They Wanted It in Writing…

Happy Friday!

Apologies for not writing anything yesterday. The real job (photography) got in the way and I got pretty busy and did not get a chance to type up anything to share.

So we do it today!

It was a few weeks ago that commissioner Holly Davis tried to fire county attorney Denise Lyn. During the back and forth, it was mentioned that commissioners wanted to see more in writing from Lyn. Lyn cautioned them about that because once it is in writing from the county attorney, it is public record for the most part. They may not like what comes with that.

Today is that example.

Here is an email sent from Lyn to Davis on May 15, 2026. This is 3 days after Davis brought the motion to rescind the Betz Farm contract termination. Davis threw Lyn under the bus for supposedly not helping her through the agenda process and helping her get a proper agenda item, as the one Davis did was not legal.

But... they did it anyway despite Lyn telling them it was "improper".

Lyn then fires off an email to Davis outlining all that she did during that period of time to work on that agenda item.

As you can see... Davis spoke with Lyn 3 times on the phone before the May 12th meeting as well as at her briefing. That is 4 separate conversations that took place BEFORE the meeting... 3 of which were after Davis tried to place it on the agenda.

In other words, Lyn was there helping Davis, but Davis did not listen... and Lyn provided that documentation in the form of a call log.

Apparently Davis forgot about those conversation and just wanted to blame Lyn for everything.

However, a few things stand out about this email.

1) Lyn tells her the issues with her agenda item and rescinding a previous vote. Davis again did not listen and then blamed Lyn at the May 12th meeting for not guiding her. Apparently that was not true as this call was 4 days before the meeting.

2) Davis was apparently working with Bravo on this agenda item. It does not say whether that was Dicks himself... or Batsel... but she appears to have been working with someone.

This is Lyn telling Davis to try to get some concessions from Bravo. This would appear to suggest that Lyn knew Davis was speaking with someone from Bravo.

Also, Bravo/Batsel knew that this item was on the agenda BEFORE the agenda went public around 5pm on May 5th. He sent an email to commissioners around 2pm on the 5th with this request.

The agenda item was a motion to rescind. He knew it was coming when he sent this email to the county when he wrote it... but the agenda was not public yet for him to look... so someone told him it was coming and it was Davis' agenda item. My guess is Davis told them she was putting it on the agenda.

3) Commissioner Jeff Kinnard apparently was involved behind the scenes as well. Batsel told Lyn that they wanted Kinnard to bring the agenda item on the 12th.

That presumably means they spoke with Kinnard. While it is possible they had not spoken to him and would approach him separately, I do not believe they would throw a dart and hope he would bring it. That is a pretty big gamble if they did not know for sure.

A second call happened regarding Kinnard as well, so that solidifies my opinion.. They were likely speaking with Kinnard behind the scenes as well.

Remember also.... Kinnard was the one that brought the April 2024 addendum to the board when he was sent it by Clark Stillwell... after Lyn told Stillwell the county could not agree to those terms. In an email to James Dicks, our realtor, Kevin Cunningham, told him that Kinnard was bringing it to the board. And he pushed pretty hard for it at that meeting.

Kinnard has had other emails stating that he would speak with the buyer (Dicks) regarding other issues. So he has been involved in this in some capacity all along... and apparently Bravo approached the idea of having him bring the agenda item to rescind the termination, but apparently Lyn would not allow it.

4) This raises questions regarding their public records disclosures. I did a records request for all calls between Kinnard/Davis and Bravo representatives Dicks and Batsel. I was given the following.

If either Davis or Kinnard had any conversations with Batsel/Dicks around these May dates, they did not disclose those calls. April 15th was the meeting where the commissioners cancelled the contract.

I would be willing to bet just about anything that Davis continued to have conversations with them.. Kinnard might have been talked about but maybe they never reached out.

But these call summaries raise the question if they were talking to Bravo behind the scenes.

5) Apparently, Davis figured it out on her own, according to Lyn's summary of the briefing with Davis.

I get using AI and tools like ChatGPT for research and things like that... I use it a lot myself... but to tell the county attorney whose job it is to handle these issues, that you figured it out after consulting ChatGPT... I am not sure what to say to that.

Again, Lyn disagreed with Davis regarding the legality of the agenda item. Davis took the side of Bravo and apparently what she learned on ChatGPT... and did it anyway.

Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore, but for Davis to throw Lyn under the bus like she did... when she did not heed her advice is mindboggling.

But... I bet none of them ask Lyn to put things into writing any longer. It may come back to haunt them.