A move is underway to eliminate the position of county public trustee across Colorado, including the one here in Mesa County.

The ten trustees resigned Tuesday after charges were made they mismanaged their offices and used public money to pay personal expenses.

Republican Representative Ray Scott says there have been problems with the states public trustees and their questionable spending for some time now.

He says the governor could’ve put a stop to it earlier.

"The governor’s office chose not to accept that as being a problem and allowed those to stay in office, so today we now have a new problem," Scott said.

Questionable spending reports among the appointed trustees have lead to each of them stepping down as the independent overseers of the state's foreclosure process.

Governor John Hickenlooper has accepted their resignations.

“We all have to stand for good government,” Gov. Hickenlooper said. “That means maintaining the public's trust and whenever possible avoiding even the appearance of any impropriety.”

The resignations are effective in 30 days, and Gov. Hickenlooper is expected to name replacements within 45 days.

Rep. Scott says that's too soon.

"I’m going to ask the governor to just wait until January,” Scott said. “I don't see any reason for him to have to appoint anybody right now. We can clean this problem up in January."

Public trustee's only exist in Colorado’s ten biggest counties.

"It’s a role that the other 54 counties in Colorado, the treasurer of that county is the one that actually facilitates those rules and the information that’s needed for a foreclosure," Scott said.

The republican is pushing a bill to eliminate public trustees entirely.

Rep. Scott says, "it’s the kind of a bill that's just good public policy. It saves counties up to two million dollars a year. That money could be used for something much more wise."

But the bill didn't get the support Scott had hoped.
"The governor’s office did not like the bill and we had to negotiate some kind of bipartisan effort," Scott said.

What they ended up with was a bill allowing state audits and reviews of each public trustee office.

"That was as far as the bill was allowed to go but we did get that passed and the governor did sign it," Scott said. "I do intend to run legislation next year."

The governor's office will begin accepting applications for new public trustees through the office of boards and commissions.

Mesa County trustee, Paul Brown is one of those who stepped down.

He declined to comment on why but did say he'll be re-applying for the position.