The former mayor of Palmer Lake, Colorado, Glant Havenar, resigned after private text messages were leaked and added to a lawsuit over a controversial Buc-ee’s annexation project. The texts, shared by her former friend Darcy Schoening, appear to admit that Havenar created a fake Nextdoor account to defend her position, previewed board votes before meetings, and insulted residents by calling them “terrorists” and “losers”.
Schoening, now a resident of Monument, says she released the messages because Havenar “was not being an honest mayor” and stopped being her political ally. She alleges Havenar “asked me to go after everybody” and that beneath her public persona, she “hated everybody”.
Integrity Matters, the group behind the lawsuit, has included the texts in a suit alleging violations of Colorado’s open meetings law by Havenar and other town officials. Their legal counsel, Kat Gayle, says the conversations show pre-meeting vote coordination and disparaging remarks toward constituents—evidence that opponents called “proof” rather than suspicion.
In response, Havenar submitted a resignation letter thanking the community for 12 years of service and urging continued support for the town board. She declined interview requests from KKTV and KRDO, but in an exclusive with KRDO, she described enduring months of harassment, threats, and even vandalism of her car, citing safety concerns and recall pressures as her reasons for stepping down, not the texts themselves.
Her full KRDO interview reveals she believes her privacy was violated when Schoening shared the messages publicly. Havenar called them private exchanges with a friend reacting to harassment and refused to confirm authorship, saying, “I’m done. I feel really at peace with this.
Trustees will meet on June 12 to plan the next mayoral appointment. Meanwhile, Integrity Matters says the lawsuit will be updated to include her resignation.