City of Boulder 2K – Council-Appointed Committees

The city charter’s Section 9 covers council meetings and council-appointed committees which have one or more council members. The longstanding practice of appointing no more than two council members to a committee would be made explicit and expanded to occasionally allow more council members, though never a quorum of council members. (A quorum of council is 5 members unless there are 5 or more vacancies.) New language also explicitly allows other council members to observe, but not participate in, council-appointed committees. “Council” includes the mayor for the purposes of Section 9.

Section 9 currently allows for the appointment of a committee with at most two council members to screen applicants for and evaluate the performance of the council’s three hires: city manager, city attorney and municipal judge. Ballot Question 2K would require the appointment of such a committee by changing “may” to “shall.”

Back when the municipal electric utility was on the table, Boulder voters authorized city council to hold executive sessions to get legal advice and negotiation strategy. That authority expired at the end of 2017. This ballot measure eliminates from the charter the language granting that temporary authority.

Recommendation: yes/for

Ballot Question 2K cleans up expired authorization language and codifies what has been general practice. It also lets more council members be on council-appointed committees (for no extra pay – see Question 2M) as long as a quorum of council is not on the committee.

Mandating a recruitment and evaluation committee probably arose because this year council hired a city manager and is recruiting a new city attorney. Before this year, Boulder hadn’t had an opening for any of the three municipal hires in over a decade.

Website for the Yes side
No known website – Info on a proponents’ website appreciated.

Website for the No side
No known website – Info on an opponents’ website appreciated.


Approved Ballot Language
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2K

Shall Section 9, "Meetings of Council," of the Boulder City Charter be amended pursuant to Ordinance No.8478 to (a) remove provisions that expired in December 2017, (b) explicitly allow council to appoint council committees that generally contain no more than two councilmembers and in no event equal or exceed a quorum of council and allow councilmembers not appointed to the committee to attend, but not participate in council committee meeting, and (c) require council to appoint a recruitment committee of no more than two members for each of the three council appointments?

YES/FOR _____
NO/AGAINST _____

Ordinance No. 8478 to put Question 2K to the voters
Ordinance 8478 or go to https://bouldercolorado.gov/nov-2-2021-boulder-election-ballot-measures-and-candidates