30 employees laid off at La Paz County, more may come

Emotions were high at La Paz County when approximately 30 employees were laid off after the Board of Supervisors voted to reduce the County’s workforce with immediate effect. The cuts came in response to an ongoing financial crisis, which the Supervisors have been publicly addressing since their new term began in January.

“This is the horrible day we’ve all known was coming. It’s brutal,” said Supervisor Duce Minor at the special meeting Monday. “They are big numbers because we have a big problem. We can’t kick the can down the road anymore. It’s got to be addressed.”

In a 2 to 1 vote, the Supervisors agreed to a monthly amount of $133,683 to be cut from the County’s monthly operating budget, around $1.6 million per year. Supervisors Minor and D.L. Wilson voted for the motion, with Supervisor Holly Irwin voting against.

$64,711 of the cuts will come from a direct Reduction-in-Force (RIF) by the County administration headed up by Interim County Administrator Robert Smith working with Human Resources Director Mary Frantz. They used a scoring system to determine which positions were mandated, which ones could be absorbed by others in the same department, which ones may be duplicated in function, and other considerations. Then, department heads were informed of which positions were being cut.

According to the reports, 13 of those positions cut were full-time, 17 were part-time.

The other $68,972 will come out of the monthly budgets for departments run by elected officials such as the Assessor, Recorder, Treasurer, County Attorney, Sheriff and Justices of the Peace. Those elected officials will be responsible for deciding how to make the cuts within their departments, which means that more layoffs may be coming.

“I agree with Duce that we’ve come to a point where we must make a decision,” said Wilson. “There are too many things that we need to happen that are contingent on improving the financial condition of the County today.”

The County should have at least 100 times its current cash balance in order to have 25 percent of operating expenditures in reserve, according to a presentation by Smith.

Irwin said she did not feel comfortable voting for the RIF while not having all the information she wanted. This included some confusion over whether grant-funded positions were likely to be among the cuts and whether the scoring reflected that. The answer wasn’t a simple one, with Finance Director Ken McFarland saying there “wasn’t enough time” to determine whether or not it would affect grants to the County because of “bad book-keeping”.

But despite some uncertainty on some of those open questions, the necessity of taking tough action was compelling for two out of the three supervisors. There was a terse exchange between Minor and Irwin when Irwin said she was concerned about the prospect of losing employees.

“I’m reluctant to vote for this when I don’t have accurate information,” she said. “These numbers have been all over the place for two months, and that concerns me, especially when you’re talking about cutting people.”

“Well, I’m not going to allow you to play the angel of the employees today,” Minor shot back.

“You know what?-” Irwin began to respond.

Minor: “We have a decision to make today that is going to be very difficult-”

Irwin interrupting: “Sorry that I care about the people that work for us, my bad.”

Minor, slowly: “And you are not the only one who cares about the employees.”

Emotions continued to be high during the rest of Monday after the decision as the County’s administration met with individuals who were told they were being laid off.

“My heart is breaking,” said Vivian Hartless, the County Fiduciary. “They cut my one position, leaving me to run my office alone. It’s absolutely impossible, the ones who are going to suffer are the elderly and vulnerable in our community who my office serves. I help demented, homeless veterans and deceased that have no family that are willing or able to to take care of their loved ones. I just think it’s ludicrous to think that I can run this department by myself.”

Hartless said she isn’t sure what to do now, but says she knows that she cannot run her office alone with her current caseload. Third parties have contacted Parker Live to say that Hartless’s assistant was a “great employee” and a necessary position at the County, which has an obligation to provide fiduciary services including the indigent burial program.

Two elected officials who had the biggest cuts by dollar amount were the County Attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Bill Risen told Parker Live he didn’t know what the effect would be on his department yet.

“This is a terrible time for the County of La Paz,” Risen told us. “The impact will be seen over the coming months. Families with reduced incomes. This will impact the whole county, and the towns as well. I do not know what the overall impact to the Sheriff’s Department will be. We are mandated to provide services and we will provide as many services as possible to our residents. The Sheriff’s Department employees are dedicated to this county and they will work their hardest for each and every one of you. La Paz residents are resilient and we will make it through this tough time.”

County Assessor Anna Camacho says she has some immediate concerns about the cuts to her office, and cites an International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) report which shows that her office is already overextended.

