What you need to know about PT Wood

Elections
21

Still no response from Chaffee County Commissioner Candidate PT Wood.

If he is so proud of his record Salida Mayor, where is the public defense of his actions?

Could it be he does not have one?

Letter to the MM Editor:
Commissioner Candidate PT Wood refuses to answer questions about his record as Salida Mayor. Let’s ask more! In 2020, two Salidans filed complaints with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission against Mayor PT Wood/Councilman Harald Kasper.

One allegation: by promoting Salida purchase land from the Union Pacific Railroad across from Riverside Park, they increased the value of their own near-adjacent property in the Hillside Addition(across from the Steamplant). These complaints were deemed “non-frivolous”, true of only 4/80 ethics complaint statewide in 2020.

The Commission determined the case hinged on whether Hillside Addition property valuations increased in 2021. Case was dismissed when 2021 assessments were released: no properties in the Hillside Addition, whether vacant or containing a home, had seen a land value increase.

Meanwhile, properties all over Chaffee County saw huge valuation (and property tax!) increases (What you need to know about PT Wood - #22 by GetReadyMan - Elections - Chaffee County Discourse) For instance, the lot where Salida Bottling Company Development would be located increased from $516,087 to $850,000, or 65%! Is it a coincidence that property key to an ethics complaint against local officials instead bucked the countywide trend and had this peculiar, unchanged valuation?

Current Commissioners Baker and Felt have endorsed PT Wood to join their ranks(who else thinks that is a bad idea?), perhaps they will perform an independent investigation.

In the meantime, PT Wood and his party faithful continue to run the same tired campaign they used to retain Drew Nelson as Salida City Administrator: Years of “experience” is the key, ignore questionable actions taken while gaining all that “experience”.

Vince Phillips,
Salida

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Mayor benefits from city land transaction

  • Oct 2, 2019 - Mountain Mail

Dear Editor:

Last November, I predicted the mayor/council would purchase Union Pacific land across the Arkansas. Guess what, they did.

This purchase will enhance the value of land owned by Mayor Wood and Councilman Kasper in the Hillside Addition. The subdivision – detached from city services – is across from the SteamPlant and over the tracks, straddling Tenderfoot Mountain

They benefited by expanding open space around their property on the city’s nickel, limiting nearby building opportunities and a taxpayer-funded extension of utilities to their doorsteps.

Councilwoman Brown-Kovacic recently suggested Salida install bathrooms for hikers and homeless people across the river near Hillside. Note: at last a long-awaited affordable housing initiative by the councilwoman.

How did Wood/Kasper acquire these properties? Follow the money.

On Dec. 30, 2008, newly minted Salida Planning Commission member P.T. Wood purchased a 17-acre parcel for $90,000, not zoned for residential development, encompassing a portion of Tenderfoot. Assessed at $35,000. That same day Wood traded the parcel to Salida for 1.6 acres in the existing Hillside addition.

Wood quickly capitalized and sold a portion of Hillside for profit. To avoid a major subdivision review, he started with a minor subdivision of three parcels (A,B,C). On Dec. 30, 2009, Wood sold 0.58 acre (B) to current Councilman Harald Kasper for $109,500. The following day, Wood sold 0.44 acre (C) for $109,500. Wood retained 0.57 acre (A), presumably worth at least $109,500. Happy New Year!

This property swap turned Wood’s initial acquisition of city property for $90,000 on Dec. 30, 2008 into $219,000 and Lot C – more than tripling his money in the middle of a recession in only one year. Wood then used the profit he made off the city to fulfill his lifelong distillery dream.

Don’t believe me? In the Nov. 8, 2018, edition of Elevation Outdoors magazine, Wood stated the following when asked, “Was it tough getting the distillery off the ground?”

“My brother and I came across a great deal that helped us fund the distillery. We knew the people that owned the S Mountain property (the iconic foothills behind the town), and thought it’d be a good thing to own, so we made an offer and bought it for pretty cheap. We then traded it to the city of Salida for some other property that they owned, did a little land development there, and that gave us the extra seed money for the distillery. In the end of 2011, we bought the old downtown auto body shop. It took a little bit of work to put it back together, but by the end of 2012, we got our distilled spirits license and were up and running.”

To recap. Salida gave Wood what amounted to $300,000-plus in assets for a piece of land assessed at $35,000. Much like D.C. after a couple of years, elected officials become multimillionaires.

Wood used the profits to develop Tenderfoot Mountain without a major subdivision review and finance his whiskey distillery.

