At the study session on April 16, 2024, the Mayor and City Council started diving into the charter changes proposed by the committee. The presentation summarizing these changes can be found here, and the actual charter with red-lined changes can be found here.

Keep in mind that any changes to the Charter must go to a vote of the Broomfield Voters, and each ballot item must focus on a single subject. So, this process may extend over the next few years.

Here are some topics the council will not discuss because all agree, these will just be put on the ballot for a vote of the people:

• The Charter is the definitive governing document

• Remove the preamble and references to the 1974 Broomfield Charter

• "Municipal election" is changed to "coordinated election" because we are now a county and Broomfield now follows Title 1 for elections

• The mayor and the city manager sets the agenda

• An elected official who misses 50% or more of the required meetings will automatically vacate their seat

• Council members can hold no other public office

• Job descriptions will be added and referenced by the charter

• Council will adopt an ethics code

• Study Sessions can be one of the two required monthly meetings

• Removed requirement to take a roll call vote since they now have the Agendalink system, which records votes

• Add the word "personal" on the prohibition of a voting councilmember who has an "interest" in vote

• Rezoning a specific property can be done by resolution and not an ordinance

• Emergency ordinances go into effect immediately not after 8 days

• Publications will be posted on the website and only in the newspaper if needed

• Modified deadlines on initiative/referendums to match State of Colorado statutes

• Council sets the manager's salary and compensation

• City Manager can consolidate and merge departments without consent of Council

• Remove 8.8 as it is covered in 8.3

• Manager can appoint an internal auditor

• Personnel Merit System (PMS) outdated language is removed

• PMS is removed from Charter but remains in Municipal Code

• PMS excludes both Department Heads and Deputies

• City Attorney may hire their own staff

• Presiding Judge shall be a department head and would supervise the staff

• Removal of Judge will follow judicial code of conduct

• Boards and Commissions members can be removed at the pleasure of council

• Manager must collaborate with council on recommended budget

• Clean up language in Chapters 13, 14, 17, and 18

• IGA's can be approved by a simple majority council vote

• Delete Chapters 19 and 20 as they are outdated

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were a few proposed changes that the Council wanted more of a discussion over, they are as follows and they began discussing the following:

Reduce the City Council size from 5 Wards down to 3 Wards.

Councilmember (CM) Marsh-Holschen wants to change the number of Wards from 5 to 3, and reduce the number of City Councilmembers from 10 to 6.

This would decrease your representation which benefits their government power and reduces your voice and representation. This is not just about centralizing their power, this is also about moving to full-time, full-paid councilmembers, much like the City and County of Denver.

If the City Council desires to fundamentally change the structure of the city council, this should be discussed in a town hall BEFORE taking the issue to the ballot. If this discussion does not include you before that take it to a vote of the community. They still work for you, and are accountable to you, the taxpayer.

Changing the age to vote to 16 in local elections, proposed by Councilmember (CM) Ward:

Arguments for:

• Mayor Castriotta - young people are engaged and way ahead of the curve

• CM Ward - there is a vote 16 movement, young people want to be involved, they have rights in this community

• CM Marsh-Holschen - the same arguments being used today are the same as those not allowing blacks and women to vote

• CM Henkel - young people should have a vote because many of today's issues affect them

• CM Nguyen - Broomfield should lead the way in letting youth get involved

Arguments against:

• CM Cohen - would like to hear from youth

• CM Anderson - it's not their priority and doesn't see a lot of engagement from that portion of the community

• CM LIm - may be more important they sit on school board - don't see this as a priority

• CM Leslie - worked hard to get people to vote at 18, due to the war, but question the intellectual capacity of this age group

We need people to be engaged as issues brought forward at council meetings affect the community and it's well being. Do all 16-years-olds have the capacity to understand these issues, they don't yet have important experience to understand the consequences of council decisions. Is this good for the community or just for the appearance that Council is inclusive?

Revise Recall Procedures to add requirements and grounds for removal.

A long discussion ensued on this topic. CM Henkel and CM Cohen were both under recall in the last year, mainly because their constituents thought they weren't listening to their concerns. Was the recall reasonable?

Let's look at what the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, says about a your first amendment rights:

"Rights of Assembly and Petition: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It does not give a specific list of grievances and therefore, none should be added. Here is a list of some of the 27 grievances to the King of England written into the Declaration of Independence:

• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

Do any of these sound familiar, it is important to be able to redress your grievances, no matter what they are. If they unpopular, the elected officials will not be removed, if they are popular with the people, the elected officials will be removed. Do not let them take these individual rights from you, it will only lead to further tyranny.

The first meeting of the committee in the Council Chamber Conference Room. The agenda for the first meeting included and introduction of committee members, an election of a committee chair, discussion of possible meeting times, the open records law, and a brief synopsis of the home rule and the role of Broomfield's charter.

The Charter Review Committee immediately went to discussing what they called the "elephant in the room": Moving to a County Commissioner form of government. Some committee members questioned why this should be considered, and why the voter's should be asked to make a change to Commissioners.

To paraphrse Councilmembers Marsh-Holschen and Ward, they "don't have the time needed to really dig into issues and they are doing full-time work for part-time pay."

During the second meeting, it was decided that the Charter Review Committee will meet on the 1st and 3rd Mondays (12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.), and a public information meeting will be held on the 4th Wednesday of every month in the evening. In May, these meetings will be held on May 1st, May 15th, and May 24th for the public information meeting.

Geoff Wilson addressed the updating language in the charter to address legislative changes that have occurred since 2001. One of the key changes would be to add "standard 'municipal legislation' language to define this reserved power of the people. Committee members were encouraged to go through the charter and provide suggestions for changes to the charter at the next meeting.

The discussion then returned to the moving to County Commissioners.

