Jeffco group wants larger commission
Signatures being sought to expand 3-member board to 5
By John Aguilar
The Denver Post
Posted: 04/22/2014 12
Jefferson County sprawls across 773 square miles of mountains, cities, ranch land and suburbs and has more than half a million people within its borders.
That's enough turf and population to prompt some residents to start pushing for a ballot issue this fall that would expand the three-commissioner board to five members.
Karen Oxman, a former Golden city councilwoman and a leader with the Jeffco5 citizen initiative, said the county's sheer size and population — with nearly 550,000 people — merit the change.
"Many residents, especially those living in the unincorporated parts of Jefferson County, feel very underrepresented," Oxman said.
Her group is in the midst of gathering the 17,445 signatures needed to make it onto the November ballot. The deadline to turn petitions into the county clerk is June 30. The board would not go to five members until early 2017
About
Jeffco is too large for only 3 commissioners. Join us in supporting a ballot issue in 2014 to increase the board to five members elected by district.
Description
Objective
To craft and pass a ballot measure in Jefferson County to expand the Board of Commissioners to include five members that will be elected by the voters living within each of five districts.
What’s wrong with the current system?
Jefferson County, which contains nearly as many residents as the entire state of Wyoming, needs to be governed by more than just three elected officials. Expanding the board to include five members would allow more effective sharing of the workload and more opportunities for community outreach to solicit citizen feedback and improve the services provided by the county. Furthermore, by dividing the county into five districts, candidates for office will be better able to campaign in the whole district with grassroots methods. More voters will meet commissioner candidates and get to know the differences between their policy ideas, rather than simply voting based on political party.
Proposed Ballot Language
Shall the membership of the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners be increase from a three member board to a five member board?
Yes No
If the membership of the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners is increased from a three member board to a five member board, by what method shall the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners be elected?
(Vote for one)
• Five commissioners resident in districts to be elected by voters resident in the district.
• Three commissioners resident in districts to be elected by voters in the district and two commissioners to be elected by the voters of the whole county.
How Will the District Boundaries Be Determined?
Under law, the Board of Commissioners is to update the district boundaries to even out any population differences every ten years using the new census data. Redistricting must be conducted during the odd years and completed prior to July 1st. If this ballot measure is passed in 2014, the Board must redraw the districts in the first half of 2015.
Citizen engagement will be critical to making sure the districts are drawn fairly, and it is critical that we make all five districts competitive so that no political party is able to hold a seat without accountability to the voters.
What Comes Next?
The first priority is to expand the conversation to include stakeholders across Jefferson County to discuss advantages and concerns. This will begin with community leaders and will later be expanded in a series of public forums. We would hope that community leaders would reach out to the current Commissioners to discuss the issue and encourage the Commissioners to seek more public input in order to reach a decision whether to refer a measure to the voters for the November 2014 coordinated election.
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I am not necessarily in favor of expanding government either but I would rather have more representation and discussion by the Commissioners if it means they would actually listen to their constituency. Any chance of that happening?
Grady wrote:
It's always a good thing to expand the size of government.
