The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners believe Open Space and Trails could have handled its lease recommendation process for the Glassier Open Space properties better, but vehemently denied any accusations of racism, nepotism or corruption within OST.
“This process just really missed some i’s and t’s for me,” Board Chair Kelly McNicholas Kury said during Wednesday’s BOCC meeting. “We just need to be better about it.”
Ultimately, the BOCC authorized OST’s lease recommendation with Marigold Livestock Co. for the Glassier Open Space properties in question. McNicholas Kury was the only commissioner to vote against OST’s lease recommendation.
“If you have a beef with open space and you have a beef with the process or anything with the community, I think you have an obligation as a citizen to share it,” Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman said at the meeting Wednesday. “We can’t assume that there is a silent majority of unhappy people out there who think that we’re all corrupt. I won’t stand for that, I don’t want to hear it and I certainly don’t believe it.”
The Glassier Open Space was acquired as two separate properties in 2013 and 2014. A management plan for the land was formally adopted in December 2020. According to a BOCC memo, the two OST properties known as Red Ridge Ranch and Glassier Ranch were publicly advertised in the Aspen Daily News, via social media outlets and direct email to agriculture producers. Seven applications were received for the properties on Jan. 15, and Marigold Livestock Co. was later determined to be the successful candidate for both parcels of land.
Marigold Livestock Co. proposed a five-year lease for the properties — while planning to raise sheep, meat, chickens and egg-laying hens — at a rate of $20 an acre.
“The driving goal of Marigold Livestock is to improve soils and sequester carbon while additionally providing food for the Roaring Fork Valley,” Marigold Livestock Co. owner Alyssa Barsanti said during the meeting Wednesday. “I’m excited to steward this piece of land and take great care and attention in irrigating and building healthy soils, and ultimately produce food for the valley.”
According to its mission statement, Pitkin County OST acquires, preserves, maintains and manages open space properties largely for recreational, wildlife, agricultural, scenic and access purposes. Established in 1990 after the passage of a Pitkin County property tax, OST has since conserved more than 20,000 acres.
The agricultural lease bid process for OST property, like the Glassier Open Space, models after Pitkin County’s procurement code with a few exceptions — namely, its appeal process.
“I know this particular lease award has been somewhat troubled and I personally look at that as a symptom that we’ve succeeded in encouraging people to think of agriculture as a profession,” said Dale Will, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails acquisition and specials projects director. “We now have more people interested in land than we have land available.”
When Rocking TT Bar’s owner Jose Miranda disputed the decision to award Marigold Livestock Co. both of the Glassier leases, the appeal process first went to Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock, who upheld OST’s recommendation. Following Peacock’s decision, Rocking TT Bar’s appeal went to the county’s hearing officer Sarah Oates, who also found no reason to overturn the open space and trails selection committee’s original decision.
At Wednesday’s public hearing, several people spoke up for and against OST’s lease recommendations for the Glassier properties.
Miranda’s attorney, David McConaughy with Garfield & Hecht, said during public comment the county’s hearing officer acknowledged some irregularities in OST’s selection process.
“Specifically, that references for Mr. Miranda had not been checked, but they were scored anyway as if they had,” McConaughy said. “I would just submit that the process here has been tainted, and … it’s within your discretion to start over and do it right.”
Despite not calling any of Miranda’s references, Rocking TT Bar still somehow earned a 3.33 out of 5 and 3.67 out of 5 in the scoring category for both of its proposals. Marigold Livestock Co., was the only proposer to receive a perfect 5 out of 5 scores for both of its proposal’s references.
The five criteria that proposals were evaluated against included: description of operations (65%), agricultural background (15%), ability to succeed (5%), references (5%) and lease rate (10%).
In total, Marigold Livestock Co. received a 91.33 and a 91 out of 100 on its proposals for each lease, while Rocking TT Bar earned an 82.67 and 84.33 out of 100 on its respective scorecards.
Alec Parker, who also submitted a proposal through Hook Spur Cattle Company for one of the Glassier Open Space properties, called the process “completely flawed.”
“I didn’t think there would be any favoritism, but then the more I looked into it, I realized that’s the only outcome that could’ve happened,” Parker said. “The selection committee themselves, in my opinion, don’t have enough agricultural experience to understand what it takes to run a property that size.”
However, there were also several commenters who commended OST for its work over the years and looked forward to seeing Marigold Livestock Co. work on the Glassier Open Space properties.
“I don’t see any cronyism or racism or any of the things that are being accused of these organizations,” said Susan Brady. “It’s just quite amazing what we’ve done in this valley and how the rest of the country even is looking at what we’re doing in this valley in terms of food security, regeneration of the soils, carbon sequestration. All of it — it’s just amazing.”
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