They want control. We want accountability.

Members of our community will be providing public comment at both the Douglas County School District Board of Education meeting and the Highlands Ranch Metro District meeting. When our community speaks with a collective voice, we all win.

The following is the public comment from Kelly Mayr: Many people here tonight or listening online may still be learning about Home Rule. The Commissioner has spent 20 minutes informing the Board about Home Rule, but there are still a lot of questions voters should be asking about Home Rule.

Why pursue Home Rule at all? Pitkin and Weld counties are the only two counties in Colorado with county-specific Home Rule. In both of those cases, Home Rule was initiated by citizens who were trying to take power back from corrupt county government. But in Douglas County, Home Rule is being initiated by the Commissioners, who are asking the people to give them even more power. 

Why the rush? Why did the Commissioners announce a special election for June 24th with exactly 91 days notice to the public? Why was the deadline to file as a candidate for the Charter Commission exactly 30 days later, when most of Douglas County was still trying to figure out exactly what Home Rule was? Why are Douglas County voters being given very little time to learn about this change to county governance that was not initiated by the people?

Why the cost? Why did the Commissioners announce this special election at a cost of $500,000 to Douglas County taxpayers only 4 months after a general election? A ballot question in the last general election would have cost zero additional dollars, and a ballot question in the next general election in 2026 would also have cost zero additional dollars.

Could the timing and the cost be because both Commissioner Laydon and Commissioner Teal will be term limited at the end of their current terms? Commissioner Laydon will hit his term limit in 2027 and Commissioner Teal will term limit in 2029. Under Home Rule, the Commissioners will be able to make changes to county election procedures, term limits, and even their own salaries among many other powers. Could those be motives for the timing and the cost?

How will Home Rule affect our elections, our schools, our transportation systems, our law enforcement, our land use, our county services, our governance? There are so many questions about Home Rule and so little time to learn about all the ways it will affect us. There will be one more BOE meeting before the June 24th election. What will this board be doing to educate itself and to inform our community about how Home Rule will affect our schools between now and the next BOE meeting on June 10th?