A New Year's Resolution for Local Engagement

Each year, many of us use the arrival of January to reflect on the months ahead and how we want our lives to unfold. Often, this reflection takes the form of a resolution—a commitment to a guiding principle or a specific set of goals. This year, I want to encourage you to make a resolution that benefits our entire community: becoming even more engaged with your county government. After all, as Lyndon B. Johnson once noted, “Government is best which is closest to the people.”

As your Board of County Commissioners, we are dedicated to being transparent and accessible representatives. One of the most direct ways to stay informed is by attending our public hearings, held most Tuesdays at 9 a.m. at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility in Golden. For those who cannot join us in person, we invite you to participate virtually via WebEx, where you can provide public testimony and engage with the board in real-time. Visit the county's meetings webpage to find out how to participate.

To ensure we reach every corner of Jeffco, the board also hosts quarterly town hall meetings. I'll post more information about our town halls below. Additionally, for those looking to take a leadership role in our community, please consider applying for one of our many volunteer boards and commissions. These positions allow you to lend your expertise to everything from land use planning to library services, helping us shape a better future for Jefferson County. You can find more information about both these items below. Thank you for your engagement thus far, and we look forward to working together for a safe, healthy, and thriving Jeffco in the year ahead!

Virtual Town Hall on February 19: To ensure we reach every corner of Jeffco, the board also hosts quarterly town hall meetings. These sessions offer an open platform for you to ask questions and provide feedback on critical initiatives like wildfire resiliency and the county budget. On Thursday, Feb. 19 from 6-7 p.m., the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners will be joined by county staff to share important updates and answer your questions. Jefferson County's virtual town hall will be great opportunity to engage with county leadership and to learn more about what is going on at the county. You can join online to listen in, or ask any questions you might have. For more information, as well as register for the event, please visit our Town Hall Webpage.

Seeking volunteers for county boards & commissions: Jefferson County is currently seeking dedicated volunteers to fill vacancies on several important boards and commissions. As we note on our website, public involvement is fundamental to good government, and service through Jefferson County’s volunteer boards and commissions is an effective way for citizens to provide valuable input and make a positive impact to our community. Applications are open for the following:


• Budget Advisory Committee: Citizen at large
• Community Corrections Board: This is an alternate role, can be filled by an unincorporated resident OR a representative from City of Edgewater, City of Littleton, Town of Morrison, Mountain View, Bow Mar, Lakeside, or Gilpin County.
• Community Services Advisory Board: Low-income community representative role
• Engineering Advisory Boards: Geological representative 
• Equine and Agriculture Heritage Commission: Surrounding Neighborhood representative
• Foothills Housing Authority: Citizen at large
• IDEA: Local Business Owner, Muni representative
• Open Space Advisory Committee: Muni representative 
• Tri-County Workforce Development Board: Business representative & Workforce representative

Some boards and commissions require certain knowledge or experience, please reference the individual board pages for more information and any prerequisites. Applications are posted here: https://bm-public-jeffco.escribemeetings.com/ and will close on February 20th.

DMV services temporarily halted during upgrade: Beginning this week, the Colorado Department of Revenue will be making a major upgrade to the DMV system that all offices statewide use. In order to push this upgrade live, the full state DMV system must shut down for several consecutive days. Here is the current closure schedule, although dates may change:


• February 11 - February 16: All online driver's license services will be unavailable (Jefferson County does not issue driver's licenses, but this impacts the state DMV offices that are co-located)
• Evening of February 13 - February 16: All in-person, online, and kiosk DMV services will be unavailable statewide
• February 17: Online, by phone, and kiosk services will re-open, but Jefferson County DMV offices will remain closed for in-person services
• February 18 - 19: In-person services at Jefferson County DMV offices will resume in limited capacity, with no walk-ins and fewer than typical appointments
• February 23: All services resume normal business hours and availability

A major part of the upgrade will be the launch of a new customer portal. I encourage you to sign up for the portal once it's available. The portal will be the new interface for drivers statewide to access information about your license and vehicles, manage your account, and pay for services. For more information, feel free to reach out to the Clerk & Recorder's Office.

Federal funding freeze paused for now: Recipients of various human services programming in Jefferson County and throughout Colorado received good news last week when a federal judge paused the federal funding freeze issued by the federal administration. The halt comes after a temporary restraining order issued on January 9 and then extended on January 23. The federal court extended the injunction again to prevent the funding cutoff while the lawsuit over the funding freeze proceeds.

In Jeffco, our Human Services department receives approximately $8.45 million for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, with about 60 percent of the funding going towards direct assistance to clients, and the remainder used for eligibility determination, case management, and administrative work. An additional $1.8 million was frozen in the Social Services Block grant, affecting reimbursement timing and indirect cost recovery for our Child Welfare and Adult Protective Services. Up to $9 million in Child Care Assistance funding was also frozen, which creates risk for provider payments and enrollment stability.

The pause on the funding freeze will remain in effect while the court case plays out. For more information, I recommend this Colorado Sun article: Trump’s freeze of $10B in funds for low-income families in Colorado, 4 other states blocked by federal judge. To track the overall impact of the various federal funding cuts to Colorado, click HERE, and to view the impacts specific to Jefferson County, click HERE.

I am committed to being a transparent and accessible representative for you. One of the best ways to get involved is by attending our Board of County Commissioners public hearings, held most Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. at the Courts and Administration Building in Golden. If you can't join us in person, you can always watch meetings live or listen to past recordings and briefings at your convenience.

To stay even more connected, I encourage you to view our Stay Connected webpage, which lists out all the various ways to stay connected with your county government, including links to sign up for a department or group's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Nextdoor, Flickr, or Newsletter. Also, here are links to directly subscribe to the county's various newsletters:

• Engage Jeffco Newsletter
• Climate Action Newsletter
• Jeffco Parks E-Newsletter Panorama
• Jeffco Public Health Monthly
• Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Newsletter

For folks that enjoying listening to podcasts, I encourage you to sign up for our Engage Jeffco Podcast, where we dive deeper into the issues and people that shape our community.

Also, if you want to receive alerts or updates on various activities ranging from a public health notice to road closure updates, go to our Stay Up to Date page and sign up to receive timely notifications on important news and alerts.

Lastly, for a full range of services and information, our official county website remains your best resource. Remember, my door is always open. Please feel free to reach out to me directly at rzenzing@jeffco.us or via my cell at 303-748-0770. I look forward to working together for a safe, healthy, and thriving Jeffco in the year ahead!