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For David
David, I'm glad your grandson helped you find this page. Kids are amazing on computers. You mentioned you may not be able to find it again yourself so I wanted to share an idea with you (assuming you found us again to read this).
I mark this page as a "FAVORITE". If you haven't done this before ask your grandson, he may know how. If that doesn't work, you can send me an E-mail at the address at the end of this message and I will try to talk you through it.
And, again, welcome! We value all input and are glad to hear from you.
By WW
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What in the world...
It is good to be home; and I will leave again if my parents need assistance; they are among the top people in my life..live out of state and do not believe in computers, in their late eighties; I admire their simplicity and joy of life; and the values they practice and experience.
So I was very anxious to find the results of the hearing; both sides claim so sort of victory; but the great winner is CVLEG. Congradulations!!!!
What motivation to continue toward 2000; supporting 199.
By Broomfield Anonymous
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To Cheryl , Tony, and others
Cheryl Cheryl, Cheryl. And now Tony. First: let me explain to you that Broomfield is a home-rule city. According to the standards of our charter this is the way the process is designed to work.
Ruling level: Residents of the City of Broomfield
Next level: elected City Council to implement and resolve issues of the City Council of Broomfield; according to the City Charter they take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to uphold the Constitution of the State of Colorado, and to uphold the City Charter of the City of Broomfield.
Next Level: The Office of City Manager; and the departments of the office of City Manager.
I give this to you to write down so you can see it clearly; the city manager and his office DOES NOT have the authority to develop and promote as city policy and direction; directives which will have a direct affect on the residents without the approval of the council.
(The organizational chart and reporting relationships of this community can be found on line under Broomfield Colorado; and organization. I wish I could draw a chart here; but I think I have been clear enough for you to understand. )
As you have seen the elective process and the ideas for implementation of the city council for managing this city must come from the electorate. The idea of the county did come from citizen group's that worked on The Vision, The Master Plan, and The Strategic Plan. These three pieces of work took several years to develop; and included both citizens and council as members of the committee. The important thing is these three works are considered the foundation of the formation and future of this commuity.
The idea of a county was in each of these pieces. I use the term "idea" to clearly delineate this from policy.
No clear amendment to the charter had been made to turn this idea into an acceptable course of action for the council to take; there were 65 people totally on the committees when you count them individually; I gave a breakdown earlier for BWW; you can refer to that for complete history of participation; one important note; the same citizen and/or council member did serve on the different committees and so the count becomes misleading for individual input.
The reason I go through this; while Cheryl; you project your understanding that Ozaki and DiCero are the decision-makers of this community; wrong, they cannot act on a public issue without council approval.
The entire purpose of the CVLEG is to demonstrate, with utmost credibility, that the citizen value was ignored in the process of determining the ballot issue, the placement of the jail, and the notification of the citizens to participate in the process.
This is the difficult part: as you have read both BBW and I state: the citizens directed the council through a non-binding vote; known as an advisory question; to do a feasibility study (determine the costs) to become a county. The feasibility study and a second were done. The results of these studies were not returned to the citizens before the measure was taken to the state assembly. As BBW explained; the council took the position that this process was "too slow" after 15 months of delay; and decided to act on their own to present this to state. The democratic process of government, of, by, and for the people was not practiced in this instance.
The value
By Broomfield Anonymous
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To Cheryl, Tony, others, cont...
This is the premise on which BBW and I disagree. I believe it should have had the voice of the residents of Broomfield for passage; if time constraints were the issue with the council; a simple line on the ballot denoting our rights as BF citizens to determine our future could have been added. This was rejected by Mayor Berens, City Manager DiCero, and Councilmembers Larry Cooper and Hank Stovall. It was the council acting as private citizens that took the basic freemdom of participation away form BF citizens. What could BF citizens do? Nothing. The State Assembly approved the measure; our role was given to the state voters; many of them had never heard of BF and said what the heck. Fighting the monies of the pro forces, and the powers where many of those monies came from; Vote No had two months to organize and create a campaign on 1500 dollars in donations; all from citizens. The entire city of Broomfield had only 8000 votes; the state had over 1.2 MILLION votes. Only one thing could have made BR participants; the line left out at the State Assembly; offered by the State Secretary. Guarantee you; it was an accident that this was discovered; and it was found too late to get it to every voter in the state.
Now Cheryl, you and Tony have to decide what role you want to play in this next election. You can be an active player in supporting CVLEG; or you can stay stuck in the concept of the jail. Your energy and value can be utilized toward the success of the petition and ballot; or you can continue to create your own rejection by other members of this board. I guarantee you; I do not want you promoting the goal of CVLEG with the comments about Tom Brunner, Charles Ozaki or George DiCero. My work with Tom has been overwhelming; as someone said on this board; you would want Tom on your side of decency. I have been quiet because I had hoped you would not press the issue; but you are. I can assure you; that all charges have been dismissed; that you will probably see his name a lot more in the paper due to the situation; that his major concern is a valid relationship with his son. He will probably be in the papers; he will have to go to court, and it will be thrown out for lack of evidence and insufficient cause. Tom is one of my ward councilpersons; I do not nor does my ward want him replaced. He is running unopposed for election this year; this is the strength of belief and values we have in Tom. He is a credible and working friend of the ward.
Charles Ozaki; Assistant City Attorney is one of the most compassionate and truly dedicated members of the directors and leaders of this community. I doubt if you could walk into any place in BF; and find a negative word about any of this staff; including DiCero.
I will tell you gently now; back off your remarks about physical reactions; knowing Charles and George, they left any losing decision with very very heavy briefcases.
So where is the breakdown; between the council and the residents. The council has continuously been praised for the majority of their decisions; except this one. Why all the praise and glory? Because they never before left the people out of the decision process. We went to open forums; public meetings, and we all presented what we thought should happen. These were announced, organized, and some times pure shouting matches, which were controlled by every one breaking into groups; and that group making a recommendation. Then the council went to work; and came back with ideas, the same processs again with citizens until there was agreement. Whatever the issue; the agreement at these meetings became the accepted course of action that the council adhered too, whether they liked it or not; it was the public's will. The biggest change in our lives is the county; and there the process was avoided.
By Br Anonymous
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