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LovelandPolitics
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Loveland, June 3, 2014

Loveland Councilman Troy Krenning floated an idea for a city charter change that received
support of 4 of his colleagues during tonight's council meeting; at least to have staff prepare
ballot language asking voters whether to amend Loveland's City Charter to reduce the
number of councilors necessary to hire and fire the city attorney and manager.

Loveland's City Charter currently requires a 2/3 majority of the council (6 of 9) to hire and
remove either of the only two city employees who report to council and serve at its leisure -
the city manager and city attorney.  If ballot language is approved in early July, Loveland's
City Council may refer the measure to the November ballot.  The costs to the City of
Loveland are marginal given the fact an election will already be taking place in November
this year.

Mayor Cecil Gutierrez presided over a messy selection process for current city manager, Bill
Cahill, in August 2010 during which the council voted numerous times in closed session until
they had the 6 votes necessary to hire Cahill.  The illegal closed session voting was
reported to the Loveland Reporter-Herald which later sued for a copy of the tapes from the
closed door council voting which is prohibited under Colorado's open meetings laws.  
see
full story from 2011 and hear the recordings.

Given the partisan divide of the council, the two factions each had a favored candidate but
eventually settled on Cahill who was not the first choice of either faction but the only
compromise that could gather the 6 votes required to make the appointment.  

Following last November's election, both Cahill and former city attorney John Duval acted
upon direction by Mayor Gutierrez and the three Democrats he helped to elect to council.   
The remaining four councilors (mostly Republican in registration) have objected to staff
playing either to a minority of council or in the case of Duval acting alone in the knowledge
only a super majority could remove him.

Central to Krenning's complaint is the inability of the individual council members to get
support from staff even when the majority agrees.  Krenning articulated to his colleagues the
frustration of not being able to implement what voters were promised even when a majority
of the council agrees.  Krenning argued that if each council member can be hired or fired by
a simple majority of their constituents why isn't it the same for the people they hire.

Current Manager Excluded "Not a power grab"

Krenning proposed the charter change will not be retroactive (thus protecting current City
Manager Bill Cahill from removal by a simple majority but does apply to future hires) but will
effect how the council chooses the next city attorney since the seat is currently vacant.

Council Phil Farley objected by calling the proposed ballot measure a "power grab" by the
council's majority.  Krenning explained it is not since the impact to the city manager would
likely not take effect until after the next city council elections a year from November.  Leaving
room to potentially oppose the measure, Councilman Chauncey Taylor indicated he wants to
hear what those who drafted the city's charter have to say before deciding his position.

If approved by council in July, the city charter can only be amended after a majority of
Loveland residents vote in favor of the change.  
Loveland Voters May Face Another
Ballot Measure This Year
From:  Ward I - Troy Krenning Troy.
Krenning@cityofloveland.org

To:  City Council CCouncil@cityofloveland.org,
Bill Cahill Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org, Judy
Schmidt Judy.Schmidt@cityofloveland.org, Terry
Andrews Terry.Andrews@cityofloveland.org

Cc  Jessica Maher maherj@reporter-herald.com,
LovelandPolitics Guchwale@aol.com, Temp
CCMAIL TEMPCC@cityofloveland.org


Tonight I plan to ask the City Attorney to prepare
a draft charter amendment for council
consideration at our first July meeting. I am
asking the Council to consider passing an
ordinance that will submit to the voters in
November two changes to our Charter.
Currently our charter allows for the City Manager
and City Attorney to be appointed or removed by
a vote of 2/3 of the Council. In other words it
takes a super majority of council to hire or
replace the two most senior executives of
municipal government.

Members of Council are elected by a majority of
voters in their respective ward and the Mayor is
elected by a majority of voters of the City. The
idea that it takes a super majority of the elected
officials to effect change, if change is needed
seems counter intuitive to the notion of
representative government.
Under our current model, our two executives
really answer to a minority of the Council knowing
that their tenure is tied to maintaining support of
only four of nine.

I fuly support our current City Manager and this
proposal in no way should be considered an
attempt to discredit his leadership or job
performance. In fact, I plan to ask that the charter
Amendment be prospective, not retroactive and
thus even if my proposal makes it’s way to the
ballot and is approved by the voters, our current
City Manager would still serve under the 6/9ths
rule.

However, as we embark on the task of hiring a
new City Attorney I believe that this and future
Councils should have the ability to make
leadership changes based upon the majority of
council, not a super majority.

If a majority of council can pass a budget, adopt
new laws, set fees and fines I believe that the
same majority should be able to influence city
leadership.

Citizens demand accountability in government.
Giving the council the ability to change course, if
and when needed is my desire.

Troy Krenning
City Council
Ward 1