La Plata County commissioners say the Code Rights Project, a citizen group examining the county’s planning, building and code enforcement processes, has a hidden agenda.
The group’s true objective appears to be removing County Attorney Sheryl Rogers rather than pursuing comprehensive land-use reform as the group publicly claims, commissioners said Wednesday during a public meeting called to respond to information disseminated by the Code Rights group.
At the start of the Code Rights project, the stated mission was “focused on evidence-based solutions, not blame.” The solution, at least in large part, is the removal of the county attorney, says Jack Turner, face of the organization.
This is not hidden.
“The problem is Sheryl Rogers,” Turner said. He followed up in a written statement: “We absolutely want her to retire and be replaced by a county attorney who stays in her lane.”
The Code Rights Project mailed advertisements to 29,000 La Plata County residents and purchased a full-page ad in The Durango Herald earlier this month.
The mailer criticized the expansion of the county’s legal department and cited spending on legal personnel and services as evidence of what the group called an overreaching department.
Wednesday’s special meeting was called so commissioners could approve a response letter addressed to Turner, the group’s paid public representative and only publicly identified member.
Code Rights members have declined to identify themselves for fear of retribution from the county, according to Turner and the group’s website. Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said she has received only one complaint of retribution during her six years in office.
During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners accused the group of misrepresenting budget figures and omitting context to support what they described as a “concealed objective” of removing Rogers rather than pursuing land-use reform.
The Code Right’s mailer said the county’s legal budget had grown to “nearly $2 million for 2025.” Commissioners said that is false, as the adopted 2025 budget is $1,879,704.
“I had to giggle over that a little bit,” Turner said.
In their letter, commissioners said the legal department accounts for about 1.2% of the county’s total budget, comparable to similarly sized counties such as Eagle and Garfield.
Commissioners also wrote that none of the materials submitted by the group showed evidence of illegal or unethical conduct by county officials or staff.
The mailer also highlighted a $465,000 figure, described as the combined compensation of Rogers and her husband, the county finance director.
The figure combines salaries, benefits and employer-paid taxes without distinguishing between the two employees or separating compensation categories.
It is misleading, commissioners said.
“When salary alone is considered, these positions fall well within appropriate ranges for comparable Colorado jurisdictions,” the letter to Turner said.
In an interview with the Herald, Turner said the purpose of combining the two salaries into one figure was to demonstrate a “conflict of interest.” When asked to explain the connection between one couple’s total annual compensation and “conflict of interest,” Turner did not give a direct answer.
He conceded that combining the total compensation of two individual county employees may have been a mistake in hindsight, and could be thought of as “tacky” or a “weak point.”
But the whole point of including the combined compensation was to show the public how much money is leaving the county and going to one household.
Considering skyrocketing living-costs in the midst of an affordability crisis, Turner said, “I don’t think the average person feels that’s fair.”
The mailer also referenced a $243,000 figure described as “the amount paid to the county attorney to rent her personal property,” without additional context. Commissioners disputed the characterization. The county rented office space from Rogers for her to use while working for the county until a different arrangement was found.
Commissioners said the reference was “outdated and misleading.” County records show the lease agreement ended in February 2017 and was part of the county’s transition to an in-house legal department.
Before joining the county full time, Rogers operated a private law office. Commissioners said the county rented office space from her temporarily because it lacked room in county facilities
Commissioners also disputed the mailer’s claim that the county had spent more than $827,000 on outside attorneys, “often in legal action against local business.”
“Between 2020 and 2025, La Plata County initiated legal action against a local business only once,” the letter states, adding that the case stemmed from a resident’s complaint involving alleged land-use violations. Commissioners said describing such actions as occurring “often” distorted the public record.
While Code Rights has no regrets about the mailer, in hindsight, the information included could have been worded a differently, Turner said.
“(However) it has a certain level of shock value, which is exactly what we’re trying to do,” he said.
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