Lake County OKs contract for third‑party HR investigations to serve sheriff's office and other county staff

Lake County commissioners on June 16 approved a professional services agreement with Paradigm Public Affairs to provide third‑party human‑resources and internal affairs investigative assistance for the Lake County Sheriff's Office and make the service available to other county offices.

County Manager Candace Bryan told the board the contract is designed to give the sheriff's staff a "safe place" to send complaints or investigations outside the sheriff's chain of command. "We have asked of Heath is would he consider having an HR when he needs to have, you know, a safe place for his staff to go and look into an investigation that's a third party," Bryan said.

County Attorney Matt Hod said the arrangement follows common practice and is intended to reduce legal and operational risk. "My hope from a legal perspective is...this contract is drafted in such a way that it's both Heath and the board and to the extent we need an outside third party occasionally for our HR that we could also go to this firm as well," Hod said.

Board discussion noted elected offices in Colorado have separate statutory authority over personnel, and the contract is intended to respect those lines while providing an independent investigative option. No vote tally was recorded in the meeting transcript; the motion to approve the professional services agreement was moved, seconded, and approved.

The agreement will be available as a resource for the sheriff and other offices when external review is required for sensitive personnel matters; the county attorney indicated the contract language was drafted to permit joint use by the county and individual elected offices.

The board also handled several other routine agenda items the same day, including two supplemental appropriations and an election method for federal forest‑service payments.