Information was shared with the Committee regarding other municipalities in Colorado and how they are structured. Many different structures of the commissioner form of governance were proposed and discussed. Some seats could be elected by ward and some at-large. Some problems discussed were:

• At-large were strong politically-motivated wards can elect most or all of the seats

• Mayor’s term is not long enough to provide consistency, should be 4 years.

• Term limits would ensure government officials can't stay in office indefinitely

• A seven-member commissioner structure, then 3 could be elected at large, such as the mayor and an additional member and then the 5 wards could select their own

Suggestions from the Committee to address the complaint was to add a third councilmember in each ward and changing to a commissioner form of government. Councilmember Ward dismissed the idea out of hand, saying that "it would be hard to have a consensus" with the addition of more councilmembers.

Administrative Matters

Nancy Rodgers, city attorney, covered some administrative details such as printing a new ordinance by title only in the newspaper and providing a link in the electronic edition to the entire ordinance for review by the citizens. Current costs for recent years were from $10,000 to $24,000 depending on the number of pages.

Ms. Rodgers also said that recording the meetings could be done and the committee decided that it was a good idea for community transparency. The committee will also reach out to individuals who were directly involved in the original charter and have them discuss the reason it was structured with a city council and strong-manager form of government.

Charter General Changes

Charter Committee Member Cheryl Lovell said that she had shared the presentation prepared by staff with some of her community members. They asked what is the problem with the current structure. She said she would like the original conversation during the first meeting of the committee to be contextualized for the community. Cheryl also asked whether there was a reference as to what the city council members roles and responsibilities were. She said she had looked through several city council documents from other cities and thought maybe it would be a good idea to revisit this. Here is one such website discussing city council/commissioner roles and responsibilities.

The next topic discussed was the changes that Committee facilitator Geoff Wilson and Broomfield City and County Attorney Nancy Rodgers saw as a first step to bringing the charter up-to-date. The changes were shared as a redline review; this is NOT the final submission on changes to the charter. These are just suggested changes at this time, each one will need to be reviewed and voted on by the Charter Review Committee before being presented to the City Council and public. Several committee members then discussed some of the changes they would like to see discussed.

It is important to note that Charter Review Committee Chairman Sam Taylor said that proposed changes to the Broomfield City and County Charter would not be ready for a vote of the people until probably 2025. Nancy Rodgers said this could not come before the city council in 2023 as their current calendar is already full.

The Continued Discussion on the Form of Government Charter Provisions (including changes to Commissioners) was deferred to the next meeting on May 15. Committee members will review the redline document and will have comments at the next meeting on May 15th.

The meeting was held in the Health and Human Services Building at 100 Spader Way, Heritage Rooms 1 and 2. Minutes for the May 1, 2023 meeting were approved. This meeting was recorded. The City Council will be updated on the progress of the meetings on July 13th and the final report is tentatively scheduled for November 14th, although Chairman Sam Taylor said that if they are still working through the charter, the date can be pushed back.

There was a discussion on the roles and responsibilities of the council. Some believe the city council should be run like a board of directors, in that the staff would dive deeper into details than the city council. James Marsh-Holschen said that because we don’t have full-time commissioners, the city misses out on important discussions such as those for RTD and transportation and thus Broomfield is not prioritized for funding. Currently, by-law (Section 8.5, City Charter), the council is to go through the city manager and should not be discussing things directly with staff.

Two key questions are: (1) what are the roles of council, city manager, staff, and (2) what do we mean by policy? One discussion was maybe the city council should have a chief of staff. City Attorney Nancy Rodgers said this has been tried and it turns into factions on council and since they are staff would they report to the City Councilmember or the City Manager? A strong mayor was discussed and Austin Ward brought up the competence of council members. What if they elected a good politician but is not a very good manager with a strong mayor form of government.

Another thing to consider is the number of wards if the form of government changed. Wards are based on equal distribution of citizens. Need to answer if that would be all citizens, voting-age citizens, households? Would we change this from the current charter definition of voters.

The final discussion was on the format of the upcoming town hall on May 24, 2023. Most committee members would like to hear from the citizens. It was suggested that the presentation put forward by Nancy Rodgers and staff for committee talking points be shown first and then have the remainder of the meeting be question and answer from the audience. There was also a suggestion that the committee put out open-ended questions that could be discussed.

A few items we think are important to consider are the following:

• Broomfield is a unique city running a county in that we appoint a city clerk, we don’t have a sheriff, we don’t have a coroner. Should we continue to be unique or should we look like all other 63 counties. What we’ve done has seemed to work before this present city council.

• If it isn’t broke, why are we trying to fix it, and if it is broke what are the signs that it is broken?

• The City Manager, Jennifer Hoffman, has a lot of experience in running a government, what would be the cost to having commissioners come up to speed on every topic?

• Is the problem more that the council wants to get into the weeds on topics that city staff has experience with and was hired to do?

• The resolutions put together by staff include history of the resolution, if there is history, and lots of information that the city council can ponder. If the council would like more details, they have the opportunity during a council meeting to get clarification. Is this enough and where is it lacking?

• The committee would really like a document of roles and responsibilities for the city council. There are many good examples of this in other governments. Would you like to know what your councilmember’s responsibilities are to you and would you like to be able to have a matrix of objective council milestones to let you know how your city council member is doing. This could include something like # of meetings attended, # of trips taken. Can you think of another metric that may be important.

• There will be a large cost for commissioners, how do you feel about paying more in these inflationary times and skyrocketing property taxes?

Sam Taylor opened the town hall and reminded attendees that the committee is only a recommendation body and that the power still lies with the people who will vote on it, most likely in 2024. A recording of the meeting is now up on the website.

Nancy Rodgers gave a short presentation to the audience. Sam Taylor told the audience the committee wanted to hear from them. They would give each speaker 3 minutes for the first 20 remarks and then 2 minutes to each speaker after that. He reminded everyone they were being recorded and asked everyone to be respectful.