“In the past there were seven appraisers in the Assessor’s office,” she told Parker Live. “Currently, there are five appraisers in the office. I have been very vocal about my concerns with the staffing levels in the Assessor’s office. Having to make additional cuts to the Assessor’s office is going to impact the county like never before. I inherited a large number unfinished tasks as well as a backlog of permits that had not been worked from the previous administration, that add up to significant revenues, not being able to assess and list on the tax roll, due to the lack of staff which has been extremely disappointing.”

The IAAO paper says an effective assessment system requires one full-time employee per 1,500 to 3,500 parcels, with smaller jurisdictions like La Paz needing more staff relative to the number of parcels than larger jurisdictions.

“Based on our records, there are 17,595 parcels in La Paz County,” Camacho said. “In addition, there are 4,280 personal property accounts (consisting of 3,490 mobile home accounts and 790 business accounts) that my staff must work. These numbers show that our office is already understaffed and in need of additional appraisers. We have provided this information to the HR Director, Acting County Manager, and the Board of Supervisors.”

As far as how she thought having 5 or less appraisers would affect the taxpayers of La Paz County, Camacho said her office would do its best to serve the public, and added an apology:

“I would like to personally apologize to property owners in La Paz County who have been waiting for us to conduct field reviews, ownership transfers, splits, combines, etc. We will continue to be supportive and if you should have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to give our office a call or stop by and talk to us in person.”

There is some uncertainty at this hour as to the exact dollar amounts each elected officials’ department is being cut, with some elected officials on Tuesday saying they were not certain how this will affect their services.

County Attorney Tony Rogers, whose office was listed for the second-highest cuts by dollar amount, said he would make the cuts necessary. “The recently announced budget cuts are painful but necessary. The County Attorney Office will do its part to help ‘right the ship.'”

Elected officials reportedly have until Monday to tell the Board how they plan to reduce their budgets.

91 comments

  1. To quote: “They used a scoring system to determine which positions were mandated, which ones could be absorbed by others in the same department, which ones may be duplicated in function, and other considerations. Then, department heads were informed of which positions were being cut.”

    Yet, miraculously, the Public Defender Office headed up by Kathy Field, wife of La Paz County destroyer Dan Field and good friend to Mary Franz, had not one dollar cut from her budget. Science, though, right?

  2. Spence Arnold

    That’s sad families will suffer because of this, just flat wrong.

  3. John Parlato

    what the hell does that mean?

  4. They should start with the supervisors salaries and then Larry irwin position, county park ranger since the deputies already cover the areas… this is ridiculous…thw county should be going after Dan Field foe all the mismanagement and current state of the county

  5. Corey Lynn Nash

    I’m so sorry Irma!!! You were a hard worker! I’ve missed you!

  6. I know for a fact my department head was not notified of who was up for termination until the time came and she fought hard as hell to keep my position as well as my other co-worker who was let go. You now have your county building department running with only 3 employees. You no longer have a code enforcement officer who has done so much hard work in the year and a half he was employed. You have 1 building Inspector for all of La Paz County, you have 1 permit tech and our Administrator. How do you feel the two positions could be absorbed Mr. Robert Smith?? You did not even know what our jobs were. You told us yesterday that the cuts were based off JOB TITLES only. You have no idea what I actually did in my position. I am also left to wonder if it was based on job title only, why did the only one in our department get cut, when there were 3 administrative assistants in the health department and only 1 was let go there?

  7. County Park Ranger position has been RIFed. Seven positions cut from S.O.

  8. I feel horrible for the people left in my office, as they are going to take the punishment for these actions. They will not get lunches (not that we really got them before), they will have people at the counter upset at them because things are not getting done in a timely manner. Robert Smith and his financial team will not have to deal with any of the backlash this is going to cause, because guess what? They won’t be here.

  9. B.j. Madewell

    La Paz Regional Hospital is hiring multiple positions! Including, the clinics.

  10. Reduce supervisors salaries and maybe you should’ve put more time and effort into who was being cut. You’re in a breach of contract with some grant funded positions. We don’t deserve to be a county. You’ve proved Yuma right. This is bull.

  11. Randy isn’t that up to the sheriff?

  12. Well Candy hit the nail on the head however he isnt the park ranger anymore he was saved when the last sheriff got voted in and lil larry went back to the s.o. however it was the move to creat that position and the people in office the last several years who are to blame for this. Now the good people in office except one have to do the hard work of fixing the prob. and now the people of La Paz County suffer more along with the pore people losing there jobs.

  13. Diane

    Tough times, but it has to be done. We’re trying to get a business started, maybe we could take a couple people.

