No hurry on charter changes

Councilors not convinced November election is right

BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

E orts to change Brighton’s charter with a November vote will wait at least another two weeks as councilors postponed their discussion until April 18.

“I think this may be a solution in search of a problem,” Councilor Tom Green said.

City Attorney Alicia Calderon outlined a process that would allow the city to create a ve-member committee - three residents, chosen by the City Council, and two councilors - that would review the city’s current charter and report back by early August with a list of suggested changes.

Brighton’s current charter was updated and adopted by voters in 2000. Changing it this year does come with a tight timeline, Calderon said. Councilors would need to put out a call for residents that are interested in serving on a charter committee, accepting them until May 5, according to her timeline. Councilors would review candidates, selecting three residents and two council members by May 23. e group would meet for the rst time on May 31, working over the following 90 days to review the charter and make recommendations by early August.

Councilors would need to approve questions to put on the ballot by Sept. 5.

“It’s similar to the process for a charter commission except it’s shorter because we are not writing an entire charter,” Calderon said.

Councilor Matt Johnston noted that an election wouldn’t be cheap and councilors would have to advocate for the charter changes. Padilla said he wasn’t sure that he had strong opinions or if the council would support changes. Councilors also had questions about the number of people serving on the committee. ey chose to table discussion on the matter until May 2.

“ is is the council saying we need to look at the charter,” Green said. “I would be more than happy to have the citizens come forward and say ‘We’d like to amend the charter’ than have us say, ‘Would you please look at our charter and nd something to amend?’”