December 09, 2015 11:28 AM UTC

Adams County Assessor Draws Ethics Complaint

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’re hearing word of fresh controversy in Adams County, this time involving the county’s elected Assessor Patsy Melonakis (R)–spouse of longtime local judge Chris Melonakis. The story as we understand it is that Patsy Melonakis is refusing a routine annual internal audit of her office–a normal and necessary exercise that all other offices of Adams County government have already either completed or scheduled.

Obviously, this invites big questions about her transparency. But even more curious is that GOP Adams County Commissioner Erik Hansen is reportedly running cover for her as questions grow about the situation. In particular, Adams County Commissioners Eva Henry and Chaz Tedesco are questioning Melonakis’ decision to allocate over $150,000 of her budget to remodel her own office:

“Every other county office has agreed we need transparency. Some are headed up by Democrats, some Republicans, but all of these offices are here to serve the public. The County Assessor not allowing an internal audit of the assessor’s office is troubling, especially at a time when she wants to spend tax payer dollars on a cosmetic remodel of their office,” says Adams County Commissioner Eva Henry.

Tedesco similarly questions her motivations:

“Elected officials in other Adams County offices have allowed for an annual audit with the County Commissioners as part of the process. The Assessor’s office has not. Why? This doesn’t make sense.”

Commissioners reportedly became wary of Patsy Melonakis’ judgment when she told them she was “learning on the job” during a public meeting.

By all accounts the budget request to remodel Melonakis’ office is superfluous, but the failure to even attempt to justify could be considered incompetent, arrogant, or simply brazen. An ethics inquiry was filed 3 weeks ago. We don’t have the latest word on the status of that complaint, but we expect to hear something more in the near future.

In the meantime, it looks like Adams County’s legendary bad local politics press has another chapter yet to be written.