David Beacom was the first speaker and reminded the committee he still wanted to hear from the original founding members of the City and County of Broomfield. He then went on to explain that Broomfield is a unique city that runs a county. The city council is elected by the people and the mayor represents the population. We have no coroner, no sheriff, and the city clerk is appointed. Broomfield was to be a model for city governance by eliminating bureaucracy. He wants to see the language in the charter updated to reflect current times and would like to see the 10 city council members remain in that format. Broomfield is well-known for it’s volunteers and city council is a large part of that volunteerism but with a stipend.

Other speakers wanted to know what issues required the change to commissioners. What problems are we trying to solve and what are the short- and long-term fiscal impacts to the community. Many individuals thought Broomfield had a great charter and that the city councils have done a good job representing the people. Some would like to see less activism and don’t be political, just focus on what the city needs. Many people complemented the City Manager and her experience. One participant said that in 2021, 50% of the resolutions presented by city council were not part of their stated priorities and that spending has increased by 80% since 2017. In the 2021, the community survey said that 53% of the community did not want commissioners.

Some individuals are concerned with the growth of government and we that we need to be careful when changing legal documents. One individual liked having a city council elected every two years, because he can talk with them and get them up to speed on concerns such as the structure of HOAs, which are all very different in Broomfield. Many people preferred the 10 city council member structure and also pointed out that when you run you understand the sacrifice you are making. The city council process provides the best representation for the community. Some suggested that the stipend should be increased for city council, however, a resolution was passed in 2021 and the city council will now review compensation every two years.

Some believe that priorities are misplaced and the roads in need of repair are a sign of that. A couple of individuals said that commissioners are not an optimal form of government. They handle issues very broadly, whereas a city council/strong manager form of government can get into the details. City managers operate businesses and the city council is required to control the budget. The beauty of a city council is that they are elected from the people and sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something. Othere comments included the city council should focus on doing something about the roads, property crime and shoplifting, let us decide on our own trash companies and listen to the people.

Sam Taylor closed the meeting by thanking all of the attendees for their polite and respectful comments and for their observations.

A video recording of the meeting can be found HERE.

Meeting Minutes can be read HERE.

The meeting was called to order and the minutes approved from the previous meeting.

Nancy Rodgers pointed out that the Charter Review Committee may want to have the City Council revisit Resolution 2022-106 that created the Charter Review Committee to extend the period of performance.

Sam Taylor asked for the committee’s feedback on the town hall. Leonard Giuliano summarized his thoughts which can be read HERE. Most of the members of the committee thought that only one side of the issue was represented by the attendees and struggled with how to get more of the public engaged. Currently meetings are posted on the City and County of Broomfield Facebook page but maybe should be posted in B-in-the-Loop newsletter, or Broomfield Voice. Several of the members also commented that the attendees had misconceptions about the veto power of the mayor and that the committee has come to a conclusion already. A number of committee members reiterated that the council did not tell them what conclusion to come to about the Charter Review, especially Sections 4.1 and 4.2. They all agreed they would like more town halls maybe focused on specific sections of the charter.

The committee then discussed the form of government. It was suggested that maybe the committee should have an overview of The Strategic Plan, the offsite meetings where the 2022-2024 Community Goals were discussed, and the budget. It would be good to know what the governing body is supposed to be governing.

All agreed that they are no longer considering commissioners, just the size of the council and the number of wards. Some suggested that fewer councilmembers would be better because if only two members disagree, they are outnumbered by the rest of city councilmembers. However, we could argue that if there are only five councilmembers, than one councilmember could be outvoted. More detail can be found in the video link above.

The committee then moved onto discussions specifically about the Mayor and the Wards, Sections 4.1 and 4.2. They all agreed the mayor should be elected at large. Some committee members still liked the concept of two councilmembers per ward, others said fewer may be a better representation. One question was… Should the mayor/city council just deal with the basics of a Home Rule City such as water, sewer, roads, etc. or should they advocate for state and federal issues?

At the end of the meeting, Sam said he would like all committee members to be at the Charter Review Update for City Council, item 4e, on June 13, 2023. There will also be a special meeting on Tuesday, June 20th at 1 p.m., in the George DiCiero City and County Building, Council Chambers, which will be a presentation given by former members of the original charter that created the City and County of Broomfield.

A video recording of the meeting can be found HERE.

Meeting Minutes can be viewed HERE.

Interactive townhalls planned for July, August September

• Thursday, July 27th, from 6 to 8 p.m. in council chambers

• Wednesday, August 23rd, from 6 to 8 p.m. in council chambers

• Monday, September 18th, from 6 to 8 p.m. in council chambers

Reviewing redline edits in the following sections:

Prefatory Synopsis/Preamble

• Remove references to original committee

• Make sure all references are to City "and County"

Chapter I - Boundaries

• No changes

Chapter II - Municipal Powers

• Section 2.1 - Powers, Rights, and Liabilities

  • added language in blue

  • Charter is supreme document to guide governance

  • State Constitution, Article 20, Section 10

• Section 2.2 - Form of Government

  • struck ‘municipal’

  • added ‘and County’

• Section 2.3 - Application of Charter

  • Added this section to restate the Charter controls in the event of a conflict

Chapter III - Elections

• Section 3.1 - Law Governing Elections

  • Elections are governed by Title 1 of the Colorado Revised Statutes

• Section 3.2 - Coordinate and Special Elections

  • struck ‘municipal’ since elections are now coordinated with the State

• Section 3.3 - Precincts

  • removed sentence regarding precincts remain the same as they were initially under original charter

• Section 3.4

  • adds ‘Broomfield’ and states ‘…elections “for Broomfield” are nonpartisan

  • ‘No candidate for any ‘Broomfield elected’ office may run under a party label of any kind

• Section 3.5 - Recall

  • No elected councilmember can be recalled prior to 6-months tenure

Chapter IV - Council and Mayor

• Review this section after townhall in July

Chapter V - Council Procedure

• Section 5.1 - Regular Meetings

  • Added "coordinated" to show that Broomfield coordinates their election with the Secretary of State.

