Currently, the City Manager may, without the consent of City Council or anyone else, declare a disaster and then exercise absolute police powers. This "disaster" need not be particularly devastating or traumatic to the City: even the blizzard of this past winter could have been considered a disaster. A disaster is defined as being any "occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural cause or cause of human origin." [1]

The only check to the power of the City Manager is that the police powers are limited to seven days, at which point the powers may be renewed by the City Council for another week.

I have written previously to complain of the despotic power consolidated by the City Council and the lack of separation between the branches of Arvada's government. Imagine my outrage that the Arvada City Council unanimously supported a new ordinance that would grant them even more power, and reduce the checks to their authority!

Ordinance CB07-020

Ordinance CB07-020 would repeal the municipal code's current Chapter 26 (Civil Emergencies) and replace it with a new Chapter 26 (Civil Emergencies, Emergency or Local Disaster). The new Chapter 26 grants the City Manager even more power in the event of a disaster. According to the Arvada Press (May 10, 2007) it would specifically allow 27 powers to the City Manager, including establishing a curfew, closing "nonessential" businesses, and suspending or limiting the city's water resources.

The City Council supports this ordinance because they feel that in the case of a disaster, it is best to have one person in charge. I would agree: it is logical and wise that the Executive power of Arvada should be held by one individual. However, the power of the Executive should be checked by both the Legislative and the Judicial powers.

During non-disasters in Arvada, the Legislative (the City Council) appoints the Executive (the City Manager) and the Judicial powers. While this lack of separation of power (the Judicial and Executive are not independent) is bad, during disasters in Arvada, the Executive is allowed to grant themselves supreme power! The person who declares the disaster and the person who is in charge during the disaster should not be the same person.

To allow the City Manager the authority to grant himself absolute power is foolhardy, and amounts to a surrender of the liberty of Arvada to an unelected tyrant. To allow that tyrant even more power is outrageous.

While, theoretically, in a disaster, there is no time for a committee to debate or to vote, there is always time for review. Why grant absolute power to the City Manager when it would be easy to provide oversight? Two obvious solutions exist: either 1) provide oversight indirectly (through an approval committee formed by the City Council) and prevent despotism through a parliamentary monarchy: if the City Manager were accountable to the Legislative branch, he would respect law better or 2) provide oversight directly through democracy, by making the City Manager accountable to the people during elections: if the City Manager were an elected official, he would respect the rights of the people better.

There must be checks to the power of the government, or else liberty fails. The proposed ordinance, while foolish to place absolute power in an unelected official, at least retains the prudence of a week long review period. Yet this is not enough. What could a corrupt City Manager do with absolute power in a week? In a month? In a year? What petty excuses could they use to justify their continued reign over decades or over their lifetime?

The Excuses of a Benign Tyranny

Granted, the current tyranny is benign: City Manager Craig Kocian is no King George III, no Hitler or Mussolini. He has managed the City tolerably well and has not (greatly) abused his power. However, who is to say that the next City Manager might be better (or worse)?

The City of Arvada, having long since lost her liberty, slips from despotism to tyranny, from tyranny to ruin.

The people of Arvada deserve a representative, democratic Republic, and deserve to choose their leaders. The people of Arvada deserve to choose who will wield authority in times of crisis, in good times and in bad. The people of Arvada deserve at least the power to check a tyrant, whether through parliamentary monarchy (oversight by the elected City Council) or through direct democracy.

What are the petty excuses of this benign tyranny?

The City Council defends itself saying that the Council members and Mayor have full time jobs elsewhere, so they may not be able to lead during a crisis. But this is a poor excuse! Responsible leaders should not run for office if they won't have time or otherwise be able to take the actions their city needs-especially if there is an emergency.

The Mayor, who chose to defend the power vested in him by the people to lead during times of crisis by voting for the very ordinance that strips him of any authority in emergencies, gives this petty excuse: "you don't want politics intervening at times like that." Does the Mayor suggest that Arvadans are unable to elect their leadership? Does he think that we have chosen him the Mayor and the City Council not knowing their politics? We have elected them because we knew them as our neighbors, and trusted them with our life, liberty and property. Mr. Mayor, the people never chose the City Manager, and do not know his politics: Arvadans prefer the political intervention of democracy to the apolitical oppression of a tyrant!

Defend Your Liberty, Your Life and Your Property!

The City Council has finally gone too far: they are selling your rights and liberties cheaply. The Mayor and City Council defend themselves with half-thought, ineffective, inane and outrageous arguments while leaving the rights and liberty of the people and the interests of the City undefended.

The proposed Chapter 26 will be put to a public hearing on June 4 at 7 p.m. at city hall, 8101 Ralston Road. You can attend if you like, but your rights and liberties, even if defended there and then, will be challenged again by the incompetence of your City Council and undefended by the weakness of your Mayor.

The time has come to take refuge in the ultimate rights your ancestors and City founders gave to you: we must take refuge together in democracy, in the peaceful, inevitable, invincible process of initiative and petition.

Together, let us initiate, through petition, the changes to the Charter and the Ordinances that will secure the blessings of democratic liberty and freedom not only for us, but for generations to come. We have it within our power to improve the economy of Arvada, we are able to take up the burden of self governance...or at least establish a rule of law that holds the powers of Arvada responsible.

We must now separate the Executive, Judicial and Legislative powers of Arvada's government-or find them united against us in our times of weakness, in our times of crisis, in our emergencies when we require them to help us most.

Vote for Choate! And Her Initiatives and Petitions!

In coming months, I will be circulating initiatives and petitions for you to sign that will accomplish all the goals of my platform. If you would like to help me in this, or if you would like help writing your own initiatives and petitions, please contact me at my work at (720) 207-3642, or email me at my work at directors@coastalfields.com. Together, we can do many good things.