There’s been contention in Norwood meetings the last few months, mostly between the Norwood Sanitation Board and the Norwood Mayor, Candy Meehan. In April, the Norwood Sanitation Board passed a resolution of “no confidence” in the Norwood mayor, since some members believe she’s desired to dissolve the sanitation district in the last year.
Sanitation is its own special district, but shares the Norwood Town Manager, as the existing governmental agreement indicates. Sanitation also share other employees too, from Norwood Public Works.
Previous records indicate the mayor had private conversations with the Town of Norwood’s attorney, and the subject of some of those discussions was the sanitation district.
The mayor has repeatedly said she was trying to research what might happen if the sanitation district had a catastrophic event — and what the Town of Norwood’s liability might be. She has said that it’s her responsibility to be aware of these things.
Still, sanitation district board members — with the exception of Bernice White, who is the chair — are mostly unhappy with the behind-closed-doors meetings that have taken place, and they have said they don’t trust the mayor. They’ve said they need more clear, direct communication. They also don’t want taxpayer money to be spent inquiring about the future of their district, while being left out of conversations.
As the rift between the sanitation board and the Norwood mayor has grown, the water commission was in the mix this month too.
On the agenda at the May 14 meeting for the Norwood Water Commission was the item: “Resolution of the NWC on the Actions of the Mayor,” submitted by Mike Grafmyer. But a resolution of “no confidence” didn’t pass in the water commission. It wasn’t even voted on. The agenda item was set aside.
Kerry Welch, on the sanitation district board and who is a former mayor for the Town of Norwood, has said she’s concerned about the attorney invoice records she’s obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA). Welch has said the documents are proof the mayor had conversations about dissolving the district and that she did so before having approval to seek legal counsel.
Welch told the Forum in the last few weeks, she’s now doubly concerned because those documents have since been redacted. The details of the town’s legal invoices are now blacked out and illegible.
At this point, the Norwood mayor has been legally advised not to speak to certain members of the sanitation district board. Meehan said the documents that are in question are protected by attorney-client privilege. The mayor also told the Forum recently she couldn’t comment or say anything else about the matter at this time.
As of press time, the signed intergovernmental agreement that all three entities — Norwood Sanitation District, the Norwood Water Commission and the Town of Norwood — are looking for to help settle some of their concerns has not been located. Though it apparently exists at the state level, it’s missing there too. A signed copy is needed for the the three boards to move forward.