• Section 5.2 - Special Meetings

  • No changes

• Section 5.3 - Business at Special Meeting

  • No changes

• Section 5.4 - Quorum Adjournment of Meeting

  • No changes

• Section 5.5 - Organization and Rules of Council

  • (c) struck the term roll-call as a new system is coming on board which will show votes from individual members

  • (c) added ‘personal and ‘ for recusal voting

• Section 5.6 - Meetings to be Public

  • No changes

• Section 5.7 - Study Sessions and Executive Sessions

  • Added this section to define who can attend executive and study sessions and the limits of public interaction

The meeting was called to order and the minutes approved from the July 3rd meeting.

Administrative Matters

• Taste of Broomfield – July 27th – 5 to 8 p.m.

  • What is to be at the table/booth?

    • Copy of Charter

    • Copy of handouts given to committee members

    • Cardstock with FAQ about committee

    • No personal opinions, just tell purpose of charter

    • Send them to charter review committee website to get engaged

• Message at booth:

  • Charter Review Committee recommends changes to city council

  • City Council will refer recommendations to ballot initiative

  • Citizens will vote on ballot initiative

• Introduction of Facilitator – Jonathon Barch

  • Pat Quinn recommended the committee use a facilitator

  • Mr. Barch has been involved with facilitating other Broomfield issues:

    • Highway 36

    • Oil and Gas

    • Northwest Parkway

    • Passenger Rail

    • Comp Plan

  • His expertise is engaging with each other or the broader stakeholder

  • For committee meetings:

    • Important to have a neutral party

    • Clarify agreements and disagreements between members

    • Allow Sam Taylor to be more of a committee member and not chiefly a facilitator

    • Ideas on how to create committee involvement and solicit input

  • What is the definition of consensus?

    • Consensus ‘process’

      • Working on information sharing between members

      • Understanding pros and cons

    • Consensus ‘outcome’

      • Understanding objections and combining disparate ideas into a workable outcome

• Broomfield Days – September 23rd

  • Committee will be combined in main City and County Booth

  • People will want to know why are we changing the form of government

  • Should tell them all the variations that have been discussed at meetings

    • No change

    • 3 – 5 Commissioners

    • City Council 1 member per ward up to 3 members per ward

    • Changing the number of wards

  • Will try to put together Categories for Form of Government and Implications of each type of Government

  • Agenda for next meeting on August 7th:

    • Mayor Castriotta and City Manager Hoffman will be in attendance

    • What will be presented at next town hall on Wednesday, August 9th from 6 to 8 p.m.

    • Ask Ward Town Halls to provide feedback to committee

Break

• Review of Charter Sections

  • Chapter VI – Legislative Section

    • Section 6.1 – Prior City Charter

      • struck from current charter

    • Section 6.2 -Council Acts

      • No changes

    • Section 6.3 – Voting

      • Discussed language ‘current Councilmembers’

      • Change originated due to resignation of councilmembers in another town and what should be the quorum to conduct business

      • Thought the last sentence should cover any vacated positions

    • Section 6.4 – Action by Ordinance Required

      • Tabled – would like zoning to talk about the process at next meeting and why it is not optimal

    • Section 6.5 – Form of Ordinance – Effective date

      • Change includes a severability clause

      • A severability clause that allows the rest of the agreement to be valid even if one or more provisions are found to be unenforceable or illegal

      • If a severability clause is not in place, a judge or jury has the right to void the agreement

    • Section 6.6 and Section 6.9 – Procedure for passage of ordinances

      • Only change is for publication of ordinance

      • Includes a link to City and County Clerk’s office – link will also contain penalties

      • Published by title in newspaper

      • Hard Copy can be obtained at the City and County Clerk office

    • Section 6.7 – Veto by mayor

      • No changes

    • Section 6.8 – Emergency Ordinances O

      • Ordinance enforced immediately, doesn’t give 8 weeks to implement

      • State fire conditions as an example

    • Section 6.10 – Codification

      • No changes

    • Section 6.11 - Codes Published by Reference

      • No changes

    • Section 6.12 – Disposition of Ordinances

      • Struck “Peoples’ Ordinance No. 1”

  • Chapter VII – Initiative and Referendum

    • Sections 7.1, 7.2 tabled until next meeting

    • Section 7.4 – Prohibition of Amendment or Reenactment

      • Started discussion about council possibly being able to overrule a vote of the people, but requires more discussion, so will be discussed at next meeting

The meeting was called to order and the minutes approved from the last meeting.

Administrative Matters

• Taste of Broomfield – Review

  • There was good engagement with people, but as of today, no comments submitted on website

  • City did not budget for things like this, so is being supported by City Attorney professional staff budget

• Broomfield Days, Sept 18th

  • Will be located at CCOB booth

• Upcoming Town Hall, August 9, 2023

  • Jonathon will be facilitator

  • Go through an overview of the charter

  • Be clear about the role of the committee

  • Talk about the process

  • Talk about

    • potential necessary changes

    • minor modifications

    • major item is the form of government

    • need the communities input

  • An easel will capture audience comments

  • Is online polling an option?

  • Need to present a problem statement, “Why is this being done?”