  14. The public defender’s office is not mandated; why weren’t they cut – if not completely, at least some? Neither the Board, nor Robert Smith, spoke about taking away employees’ (and Supervisors’) county-owned vehicles that are driven back and forth to their homes every day. Both are large expenses that most definitely would have saved many positions.

    Though I applaud Duce for calling Holly on her faux concern for the employees (If she’s so concerned, why doesn’t she AND her husband give up their county vehicles?), I’m disappointed that he didn’t vote no. He mentioned that he thought the list was “incomplete” or “not right” because some departments that he felt should be on there, weren’t. Obviously, Holly was going to vote no. They could have brought that back to the table at another meeting, after having a discussion about the list and correcting it. THEY make the decision – Robert, et al., make the recommendation. What the hell?

  15. Look for the next shoe to drop in furloughs. How will the remaining employees who pushed the 4/10 work week feel about the furlough of 1 day off without pay per pay period losing 10 hours pay rather than 8? I guess you get what you pray for.

    Any loss of job or pay is traumatic for employees and their families. The “leaders” don’t realize that the County is the biggest (non-tribal) employer in the County. Loss of that payroll and lowered County spending will affect every business in the County. Less discretionary spending for laid off and furloughed employees means necessities only. No going out. No fast food. No movies. No boating. No vacations. No gas (commuting/traveling). etc.

    The question remains. Why aren’t they saving money from the highest paid employees? Elected Officials, Department Heads, Etc. They should cut those salaries 25%+. That alone will save $75,000-$100,000 every month.

  16. Maybe the county and the board should have thought of all this before it came to this. The county is a joke the way it’s ran and the accessors office doesn’t even know who owns which parcels. This county is a mess and now it’s being taken out on employees that just try and do their jobs when in reality it’s the county and the board and the people they let run it that are all messed up! I might not live here anymore but I still have an interest in it!

  17. Jeffrey Alan

    That’s half the people in parker

  18. very sad for so many “former employee” and their familys who have to now suffer from the result of this mess

  19. It really stinks, but to delay anymore would have resulted in no pay for employees. There is NO money. Once property taxes are collected, revenue gonna slow down, golf course loses money in the warmer months. Employees aint gonna work very long for free. County would shut down. No one wanted this, but it had to happen due to past non action…. 🙁

  20. Review every take home vehicle. While certain key people need to be available, many of the others can be done away with. If an employee (including department heads and elected officials) haven’t been called out from home for “emergencies” in years, they don’t need a county vehicle just to commute. And also maybe check if they reported the take home vehicle “benefit” properly to the IRS.

  21. Irving N Dania

    Instead of replying with an ignorant remark, you can ask nicely. She stated she was one of the cuts. So if you can’t ask nicely there’s always Google Translate.

  22. John Bailey

    Sad yes,wrong no. Unless you have an idea on how to come up with the money there is no choice.

  23. Temper Thomas

    Emotions aside elected officials don’t fix the problems. They WILL NOT fix a toliet mow the grass they will not help someone in need. ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS NEED TO TAKE THE PAY CUT I HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT FOR YEARS

  24. You’re wrong Renee, we don’t have 3 Adm Asst’s at the health department, we have 2. And we didn’t lose one. The reason we got to stay is because our titles may be the same, our job descriptions are totally different. I’m sorry you lost your job, but our department lost 7 people. My transit division lost 2 drivers. I have to service this county with 1 driver. My Environmental department lost my part time inspector, so I have 1 inspector to service the county. So I dont know why you are trying to theow us under the bus..

  25. Sara Teasdale

    yep. la paz county is broke. send your reps to state to find out why la paz and several other counties are broke.

  26. Holly Irwin wants to be the mortar and feign saving employees pay and jobs…why is she and the other 2 Supervisors not offering their pay up to alleviate this burden?

  27. Wow,it sad bound to happen. We knew when duce was elected that he would do what he needed to save the county. I am not fond of the hartless couple,but i do agree with them on this one. First thing i thought of before reading comments was the public defender office. That office under dan field kept getting budget increases.,why no cuts now. Are they afraid of a lawsuit from dan fields for slander. Why are they afraid of kathy fields. Duce answer this for me. Im in vietnam for holiday,i read this and ifs very upsetting. But as a 30 yr business owner,the county has to be run like a business. None of the supes have ever run there own business. Duce had lived off of grants since i met him in 2004. Its a shame the past adminstration supes and shetiff office continued to spend. Dl and holly owe it to the county to resign,or be recalled. As elected officials u felled the voters

  28. The problem is we stop at just bitchimg. We complain on parker live, yet we do nothing. I know I will be at the County BOS meeting on monday. Hope to see other laid off employees there, we have a voice…we need to be heard.

