Commissioners send Dominion Voting customer-project-manager question to executive session, then table appointment

Park County commissioners went into executive session Aug. 6 to obtain legal advice about appointing a customer project manager under provision 5.2 of the county’s 2016 Dominion Voting Systems contract and then voted to table the matter to a future meeting.

The board moved to an executive session under Colorado Revised Statutes §24-6-402(4)(b) for the purpose of receiving legal advice from the county attorney on that specific contractual question. After a roughly half-hour recess, the board returned, with the chair reading that the commissioners had received the legal advice and would return the matter to the public meeting for discussion.

Discussion focused on the board’s role as contracting authority and whether provision 5.2 in the longstanding 2016 Dominion contract required that the county appoint a customer project manager. One commissioner said the county is “the contracting authority” and has the “responsibility of ensuring those contracts are enforced,” while another said the clause in the 2016 contract appeared to require such an appointment but that staff would need to research whether that remains binding today.

The board ultimately voted 3-0 to table the resolution appointing a customer project manager and to place the matter on a future publicly noticed agenda so the legal and administrative questions can be pursued further. Earlier in the meeting, the motion to enter executive session carried 2-1 on a recorded voice vote; the subsequent motion to table the appointment passed unanimously.