  • The city council is broken because they don’t have enough time to do everything

  • Emphasize, we are not changing the form of government

  • Englewood is doing a number of separate ballots to vote on their charter changes

Special Guests

• Comments by Mayor Castriotta

  • She has a unique perspective because she has been both a councilmember and a mayor

  • She is very busy:

    • Sits on 9 boards

    • There was no job description, didn’t realize the time commitment

    • Everyone wants the mayor to attend every function

    • They don’t have oversight of the City Manager’s office

    • Mayor gets 10x the amount of e-mails, 10x the amount of invitations as other councilmembers

    • She is the face of Broomfield

    • She said she decided to run because the “work chooses you”

  • Maybe they should have a document that define whether goals and priorities were met the prior year.

  • Found budget documents very hard to read, no links between budget, long-range financial plan, and CIP Plan

  • The City Manager is very effective and efficient because she hires the best people and she has experience

  • Maybe councilmembers shouldn’t sit on local boards and commissions it would free up some of their time

Review Chapters VIII, IX. X

• Chapter VIII

  • There were discussions on which sections could be deleted such as 8.6 and 8.8 because they provide redundant information or should 8.8 be inserted into Section 8.3

  • Ms. Rodgers will provide a new redline at the next meeting

• Chapter IX

  • Changes to the wording for the Personnel Merit System

  • Ms. Rodgers said she will get employee feedback on what they would like to see addressed in this section

  • Ms. Rodger’s staff are under her perview, but are under the Manager’s Personnel Merit System Protections

  • Discussions on whether section 9(b) should be eliminated due to redundancies in 9(c) and 9(d)

  • Ms. Rodgers will have HR draft an item on the Personnel Merit System and how people are covered

  • There was a discussion on whether the City Manager has the authority to change departments - this is found in Section 8.8(b)

There were approximately 7 members of the community in attendance. Jonathon facilitated the discussion and notes made on a flip chart for later review by the committee. The questions focused on the form of government, length of terms and the number of members on the city council. There was a good discussion between the committee members and the community members that attended. Jean Lim and Laurie Anderson also attended the town hall. Ms. Rodgers also discussed many of the items in the charter and what they were looking for from the community. When questions were asked about legal issues, she was their to provide answers.

More details about this meeting will be forthcoming after the next committee meeting on August 21, 2023.

Sam and James Marsh-Holschen, and Jonathon (moderator) could not attend meeting.

Austin Ward volunteered to be chair

Meeting called to order

Minutes approved

Administrative Matters

• Town Hall feedback

  • Liked the facilitation

  • Didn’t like that only a few people attended

  • Nice to interact with those in attendance

  • Jonathon was effective at keeping the conversation going

  • Would still like to see more attendance

  • Seth said he would invite more people from the Chamber of Commerce

• Broomfield Days

  • Nancy thought that if we could staff the booth from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. that would cover the possible inquiries

  • 2 hour blocks/2 people

  • The parade starts at 10 a.m.

• Next meeting September 18th and that night a town hall from 6 to 8 p.m.

• Nov 14 – Presentation & Extension of Committee term

  • Cheryl would like to wait a little longer to decide if second term is needed, she expected the committee’s work to be completed by November 14th

• Anna Bertanzetti – talked about zoning.

  • There are two meetings for rezoning one property

  • Rezonings are always done by ordinance

  • Staff works 4-6 months on rezoning properties

  • Staff works for 12 months to 1.5 years for other zoning

  • 2nd reading is the only time for public input although everything else has been put in place

  • Want to reduce the meetings to one meeting where everything gets discussed all at once including public input

  • Any code changes are done by resolution

  • A member of the committee wants to make sure that community input is not cut-off by the change to one meeting

  • This could result in efficiencies

• Jennifer Hoffman take

  • This is because of SB 23-213 zoning bill

  • Gov Polis requires an expedited process in order for local municipalities to get affordable housing funding

  • This came from oil & gas

  • Geoff Wilson brought up constitutionality of Prop HH by courts – hand-off

  • Jennifer Hoffman talked about a “Use by Right”

  • There is pushback from local governments, but developers will choose property and they will have the funding to move forward

  • Broomfield is 80% built-out

  • Wondering if council processes are getting in the way -looking to expedite the process to provide affordable housing

  • Residences cost the city a lot of money per rooftop

  • Want to make sure public comments are heard, could happen at first reading – there has to be at least four weeks between 1st and 2nd readings.

  • Costs associated with changing zoning from commercial to residential

  • No other community has two world-class recreation facilities

  • Our library is the heart and soul of our community

  • Both of these drive a higher level of service

  • The property tax increase will ease the gap in funding from the commercial loss

Special Guest

• Jennifer Hoffman

  • Has been with the City and County of Broomfield for 24 years in various positions, she was a lobbyist

  • Geoff asked what Governor Polis was doing about Construction Defect Laws

  • Cheryl asked if there is something in the charter that gets in your way of being effective and she also asked about the palpable tension between City Manager Hoffman and the City Council

  • She doesn’t think it is an unhealthy tension

  • It has been a difficult three years, and their has been a cultural shift with the city council, here are problems we’ve seen:

    • Covid

    • George Floyd riots

    • Key Positions have been lost:

      • Director of Human Resources

      • Deputy City Manager

      • City Manager

      • Director of IT

      • Police Chief

  • Only 6% of city managers are females and most move from community to community

  • Councils come and go – we are a different community

  • Jennifer asks herself, “Am I bringing the best me to Broomfield?”

  • “I have a structural/financial person character”

  • “We are now shoring up things that should have been shored up 20 years ago…”

  • “I’ve never made a decision that wasn’t in the best interest of Broomfield”

  • My team need to make sure they stand behind council

  • “majority of team is here because of me”

  • Operations vs. Policy

  • You have to be okay with knocking things around

  • My goal is to remove the barriers

  • Council should go to City Manager

  • Council gets thoughtful, thorough data

  • E-mails from council drive structure, aim for 72-hour turnaround to council asks – typically 24-hour turnaround

  • Doesn’t like the Department Head structure

  • Data drive decisions are made

  • This structure cuts down unintended consequences

  • Prior to this year we didn’t have an inventory of business decisions

  • We have not “envisioned” the future – I see the future

  • In the community survey – Broomfield’s Bellweather – 50% said fiscal sustainability was really important – this will be the first budget where we apply that

  • We are continuing to add to the money reserves

  • Water/Enterprise funds are not fiscally sustainable right now

  • We are the only city with a city auditor – it’s not a full-time job

  • Decision behind electing a city clerk/police chief

  • The clerk has purview over elections

  • Don’t want these positions to be political

Austin Ward and Dave Matthews were not in attendance.

