Karen Oxman, Golden City Council, District 2
January 15, 2008

For the City of Golden, the New Year began with the shock of losing our friend and City Attorney, Jim Windholz.  Jim died of a heart attack on New Year’s Day, while in California to attend the funeral of his sister, who had passed away on Christmas Day. Our hearts go out to Jim’s mother and family.  Jim had worked for Golden 17 years and was a friend and mentor to all on Council who relied on Jim for help with the legal implications of issues. 

On Jan 10th, the City held a reception to honor Chuck Baroch and Lynne Tempeiro for their 12 and 4 years respectively on City Council, prior to the swearing in of new Mayor and Councilors and an organizational meeting, conducted by Jacob Smith, our new Mayor.  Chuck was honored for his many years and excellent service to the community by many gifts, words, and a standing ovation.  However, Chuck will always be here working in the community so it was never a ‘good-bye’.  It was heartfelt thanks for his leadership and relationship building for Golden. Chuck was gracious and professional as always.  Lynne read a prepared speech that all Golden citizens should try to hear, either on the WEB or on Ch8. (www.cityofgolden.net/channel8)

 She was elected in 2003, a new resident, who had been led to believe evil of all City Staff and City Council.  Over time, Lynne was able to discern the truth.  She publicly related this experience and it is worth hearing.  I hope that Lynne will find a niche to continue her involvement with our community.

And onward into ’08!  I believe that Jacob will lead us well during the next four years.  Since the election, Jacob has been meeting with fellow Councilors, City Staff, and Citizens to organize the year.  The priorities, not in any order of importance, are bike/ped master plans, affordable housing, reviving the Carver-governance work, Inclusive Cities Partnership, sustainability, parks plans, and neighborhood plans.  I am sure there are areas that I have missed, but this gives an idea of the tremendous amount of work that we, as a Council, will try to cover in ’08. 

I look forward to serving the next four years, and thank the voters who had confidence in my abilities.  It is an honor to be part of Golden’s City Government process, and I take my job very seriously.

As always, please contact me by phone or e-mail at any time.

Karen Oxman
District 2 Councilor
Mayor pro-tem
303-278-0400
karenoxman@aol.com