Looking through my file of Open Forum letters I have written about unincorporated Boulder County road maintenance since 2010, it is recalled to mind that on Aug.t 12, 2010, at the periodic commissioners meeting Commissioner Will Toor gave the attendees the message that he would not budge on the question of who would pay for maintaining unincorporated Boulder County subdivision roads — the residents would pay, period. The other commissioners did nothing to open discussion on the matter — just silence is how I remember it.
Of the 17 Daily Camera opinions and Open Forum letters I have collected in the past month and a half: 12 questioned, criticized or otherwise disagreed with the commissioners’ position on the unincorporated road maintenance issue; one was neutral, focusing mainly on the “treason” flap; and four supported the commissioners. Two of the four pieces authored by the commissioners on Dec. 29 and Jan. 1, one by a Boulder City Councilman, and the fourth by a citizen.
Not very scientific, but arguable against a claim by Macon Cowles on Jan. 5, “But rural residents …..need to know that a majority of residents support the commissioners on this issue.” I don’t think so, unless he is counting those county residents who benefit from this ruling by the commissioners.
What alternative is left for we citizens to engage the commissioners but through recall?
The current commissioners have joined commissioners from years gone by behind a wall of silence — a stonewalling of the citizens of unincorporated Boulder County subdivisions. And, I just don’t see any change coming. To date they have given us a choice between a Public or a Local Improvement District, and ignored the 800-pound gorilla in the room — reallocation of the existing budget and/or issuing a municipal bond and/or some other alternative.
Considering that two state representatives were recalled because of their support of legislation that is now Colorado law, then it would seem that similar action in response to the commissioners’ intransigence on the road maintenance issue is a proper thing for us to do.
How do the citizens of unincorporated Boulder County subdivisions undertake a recall? I hope to hear from my fellow residents who support those of us who live in unincorporated Boulder County.
William Taggart
