Ouray County manager reads resignation during evaluation work session; commissioners continue review

Connie, Ouray County's county manager, told the Board of County Commissioners during a Feb. work session that she is offering a resignation and proposed June 30, 2025 as her last day while the board completes the formal evaluation process.

The meeting was a continuation of the county manager evaluation that began at a previous work session. Commissioners spent more than two hours reviewing the draft appraisal, discussing staffing and technology priorities, and hearing Connie's response to criticisms the board raised at the earlier session. The board did not vote to accept the resignation; commissioners said they would put a related agenda item on the board's next regular meeting for formal action.

Why it matters: the county manager is the chief executive officer for Ouray County government; a pending resignation and an unresolved performance review together create a near-term leadership transition and force the board to accelerate decisions about deputy authority, hiring and continuity for core functions such as budgeting, grant management and emergency operations.

Connie opened with a review of work completed in 2024 and of personnel changes and training she said she led. She summarized staffing events, including several executive recruitments and the hiring of the deputy county manager in May 2024, and recounted training and delegation efforts: “She completely does the financial reports all by herself,” Connie said of the deputy manager. Connie said the county implemented a cloud-based finance system and other modernization steps and outlined ongoing items such as a vendor procurement module and an accessible digital budget book.

Commissioners and Connie debated several recurring themes from the written employee surveys and department head feedback: communication and transparency, delegation and succession, implementation of meeting and agenda software, and how the administration staffs and runs the Emergency Operations Center during declared incidents.

On one factual point raised by a commissioner, Commissioner Denise said she was called into a meeting by Bobby Lucero from the State of Colorado and urged the county to staff the EOC during a past disaster, relaying concern that an undeclared or unstaffed EOC could jeopardize state support. Connie responded that county staff had opened the EOC and that Deputy County Manager Kara was present. The exchange was part of a longer discussion about past emergency operations.

Commissioners reviewed numerical ratings in the draft evaluation. Some commissioners said they still preferred to emphasize qualitative feedback over scores. Commissioner Jake said of Connie's initiative: “I think that Connie truly has the best interest with the county,” and noted he would consider a high rating while also urging progress on several technology projects. Other commissioners said department-level surveys showed a decline in positive responses and urged the manager to address trust and day-to-day communications with staff.

Connie acknowledged the critiques and asked for concrete examples where she could improve. She also pushed back on some characterizations in the earlier session: "When we're in there, we do laugh because that's a way to relieve tension. So we're not gossiping," she said in response to a complaint about private conversations with legal staff. She listed accomplishments she attributed to her office, including large capital grants for the courthouse, fairgrounds grandstands, broadband and Corbett Creek.

Part of the session focused on delegation and the role of the deputy county manager. Commissioners asked for clearer handoffs so the deputy can take on more routine and some higher-level work; Connie described an active training and coaching process for Kara and other newer employees. Commissioners discussed operational items they said would benefit from more proactive modernization, including automated payroll, positive-pay bank processes, and agenda/meeting management software (Granicus, CivicPlus and OpenGov were all discussed as possible platforms).

Connie also read a written resignation aloud and proposed a June 30, 2025 departure date. In that statement she framed the decision as the result of the tone of recent public meetings and the pace of expectations for change: she said the board was asking for faster change than she judged achievable while maintaining normal budget and audit cycles. Connie said the date would allow time to complete onboarding and handoffs for new staff and to close out parts of the annual budget-audit cycle.

After Connie read the resignation, commissioners said they needed time to review the letter in full and to place any personnel or recruitment actions on a future agenda. Commissioner Michelle said the board should formalize the performance evaluation at the next regular meeting and, if appropriate, accept a resignation then or schedule a separate session to address hiring and recruitment.

What was not decided: the board did not vote to accept the resignation, nor did it take a final vote on the evaluation form during the work session. Commissioners agreed to finish drafting written summary statements and to return the evaluation and any formal personnel action to the next regular meeting agenda for formal consideration.

Context and next steps: Commissioners asked staff to circulate draft summary statements and to consolidate the evaluation document for formal action. Several commissioners asked for a Gantt-style timeline or similar tool to align board priorities with staff capacity, and they discussed holding focused follow-up work sessions to set realistic, prioritized goals for the coming year. Connie said she would provide the board with a finalized draft for signature and noted she can remain available to assist with transition planning if the board accepts her proposed June 30 date.

The discussion touched on multiple operating priorities that the board will need to address regardless of the manager's final decision: EOC staffing and disaster finance processes; implementation of meeting/agenda software and public-comment workflows; payroll and accounts-payable automation; and the county facilities master-planning process. Commissioners said they would place the evaluation and the manager's letter on the board's next regular meeting agenda for formal action and possible acceptance of a resignation.