  29. Michelle L Dahinden

    I say vote every elected official out of the county and vote in people who can actually keep County from going broke.

  30. At mary, not trying to throw you under the bus at all, just trying to show how shitty this deal was done. Hey, I lost my job. I lost my benefits. I lost everything. I just want everyone to know how this shit was done back doors, why did the finance department who was part of this decision making not lose one damn full time employee???

  31. Connie Fogel

    Maybe they could hire QUALIFIED people instead of trying to transport people who need basic care!!!!!

  32. *FAILED is how u spell failed not felled Ha dude seemed like she was the only one in this thing that made sense so ease off a lil would u give up ur spot if u was her noo haha

  33. Rv bob winter resident

    Seems to me you NEED help in the assessment department you NEED money!

  34. Robert Schmitt Sr.

    They need to hire more assessors they need MONEY

  35. Aaron Bond

    Here’s an idea….Elected officials take the pay cut/decline pay first…

  36. Sorry for the county attorneys office. I want to prosecute criminals not friken defend them.

  37. Ok elected officials,take a pay cut, supervisors make around 60k. Sheriff 90k, county adminstrator 150k, detective irwin 80k, treasurer 60k, recorder 50 to 60k, Kathy fields not sure. But all elected officals and top managers take a 15 percent pay cut. Leave all county cars at work, drive your own car home. If u get called out,pay them mileage. Detective irwin drives county car home to and from cibola daily, wrong wrong wrong

  38. WOW THIS IS HORRIBLE! That’s a huge loss of employment, what a failure from our board of supervisors. HUGE FAILURE! Seems to me that something should have been done from the past terms of our supervisors, and to allow some budgets to go so far over, not acceptable at all. The jail is over 4 million dollars beyond the budget ( according to the other article from parkerlive) that should have been addressed after the million dollars over budget at the latest. Now 30 people are without job? Are you kidding me? You supervisors need to put a stop to the areas running over budget!!! Get it together supervisor!!! This is YOUR responsibility to maintain the counties finances!

  39. The way the cuts were determine was so wrong, how do they justify cutting a two person office to one? I was the department head (Public Fiduciary) that answered those ridiculous questions as honestly as I could, never for one second did I think my one position was on the chopping block. That thought was reinforce the day of the meeting when Robert stated that no department would be left decimated, well that was a straight up lie, s my office is now officially decimated. The wonderful finance director made the comment that they compared departments with other counties and that is how they arrived at their decisions, another lie. There is not a Fiduciary office in the State of Arizona that is run with just one person because the liability is just astronomical. I offered to take a pay cut asked them to make that position part-time, I plead to the two supervisors that voted yes, their, all on deaf ears. The sad part is that I don’t think they realize the impact this is going to have on the vulnerable and less fortunate in our community. As it stands now my office cannot take any new cases leaving our elderly population at greater risk. Sad day but the worst is yet to come.

  40. As a past employee for Catholic Community Services for ten years, I know to well how it felt to be understaffed trying to carry a caseload of approx. 130 clients in LA Paz county completing assessments 14 pages long , making home visits throughout the county. etc. on a regular basis and trying to be some type of miracle worker that only caused me more stress to where I got sick and ended up on disability. But as Vivian said the elderly and disabled were fortunate to receive the meals on wheels, homecare services, etc. to help keep them from having to go to nursing homes or live with loved ones. I see more money wasted by other departments.

  41. As Vivian said, “the worst is yet to come”. Unfortunately these were the easy employees for furlough. As the original estimates stated the county has to furlough 25%. That’s around 75 total. At least 30 more to go. Folks the leaders of this county have padded their nests for years on you backs and never once gave a damn about the consequences. You can’t dig a hole this deep in a few short years. Next time you see a former supervisor just ask them.

