06/07/2005: "Questions on Amsbaugh & Shaw Departure"

One of the conditions of the agreement between the County and LaFarge that must be satisfied prior to the purchase of the LaFarge gravel pit, and the adjoining LaFarge beach that was created to provide storage for the sand and crushed rock that the company exported, was the completion of a reclamation plan for the property. In order for the reclamation to be completed, all necessary forms and permits must be obtained to do the reclamation, and then the County must inspect and approved the project as having been completed as per the permits. This approval is accomplished by the County CDPD (Community Development & Planning Department) signing a form known as an SM-6. Without a signed SM-6, the Department of Natural Resources will not approve the reclamation as being completed. If the County buys the property prior to the reclamation work being completed, the required work, and accompanying costs, will become a County responsibility.

When Francine Shaw was the Deputy Director of Planning, she kept a phone log of her calls, where the date, who called, and a note of the content of phone calls were recorded. The pages are bound in the book and are sequentially hand dated. When the Guardian came into possession of a photo copy of one of the filled out pages that spanned from the 5th of May to the 8th of May, we called Shaw to ask about a notation made by her on May 5th. The log entry stated Alan Lichter had called her, that the subject was "SM-6", and under notes was written: "say LaFarge will pull out of deal w/San Juan County if we don't sign SM-6" Shaw confirmed that the copy was from her phone log, and that the note referenced a statement made to her by Commissioner Lichter. In a phone interview with Commissioner Lichter, he said he had "no recollection of having said that". He said that he had called Shaw, but only to ask her general questions about the LaFarge project.

Shortly after Shaw's employment was terminated, Shaw made a sworn declaration to the law fire of Gordon & Thomas, in which she stated that in the week of May 4, LaFarge representatives met with her and Mr. Amsbaugh (the former Director of CDPD), and "pushed us..to sign off on the SM-6 form."

According to Shaw, both she and Amsbaugh explained to them that LaFarge still had not submitted applications to allow the County to sign-off on the reclamation plan, and any work that may be required to complete the plan, prior to the County being allowed to sign the SM-6. She also stated that "…Alan Lichter called me…told me to sign the SM-6..and submit it to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). According to Shaw, Lichter persisted even after Shaw explained to him that the both the outside counsel hired by the County to advise her on land use law, and DNR, had agreed it would be inappropriate to sign-off until LaFarge had obtained all of the necessary local permits. She then stated that Lichter told her he had met with LaFarge, and if the SM-6 was not sighed, they were threatening to walk away from the sale. While the Declaration gives the time line of "during the week of May 4", the basic content of the statement in the Declaration does square with the entry in the May 5th phone log.

The May 5th date becomes of interest when Shaw states in the Declaration that after Lichter talked to her, he then called her boss, Steve Amsbaugh, who then asked Shaw why she "would not sigh the SM-6 as Commissioner Lichter had instructed". It is of interest, because in an interview with Commissioner Ranker in his office, it was revealed that former Director Steve Amsbaugh had informed the BOCC of his intention to resign on May 5, or May 6 at the latest.

It is not known if there is a connection between pressure being put on the Department to sign the SM-6, and Amsbaugh resignation during the same time period, or if the dates are simply a coincidence. When The Guardian interviewed Amsbaugh after the official notice of his resignation, he repeatedly refused to give any reason for his decision to resign. When it was suggested to him that any reason that he might give -such as "it rains too much"- would dispel the concern he was leaving for reasons related to his work, either because the BOCC was not pleased, or he was displeased with the BOCC, his response was to simply state that he was not going to talk about it. Interview over.