05/01/2024
Hello Folks!
The folks leading the petition efforts have been asked to pull together receipts of the allegations outlined in our initial petition.
We’re taking the time to break this down into a few distinct different areas.
We are currently working on clarification from town and state staff regarding the need to report the finances related to the open forum. It appears that the regulations surrounding this are clear as mud and we’re doing our own due diligence to clarify.
First - the allegations regarding a lie that the town staff did indeed have a recording.
On February 29, 2024 Trustee Tietz commented that the Town Administrator (assumed to be Patti Garcia) announced there was a recording of the meeting during the meeting. However, on February 29, Trustee Tietz received communication from Dan Sapienza, town attorney that a recording currently could not be found, but Patti was looking. This was again confirmed by Patti in an email with Justin Schwendeman-Curtis on 3/1/24 that no such recording exists.
Trustee Tietz has since shared she may have personally recorded the meeting via her Go-Pro. To date, no such recording has been produced.
Utilizing town staff and resources to gain credibility with the public, while knowing these items did not exist damages the credibility of the Board of Trustees as a whole. Trustee Tietz also voted to approve minutes from the meeting in question and could/should have stated objections when minutes were voted upon.
Further, this statement/resolution was being done in an attempt to squander freedom of speech of those who were present in the meeting and who engaged in the hard conversations around potential banning of books in our town. This also would not align with the public statement that the trustees made stating they would not squander freedom of speech or place bans on books. A resolution that Trustee Tietz voted in favor of. Why would Trustee Tietz sign a resolution to state the town would not ban books if a discussion around banning books never happened in the first place?
Additionally, in the BOT Packet from August 9, 2022 a quarterly report was included that detailed the CORA reports from April - August of 2022 (https://www.wellingtoncolorado.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/505). Included in this are CORA requests from Christine Gaiter related to the purchasing or circulation of books such as “Speak by Anderson, Laurie Halse Juliet Takes a Breath, by Rivera, Gabby Lo**ta, by Nabokov, Vladimir Lawn Boy, by Paulsen, Gary Lucky, by Sebold, Alice Bluest Eye, by Morrison, Toni A Court of Mist and Fury, by Maas, Sarah J. The Testaments, by Atwood, Margaret The Glass Castle, by Walls, Jeannette This One Summer, by Tamaki Looking for Alaska, by Green Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Chbosky Drama by Tegemeier, Raina Fifty Shades of Grey by James, E.L.”. Christine Gaiter is the individual who commented publicly
We have more on this allegation in our next post, so stay tuned for that to come.