Durango City Council approved a resolution reprimanding Councilor Olivier Bosmans on Tuesday over “unbecoming behavior” by Bosmans at a November City Council meeting.
City Council voted 4-0 to approve the resolution.
During council discussion, Bosmans doubled down on his stance that the reprimand is an attack against him by City Council.
On Tuesday, he insisted he followed an appropriate process for raising concern about the “personnel matter,” which he said is related to funding for a two-year pilot Leasing for Locals subsidized rental program that began accepting applications in October.
He said the program, which was initially funded in 2023 by about $775,000 of $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding earmarked for housing initiatives, never came before City Council for approval.
At the November City Council meeting in question, Bosmans requested first an executive session and then a special meeting to share his concerns with City Council about a “personnel matter.”
Other councilors felt they were put on the spot.
According to the resolution, they were in a position in which they could either approve Bosmans’ request for a meeting without knowing anything more about it, or they could reject the request at risk of giving the appearance they are unwilling to investigate a matter involving appointed city officials and effectively undermining public trust.
Councilor Gilda Yazzie, who first requested the resolution, said in December that Bosmans’ abrupt request for a special meeting implied “something awful” had occurred with city staff or the city manager, and was ultimately unwarranted and manipulative of other councilors.
“This new business has serious red flags,” Bosmans said on Tuesday. “How can the city commit ($775,000) to a two-year pilot program without it ever being presented to council or our community?”
City Council approved $5.2 million for housing projects in March 2023. Specifically, City Council gave its blessing to designate $2 million in state and federal funding, including ARPA funds, and $3.2 million from the city’s opportunity reserve account for housing projects.
In October 2022, Durango Housing Innovation Manager Eva Henson teased a new rental subsidy program during a council discussion about the 2023 budget.
At that time, Durango Chief Financial Officer Devon Schmidt – then a budget and strategic officer for the city – recommended to council an $800,000 budget allocation to the Housing Innovation Division.
Henson said she wanted to devote between $500,000 to $700,000 toward public-private partnerships for increasing the city’s housing stock and use the remaining funds for the new rental subsidy program that was at that time in the conceptual stage.
Bosmans said on Tuesday the city is not being transparent and City Council has not performed proper financial oversight. He suggested the city might have violated its charter or acted illegally by not getting council approval explicitly for funding the Leasing for Locals program.
When asked in a Dec. 2 interview with The Durango Herald what conditions should necessitate specific projects to receive council approval, Bosmans said he doesn’t have a specific dollar amount in mind.
“For me, it’s about consistency,” he said.
He said the Leasing for Locals program, although currently in a two-year pilot phase, could potentially be extended to a longer time period. With that, the city would have to spend more funding it.
Henson said in October that if the rental subsidy program were extended past its pilot phase, a new funding source would have to be found.
“It’s not so much the dollar amount. It’s consistency,” Bosmans said in December. “The council says we believe it’s $100,000. OK. And then we apply that process to everything under $100,000. That’s a transparent process and consistent.”
The resolution to reprimand Bosmans also calls for a formal apology from City Council to City Manager José Madrigal and his staff. Bosmans said the apology should be directed to the public, adding the resolution was a “charade” wasting taxpayer dollars and city time.
City Attorney Mark Morgan advised Bosmans against voting one way or the other on the resolution to reprimand him, citing Roberts’ Rules of Order.
Bosmans did not cast a vote, but said if he were to, he’d probably vote “yes” because of how ridiculous the resolution was.
Other councilors did not respond to Bosmans’ comments, except Mayor Melissa Youssef said the resolution speaks for itself.
Bosmans’ concerns with the Leasing for Locals program is not the only contention between him, the rest of council and city staff members.
At the Dec. 19 City Council meeting, councilors voted to remove Bosmans from an executive session regarding a lawsuit between the city and Durango resident John Simpson because of communications about internal city and council business between Bosmans and Simpson.
City Council was scheduled to vote on Tuesday on whether to approve a joint stipulation of dismissal of Simpson’s lawsuit.
However, the agenda item was dropped and not considered by the council.
cburney@durangoherald.com
