Jefferson County is one of the few remaining large Colorado counties with just 3 county commissioners, and a grassroots organization called Jeffco 5 is trying to make a change. In 2012, voters in Adams County approved a measure to move from 3 to 5 county commissioners, and Jeffco 5 is pushing for Jeffco's Commissioners to add similar language to the 2014 ballot.
The argument for 5 commissioners is difficult to refute. Jefferson County has about the same number of residents as the entire state of Wyoming, and Wyoming has two U.S. Senators and one member of the House of Representatives on top of dozens of county commissioners. It makes little sense for a county the size of Jefferson to have a government controlled by just 3 elected officials, particularly when all are approved countywide; what ends up happening is that local constituencies (such as the mountain communities of Evergreen and Conifer) have no designated commissioner fighting for their concerns, since each commissioner is ultimately accountable to the entire county.
Jefferson County Commissioners were scheduled to discuss the matter at a regular meeting this morning. We'll update you as we learn more.
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Your support is simply misplaced. By supporting this crack-pot idea that was already soundly rejected by Jeffco voters, you are essentially doing away with the ability of any neighborhood to stop any unwelcome, unreasonable or unwanted development. I don't care how many commissioners we have, but spending the money on two additional commissioners doesn't seem to be worth whatever benefit there might be gained.
As for the districts. So, we have five commissioners from districts. When something controversial comes up, four commissioners don't really care because they don't represent or have to be voted upon by those people. So, they vote for the controversial project allowing the sole commissioner representing that district to vote against the project. No one has any accountability.
What you propose will have exactly the opposite effect you desire. Conifer and Evergreen will be screwed because there will be four other commissioners who couldn't give a shit about us and who can be bought off by their developer friends.
You're assuming that Democrats will never control the Jeffco Commission which is just pure nonsense. The current commission is made up of one Democrat (who I might add won what was essentially a race without an issue), one moderate Republican (Griffith) and one Republican nut-case. This probably over-represents the nut-cases a little bit, but is generally reflective of where Jeffco is politically. My view is that the Dems will either defeat the nut-case next time or when Griffith is term limited, will beat the nut case who is nominated in her place.
This is as much a waste of time as is the 51st statehood BS. Jeffco residents aren't going to buy it.
If 3 is better than 5 for all the reasons you provide – wouldn't 1 be better than 3?
Your argument makes no sense. That's like saying legislators will only bother to vote on bills that affect just their district.
Tried to post this earlier and failed: isn't per-district VOTING on commissioners against state statute? Commissioners are selected per-district, but elected county-wide.
In El Paso County, commissioners are elected by district by the voters of each district. Apparently it is the choice of the county as to how commissioners are elected.
Good to know – thanks.
Arapahoe County also has districts.
All counties have districts for their commissioners – it's just that the default at least is to vote county-wide for each of the 5 -no 3, sir – district-resident commissioners.