2/18/2025
To all county employees and the Ouray County community,
County Manager Connie Hunt tendered her resignation to the Board of County Commissioners on February 11, 2025, and it was accepted by the BOCC on February 18, 2025. County Manager Hunt's resignation will be effective at the close of business March 31, 2025.
Please continue working with Connie Hunt normally through the remainder of her time. The BOCC and staff are seeking bids for either an interim County Manager or a consultant to assist Deputy County Manager Rhoades while a search for a permanent County Manager is conducted. The BOCC appreciates Deputy County Manager Rhoades for stepping in to assist during the transition period. Ensuring a smooth and orderly transition is a top priority, and no other organizational changes are planned during this time.
The BOCC is unanimous and united in issuing this assurance to all county employees that there is no restructuring agenda that would cause any unwarranted involuntary separations from county employment. Ouray County employees are exceptional public servants and a well-trained workforce. In the interim period, please carry-on normal work, and when necessary seek counsel from the interim County Manager and/or County Attorneys proactively as challenges arise. The interim period will be "Business as Usual" with Ouray County government functioning reliably and securely for its citizens and employees.
Please join the Ouray County Board of County Commissioners in expressing a heartfelt THANK YOU to Ouray County Manager Connie Hunt for her 23 years of service to Ouray County, and Ouray County's citizens and visitors.
Connie Hunt's special talents for finance, budgeting, grant writing, policy administration, long-range planning, supervision of multiple county departments, and fulfilling state and federal mandates are appreciated and will be sorely missed. Connie is a one-of-a-kind, once-in-a generation manager who has served Ouray County with a lot of heart and has worn many hats, mostly all at once. She brought a background in banking and served over 30 years in county government administration in addition to completing her Master's Degree in Public Administration and being awarded Colorado's County Manager of the Year by her peers in 2019.
Connie's impressive and broad achievements during her tenure are too numerous to list, but have no doubt improved Ouray County's collective public health, safety, welfare, cultural and historical heritage, environment, facilities and infrastructure. Just to name a few:
• Ouray County Courthouse Restoration
• Ouray County Fairgrounds Grandstands Replacement
• Corbett Creek Box Culvert Bridge resiliency project, congressionally directed spending, ACOE and FEMA partnerships
• Rigorous, repeatable, institutionalized process and methodology for Cost Allocations, Classification and Compensation studies, and annual Budget development and adoption
• Budget, finance, procurement, and grant management
• Pandemic response during COVID-19
• Strategic partnerships with regional organizations, and state and federal entities
As always, commissioners welcome input and feedback from county employees and the public.
Jake Niece - Chair
Michelle Nauer - Vice-Chair
Lynn Padgett - Commission Member
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