BV burro battle part of ‘bigger and more egregious fight’

After around 2 hours of discussion and debate at the Buena Vista trustees’ meeting Tuesday night, Brad Wann’s appeal of the town’s decision regarding his event permit application was denied.

Trustees voted 4-2 that the town administrator acted in accordance with the Municipal Code and upheld her decision to conditionally approve Wann’s permit should an alternative date be agreed upon. (See Trustees, P5)

In a brief update on their special events, the Rec Department report stated that they have been providing information for the appeal and any public records requests that Wann had submitted.

“It appears that the burro racing community has a much bigger and more egregious fight going on, and the town of Buena Vista happens to be in the middle of it. We continue to stay focused on our code and the decisions that we need to make, despite fairly constant communication and character assassinations between the two parties that have applications in with the town,” the report said. “You can be certain that the town staff has made objective decisions based on our code.”

During his appeal, Wann cited the lack of communication, confusion and frustration surrounding the town’s code and the “impossibility” of John Paul LaCroix’s event due to permit restrictions on BLM land.

He also referenced an Aug. 2, 2022, email from LaCroix to Chamber of Commerce director Heather Rupska and former Rec Dept. employee Ben Eichel saying he planned to apply for the event.

Wann, in response to a question from trustee Gina Lucrezi, said he was never told another person might be planning to apply for the same event. LaCroix’s application and Wann’s 2022 BV race both took place 12 days later.

Town administrator Lisa Parnell-Rowe and special event coordinator Leslie Quilico took time to explain the timeline of the applications they received and their decision-making process, which included a meeting with rec staff and former town admin Phillip Puckett to come to an appropriate conclusion, which was then communicated to both Wann and John Paul LaCroix.

Trustee Peter Hylton-Hinga said that while the code needs to be revamped to protect historical events, he wanted to focus on whether the code had been followed in this particular situation. He felt that relying on a formal code-based system rather than a “buddy-buddy” model would lead to more transparency going forward.

“I think this is a horrible example of a hole in our codes that needs to be cleaned up and fixed as we professionalize more as a town,” he said. “It sounds like what happened was the previous way things were done was an informal way of doing things, ad it reverted back to code, which is a formal way of doing things. … I think that’s why it’s important for me to side with the town and the way that they followed the code in this particular situation.”

Other trustees shared Hylton-Hinga’s sentiment. Another concern was whether offering Wann alternative dates even mattered if his BLM permit was not transferrable to another day. Trustee Cindie Swisher said it was “kind of a joke,” expressing her dislike for how the process had happened.

The trustees eventually voted 4-2 that the town administrator acted in accordance with the code and upheld the original decision to conditionally approve the permit.

Wann also expressed frustration that his denial didn’t come from the town administrator, but from Quilico. While Parnell-Rowe expressed it was not a denial but a conditional approval, town attorney Jeff Parker said she has the “administrative authority to delegate notice of the decision.”

After the trustees voted to uphold the decision, Parker added that Parnell-Rowe could “act with administrative authority” to establish deadlines for the other applicant’s additional permits. Parnell-Rowe said she would continue to be in contact with both applicants.

“I do understand what the vote was today and wish it was different favor, but whichever way it went, I think we were still in stalemate as to who would have the event,” Wann said after thanking the trustees for their time. “Hopefully (LaCroix) can get the permits and if he can’t, I can’t wait to hear from you. Also, make sure that he gets his insurance. That’s probably the hardest thing. It’s harder to get insurance than it is even to get a BLM permit if you don’t know how to do it. You’re dealing with animals and you’re going to have to (get insurance).”