  42. I had worked for La Paz County for 26 years and often questioned the spending practices and management of the County for years, even though being critical of my bosses could get me in trouble, I could not sit back and see the waste of money due to poor management decsions especially in the Parks Dept. that I worked in. So now we are beyond the point of fixing the wasteful spending on useless Park Projects and find ourselves terminating employees to save money. We should of never found ourselves in this position. Shame on you
    Dan Field and Holly Irwin to let this happen. I let both of you know 8 years ago by expanding the Parks Dept. with several new Parks that generate no money with user fees would catch up with us. I drove by one of the New Parks yesterday,the Pioneer Park in Wenden (a park that the majority of the residents really didn’t want in the first place for various reasons ) to see the Park in sad shape ,covered in weeds and trash laying about. But I did notice one area that was cleaned off. I guess we are building a basketball court at this park,curious since we have no money. The basketball courts in Ehrenberg Park and at Centennial Park that were built many years ago are in dire need of repair due to neglect, so lets build another basketball court we can neglect! Again, bad management decisions and wasteful spending by the supervisor of District 3 Holly Irwin. Hmmmmmm Gary Zak 2020

  43. Maybe I’m missing something here but weren’t some of the positions grant funded?
    Doesn’t that kinda mean that the county didn’t actually pay those salaries and benefits?
    Yes, the letter head on the checks say “LaPaz County” but the actual monies come from these employees busting their butts to get the grants to provide services. Mostly through the state.
    How is it possible for the county to save/spend this money on anything other than what the grant has it earmarked for? I.e. salaries benefits etc. Wouldn’t that be illegal ????

    “Well, I’m not gonna allow you to play the angel of the employees today”
    Just who does this guy think he is?
    Absolutely rude and unprofessional. Kinda sounds like someone on a power trip to me. ?????
    Yes the county is in trouble, no denying that. Yes, there are hard decisions to be made and it’s not going to be an easy over night fix.

    My prayers are with those that lost their jobs.

  44. The “angel” comment was justified, in my opinion. To be knee deep in this mess that was on your watch over the past eight years and now, suddenly, you are going to oppose anything that attempts to address the problem so you can look like a saint in the eyes of the employees is hypocritical. Take responsibility for the mess you had a hand in. Maybe you didn’t know the extent of the problem, but now you do. Own it.

  45. Weldon Brent Johnson Jr.

    This is what happens when you vote for the same people over and over. We need new faces and ideas, why we need to make La Paz Great Again!! I hate to say this but I can’t really blame officials, don’t get me wrong I want to, just can’t because as the old adage goes I will just have 3 fingers pointing back at me. We give these people our trust so much that we hardly get involved in the county politics.. But that’s how politics work they say i want/need to do this… And we say yayyyy or nayyyyyye. If they don’t listen then we appoint another person, legally of course. I know there are people who stay in the up and up about the county but not the whole county, like I am still in shock that were going broke, like why tho?

  46. Weldon Brent Johnson Jr.

    How does the county make money??? By using their services?? Like the county fair being way out in the Sonoran Desert

  47. It always amazes me that the ones who cause these terrible problems are the ones that come out of it losing nothing. They still collect their full paychecks and benefits and don’t have to sacrifice a thing. The innocents are the ones that will suffer and struggle to house and feed their families. It’s a shame and heartbreaking.

  48. Well, hopefully Mr. Minor will “allow” other people to be heard.

  49. Thank You Randy for your comment. Supervisors hire the County Administrator and is THEIR responsibility to oversee the actions of the administrator. It seems over the past 8 years Dan Field had been able to do what he wants with little oversight from Holly Irwin. If she claims she did not know how bad things were she was neglecting to do her job. But of course she had to look the other way since the favor that was bestowed upon her by Dan Field to create a job for her husband Larry out of thin air so he wouldn’t lose his job 8 years ago. Oh the Irony! Now that Park Ranger Position has finally been terminated but Larry Irwin was able to advance from that position back into the Sheriffs office under the past Sheriff Mr. Drum. I hope we all look at this chain of events and see if Larry Irwin will finally be let go since he technically should not still be employed in the first place by the county.
    Holly at some point everyone will know what you knew about the mis- handling of finances by your friend Dan Field. What he had been doing with our finances will finally be exposed by a new Administrator and you as a elected official should do the right thing and resign before you are caught up in all your lies. If you really care about the employees and the residents of the County do the right thing. Resign !! Save us the expense of the Re Call! Gary Zak 2020

  50. I’ll admit the wording was harsh, Cliff, but the message needed to be sent.

  51. It’s a shame governments can’t manage finances properly to avoid this type of thing. However, if they are heavy on staff, then its good to stream line things As hard as that may be on a personal note, it’s the right thing to do.

    Someone needs to start streamlining the Buckskin fire dept. that is one over spent, out of control burden on tax payers.

