Karen Oxman, Golden City Council, District 2
July 20, 2007

The Colorado Municipal League has a Vision: to serve the collective needs of Colorado cities and towns, and a Mission: to advocate municipal interests and provide information and assistance to municipal officials.  Over 260, or 99%, of Colorado’s communities are members.  In late June, over 550 city government folks met in Snowmass for the Annual CML Conference.  This is the State organization that is a piece of that bigger ‘pie’ called National League of Cities, also known as NLC, that meets in Washington DC in March.  (You might recall that I wrote an article in April about my experiences at that conference!)

We had five notable speakers who presided over several general sessions.  Glen Heimstra, of ‘Futurist.com’ , spoke of his vision for communities in 2025.  The character of an ideal community would include learning, health, economic vitality, alive and vibrant, ‘green’, multi-mobile, and welcoming, ie inclusive.  As municipal leaders, we need to ‘remember the past, plan the future, and bring it all together now’.  Budgeting is a balance of ‘needs vs. wants’, and we must think long term while acting short term.  Most elected officials will finish projects conceived by those who preceded us, and will begin the projects that will be finished by those who come after.

Gov. Bill Ritter joined us for lunch and spoke about many of the issues at risk in these years of tight budgets.  Hank Brown, President of the University of Colorado, gave an update on issues in higher education, including tools to curb the drinking on campus problems.  Both Gov. Ritter and President Brown were eloquent speakers who brought us pertinent updates for our State of Colorado.

Russ George, the new director of CDOT, spoke on issues of transportation.  There is a ‘blue ribbon’ panel trying to sort out the State needs, the State wants, and the money available for both.  It will be an awesome task.  Mr. George stated that his first goal has been to ‘fix relationships’.  We have about 30 billion for the next 30 years, and will need 173 billion to do what is needed and wanted.  I felt that his was truly invested in ‘mass movement’ of people.  It should be noted that the gas tax is not keeping up with inflation.  Also, interesting fact….80% of the population of Colorado is along the front range.

Susan Thornton, former Mayor of Littleton, spoke at the Colorado Women in Government , aka CWIG, breakfast on the final day.  Her topic was ‘How Men and Women Communicate….or Don’t’.  She began with observations of newborns and worked toward old age.  It was quite fascinating.  (It also provided tips for women who are working mainly with men….and vice-versa!)  As a side-note, I was elected VP of CWIG at this breakfast meeting. 

Here are some short notes that I took of interesting facts and thoughts:

1. Inclusive communities….some have developed a ‘community integration commission’ to help make new residents welcome.
    
2. Affordable housing….one community charges a $2 per sq ft fee as a development impact fee.  This goes into a ‘housing authority’……..partnerships, communication, and respect are goals.
    
3. Sustainability…the basics are transportation, housing, economic stability, environment, and community.  The challenges are water, oil and gas, and climate changes.  Density is a better growth plan than sprawl….ie live,work and play communities.
    
4. Relationships…this was quite interesting, a presentation of a town and county relationship.  The County was Summit…..which has about 30 thousand permanent residents and a swelling of about 4 million visitors per year.  How do you meet the needs of all those folks?  Well, by partnering!  Identify a project, decide  how it meets needs and for what population, and then look for money! 

As a City Councilor in Golden, I feel fortunate that our budgeting process recognizes the need for Councilors to seek new information and provides funds so that we can attend the Annual CML conference.  Six of us, and several of our very dynamic City Staff, attended this year’s meetings.  I find it very helpful to hear how other communities deal with issues similar to ours, and enjoy the ability to network with other Councilors.  This was my fourth time to attend in this four year term that ends in December.