Greeley residents may soon be able to participate even further in local government as the city council considers creating individual advisory committees for larger projects, such as the Downtown Civic Campus or Catalyst.
On Tuesday, city staff presented the council with a proposal that Councilman Johnny Olson initially suggested to create committees that would provide the council with monthly updates on the city’s most significant projects. The committees would assist the council in engaging more deeply with key projects.
If approved, all committees would brief the council on the key takeaways from each of the main projects, as well as any issues that may arise, on a monthly basis at the start of a council meeting or work session.
Though the committees would primarily be comprised of residents, city staff reminded Mayor John Gates he could also choose to appoint council members to the committees.
Currently, city staff suggests these committees be made up of three to four members who will meet on a monthly basis to discuss what City Manager Raymond Lee described as “high-profile projects.” City staff would help facilitate the committee’s discussions.
Some of the projects that were recommended to receive committees were the Mobility Expansion for Regional Growth, or MERGE, project, the Downtown Civic Campus project and the Catalyst project, which has recently been targeted by a citizen initiative seeking to challenge the financing plan with a vote this November.
Councilwoman Melissa McDonald asked staff why pivoting to a committee structure would be more beneficial than council members meeting with staff directly. Chief Operating Officer Blair Snow said while it would increase transparency, it would also reduce the city staff’s workload.
Unlike the current system of city staff meeting with only two members of council, the committee would promote transparency by involving residents and sharing the information with everyone at once, Blair said.
Under their current meeting structure, staff need to spend many hours preparing for and conducting meetings, Blair continued. By implementing committees, she estimated the city could save staff a whole day of work.
Councilman Tommy Butler also had concerns about the committee proposal, referencing other cities with a similar setup that have ended up with several committees for projects of varying levels of importance.
“I don’t hate the idea of creating committees. I know a lot of other cities did this and are starting to have nine, 10, even 15 committees. I don’t want us to go down that road,” Butler said. “I don’t really mind it (forming committees), but also if we didn’t do it, I think we’d all get about as much information as we’re getting right now.”
Gates said he supports the idea only because city staff have recommended the committees for projects of a large scale.
Councilman Brett Payton said it would make more sense to spread the workload instead of only some members of the council meeting with staff and reporting back.
No actions were taken during the meeting, but the council was largely supportive of the idea. City staff will return to decide how to proceed at a later date that has yet to be determined.
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