  52. I personally feel, now that I have had a couple of days to think about it, I seriously don’t believe that I was let go due to a financial hardship that the County is experiencing. I have a Code Enforcement case open on a pier at the County, and one with apparently a lot of pull. It is starting to make sense, due to the fact that the individual I have the case against stood down the hall, and watched me as I signed my death warrant, with a big ole smirk just beaming the whole time. Well played….

  53. The RIF’s will affect the Departments that employed personnel paid by state grants. This was very stupid and not well planned. One example is the $30,000 dollar OHV grant that was just lost, due to the employee who had the grant being let go. If those employees were not being paid by the County why were they let go. Again this doesn’t make sense.

  54. No sports on TV in vietnam. The county and comments are so entertaining. Keep it up,lol

  55. What they will do on grants is transfer the responsibilities (and the pay) onto someone who didn’t get riffed, thereby saving money on THEIR salary and benefits, too. That grant money will be spent, but on remaining employee(s).

    And for Weldon, the County Fair is not under the County Government, but a completely separate governing board and funding stream.

  56. Mr. Anderson,
    You really think the people left to weather the storm in the grant funded departments are going to get a pay raise?????
    The responsibilities will most definitely be transferred and will need to be done if these departments want to continue to exist.
    But to say the money will be spent for anything other than what the grant dictates would be illegal and unethical.

  57. Ignorance revealed

    In the meantime Danny Field is allowed to resign and allowed to collect unemployment while under criminal investigation for mishandling public funds and financial irregularities. This is a perfect example of what happens when Clapperton, Irwin, and Wilson remove all the the checks and balances that were in place to prevent these things from happening. For years Dan Field, Holly Irwin and her husband have manipulated this county for their own financial gain. Holly and Wilson should be recalled for their ignorance and malfeasance in office.

  58. Cliff,

    I never said the grant money would be spent on non-grant matters. If the county had a widget grant to plant widgets around the county, but riffed the guy paid by the widget grant, the duties of planting widgets would be reassigned to other employees, and then THEY would be paid by the widget grant. No change in pay, just a change on WHERE they get paid from. Bookkeeping 101. The widgets would still get planted and the guys doing the planting would be paid by the grant. Nothing unethical or illegal. The savings would be from the widget grant money paying for an existing employee or two (who are assigned to plant widgets) instead of being paid by general fund money.

    Unlike other positions that were illegally paid through grants. But that’s another story……

  59. So Mr. Anderson what you are saying is that the people of La Paz County are the ones that got “riffed” and the grant funded program employees did the “riffing”, and by terminating their employment your plan would be to have someone else continue the “riffing” using the money for the “riffed” services.
    Boy that makes perfect sense to me, I’m sure when the State comes to audit the books as to where their money was spent they can get a perfectly good explanation from you.

  60. Sheriff’s dept didn’t have 7 cuts, the Ranger spot was the only one so far I know of being cut. So where are the so called others? I believe most of those that were cut were PT jobs, yes it’s sad but why are we blaming Smith he’s only giving the Board what they hired him to do, come up with a reduction plan. He did, others are going to have to step up and help out including department heads. Candy, Irwin is no longer a ranger. He hasn’t been a ranger since Drum was in office. The Officer that was in the Ranger spot was let go, after us tax payers paid for a LOT of training he was sent to. I’m sorry so many people lost jobs, had more people been attending the board meetings on a regular basis and yes I know they’re held during work hours but surly not every single county employee works during the meetings. People have had to know this was coming. We had a lay off a few years ago. Yes Dan Field should of been fired a long time ago and I agree recall Holly and DL, it’s too bad the only other person running against DL had very little experience in handling decision making for millions of dollars she for sure would of been over her head. Holly said she didn’t know things were this bad? Why has the board members NOT been checking spread sheets of Field? Maybe they would of seen the constant juggling of funds from account to account to account. Dan didn’t know how to budget a check book if he tried. But no, for how many years and how many different board members was he allowed to get away with it? AUDIT, AUDIT,AUDIT every 6 months. Don’t just look at statements check every I and every T break out the calculators make who ever takes over show just where every dime is going.

  61. At Anderson, I am not a widget. I was an eployee that did my job. Can’t wait for you to need a land division , lot combine, re-zone or a variance. Can’t wait for you to call 911 and them not recognize your address. If, you need a GIS shapefile?? Not going to happen at this point, why? Because they cut the people that work for you,and me..the taxpayers!

