FOCUS SESSION SUMMARY
Here is a summary of the City council's "focus session" on March 1 and 2, 2024. The City and County of Broomfield has provided the presentations, videos, and transcripts, for each session on their website if you would like to go back and review the individual sessions.
What was our main takeaway from these sessions? The City Council wasted your taxpayer dollars and a day and a half of their time looking into their pet projects and political agendas instead of focusing on the real issues facing Broomfield. Public safety, shrinking revenues for the city's water and sewer funds, and skyrocketing cost of living were not directly discussed in the focus session.
While the City Council chose to talk amongst themselves during the session, in the end they had to acknowledge the reality for the City Manager and City Staff: The City and County of Broomfield does not have the budget or the staff time to take on the City Council's focus topics. Most of the items were tabled indefinitely or may be revisited at a later date.
City Manager Hoffman made it clear to the City Council that the council would have to choose which programs would be pursued as none of these topics have funding for the coming year, staff is already overbooked, and mandates, obligations, and critical needs are priorities this year.
In the end, there were no immediate changes to the City and County of Broomfield true priorities.
While it was a focus session for the City Council, it was a public meeting. Many of you were there. Once again, thank you to all who attended. By simply being at their focus session, you made quite an impression, You were there, and while you were not allowed to speak, your voice was heard! Remember, you employ them, and just being present, showed them you care how your city is being run and how your money is being spent.
Summary of the outcome of their 5 focus session topics:
Friday, March 1, 2024
1) Air Quality Monitoring (oil and gas) - City Staff to Investigate options.
The City Council asked staff to investigate other options that might include a system that could monitor both methods and to bring this topic up at a future meeting.
2) Self-Sufficient Wage (minimum wage) - City Staff to research surrounding county policies, no further action by City Council.
Mayor Pro-Tem Shaff would like to pursue a $25 minimum wage and the council directed staff to work with other counties, such as Adams County, who are currently researching the issue including the amount of funding required to do the research and the number of full-time employees (FTEs) needed to pursue this issue. Cost estimates ranged from $100,000 to $1,000,000.
3) Rental Registration (charging landlords more money) - No further action by Council
City Councilmembers thought that the added cost would be used to increase the cost of rent and there was not an overwhelming desire to move forward with this program.
4) Best-Value Contracting (requiring businesses to follow DEI initiatives) - No further action by Council
City Manager Hoffman said that the contracting process right now is measured, modelled, and repeatable and is effective because contractors know what to expect.
City Manager Hoffman explained there would have to be trade-offs with contractors for extra costs. She also stated that the single-hauler trash RFQ would be coming to council in the near future and council could use that document to study putting DEI language into contracts.
*Note: during the conversation surrounding the immigration topic on March 2, 2024, this focus session item was postponed so that other priorities could be pursued.
5) Immigrant-Friendly Cities (DEAI, Workforce Development, etc.) - City Council requested a study session....at a much later date.
The room was filled with citizens during this focus session item. Citizens voiced strong opposition that they were not allowed to speak and voice their concerns. Six councilmembers wanted to have a further study session to discuss the cost of this program which will probably be scheduled sometime after May, 2024.
| 
