Article Contributed on: 12/7/2007 10:42:39 PM
For the past couple of months Castle Rock's town manager, Mark Stevens, and town clerk, Sally Misare, have been repeatedly bothered by requests from other members of the Town Council for copies of my email communication, via my town-issued email address, with Mr. Stevens. The third such request, this time from Councilman Mitch Dulleck (District 5-Founders Village), was sent to Mr. Stevens on Thursday, December 6. It follows earlier requests by Councilman Doug Lehnen (District 6-Plum Creek/Crystal Valley) and Councilwoman Katie Kruger (District 1-Meadows).
The intent of these requests is pretty plain. Apparently Mr. Dulleck, Mr. Lehnen and Ms. Kruger don't think members of the Town Council should ask the town manager questions. They also apparently believe that the duty of a member of the Council is to praise the town's staff, no matter the merits of their work, and never indicate (even in a private message to the town manager) any concerns about the direction of the town's policy and progress.
Obviously I disagree with that. Democratic government, which we are supposed to have even at the municipal level, requires that those elected to represent the people feel free to hold accountable those charged with carrying out the law (such as the town manager) through appropriate inquiry.
This silly, petty, time-wasting game, however, takes up time that Mr. Stevens and Ms. Misare need to do more important work. It is time to end it. Since Mayor Randy Reed, not surprisingly, refuses to exercise any leadership on the matter, I will do so.
I have asked Mr. Stevens to terminate my town email account and informed him that I will do all communicating with him and with the town's department heads, to the extent it is necessary, via voicemail message or in person. This will be less convenient for them and for me, for sure, but it appears that Mr. Dulleck, Ms. Kruger and Mr. Lehnen are insistent on continuing to waste the town manager's time.
They also apparently really believe that their tactic will stop me from asking questions. Of course, it will not. Whether I have to ask them via voicemail message, at private meetings with the town manager, or in a public meeting of the Council, I shall do so. I owe my constituents no less.
The real problem here is the misguided notion that the duty of a member of the Town Council is to agree with the other six members on everything. To Mr. Dulleck, Mr. Lehnen and Ms. Kruger, "teamwork" apparently requires that the desires, priorities and values of a member's constituents be subordinated to the supposed imperative of rubber-stamping the staff's ideas and not challenging the policy notions, no matter how wrong, of more senior members of the Council. Of course, given Mr. Lehnen's recent behavior, and the failure of any other member of the Council to criticize it, much less state forthrightly that it was inappropriate, it's hard to take seriously these individuals' views of what "teamwork" requires.
I hope the people of this community will see this for what it is: yet another attempt by Mayor Randy Reed and his "we see no problems here" majority to stifle dissent and debate and preclude discussion of the community's real needs. Mr. Reed and friends have no problem contemplating the expenditure of $80 million for parking garages to benefit private developers. But they sure have a problem when someone points out that, like it or not, Castle Rock has big problems. They start with too much sprawl, growth that has severely undermined the town's capacity to provide necessary services, and a refusal to recognize, let alone attempt to deal with, the larger social, economic and environmental trends that are already having a significant effect on the quality of life here.
From where I sit on the Council's dias, Castle Rock would be much better off if dedicated people from districts 1, 2, and 6 could be convinced to run against Ms. Kruger, Mr. Reed and Mr. Lehnen. These folks are vulnerable.
For example, Ms. Kruger openly said, at our televised public meeting on Nov. 27, that she would not support shifting money in the budget to pay for a needed traffic police officer, even though she agrees one is needed, because the town's residents need to be shown that Town Hall doesn't get enough tax revenue. In other words, Ms. Kruger wants to use public safety as a means to extort more taxes out of people. Wonderful.
Ms. Kruger also has an interesting idea for convincing people to use fewer plastic bags. She is asking the Council to impose a fifty-cent
per bag tax on plastic bags! Most shoppers, upon learning of such a tax when they visit the grocery store, wouldask for paper bags. That would be a good thing, overall, butthere's no assurance those paper bags would get recycled any more than the plastic bags being used by many people right now are now getting recycled. Of course, it's not clear that Ms. Kruger would be too bothered about that little glitch in her tax plan. She is among those on the Council who have refused to consider doing anything likely to increase access to recycling services in Castle Rock.
Meanwhile, I have been told by one person, who says he saw it happen, that Mr. Reed has engaged in the tipping over of "open house" real-estate signs. I can't vouch for the truth of that rumor, but given Mr. Reed's odd hostility to the use of "open-house" signs (he claimed during the recent debate on signs in the right-of-way that they're never needed to sell a home), I wouldn't be surprised if something like that has gone on. Indeed, I'm told that one realtor has photographs of the Mayor in the act.
As for Mr. Lehnen, I think his recent behavior says all that needs to be said about his fitness for public office. Just in case you need even more evidence of just how much good Doug Lehnen is doing for your neighborhood, he voted against my Nov. 27 amendment asking the town manager to find money in the proposed budget to fund a much-needed traffic police officer. That shows how much he cares about the safety of your children!
Ryan Reilly, who represents District 3 (Meadows-Red Hawk Ridge)opposed that amendment, too.
The election is in early April. It doesn't cost much to run a strong campaign and the needs of this community are pretty obvious. So, please, step up for Castle Rock so that this community can have a Town Council of which it can be proud.
Constituents desiring to contact me should do so by calling my town telephone number - (303) 660-1399 - or by writing me care of Castle Rock Town Hall, 100 N. Wilcox St., Castle Rock, CO 80104. Thank you for your patience.