Phone calls raise fairness questions

During the course of a performance audit into Weld County commissioners, the man responsible for ensuring that audit be impartial had more than 150 phone calls with Commissioner Sean Conway, raising questions about the fairness of the audit process.

The calls during that span were between Conway and Weld County Councilman Mike Grillos, who had regular contact with the auditor hired to look into the performance of county commissioners and Conway’s niece, Weld County Clerk Carly Koppes.

Weld County commissioners say they’re disturbed by the number and timing of calls, and two county council members plan to call for Grillos’ resignation Monday.

“I don’t know how it could be more inappropriate,” Commissioner Mike Freeman said. “You’re talking about the guy that’s supposed to be in charge of the audit. It appears to me they were manipulating the audit from Day 1, or attempting to.”

Grillos initially denied having contact with commissioners during the audit.

“None whatsoever,” Grillos said. “We kept an arms’ length distance with commissioners and auditors during the audits.”

After being told The Tribune had phone records showing the calls, Grillos said he and Conway are friends. He admitted the number of calls could look bad to the public.

Conway said the calls had nothing to do with the audit, and he and Grillos are friends who talk about fishing and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County.

Phone records don’t show what topics the pair discussed, but the calls picked up dramatically after Jan. 16, when Grillos became the point person for the $50,000 audit.