A February 16 article in the Columbine Courier reported that McCasky had encouraged his fellow county commissioners to increase JEC funding from $380,000 to $400,000 even while he was under consideration for the economic-council position. "It appears as though McCasky abused his position as county commissioner for private gain, either gaining increased consideration of his candidacy for the position at the JEC or an increased budget for the organization he would work for in the future, or both," said Luis Toro, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, when his group filed a complaint against McCasky with the state ethics commission last week. McCasky dismisses any suggestion that his latest vote had anything to do with a possible job offer. "Over the years, I have voted seven times as county commissioner to fund the Jefferson Economic Council," he responds. "I have run campaigns where I've been very clear that I believe that the Jefferson Parkway is critical to the economic condition of the county. I have never been bashful about that."
The plan hit another bump, at a nearly four-hour public meeting on February 24, the Golden City Council voted to rebuff Jefferson County's initial offer, which would have committed $1.5 million to plan for a new road interchange. Instead, Golden's negotiators have been instructed go back to the table with a lengthy list of demands, including one that would require a solid agreement to fully fund key improvements to intersections and roads in the city, and another insisting that any contract with a future toll-road concessionaire exclude what critics have dubbed "non-compete agreements" — i.e. ,clauses that makes it cost-prohibitive for governments to improve local roads in a manner that might cut into a toll road's bottom line. Golden's attorneys are already at work on legal filings in case such a deal can't be reached and the JPPHA continues to move forward with the road.
mark manger
Golden mayor Jacob Smith wants to get a good deal for his city.
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"Our ability to keep obstructing and maybe killing the Jefferson Parkway, for us to give that up, we've got to get a lot in exchange," Smith says. "So to actually get the projects built that we need for our town is really important."
Golden has also sent its own letter to Interior Secretary Salazar, asking for a delay in the sale of the Rocky Flats land. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson, staff are working to finalize the legal documents necessary for the property sale, though they do not yet have a projected closing date.
JPPHA director Bill Ray doesn't see any of Golden's recent actions as an insurmountable roadblock to the parkway. "Golden's stated position is actually encouraging, because instead of saying they're just simply going to oppose it, they've put on the table their willingness to sit down and begin negotiations," he says. "Understanding that there is still significant opposition, the result still holds the possibility for us to settle this thing amicably."
Golden City Councilman Bob Vermeulen says he thinks that Jefferson County officials "have done a really good job in the past six to twelve months of dividing" the opposition. "And it doesn't surprise me that, with a little bit of effort and the backing of our communities, that willingness to come back together as a coalition seems pretty likely right now."
Or, as Rob Medina, president of Citizens Involved in the Northwest Quadrant, sums it up: "If this toll road is going to get built, they're going to have to pay the toll."