  62. Sam those who drive county cars home can’t leave them in Parker,they are part of certain teams that if called out in the middle of the night have to have those vehicles that carry equipment for many different emergencies. So in other words if you were held hostage in your house, would you want someone living in Cibola, Havasu or Wenden, Salome to have to drive all the way to where ever they have to leave the vehicle with all the emergency equipment then drive to your house and take care of things? Or would you rather the person who may be sniper trained or Hostage Negotiator taking command to come from where ever the county car was parked then to your house? Law enforcement don’t work that way. I’ve got 4 family members in Law enforcement from big city’s in CA to wide open area miles from no where.

  63. Sell Patria Flats Day-Use Area. The “paved” roads are now dirt, no money to repair and given current circumstances, doesn’t look like that will change. Meanwhile that riverfront land is worth tens of millions of $$$. Single home parcels on the water routinely sell for $500-700K.

    Even cutting the park in half would net big dollars. Plus the added benefit of new property taxes (if we have any Assessors left after budget cuts). County residents already have a free river-access park at La Paz County Park.

  64. I have worked at the La Paz County Park for the last 8 years. The new director of the park should of been the first one to be let go. The person in the office that they let go is the only one who knows how to run the park. They have no clue how to run that park. Wait until Memorial weekend. They do not have anywhere near the amount of people that needs to run that busy weekend. And Labor Day And 4th of July. To the County Supervisors, you need to rethink the position of Ray Townsend and get him back there now. If you don’t then we will probably will not have a County Park anymore. Ray was also doing the Parks Director’s job. They know NOTHING about what goes on in that office so again why do we need a Park Director who knows NOTHING about his job. He sure knows a lot of what Holly wants. She seems to be getting everything SHE wants. Again read Gary Zac’s post. HE IS SPOT ON!!!!!!!!! I guess I got out of there just in time. Things that make you go HMMMMMMMMMM

  65. A Board of Supervisor cannot make needed changes if they do not get any support from 1 of the other 2 BOS.

  66. Thanks Lynn, yes the people of the County must realize we just let go the only person left at the Parks
    Department who had any experience and education to manage the department. Ray Townsend had been the glue holding that Department together for years. You and Ray made a great team managing the park with a loyal staff of unpaid camp hosts after the full and part time staff was reduced just a few years ago.Now you and Ray have been let go and also many of those camp host couples at the main parks and satellite parks. It will be a real test now for the new office person of two months just Hired! and the Parks
    Director who we new was hired a little over a year ago with less experience and education than Ray Townsend who also applied for the job when John Bennett retired. Of course back in that time it wasn’t what you knew to get a job in La Paz county it was who you knew. During Dan’s reign we all know of similar people who got their jobs with La Paz County on the same basis. It’s good to be the King, you just stick whoever in positions qualified or not. The King is Dead, Long Live King Dan.we will be paying for this mess for Years! Oh yea Holly don’t deny you didn’t have a part in hiring the current Parks Director, we know how you were pulling strings. Now we will see how good he really is I guess. Gary Zak 2020

  67. Will Duce call for an investigation onto previous administrations and their negligence?

  68. I believe Mr. Minor is on record about that, saying he wants to focus on the future.

  69. Those calling for selling of supposed assets, such as the Landfill, Parks, Patria Flats, Golf course, etc. need to know that those facilities are are not County property. They are Federal BLM lands leased to the County for public purposes. They cannot be “bought” or used for anything else, other than what they’re currently used for.

    For Renee and Cliff, I’m on your side. I’m just saying that as long as Grant funds are used to accomplish the purpose of the grant, it doesn’t matter who does it. Yes. Other services may suffer, but it will be like that no matter if the person let go was grant funded or not. It’s a sh****y deal all around. I truly hope that the ones sent home can spring back and get into a career where they don’t have to rely on the incompetence and corruption of this County government.

  70. Cheryl, no lapd cop drives the police car home,no la co sheriff drive police cars home. im talking marked cars.

  71. Anderson,

    Actually, you are not 100% right on grants. I have 16 years experience working in and managing grants. You cannot fire a grant paid employee and just transfer that money and duties to another employee. Not that simple. Let’s say a health educator is paid out of a specific grant from the state health department that originates at the federal level. That grant comes with an IGA (intergovernmental agreement). That IGA puts limits on where the money can go. The money earmarked for health educators cannot go to say… a general funded position of law enforcement. The duties can be assumed by another health educator in the same department but guess what, they are also grant funded. And, there are no health educators funded by general funds so that money can’t go anywhere.