Took roll call and called the meeting to order

Minutes approved

Administrative Matters

• Broomfield Days – September 23, 2023

  • The booth will open at 9 a.m., it will be co-located with the CCOB

  • There will be sheets for feedback and discussion

  • Broomfield Tote Bags – Free Day Passes to Rec Centers

• Town Hall feedback

  • There will be a presentation on how to move forward

  • Guessing there will be a small group this evening

  • The meeting will be held in the Health and Human Services Building

  • Presentation contents:

    • Purpose and Agenda – we have accomplished a lot

    • Review/Discussion – How do we get to a final proposal reviewed by City Council

  • What we have heard

    • Preserve volunteer office of elected position

    • City Council should focus on fewer tasks

    • This is a community service position

    • Compensation should be linked to inflation

    • Streamline the number of boards and commissions that city council members need to attend

    • Term of mayor is important

    • Community members that have attended like two representatives/Ward

  • So far community member representation have been very few

  • Community members do not want four people ruling the city

  • Accomplishments to date

    • The committee has had 9 meetings

    • The committee has held three town hall meetings

    • Presentations by Mayor, City Manager, Planning Director

Review and Discussion of Charter

• Are there ways to streamline the charter review

  • Chapters 1-6 are finished

  • Prioritize Section 4, Section 7, and Section 9

  • Meet more times in October

  • Take a straw poll for each section, does it need to be reviewed or are proposed changes are okay

  • When have we done enough talking for each section ?

• At November 14th City Council meeting, the new council will have the heavier lift

• A city council should be looked at as a continuous body, not new vs. old

• What is your ask from the community at tonight’s town hall?

  • Why should people vote for this

  • What is needed in the charter for success

• October 2, October 16, and November 6 are the next meetings and prepare for wrap-up

• Chapter IX – Personnel Merit System

  • Pat Gilbert and Nicky Macklin facilitated the discussion

  • The police chief and employees are covered by the Personnel Merit System

  • These positions are excluded

    • City Manager

    • Department heads

    • City Council appointed positions

    • Elected officers

    • Internal Auditor

  • There is a grievance procedure and disciplinary actions

    • Pre-termination meeting

    • Department head is the ultimate authority

    • The appeal process involves 3 members and 3 alternates

    • There is a one to two day meeting where all involved parties must attend – hard to schedule and must be heard within 30 days

    • There are typically only 0 to 2 appeal hearings per year

  • The process for the employee

    • Two to four months of disciplinary action

    • Three to six months of action after appeal

    • The current process is complex and cumbersome

    • $7,500 to $9,500 per hearing

  • Solution might be a hearing office like the one in Jefferson County

  • The council has the discretion to move to a different system

    • Should the deputy assistant managers be excluded

    • Should the police chief also be excluded

    • Need an impartial counsel

    • Hearing officers are typically unbiased, they are licensed attorney’s

    • Employee could choose between three, different hearing officers

    • New employees have no probationary period, HR would like one

    • Probationary period could be up to one year

• Chapter VIII – Municipal Administration

  • Should City Clerk be elected or hired by city council?

    • Don’t eliminate Section 8.6 in Charter – important position

    • Process for current City Clerk was a town hall – selected by City Council

  • Internal Auditor is a direct hire but audits the City Manager – conflict of interest?

    • Should this position be moved under the City Attorney

    • Internal Auditor could report to an external auditor and add a new section 8.9j

  • Revised charter should separate auditor and accounting – they are different positions

All committee members in attendance

Took roll call and called the meeting to order

Minutes approved

Administrative Matters

• Broomfield Days – September 23, 2023

  • There was some engagement with the community but no solid discussions

• Town Hall feedback

  • Advance discussions around Chapter IV

Review and Discussion of Charter

• Section 4.1 – City Council and Mayor

  • Quick Vote on Changes to section: For – 4, Against – 3

  • James Marsh-Holschen want 3 Wards – 2 councilmembers/ Ward

  • Leonard for James’ proposal

  • Seth opposed because it makes a less diverse pool of representatives

  • James – other cities are bigger with the same number of councilmembers so we should be in proportion to those cities

  • Sam believes there is more focus with less councilmembers

  • Cheryl – feels like it puts let voices on the council and six have to do the job that they say 10 can’t do

  • Only two in favor of James’ amendment

• Section 4.2 – Wards

  • We should have an independent commission to redistrict Wards

  • Wards should be aligned every 10 years along with the census

  • Leonard - The wards should be contiguous with no carveouts for newly elected councilmembers and could be done automatically with software

  • Councilmembers in new wards could continue their term if after realignment they are no longer in that ward (move to section 4.6€

  • Leonard – local government is supposed to be nonpartisan

  • Add 4.2(c) – Unless required by State Law only 10 years districts should be realigned in even years after the census according to number of residents (Nancy and Geoff will come up with new wording)

• Section 4.3 – Terms of Office – Mayor and Councilmembers

  • Propose changing mayor’s term to four years because there is not enough time for a mayor to learn the positions, requirements and responsibilities and at-large elections are expensive

  • Want to add that if a councilmember wins the second term with 67% of the vote, they may run for a third term

