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When Broomfield was Camelot – The Creation of a County By Bette Erickson
The threads of Broomfield’s patchwork history tie its past with its future. Things like how Broomfield came to be its own county, come to mind. Broomfield is Colorado’s smallest and newest county and one of only two consolidated city-counties in the state, along with the City and County of Denver.
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ecause Broomfield continues to be a successful city that runs a county, there is no need to add the cost of county commissioners. With ten council members representing some 73,000+ residents, the community is well-represented and its citizens enjoy important county services without issue. As early as 1997, community visionaries and leaders considered the idea of Broomfield becoming its own county, including residents Larry Cooper, Al Jeffries, Gary Grenier, Clark Griep, Hank Stovall, and Linda Fahrenbruch, among dozens of others. “It was quite a task,” explains former council member and Mayor Pro-Tem Larry Cooper. “It was an amazing experience. We worked on this for years, presented to the city and the idea was accepted.” A feasibility study focused on advantages and disadvantages. Advantages included things like keeping property taxes lower and improved delivery of courts and human services, for example. Disadvantages considered were the costs of a county transition, building new infrastructure like a jail, county and
Former council member and Mayor Pro-Tem, Larry Cooper, was one of the community visionaries and leaders who helped create Broomfield County. Courtesy photo.
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Our Broomfield™ Magazine | July 2021
district courts and transferring operations and records. Not to mention the time and expense of a statewide campaign for creating Colorado’s 64th county. An amendment to the Colorado State Constitution was required to create a new county, meaning a statewide vote was required. Campaigning vigorously and traveling throughout the state yielded just the result Cooper, a lifelong Broomfield resident, and his team sought. The proposal passed in the November 1998 election, allowing Broomfield three years to transition to county status. “The campaign was so much fun,” Mr. Cooper said. “We had a great team.” Even today he gets invitations to speak at various events describing the successful process. He took off 18 months of work and spent much of his own money because he believed so strongly in the benefits of Broomfield becoming its own county. Prior to the 2001 transition to becoming our own county, Broomfield overlapped into Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, and Weld counties, which meant not only needing to travel out of the city for county services, but also four different sales tax bases. During the three-year transition, city officials oversaw an expansion of city hall, construction of new facilities including county and district courts, a jail, and the creation of important human services. In fact, some services are specific county (not municipal) functions such as treasurer, clerk and recorder, assessor, and a variety of human service programs. “Not much in my life changed when we became a county,” said Broomfield city councilwoman and lifelong resident Kim Groom. During the statewide campaign in 1998, she was a new mom and was focusing on her family and her career. “To a citizen it was a seamless transition. But to the city planners and leaders, a lot of work went into it.” Mr. Cooper agreed. “It was so complex. We were changing the State Constitution.” Important relationships were
