Small Town News

Economic Development responds to ex-director

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Trinidad-Las Animas County Economic Development, Inc. (ED) -- tasked with attracting new business to the county while nurturing the well-being of existing ones -- registered a rebuttal this week to the charges leveled against it by its former executive director, Steve Simonson, following his late-August dismissal.

ED Vice President Nancy Lake told The Times Independent late Wednesday that the organization does not typically like to air its personnel issues in public.

"We would not choose to air sensitive human resources issues in public," she said. "(ED) feels that our hand has been forced in order to share truth of the circumstances with the press and the public."

Lake went on to allege that Simonson had, "...failed to fully grasp the magnitude of his job. We (the ED board) don't believe that he had sufficient experience working for an independent 501C3 (non-profit) board, and therefore he did not understand the roles of the board members and corporate officers."

Prior to his hiring at ED in June 2008, Simonson had been employed for seven years in northwest Montana as the executive director of the Sanders County Community Development Corporation. He replaced at ED its previous executive director, Meghan Harris-Russel, who left the position in December 2007 for employment at Trinidad State Junior College. ED then worked with a consultant for the first few months of 2008 before the consultant and the board experienced an acrimonious parting of ways in April 2008.

Simonson had told The Times Independent and other local media outlets he blamed his firing of a complaint against ED board President Nancy Lackey a few weeks prior to his firing, as well as his presentation of the complaint to ED's executive committee on Aug. 7. In the complaint, Simonson alleged that Lackey had entered his office when he was not present and had rifled through his files and materials.

"If he were to have understood the role of the board and corporate officers, he would have understood that the board of directors has the duty to exercise full legal authority on behalf of the corporation," Lake said. "They have the duty to establish goals and policies and their accomplishments; they have the duty to provide governance and accountability for the mission of the 501C3, they have the duty to oversee operations, to approve budgets and oversee finances, and last but not least, have the duty to maintain constituent relations ('relations with any business entity that might need to develop in the industrial park')."

Asked if she felt Simonson was hampering the latter criteria, Lake replied, "Yes, we do."

The files reportedly sought from Simon-son's office by Lackey had pertained to talks Simonson had been having with Raton research and development company, Stolar Research Corp. Simonson had claimed to have signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement. He said in August the agreement meant he would "not disclose information of a confidential nature about their business without their permission."

Simonson claimed that, per Lackey's request, he had contacted Stolar representatives prior to the office incident to request permission to share the company's information with her, and that the permission had arrived the day following the alleged rifling through the office.

Lake suggested during the Wednesday interview that Simonson's mentioning of ED's talks to Trinidad media also possibly violated the confidentiality clause that Simonson had with Stolar.

Simonson had also claimed that his Aug. 24 firing had come after his refusal to sign off on a July 24 employee evaluation of him that he deemed "inaccurate."

Among other statements to The Times Independent, Lake asked that local media focus more on ED's upcoming plans and less on its other situations. ED's future plans include its revolving loan fund -- currently set at $45,000 for local businesses -- along with continuing recruitment of business to the local area that currently includes an out-of-state business that Lake declined to identify, specialized computer business training in December for area workers, ED's move to different offices in the Bell Block and an annexation of three to five lots in its industrial park on Trinidad's northern edge.

"(ED) continues to strive for professional service and dedication to this community, and we respectfully ask the press and the public to focus on the truth of the circumstances and the future plans of ED," Lake said.

ED receives about $44,000 annually from the City of Trinidad and most recently received $43,618 from Las Animas County.



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© 2009 The Trinidad Times Independent Trinidad, Colorado. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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