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Local Elections - Why are they important and why should you vote?

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One of my pet peeves is that people will turn out in larger numbers for federal, state, and even year elections than they do for their local government elections. County Commissioner elections tend to fall in even-year elections, so they often get a better turnout than municipal and school board elections. Let me ask you a few questions: Who do you think makes laws that affect you and your family/friends the most quickly? Who do you think makes laws that affect your quality of life? Who do you think makes the laws that affect your or your community's children's education? Let me answer some of these questions for you... Local elections are critical because the Mayor, City Council/Board of Trustees and School Board Members, Special District board members such as RTD Directors (Regional Transportation District), etc., are the people who decide what to put money and resources into. This can include roads, bridges, recreation, public safety, education, transit, and public transport...
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Local Government 101: Local Issues - City Council Meetings

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Welcome back to Local Government 101. Today we will be discussing city council meetings. Please refer to my last blog Local Government: Mayors and City Council if you need a city council refresher or to read my bio to determine why I think I'm qualified to write this blog. Let's dig in. Have you ever attended a city council meeting? If not, I highly recommend you attend meetings, or at least watch online occasionally This will give you have an understanding of what is going on in your community. Meetings differ, but I will attempt to give you the lay of the land as I know it - mainly from my city Thornton, CO though I've attended council meetings around the Denver metro area.  There is generally a welcome by the mayor, possibly the pledge of allegiance, and even less likely, a prayer. In Thornton we had prayer up until about 2017 when a new set of councilmembers decided it was not in our best interest to have prayer as a part of the meeting. I loved that part of the meetin...
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Local Government 101 - Mayors and City Council

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Welcome to my blog - in this series I will walk you through what is most important to know about your city. What questions should you ask your elected officials, what is important to know when you are casting your vote at the ballot box, why local government elections are the most important elections, and what local governments actually do.  As former school board member, former mayor of Thornton, and the current President & CEO of Civic Results and Executive Director of the Metro Mayors Caucus , I have over 15 years of experience with local and state government. Civic Results is a nonprofit organization that drives regional progress by uniting local governments, businesses, and nonprofits in collaborative problem-solving to deliver impactful solutions for communities. The Metro Mayors Caucus was formed in 1993 by mayors in the Denver metropolitan area to join forces to work on regional issues such as housing, transportation, transit, economic vitality and other important issu...
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