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Resident urges board to enforce state statute on planning commission associate members
Summary
A resident said Montezuma County may be misapplying Colorado law by seating an associate planning commissioner when all regular positions are present, and urged commissioners to address the issue.
Mike Lynch, a resident of 21730 Road S, told the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners during public comment on Feb. 18, 2025, that the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission may be operating in a manner inconsistent with Colorado law.
Lynch cited Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 30, Article 28, Section 103, which authorizes counties to appoint a planning commission and to appoint associate members. He said the statute allows an associate member to take the place of a regular commissioner only when a regular member is “temporarily unable to act.” Lynch said the county currently has five regular planning commissioners and one associate member; he argued the associate should fill a seat only when regular members are unavailable.
Lynch told the board he has raised the issue previously by email and cited specific meeting dates. He said that, in his view, having six individuals act as regular members at the same time changes quorum calculations and could render some meetings procedurally irregular. Lynch cited attendance on Dec. 12, 2024, as an occasion when six planning commissioners attended and also said a Jan. 9 meeting with only three present would raise quorum issues if the body were treated as six voting members.
Lynch asked the board to review the matter; he provided a copy of his remarks for the record. The board did not take immediate action on the matter during the meeting; no county response was recorded on the transcript.
