To the Editor:

I appreciate the recent letters by NCTs’ (Rick) Hemming (2/11), citizen Rose (2/13), and Dr. Kinder (2/14) in support of their good friend, associate, and advocate (Moffat County) Commissioner (Marianna) Raftopoulos.

Hemming, Kinder and Rose have potential conflicts of interest because they indirectly receive county money in the course of business. Sadly, none of their letters can help taxpayers understand the (alleged) illegal borrowing that funded the NCT contract.

Historically, taxpayers were misled by official press releases into believing the county purchased “tangible” fiber optic lines and underground conduits from NCT. False. The contract provides unspecified services like “prepaid phone card” on a million dollar scale without periodic taxpayer review or deliberation.

The BOCC has the power under Colorado Revised Statute (CRS) 30-11-104 to Lease-Purchase a jail using Certificates of Participation (COP). A COP is the Lease-Purchase agreement. The law says land, buildings, or equipment may be Lease-Purchased, nothing more.

The Uniform Commercial Code CRS 4-9-102 controls security/collateral on loans. Subsection 42 describes qualifying items but it does not permit a prepaid phone card or anything resembling a non-transferable communication services contract such as the NCT prepaid account. On the contrary, the statute prohibits using “… accounts” as loan security.

The BOCC is obligated to correct the (alleged) illegal funding scheme and make a $1.2 million transfer back to the PSC/Jail accounts for the crushing debt service of legitimate “brick and mortar” capital improvements. Other issues exist.

I urge everyone to review the official statutes on the ‘Net at http://www.michie.com/colorado.html

Jeff Taylor

Former resident and political activist

Palm Desert CA