  • Term-limited to a consecutive three- to four-year term

• Section 4.4 – Mayor – Powers and duties

  • More power should be given to the mayor and council to set the agenda

• Section 4.5 – Mayor Pro-Tem

  • The mayor pro-tem can set the agenda in absence of the mayor

• Section 4.6 – Qualifications

  • Wanted vacancy defined – will be defined in Section 4.7

• Section 4.7 Vacancies

  • Add a definition of vacancy to 4.7(b)

    • If a councilmember misses 50% of the meetings, that seat is deemed vacant

    • Change ‘municipal’ to ‘coordinated’

    • Add councilmembers to Section 4.7(c)

• Section 4.8 – Compensation

  • To be discussed at October 16, 2023 Charter Review Committee meeting

• Section 4.9 – Power of Council

  • Add ‘and Duties’ to Section 4.9 Title

  • Add Section 4.9(a) – a description of the duties responsibilities will be reported to the citizens – a document discussing:

    • Keeping of records

    • Code of ethics

    • Duties

• Section 4.10 – Oath of Office and Bond.

  • Section passed as is with corrections

All committee members in attendance except for Austin Ward

Took roll call and called the meeting to order

Minutes approved from October 2 meeting

Administrative Matters

• Does the committee want additional meetings to wrap up

  • Next meeting is October 16 in the City Council Chamber Conference Room

  • Logistics on Council presentation, 11/14/2023

    • This will be in the Special Reports (SR-17) Section of the Agenda

    • The staff memo should be completed by early November, 2023

    • Agenda will be made public November 8, 2023

  • Committee decided they will wrap everything up on November 6, 2023, but the meeting may run longer if needed for the review

Review and Discussion of Charter

• Chapter IV – Council and Mayor

  • Section 4.2 - Wards

    • (b) How should the ward boundaries be determined?

    • Leonard thinks they should be off the GIS and be done automatically

    • If a commission was used it might still be partisan, it should be non-partisan

    • James said it should be prepared by staff

    • Cheryl said there should be a window for observation of results and then possibly changing parameters if boundaries don’t change

    • Dave asked what parameters should be considered

    • Population changes include big developments or big apartment buildings being torn down, a significant population change is ±5%

    • Typically boundaries are changed every 10 years, in even years, with the census

  • Section 4.3 – Terms of Office

    • (b) Cheryl – Mayor should be a 4-year term because a 2-year term is not enough time to learn the position and at-large campaigns are very costly

    • (c) added partial terms at state level are not counted, 181 days is considered a full term

    • 4-year elected positions can be up to 2 terms, 2-year elected positions can have 3 terms

    • Section 4.4 – Mayor – Power and Duties

    • James - Add verbiage so that the mayor, along with the City Manager, can set the agenda

  • Section 4.5 – Mayor Pro-Tem

    • Replaced “regular” with “coordinated”

    • James - The Mayor Pro-Tem shall also be able to set the agenda

  • Section 4.6 – Qualifications

    • Define the word vacancy

    • Add that if a boundary changes, the elected official can complete their term in office even if their home is now outside the boundary

    • An elected official cannot hold another public office

  • Section 4.7 – Vacancies

    • (c) Seth – It was a bad look to the community to have Guyleen appointed because usually the incumbent has the advantage

    • James – include a 50% vacant definition: if they miss more than 50% of all meetings throughout the year

    • Add some wording about if a vacancy occurs 180 days or more before the election, the council can appoint an individual to that position, if closer than that then the position would be filled at the next election

    • Change “municipal” to “coordinated”

  • Section 4.8 – Compensation

    • People want a component of service to the community and not a job

    • Committee members believe current compensation is too low compared to what is expected from them

    • Compensation options:

      • James - ½ of County Commissioner Salary for a 2A county

        • 35% of 2A for City Council member = $38,150

        • 37% of 2A salary for City Council member = $40,330

        • 42% of 2A salary for City Council member = $45,780

        • Total Expenditure would be $429,460; current expenditure: $168,600

      • James – leave it to City Council to set compensation – they were elected by the people

      • Dave – add 1 commissioner, mayor full-time

      • Leonard – craft something the voters can vote on, what to entice better quality candidates, put in an automatically increasing salary based on some parameter

    • Discusse at November 6, 2023 meeting

  • Section 4.9 – Powers of Council

    • Add “and Duties” to the Section Title

    • James – Add “and board of county commissioners”

    • Article XX of the State Constitution, Title 24,18.401 discusses conflicts of interest

    • Article XX of the State Constitution, Amendment 41 discusses amount of gifts

    • Add another bullet about there should be a rule about a description of duties, responsibilities, and a report to the citizens once per year

  • Add Section 4.9.5 – Conflicts of Interests; Code of Ethics

    • James – propose using Centennial Charter for conflict of interest and ethics rules

    • Home Rule City gets out from under an Independent Ethics Commission if they have similar wording

    • A discussion was held about having a chief of staff for the councilmembers, but Sam brought up that in 2013, the logistics of implementing something like this was a nightmare. Voted down

Chapter VII – Initiative and Referendum

• Section 7.1 – Initiative Updated wording in

  • Section 7.1(b) is very standard, “of Council’s action which special election shall be held not less than sixty days nor more than one hundred fifty days after the date of the Clerk’s certificate of petition sufficiency. At”

    • Add “and County” to the City Clerk position

  • Section 7.2 – Referendum

    • Minimized Language in (a)

    • Added “and County” to ( b)

  • Section 7.4 – Prohibition of Amendment or Reenactment

    • Add “except upon a two-thirds vote of the City Council” – reluctant to let council overrule the people

Chapter X – Legal and Judiciary

• Section 10.1 – City Attorney

  • Add “and County” to title

  • Add “and County” other places “City” exists

  • Add “shall hire and supervise” to duties of City and County Attorney

  • Add “to serve under the direction of the city and county attorney

• Section 10.2 – Municipal Court

  • (b) Add “presiding”

