of matters personal to particular employees.
We can easily understand the human reluctance to discuss a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in public. But Colorado law does not allow the BOCC to convene in executive session to discuss the appointment of a County official. In this situation, “Maximum Transparency” trumps the natural reluctance to debate a person’s qualifications in public.
When the commissioners were informed that they had apparently violated Colorado law by discussing the County Coroner candidates behind closed doors, they moved fairly quickly to post, publicly, the audio recording of the executive session discussion, on the County website, here, labeled as “First Video”.
The executive session discussion is also available, below.
A News Flash sent out to County subscribers explained the situation this way:
During the BoCC Special Meeting to appoint a new County Coroner on April 25, 2023, the Executive Session discussion unintentionally transpired separate from the public. The audio recording is now available online to comply with Colorado Open Meetings Law.
As mentioned, the two Coroner candidates — Shannon Balderas and Bradley Hunt — brought rather different personalities, experiences, and priorities to the interview.
Ms. Balderas has been working for the past two years as a Deputy Coroner under former Coroner Brandon Bishop, and said she was encouraged by Mr. Bishop to apply for the vacancy created by his resignation on April 16. As Deputy Coroner over those two year, Ms. Balderas had attended over 100 deaths and numerous autopsies.
When asked to describe the duties of the Coroner, she responded (in part):
“…We take the bodies to the mortuary. We talk to the families, and make sure they have enough information, so that they know where they need to proceed next, and who they need to talk to.
“I think this is really important. It’s not just a ‘body’. It’s a family member. It’s a lover, a friend, a mother, a daughter, a brother…
“We also take them to the autopsy. We stand next to a pathologist, and we learn a lot. Constantly. Each scene is different; each case if different; so you’re constantly learning different things… We stand next to the pathologist, and watch them, and they talk about everything they see and what they know… we confirm the toxicology; we do tests and confirm the actual cause of death.
“And then, making sure that the family is taken care of. That they have the proper information, to move forward…
“Being the coroner is not just a job. It’s much more than that. I think it’s very important to the families, to feel seen and heard, and know what’s going on. I think you need a lot of empathy, and heart, to even have that…”
If you read the Colorado Revised Statutes, 30-10-601 et seq., concerning the County Coroner’s duties, you will not read anything about empathy, or about helping families through a difficult situation.
Ms. Balderas, however, came back to that aspect of the job at several points during her 40-minute interview.
Mr. Hunt, who has a background in law enforcement and evidently has limited experience with death and autopsies, did not, as I recall, mention empathy or taking care of families during his 17-minute interview.
But during their executive session, the BOCC expressed a belief that Mr. Hunt was the more qualified candidate, should the situation mentioned in CRS 30-10-604 come about:
When there is no sheriff in any county, it is the duty of the coroner to exercise all the powers and duties of the sheriff of his county until a sheriff is appointed or elected and qualified; and when the sheriff for any cause is committed to the jail of his county, the coroner shall be keeper of such jail during the time the sheriff remains a prisoner.
I’m not sure why this section of the law would be concerning to the BOCC. I’ve never heard of a County Sheriff landing in jail in Archuleta County.
We have several families per week in need of an empathetic coroner.