Just over a month after filing a suit against the Summit Board of County Commissioners related to its denial of a Sheriff’s Office budget appropriation request, Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons filed another lawsuit against the board Thursday, July 15.

The second lawsuit focuses on a resolution the board passed at a special meeting June 17, which adopted the county’s updated emergency operations plan. It argues the resolution, which includes language directing the office of emergency management to “be aligned and collaborate with” the county manager’s office, exceeded the board’s authority.

A 2023 resolution transferred emergency operations responsibilities from the county manager’s office to the sheriff. A Sheriff’s Office news release about the new lawsuit stated the office being under the sheriff’s purview but having to align with the board created “chain of command confusion.”

The lawsuit looks to nullify the June 17 resolution and “restore a clear operational chain of command,” the release stated.

The resolution states that the director of emergency management, Brian Bovaird, can make “non-substantive” changes to the emergency operations plan, but any “major changes” he or his office proposes will be reviewed and, if approved, adopted by the commissioners through resolutions.

In a statement provided to Summit Daily via email, commissioner Eric Mamula said the issue driving the second lawsuit could have been resolved with a meeting between the parties.

“We’ve asked for multiple meetings, we’ve asked for collaborative solutions — but we’ve only been served with lawsuits,” Mamula’s quote read.

He added that the money the Sheriff’s Office will spend on legal counsel, and the money the county will spend on counsel for its defense, comes from tax dollars.

“The most ridiculous thing?” Mamula said in the quote. “This is all funded by the same pot of money — the tax dollars we all pay. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather my money go toward fixing the roads.”

Commissioner Tamara Pogue said in May the then-current emergency operations plan was too long to be an effective public-facing document. At the June 17 meeting, commissioners reiterated concerns about length but approved the document to meet a deadline for a state emergency management grant.

The county hired a consulting company, Talion Defense, to make edits to the plan before the June 17 adoption, which county manager David Rossi called “necessary.” 

Commissioners also criticized the plan they approved June 17 for trying to strip responsibility for emergency management in things like budgeting from the board of commissioners and for having syntax, numbering and formatting errors.

The Sheriff’s Office news release stated the commissioners “interfere(d) with emergency management operations by delaying the approval” of the plan when they hired Talion Defense. The release stated the Colorado Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management indicated the plan would score “100% upon signature.”

The commissioners’ hiring of Talion Defense to “rewrite the plan without input from local safety stakeholders” placed demands on office of emergency management staff while bypassing the sheriff’s chain of command, the release stated.

“Chain of command is one of the most essential principles in public safety operations,” a quote from FitzSimons in the release read. “The BOCC’s disregard for this structure causes confusion and delays action.”