At Cities Summit of the Americas, Mayor Rogin shares ideas, meets five mayors from Ukraine

By Hollie Rogin, Mayor of Lyons Redstone Review

LYONS – People often ask me what surprises me most about being the Mayor of Lyons. Even as a Trustee and a member of the Planning and Community Development Commission, I did not fully comprehend how much collaboration takes place at the municipal, county, state and even national levels. We are one small town, but our relationships with our partners transcend our distinct borders. This was never more apparent than at the Cities Summit of the Americas last month in Denver.

The inaugural Cities Summit was convened by the U.S. Department of State to promote regional cooperation, convening subnational leaders from across the entire Western Hemisphere with diverse and inclusive representatives of government, civil society, business, academia, youth, culture and the arts, and indigenous and underrepresented groups. Denver’s Mayor Hancock kindly extended an invitation to all mayors in the region to attend at no cost.

At the summit, I was asked by National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) to sit on a panel discussion regarding the challenges of transitioning to a clean energy future. The panel was moderated by the Secretary for Renewable Power from the U.S. Department of Energy, and I was joined by Boulder’s Mayor Brockett as well as representatives from the Energy Offices of Colorado and Denver. I discussed how important it is for Lyons to be resilient and efficient while providing our ratepayers the highest levels of service at the lowest cost possible.

I also discussed the difficulties in accessing available funding; for every Federal grant, Lyons has to provide a local match in dollars. Those matches can be 20 percent of the total grant, so a $1M grant means we have to provide $200,000. For a town of our size, with a small annual budget and critical infrastructure needs, that is incredibly difficult to do. Fortunately, our counterparts at all levels of government, including NREL, are willing to work with us to find potential solutions. This may take more time than we’d like, but it’s important to keep moving forward.

I also attended a panel discussion regarding countering disinformation in the Americas. This panel was led by General Laura Richardson, the Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and included Secretary of State Jenna Griswold and Claudia López Hernández, the Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. General Richardson shed light on how disinformation begins and spreads, and how it affects us even at the hyperlocal level (generally through social media). Secretary of State Griswold expressed that she has never been more hopeful about the state of our democracy.

On the final day of the summit, I watched a group of five mayors under 30 years old talk about their hopes, challenges, and accomplishments. I also had the opportu- nity to attend a special session with five mayors from Ukraine, including those of Kiev and Kharkiv.

Each mayor spoke about what it was like to go from normal day-to-day business, such as making sure streets are paved and the budget is balanced, to being under siege by the Russian army and doing their best to protect their communities. Mayor Klychko of Kiev remarked that he never thought anything like this would happen in his city, and that the war in Ukraine is just the beginning of Russian aggression in Europe. Hearing from these mayors drove home that no matter how smoothly local government can be running along, everything can turn on a dime.

Lyons experienced a version of this during the 2013 floods. We are more resilient as a result, both in terms of infrastructure and spirit. As we watch what is happening around the world, let’s take a moment to appreciate the peace we’re able to enjoy and send our best wishes to our neighbors across the globe who are fighting to maintain their freedoms.