Jim LiVecchi,

Salida

23

PT Wood has built himself his dreamhouse on his property across the Arkansas River from the Boathouse, so the land valuation for this formerly vacant property is no longer on the Assessor’s website. However, like all the other properties in the Hollywood Addition, the PT Wood lot had no increase in land valuation from 2020 to 2021.

For example, Harald Kasper’s vacant Land assessment remained constant from 2020-2021.

A nearby existing home’s land value did not change from 2020-2021.

Another vacant lot near downtown, the possible future location of Salida Bottling Company (the parking lot across from Party Spirits) Land Assessment increased 65% in same period while PT Wood’s and Harald Kaspers (the so-called Hollywood Addition) and all others remained unchanged:

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A letter to the editor in the Mountain Mail.

Questions council decision Oct 13, 2020

Dear Editor:

Surprising events during the Sept. 15 Salida City Council meeting.

Turns out the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) is pursuing ethics complaints against Mayor P.T. Wood and Councilman Harald Kasper.

Two weeks on, the press has neglected to cover this significant event.

The meeting agenda listed an executive session to:

“Conference with the City Attorney for the Purposes of Receiving Legal Advice on Specific Legal Questions, with the following additional details for identification purposes: Regarding waiving a potential conflict of interest”… whatever that means.

After the executive session, City Attorney Nina Williams disclosed the IEC complaint.

With Wood and Kasper recused, Council voted to waive a “potential conflict of interest,” then voted unanimously to retain Deputy City Attorney Geoff Wilson, who works for the same firm as current Williams, to represent Wood and Kasper. He would be paid by the city as part of the city attorney billing.

Please watch at the 7:50 mark: City Council Meeting 9/15/2020 - YouTube.

I knew little about the IEC, but research disclosed the IEC also performed the ethics investigation of former Governor Hickenlooper.

The IEC process involves an initial screen.

If a complaint is deemed frivolous, no details of the complaint are released to the public.

In 2020, 63 complaints have thus far been evaluated. Of these, 60 were deemed frivolous.

Only three were non-frivolous, and will proceed to the next stage. Of these three, two are Mayor Wood and Councilman Kasper, both on unanimous votes.

View this here: iec.colorado.gov/complaints#2020.

Thus far in 2020, two of the three people under investigation statewide are in Salida. The third, the former mayor of Montrose, is Montrose front page news.

The Salida investigation seems to target the 2019 Union Pacific land purchase: iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Complaint%2020-21.pdf.

The mayor and council are paid poorly. If accused of ethics violations transacting official business, I agree they deserve financial protection - but only if exonerated.

But the way this matter was handled by council leaves many questions, deserving public answers:

What was the potential conflict of interest council voted to ignore?

By waiving this conflict, is there liability to the taxpayer?

Why employ the former city attorney, who participated in the decisions under question, and not independent counsel?

Aren’t we paying Geoff Wilson to defend himself for providing potentially bad legal advice?

These public officials have been granted a blank check for their defense. Why not impose a spending cap?

Why not require the IEC defense to be accounted/billed separately, instead of being buried within the monthly city attorney bill?

If found in violation, shouldn’t the taxpayers be reimbursed for the amount spent on the defense?

If there is not a separate accounting, how could we ever know this reimbursement amount?

If they are found in violation, does council intend to pay their fines in addition to their legal costs?

Would forcing the taxpayer to pay for a public official’s ethics violations constitute another ethics violation?

This is a serious matter, which was downplayed in the council meeting. Were they hoping no one would notice?

Vince Phillips

Salida

25

Ethics complaints filed against Mayor Wood, councilman Kasper

by Cody Olivas Mail Staff Writer Oct 13, 2020

An ethics complaint has been filed against Salida Mayor P.T. Wood and council member Harald Kasper.

Salidan Michelle Parmeter filed the complaints with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission in July. In the complaint, Parmeter says Wood and Kasper have “violated public trust” with regards to the vacation of a portion of E. Crestone Avenue that contains city-owned sewer, and also the rezoning of land next to E. Crestone.

Parmeter also alleges that Wood and Kasper benefited financially from the city’s purchase of land from Union Pacific for recreational use back in October of 2019.

“I think there’s absolutely no meat to this complaint,” Kasper said, adding that his expectation was for the commission to clear him and Wood.

