Over the past week, I have attended an Indigenous Fashion Show, an instructional recital and ballet master class put on by AVID — Artistic Adventures in Dance –and the Estes Skijor event. This may be the “shoulder season,” and some businesses are taking a brief break, but the Estes Valley is not in hibernation mode.
This week I am having dinner with a group of Estes businesswomen to talk about what a quarterly networking organization might look like. The purpose would be to support each other and share lessons learned. Stay tuned.
My February calendar includes a One Book One Valley event this week with Elizabeth Letts, author of “The Ride of Her Life,” the First Friday Night Art Groove on Feb. 6 and the Wine and Chocolate Festival on Feb. 7.
The Estes Valley Voice is also sponsoring two events in February. One is an author talk with Ron Pevny of Ft. Collins on Tuesday Feb. 11 at 2:30 p.m. in the dining room of the Good Samaritan Society – Estes Park Village. Pevny has just released the 10th anniversary edition of his book “Conscious Living, Conscious Aging.”
Estes is a unique community. Forty percent of our population is 60 and older. For the most part, we are a well-elderly community with many people who have chosen to move here during their retirement years because they are active and love the outdoors. The senior years are a time of more than just retirement. Pevny’s book is not about how to be busy with activities, but rather he offers insights into navigating the existential challenges and opportunities that this period demands.
The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, click here. The book is available at the Estes Valley library, it can be ordered from Macdonald Book Shop, and it will be available for sale at the event.
The Estes Valley Voice is also sponsoring a workshop on Colorado’s Open Records and Open Meeting Laws that will be held in the Town Hall boardroom on Saturday, Feb. 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. The presenter will be Jeffrey Roberts, the director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. This workshop is also free and open to all members of the public. To RSVP, please click here.
While the goal is not to be busy for the sake of being busy, there are a lot of things that offer engagement and an opportunity to lean in and contribute to our community.
This week we will be publishing a guide about the upcoming special district elections on May 6, and all the open board seats on these various boards.
Between the Estes Valley Fire Protection District Board, Park Hospital Board d/b/a Estes Park Health, the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District Board, the Estes Park Sanitation District, and the Upper Thompson Sanitation District there are 17 seats open on special district boards in our community.
Special districts are units of government that provide essential infrastructure and services such as fire and rescue, water and wastewater treatment and delivery, park and recreation amenities, hospitals, libraries, and cemeteries in many of the communities within Colorado. There are currently 2,755 special districts in Colorado.
The history of these special political subdivisions can be traced to the early days of mining camps where residents joined together to provide essential municipal-type services in unincorporated and rural areas of the state within certain geographic boundaries.
In 1981, the legislature codified the Special District Act (Title 32, Article 1, C.R.S.) which outlines the statutory authorization and limitations of special districts.
As units of government which can tax, impose fees and collect fines, the activities of special districts are subject to strict statutory guidelines, including the Colorado Open Records and Open Meetings Laws as are all elected and appointed governing boards.
The good news about special districts is that they are examples of representative democracy in action. They are local boards accountable to the voters in a geographic district.
On the downside, there are a lot of separate boards, and each requires interested members of the community willing to step up and serve. And that can be difficult in a world where everyone is busy.
Any reporter who covers board meetings will tell you that one of the reasons they call them board meetings is because they can be, at times, boring.
While the work public boards do is tremendously important, not the least of which is to oversee multimillion dollar budgets funded by mill levies and the collection of money for services, or to be responsive to the electorate, there can be a certain amount of tedium in board work.
Depending on the organization and the work that must be done, board meetings can consume many hours. In addition to making decisions about matters that come before the board, the directors also face public criticism for positions taken and decisions made.
But it is nevertheless important public service work, and it is important to find citizens willing to stand for election and then serve out a term of office.
And elected and appointed officials of public boards need good support and information about their duties and the laws that govern their work, not the least of which are the state’s Sunshine Laws that deal with open records and open meetings.
Public boards operate with different rules than do private businesses or non-profit 501c3 boards, and it is essential for directors of public boards—as well as the public, to whom those boards are accountable—to understand the state’s laws.
Stay warm, be selectively busy. Find an opportunity to nurture yourself with a good book, a favorite hobby or craft, a great conversation, and some needed down time.
I hear, too, that the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles have made it to the Super Bowl which will be played in New Orleans on Sunday, Feb. 9. Maybe we should take a poll on which team Estes Valley Voice readers think will win. My money is on KC.
To weigh in, click on our Super Bowl survey. Poll results will be announced at the kickoff on Feb. 9.
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