I am
very fortunate to be an elected city official in a small
mountain town in Colorado. We are located between Aspen and
Vail. Our base population is approximately 8,000 but with the
tourist trade and the fact that we are the county seat we have
about 20 to 30 thousand people through our town daily. We live
at the confluence of two beautiful rivers, in a valley
surrounded by mountains.
My position as an elected official is city council. I am the
mayor pro-tem. This means the assistant mayor. We have a town
manager who actually runs the business of the town so the
council and the mayor are not full time jobs.
There are seven of us on the city council. We meet for public
meetings twice per month. In addition we serve on separate
city boards. I serve on a transportation board and a mass
transit board. I formerly sat on the planning and zoning
board.
Serving in a small community is a place where a person can
implement change. We are not so encumbered with the politics
of things; or by the process. You can actually make a
difference where you live. This is very rewarding. I sometimes
think that public service at a higher level of government
would be more difficult to make a difference. It would at
least be more of a challenge.
The process of being a public servant is one of meetings.
Sometimes it seems like endless meetings. There are serious
issues, minor problems, daily operations, personnel and future
projects to discuss. Economics always plays a big role in what
government (of any size) can do. There are many fixed costs in
running a city, or state, or nation. The discretionary funds amounts
to the money you have left to spend. During a down turn
in economics, you spend some time trying to figure out how to
maintain the services you have with less available funds.
A typical day may begin with a 7:00 a.m. meeting. It will
involve 6 to 10 people. It is usually a mixture of council,
city staff and public volunteers. We usually have an agenda of
specific items. The meetings may cover traffic or mass transit
or parks or river and trails. It could be about a multitude of
things. Sometimes we have midday meetings with other state
agencies or public meetings. We often have work shops between
the city council and other committees.
Our regular meetings begin in the evening. They are the first
and third Thursday of every month. We usually begin at 5:00
p.m. with a work shop and then we begin the public meeting at
6:30. Our meetings can go until 2:00 in the morning. I think
the earliest we ever were done was 8:00. We usually meet
until around 10:00.
It is very rewarding to be part of my community. It is
important to me to be an active player in my community. I
encourage some form of local involvement or volunteer work for
everyone.
Sincerely,
Rick Davis
