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Boulder County Government

In January 2020 Boulder County began transitioning to a County Administrator model of government. Jana Peterson, formerly the Administrative Services Director, is the County Administrator.
Read more here.

Is it time for more changes in Boulder County government structure?

   •  What does the current structure look like?
   •  Should we increase to five commissioners from the current three?
   •  If five, should we elect from districts? at-large? a combination?
   •  Should Boulder County consider adopting Home Rule? 

The LWVBC advocates an increase to five commissioners. Peggy Leech explains:

  We’re the eighth biggest county in the state, population-wise. Everybody higher than us, and some lower than us has either five commissioners, or a county manager, or both.
   in 1999, so 20 years ago, the population of the county was 200-some-thousand. Now it’s 300-some-thousand, so in 20 years it’s gone up by 100,000. The county has a budget of $433 million a year and over 2,000 employees. It does seem like a matter of good governance to have more skills on the board.
   After the 2020 census, Boulder County will have to redraw the three districts' lines slightly; if voters voted for five districts, there would have to be a significant redraw. 
   County Commissioners are elected in even years, so if the county voted 'yes' in 2020 to make this change, then five County Commissioners will be voted for in 2022.
   The cost of two more Commissioners and more office space would be less than $500,000 a year, or, for a 300,000 population, less than $2 a year per person.

The 2020 Boulder County budget summary and documents for the 2021 budget are linked here.

Compare the structures of all 64 Colorado county governments here (.pdf).
Watch the video and see the slides from our August 13, 2019, Community Conversation   (1hr 26min)
Speakers: Peggy Leech, Michelle Krezek, Mary Raynolds, 
                 Gaythia Weis, Celeste Landry, Gary Cooper

Read the petition for the 2020 ballot here.

Read the Longmont Observer article "Petition to Elect Additional Boulder County Commissioners for 2020 Ballot" by Adam Steininger, August 28, 2019.