The city of Durango is dropping its lawsuits against La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith and the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners over the county’s refusal to hold inmates sentenced on municipal charges.
Durango City Council voted unanimously to dismiss the two lawsuits on Tuesday.
Reacting to the city’s dismissal of its lawsuits, County Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said in a written statement the two lawsuits wasted taxpayer dollars and hurt the city’s and the county’s relationship, which “is not easily mended.”
“It’s unfortunate that the city decided that legal action was a viable alternative to constructive negotiations because the county was still providing alternative language in the draft agreement to address some of the city’s concerns,” she said. “But the city’s own misinterpretation of the law led it astray and resulted in several months of litigation, only to have its legal claims denied by the court in the very first hearing.”
The city’s move to dismiss the lawsuits comes after a setback in district court in January when 6th Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson rejected the city’s request for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that, if granted, would have forced the sheriff to accept municipal inmates into the jail.
Several councilors reasoned on Tuesday the Colorado Municipal League, a nonprofit that advocates for and advises municipalities on a variety of issues, is better positioned and equipped than the city to address issues about the jailing of municipal inmates.
CML Executive Director Kevin Bommer said in an email to The Durango Herald that CML is pursuing legislative efforts focused on municipal court authority and penalties adopted in municipal codes – but not the jailing of inmates.
“Municipal leaders around the state take seriously the need to ensure public safety in spite of challenges and limitations they confront,” he said. “As a general matter, CML will be an ongoing resource to our members in these efforts.”
City Attorney Mark Morgan said there’s a clear conflict in state statute regarding a sheriff’s and a county’s obligation to jail municipally sentenced inmates: One part of the law says a sheriff must accept duly sentenced people into jail, and another says county commissioner boards must consent to use of the jail.
He said the statutory conflict must be resolved by a court case or a legislative change, and he expects CML will take it up at some point.
The question of a sheriff’s obligation to jail municipally sentenced inmates is not unique to Durango. He said a similar issue was raised in Adams County but was resolved with a settlement, not a judicial ruling. So at this time, the city is banking on a legislative resolution.
City officials have said county officials have not tried to negotiate a new jail intergovernmental agreement in good faith, and said the same on Tuesday.
Mayor Jessika Buell said County Attorney Sherryl Rogers “reneged” on an agreement after meeting with Buell and other city officials three days before, and county officials have demonstrated they don’t want to work with the city to reach an agreement.
Councilor Gilda Yazzie said the city should reconsider its relationship with La Plata County, noting the terminated jail IGA and the county’s decision not to follow through with relocating the county fairgrounds to Durango Mesa.
“I question their legitimacy to the voters here (in) La Plata County,” Yazzie said. “Yes, I am disturbed that I have to work with these people when they’re not willing to listen to reason. And it seems like the lawyers run the county and not the county commissioners.”
Rogers said she was surprised to hear how herself and the county were characterized. It is challenging to line up different organizations’ board agendas, and when she informed the city her initial goal of having a new jail IGA ready by mid-January was overly ambitious, she wasn’t going back on anything.
“I had done my part of sending a modified contract to them,” Rogers said. “I still hadn’t gotten information from them about their insurer, but to then be accused of having reneged in any way was pretty shocking to me, because we didn’t even have agreed upon final terms.”
She added just because a certain meeting date did not pan out as planned does not mean the county was acting in bad faith. She said the city’s litigious actions does not make her optimistic a jail IGA can be negotiated at this time.
“I think they just already knew that they wanted to argue and sue and they were looking for a reason, quite frankly,” she said.
Despite their places in opposing corners, Rogers and Councilor Melissa Youssef shared similar impressions of one aspect of the jail dispute – neither of them have seen relations so contentious between the city of Durango and La Plata County.
“I have represented La Plata County for 27 years,” Rogers said. “Never has the city of Durango or La Plata county sued each other in that time, never has there ever even been a motion to my knowledge, and certainly on my side, there’s never been a recommendation to do so, let alone actually filing.”
Youssef said the city’s relationship with the county has never been worse in her nearly eight years and two terms on City Council.
“It’s unfortunate what’s going down for our entire community,” she said. “... It’s not a great place to be in.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
