Letters To The Editor

To the Citizens of Roosevelt County:

This is in response to Bill Juve’s Letter to The Editor on June 24, 2021. In that letter, Mr. Juve accused me of protecting the commissioners. First, it is not my duty to protect the commissioners. The commissioners can protect themselves. Second, I don’t know exactly what Mr. Juve believed I said or did to protect the commissioners? Please let me know.

I normally avoid responding to bad press as I don’t have enough time and ink. I would rather devote my time to the job I was appointed to do. However, I decided to respond to Mr. Juve’s letter to clarify my position and silence on this issue.

One of the main functions of the Roosevelt County Attorney’s Office is to provide legal representation to Roosevelt County and its departments. Our office does not get involved in how the commissioners vote or how they decide to spend taxpayers’ money. Those are duties the Roosevelt County Commissioners were elected to do. My understanding is that Mr. Juve disagrees with how the commissioners decided to spend some of the federal COVID relief money. This is not the first time a taxpayer disagreed on how politicians spend their money. It won’t be the last.

I wholeheartedly believe in The Bill of Rights, including Mr. Juve’s First Amendment Right to voice his concerns on how they spend the relief funds. However, the matter Mr. Juve complains about was voted on and the money has already been spent. I suggest Mr. Juve now spend his time giving input to Roosevelt County on how the other 99 percent of the COVID relief money should be spent rather than wasting his time on a vote that took place months ago.

Frank A. Piocos Roosevelt County Attorney