Taking the public out of the process

Dear fellow citizens, and former and current members of the Parks & Recreation, Natural Lands, Multimodal and Infrastructure advisory boards: your voice is about to be silenced. Please turn out April 18!

On April 4, after a day-time study session introducing the “re-envisioned Community Engagement Strategy,” Mayor Noseworthy and councilors Youssef, Baxter and Buell were ready to vote on a resolution they’d prepared for the evening council meeting. It would establish their newly proposed Financial Advisory Board (FAB) and dissolve the above-referenced boards and commissions, with zero citizen input, fundamentally flipping on its head decades of how Durango has conducted its public engagement.

Each of the 2005, 2015 and 2019 sales tax initiatives were passed on the knowledge that an advisory board would be in place to advise on how funds are spent. Voters at the time never envisioned that these boards populated over the years by hundreds of citizens would one day be dissolved and replaced with a seven-member FAB.

Although Council established its FAB on 4/4, it did not dissolve the current boards only because their attorney advised them that without a seated FAB, there would be no advisory board in place to oversee tax funds.

The irony is rich. This new strategy, flawed for so many reasons, at a minimum deserves to be vetted by the public – that is, of course, the public with whom it proposes to improve engagement.  

On 3/23, 16 former mayors voiced opposition to this proposal in a letter to the editor (“See Who’s Driving,” www.durangotelegraph.com/opinion/soap-box/whos-driving/. Among their first questions:

1) Who is driving the bus? Zero citizens whom the City Council represents have asked for a new process. 

2) What’s the rush? Why is this council not allowing any formal process for citizen engagement to understand this new plan, provide input and perhaps even improve it? 

Although these councilors contend they started this process in 2019, as a former member of the Multimodal Advisory Board (2019-21), I do not recall any consultation by staff about the need to improve public access and engagement.

3) What is the motivation when no citizens are actively calling for an improved process? Staff time, efficiencies and cost-savings are what we’re told. Moving from 23 to 15 boards will save $320,000 in staff salaries per year allowing staff to redirect its time to “other needed activities within the city which would improve the City’s overall effectiveness in providing services to the community.”

Except, conveniently, the above “analysis” leaves out the innumerable contributions volunteer boards and commissions make to the city. Think if the time of attorneys, scientists, planners and other professionals who have volunteered time over the years was included in this calculation. And who is to say $320,000 (the equivalent of two-plus full-time employees) is too much? 

Perhaps Durango should increase the staff that supports boards and commissions. Again, an excellent discussion if one was allowed to take place. 

And this new strategy? It’s involved the heads of all of the city’s departments for months now, most of whom likely make over $100k a year. Again, conveniently, the fiscal analysis leaves out the money spent and what is planned with the current strategy. 

Working groups, digital outreach, community forums over a year’s time? Assign those activities staff hours and money for an untested, staff-envisioned process that, again, purports to serve a broader segment of the public, with no public input. This proposal is entirely staff driven.

And if you are really trying to save money, is $320,000 of a $112 million budget (.28%) really the place to look to achieve those efficiencies? 

There is merit to wanting to improve community engagement and include a broader segment of our community in it. The burn is that these councilors plan to cram an untested plan down our throats without advisory boards and commissions or other public input. Once again, these councilors are not listening to the people whom they were elected to represent. 

To see the plan from the 4/4 meeting, visit tinyurl.com/communityengagementapril4. To stand up to the continued erosion of the public trust and democracy in Durango, please turn out to the City Council meeting on Tues., April 18, at 5:30 p.m. 

A FAB may be helpful, but the dissolution of these advisory boards will further reduce access citizens have to their local government. This is not the way. We need dialogue. Please show up and stand up on April 18.

– Ellen Stein, Multimodal Advisory Board Member, 2019-21