    What can happen is the state health department sees that positions have been closed out and they can reduce grant funds next year. So, the county ends up loosing more money and those positions never come back. Services decline and departments cannot reach their goals. Cutting grant funded positions never ever ever result in money being moved to other departments and it rarely helps to move the money internally.

  72. Having worked with Robert Smith for several years I’ll tell you not to trust him. ###

  73. To Oh the grants,
    Thank you for putting some clarification on Grant funding and where the money can and more importantly CAN’T go.
    The services that are affected by these terminations within the health department WILL affect some very important people in LaPaz county including the children in the schools and elderly in outlining communities.
    Again, I pray for those that have had their lives completely turned upside down with these terminations and also for those left to fill the voids.
    I also pray the BOS’s take another look at what they have done, specifically to the grant funded programs and re-think their decision.

  74. Fonzi Wayne

    La Paz County fair uses their own funds.
    It’s 12 miles, get over it.

  75. Fonzi Wayne

    She said she’s one of the ones that was fired and laughed about it.
    Pretty sure if you googled it , it wouldn’t explain it right.

  76. Parker Live Updates

    As stated, you can ask nicely.

  77. Cheryl, I am blaming Robert Smith because he is not a part of our community therefore he has no investment in our community nor does he understand the needs of our community and the people we serve nor does he care, he is leaving on May 3th. It’s the elected officials, Mary Franz and Ken McFarland are the one that are should be held accountable.

  78. La Paz County REALLY needs to get it together!

  79. John Parlato

    Or maybe people could just write in English instead of these stupid acronyms.

  80. John Parlato

    For all those concerned… I don’t recall seeing their coworkers saying lets all take a pay cut so everyone can keep their job. Or any of the concerned citizens asking for their taxes to be raised so everyone keeps their job. A government agency needs to be run like a business, if there is not enough revenue then prices / taxes need to be raised or there needs to be cuts. I am sure like most government agencies this one is not run efficiently.

  81. The old saying is very true here (When your neighbor is out of a job that’s to Bad, But when you’re out of a job something needs to be Done). These people out of a job support local businesses and the trickle will effect every one in the county . The past needs to be looked at very Closely because the elected officials and supervisors that where in place to protect your interest failed! So learn from the past To plan for the future and hold people responsible . These amounts are hard to believe. My heart goes out to All affected and good luck. Thanks

  82. You know what is REALLY sad, all of the people that ACTUALLY know how to run the La Paz County Park are not there anymore. That’s right folks you heard that right. There is not 1 person there that could of helped that park more than Ray, Myself,and Gary Z. I don’t want to say this but the County Made a really really bad decision.

  83. Grants are obtained using the Department Originating Agency Identifier or ORI to carry out specific tasks. If the employee who obtained the grant is let go, I don’t believe the grant can be transfer to another department. The Ranger who was let go was being paid by the AZGFD Water Safety grant and the AZGFD OHV grant. The Ranger was a POST certified peace officer that was certified by the U.S Coast Guard and Fish and Game for field law enforcement operations. I wonder how much money the County is going to save.

  84. Phillip,
    The Ranger was improperly being paid by the previous Sheriff. He was sent to the Boating Officer School and called him a “Boating Officer” so they could use AZGFD funds to pay him, but he very seldom, if ever, did any boat patrol. They had previously assigned a 20 year Sergeant to the Boating Division (he didn’t ask for it and didn’t want it) so when he retired, a short time later, his excessive comp and vacation hours on the books in thousands of dollars, would be paid off by the grant and not regular Sheriff Dept. salary funds. The Ranger position was removed from the Boating Grant shortly after the new Sheriff took office.

  85. Everyone knew this was coming a long time ago but decide to do all this now. And the comments back and forth in these meetings sound so childish and just awful. What a circus it is.

  86. None your business

    So sorry for those that lost their jobs, however after a grueling 6 months of working with the building and assessor’s offices its no surprise that they cannot generate the income needed to support their jobs. They appear to be the best at diverting customers/taxpayers to related businesses for answers/results when it’s their job to get it done. Possibly padding their pockets or give their own business some business. Unfortunately the greed of these few has effected others, let’s hope karma takes over and gets this county in line and honest. Come on everyone review your recent tax bills and their assessed values, if everyone was over assessed as we were their should be no problem keeping all the positions. And yes I’m with the prior comment the assessors office is jacked and doesn’t know who owns what or which documents are what but don’t have a problem referring you to the local title company (who owns this)…enough ranting for me I think you get rhe point. We need knowledgeable employees with them ability to get them job done which will ultimately generate honest income.

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