Fire 12 recall advances

Residents call out commissioners for stalling

Matt Baide | Apr 13, 20230

The state Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Monday that the recall petitions against all three commissioners of Mason County Fire District 12 , which covers Matlock, can move forward.

According to state Supreme Court documents, the court concluded that all of the recall charges found by Mason County Superior Court Judge Monty Cobb were factually and legally sufficient to proceed, were upheld and allowed to move forward. The document also stated the charges the Superior Court found were insufficient to move forward were reaffirmed. The document was signed by Chief Justice Steven C. Gonzalez.

“I am relieved, and pleased that the Supreme Court saw the merits in the sufficiency of the allegations against each commissioner,” Kristin Masteller told the Journal in an email. “Besides waiting years for election cycles, this recall process is the public’s only real recourse for reclaiming stewardship over public agencies that are being misused and mismanaged. It’s a very high threshold to meet and that’s intentional, but nonetheless when it is reached, it’s important that the public can exercise their right to recall. We are pleased that we can now move forward with our signature gathering.”

Fire 12 commissioners Albert Wilder, John Pais and Brian Jutson filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court on Nov. 17 after Cobb ruled in Superior Court the factual and legal sufficiency of some of the recall charges were allowed to proceed. The Supreme Court consolidated those appeals Nov. 30, and the recall petitioners, Matlock-area residents Masteller and Amanda Gonzales, were granted a motion to accelerate review Dec. 22. After three months of filing briefs and responses, the final verdict allowed the recall petitions to move forward.

The matter will be the topic of a community meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Matlock Grange.

“We intend to gather the required number of signatures within the next three weeks and have them turned in before the end of the month to the county Auditor’s Office,” Masteller wrote. “If we meet all of the requirements, this issue should be placed on the August special election ballot for the voters to decide if they want to change and their elected leadership for their fire protection district.”

In Cobb’s ruling at the Nov. 2 recall petition hearing in Mason County Superior Court, he spoke to each charge against each commissioner. For Pais, nine charges were determined to be factually and legally sufficient grounds for recall. Juston had seven charges from the recall petition used as grounds for a recall and Wilder had 11 charges that were used as grounds for recall.

Cobb referenced each commissioner’s time in office as part of determining whether they were sufficient for the recall. Pais has been in office since 2014, Wilder since 2018 and Jutson since 2020.

The results of the internal investigation were not released at the special meeting April 6. The fire commissioners had an executive session for an hour, and no action was taken by the commissioners.

“We were talking to our attorney and there’s a few more items we need to get to our attorney and then we can wrap up this investigation and get it out to the community,” Wilder told community members after coming out of executive session. “That’s where we’re at.”

Wilder said the investigation report will be made public, but did not say when that would be. Masteller said not many community members “are putting any real stock or validity” into the internal investigation findings.

“When you have an internal investigation and the people being investigated are not placed on administrative leave and they are the ones that are driving the investigation and responding to the investigator’s questions and requests for information, then it’s hard to lend any real credibility to the process or the report itself,” Masteller wrote. “It was a biased, taxpayer-funded stall tactic. I personally don’t have any interest in reading it. It has zero effect on what’s about to happen through our elections process.”