The council unanimously approved an ordinance to re-zone the city-owned piece of land immediately south of Crestone Avenue from R-1 single family to R-2 medium density in August, and it approved ordinance 2020-11 to vacate a piece of the avenue by a 5-1 vote, with council member Mike Pollock dissenting.

In regards to the purchase from Union Pacific, Parmeter says in the complaint that, “P.T. Wood should have recused himself and let mayor pro tem, Dan Shore, sign the resolution. Harold Kasper should have recused himself from voting” since it’s behind properties they own.

“The purchasing (of Union Pacific land) wasn’t pushed by either of us; it has been in the comprehensive plan for more than a decade,” Kasper said. “The 60 acres was purchased with the intent to clarify access to the trail system.”

At its Sept. 15 meeting, council discussed a potential conflict of interest in letting city attorney Jeff Wilson assist Wood and Kasper relating to the complaints during an executive session. With Wood and Kasper recusing themselves from the discussion and vote, council unanimously agreed to allow Wilson to defend Kasper and Wood.

“Usually with a private complaint I’d be responsible for my defense, but with this ethics complaint it was obviously so frivolous that council decided to hire Jeff Wilson to defend us,” Kasper said.

The commission voted unanimously to deem the complaint non-frivolous on Aug. 18.

People can access the full complaints at https://iec.colorado.gov/complaints#2020.

Wood and Parmeter did not immediately return calls for comment.

26

Wood responds to ethics complaint

by Cody Olivas Mail Staff Writer Oct 14, 2020

Salida Mayor P.T. Wood denounced the ethics complaint filed against him and council member Harald Kasper Tuesday.

“This is a political hit job by two people (who haven’t lived here very long),” Wood said. “They’re p----d about the decision to move forward with affordable housing here and this was the only low cost way to attack Harald and me.”

Michelle Parmeter filed the complaint with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission.

In the complaint, Parmeter says Wood and Kasper have “violated public trust” with regards to the vacation of a portion of E. Crestone Avenue that contains city-owned sewer, and also the rezoning of land next to E. Crestone.

Parmeter also alleges that Wood and Kasper benefited financially from the city’s purchase of land from the Union Pacific Railroad for recreational use back in October of 2019.

Salida City Council voted 4-1 on Oct. 15, 2019 to approve the purchase agreement with Union Pacific for 64.43 acres in the Arkansas Hills area for $222,539.79.

Councilman Mike Bowers voted against the agreement, and Justin Critelli was absent.

The property must be used for open space or recreational purposes, according to the purchase agreement.

At the time, City Administrator Drew Nelson said the money used for the purchase would come from open space in-lieu fees, so the money has been set aside just for this type of purchase.

Wood also disclosed that he and Kasper owned property nearby during the 2019 council meeting, but after discussions with the city attorney he said they decided they weren’t affected in a way that would merit their recusals.

The full meeting can be viewed at - YouTube.

The discussion on the land purchase begins around 1 hour, 20 minutes.

As far as the affordable housing development on Crestone, council unanimously approved an ordinance to re-zone the city-owned piece of land from R-1 single family to R-2 medium density in August, and it approved ordinance 2020-11 to vacate a piece of the avenue by a 5-1 vote, with council member Mike Pollock dissenting.

Wood expressed disappointment with the ethics commission, which voted unanimously to deem the complaint non-frivolous on Aug. 18.

“It’s utterly disappointing; they took her word without any substantial investigation,” Wood said, noting the commission never contacted him or Kasper during that first phase.

After the complaint was filed, council discussed a potential conflict of interest at its Sept. 15 meeting, in letting city attorney Geoff Wilson assist Wood and Kasper relating to the complaints during an executive session.

With Wood and Kasper recusing themselves from the discussion and vote, council unanimously agreed to let Wilson defend them.

“Now we will file a motion to dismiss,” Wood said. “I’m confident that will be what happens.”

Parmeter did not respond to messages.

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Here are links to the Independent ethics commission’s 2020-21 complaints against PT Wood and Harald Kasper.

Complaint: iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Complaint%2020-21.pdf

PT Wood’s Response to the ethics complaint: iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Response%20to%20Complaint%2020-21.pdf

Findings and Conclusions: iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Complaint%2020-21%20Findings%20and%20Conclusions.pdf

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Oct 7, 2022 letter to the editor in the Mountain Mail.

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Thanks to PT Wood, those who can afford $100k electric cars travel free, while like Salida workers, living in their cars, have to buy their gas.

How the mayor of Salida got caught in the battle over electric car chargers.