  • (c) Add “Associate”

  • (d) Simplified wording to point to Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct, typically this is hard to prove

Chapter XI – Boards and Commissions

• Section 11.2 – Right to Establish, Amend and Abolish

  • Add verbiage to say that council may make alternate appointments to any Board or Commission

  • Council may serve on more than one Board or Commission

Chapter XII – Finance and Budget

• No substantive changes

• James had two amendments:

  • James wants the council to have a say in the budget

  • James wanted Mayor added into this paragraph

Charter Review Committee Meeting – November 6, 2023

All committee members in attendance, Austin Ward arrived late

Took roll call and called the meeting to order

Minutes approved from October 16 meeting

Administrative Matters

• November 14th City Council Meeting

  • Upcoming Presentation/Summary Document

    • An initial presentation was presented to the committee

    • How are the ballot measures going to be put on the ballot

      • Single-subject

      • Individual questions

  • November 14th meeting will be in the Special Report Section (17) and they expect to get to it by 7:30 p.m. or immediately after the break at 8:00 p.m.

  • Agenda will be available by November 8th

    • Summary of changes see list at bottom of staff memo above

    • Final Redline version

    • Sam will present

    • council will not be voting on anything

Review and Discussion of Charter

• Prefatory Synopsis/Preamble

  • The highlighted portion added to the prefatory synopsis will be moved to Section 4.9(c)

  • The prefatory synopsis is similar to an executive summary

  • The preamble tells the public that this is the enacted legislative document

• Chapter IV – Council and Mayor

  • Section 4.2 – Wards – revisited

    • (b) – add “only” to the following: “…following the completion of the federal census or only whenever there is when there is…”

    • (b) – strike “[or City and County Clerk]

    • (c ) – If the new boundary plan is rejected, “then it shall be remanded to the staff with language saying why the want it changed...”

  • Section 4.8 – Compensation

    • No agreement so the suggestion is that council find an index to tie compensation to so that compensation is set automatically

• Chapter VIII – City and County Administration

  • Section 8.9 – Internal Auditor

    • Bernie Block, internal auditor, present

    • James added amendments (c) and (d) to protect the auditor in case of a bad manager

  • Section 8.3 (l)

    • Added “or as requested by Council”

  • Section 8.6 – City and County Clerk

    • Discussion on the City Clerk and who should be put in charge of their hiring and firing

  • Section 8.8 – Administrative Departments

    • Removed because the language is in the City Manager’s duties and powers

    • Reserved for future changes so that numbering remains consistent

• Chapter XIII – Taxation

  • Section 13.1 – Tax Authority and Limitations

    • Struck “income tax”, no income tax can be levied by municipalities

    • Added “and County” to all Sections

• Chapter XIV – Municipal Funding

  • Added “and County” to multiple sections

  • Section 14.9 – Long-Term Installment Contracts, Rentals and Leaseholds – City Property

    • Struck “consistent with the requirements of Article 10, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution because Broomfield is a Home Rule City and we have our own authority

• Chapter XV – Improvement Districts

  • Added “and County”

  • Section 15.1 – Power to Create Special or Local Improvement Districts

    • There was a discussion on metro districts whether they are fully transparent, but if the residents want one, the city council cannot deny what the citizens want

    • Council cannot ban them they can only regulate

  • Section 15.3

    • Struck “consistent with the requirements of Article 10, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution because Broomfield is a Home Rule City and we have our own authority

  • James – TABOR limits the needed infrastructure

  • Leonard – Residents need transparency

  • Geoff – decisions made by council drive property tax increases

• Chapter XVI – Intergovernmental Relations

  • Section 16.1 – Regional Service Authorities

    • Regional contracts can be completed by City Manager under her fiscal authority, doesn’t need to be brought to council

    • The public does need some transparency on these transactions should be posted on the website

    • Determine a threshold for which contracts can be financed through City Manager

    • The delegation of power to the City Manager must be done by resolution

  • Section 16.2 – Cooperative Intergovernmental Contracts

    • James – strike “two-thirds (2/3) vote of the entire Council” and make it by the majority of the council

    • Possibly delegate authority to Department Leads?

• Chapter XVII – Utilities and Franchises

  • Sections 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.5, 17.10

    • Added “and County”

  • Section 17.4

    • Struck “municipal” and “municipally”

  • Section 17.7 – Present Franchises

    • Section struck but reserved for future changes

  • Section 17.9 – Revocable Permits

    • If the revocable permit is issued for public lands, it has to be brought to council

    • Make a note to City Council to review

• Chapter XVIII – General Provisions

  • Added “and County” to all sections as needed

  • Section 18.2 – Reservation of Power

    • Broomfield has plenary authority because it is a Home Rule City

  • Section 18.3 – Restrictions on sale of municipally owned real property and changes in use of open space property

    • (a) – change “shall not” to “may” – failed

    • (a) - Should we separate buildings and open space for elections

    • James – The buyer is held up until there is an election

    • Sam – we would not advertise property for sale until is is voted on by the people

    • Problems encountered with (b) have not proven to be insurmountable problems

    • Seth – 40% open space is not codified in the charter – there are competing land uses and there shouldn’t be a set percentage of property reserved as open space

    • (3)(B) – the lift station was just over 0.0662 acres but the tax to change the use of the property was paid to the open space – no lower limit

• Chapter XIX – Transitional Provisions

  • This section applied to the transition to a Home Rule City and County – entire section struck

• Chapter XX – Prohibition of Hydraulic Fracturing

  • This Chapter was set to expire within 5 years of its creation so entire section has been struck

  • SB-181 said that local municipalities could “regulate” oil and gas operations, but could not ban them so section is obsolete

All sections of the charter were reviewed at the end of the meeting

Meeting adjourned