Montrose County’s Board of County Commissioners once again found itself in turbulent waters during its July 16 meeting, as tensions erupted over both fiscal policy and a politically charged recall campaign.
The most consequential item on the agenda was a resolution directing the Sheriff’s Office to separately account for revenues from the county’s public safety sales tax. The resolution had been introduced at 3pm on Monday, and place on the Wednesday Meeting agenda at 9:30 Tuesday morning, a compressed timeline that drew criticism from County staff and Commissioner Sue Hansen.
“This did come sort of the last minute—no, not sort of, but at the last minute,” Hansen said. “And to me, this is no way to govern.”
Despite her objections, the resolution passed on a 2–1 vote, with Commissioners Sean Pond and Scott Mijares in favor and Hansen opposed. The county’s accounting team now has until January 1 to implement a new system for tracking the funds.
But the meeting’s most dramatic moment came not during policy debate, but during public comment—when Commissioner Mijares unexpectedly took the mic to address what he described as “misinformation” surrounding a campaign to recall him from office.
"As you probably know, there is a recall against me," Mijares said. "I just want to tell you a story."
He proceeded to describe his past involvement with a local group called Unify Montrose, claiming it was affiliated with outside activists. “We are being infiltrated by a socialist group,” he warned. “They’re a bunch of social scientists from Chicago and other places around the world.”
Commissioner Mijares’s remarks quickly drew objections from fellow commissioners. Hansen interrupted, stating it was “not appropriate to talk about a recall in the county meeting.” County Attorney Julie Andress reminded Commissioner Mijares that agenda items must be publicly noticed before being addressed in session.
Despite those warnings—and a three-minute time limit applied to public commenters—Mijares insisted he could speak at length. “I’m the board chair,” he declared. “I run the meeting.”
Commissioner Hansen later pushed back sharply, accusing Mijares of ignoring legal advice and using the meeting to grandstand in front of political supporters.
“If you all think this is unusual behavior, you’re wrong,” she told the audience. “This is what happens throughout the county—and I’ve had it.” and "Everything in there is a lie and and and I'm fit to be tied about this and I think that you ought to know who you elected in this position."
The recall effort targeting Commissioner Mijares was filed earlier this month. Organizers have until August 15 to collect roughly 4,600 valid signatures to trigger a special election in November.
To read Commissioner Mijares’s rebuttal of the recall effort, visit montroserepublicans.org. For more information on the recall campaign itself, visit recallscottmijares.com.
