Laydon criticizes Thomas during public meeting regarding newsletter

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

One of Douglas County’s elected leaders criticized his colleague for writing about a funding advisory board in a way he compared to “doxing” after a disagreement about how arts and culture money should be spent.

“We had our SCFD (Scienti c and Culture Facilities District) board show up with their hair on re because you had released information about them, attacked them in a newsletter apparently and said things that really made them not want to work with us,” Commissioner Abe Laydon said to Commissioner Lora omas during an Aug. 8 meeting of county o cials.

e Scienti c and Cultural Facilities District is a government body that includes seven counties in the Denver metro area. One penny on every $10 in sales and use tax collected goes to the district to fund organizations that provide arts or science programs, the district’s website says.

e metro area’s largest cultural organizations — such as the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Zoo — receive speci c amounts of funding.

But counties also make decisions about how the tax revenue is spent. Each county receives a share of the tax collected, and then county cultural councils review applications from organizations and make recommendations on their county’s funding priorities, the district’s website says.

ose recommendations are then reviewed and approved by the county commissioners or a city council and the SCFD board of directors.

omas’ email newsletter took issue with the actions of the Douglas County Cultural Council.

“ is year there was more funding available for distribution than there were requests, but (Douglas County) commissioners did not learn about this windfall until after the council had made recommendations,” omas wrote in an Aug. 6 newsletter.

Organizations outside of Douglas County that can prove that they provide services to county residents are eligible for funding, according to omas’ newsletter. For example, Dinosaur Ridge in Je erson County has received funding from Douglas County in the past because it can show Douglas County residents visit that venue, she wrote.

But “I felt strongly that after all of the requests for funding had been ful lled, that the Cultural Council should disperse the additional $500,000 only to organizations located in Douglas County, such as the Highlands Ranch Cultural A airs, the Lone Tree Symphony