Several Weld County communities want a private mediator to help them deal with the county commissioners, especially on the volatile issue of growth.
Many of the towns are in southwest Weld, a region considered one of the fastest-growing in the country and where the county’s growth plans have come under fire for being haphazard.
“There is not going to be an easy solution to any of this,” said Dacono Mayor Wade Carlson, “but the solution will be in how well we communicate.”
Dacono is among the towns supporting an effort to get a $20,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to hire the mediator. So far, communities have pledged about $11,000 in matching funds, said Becky Safarik, community development director for the city of Greeley.
Whoever gets the job will help identify the issues of each community and bring those to the commissioners to help work out agreements on growth boundaries and shared resources, Safarik said.
“He or she will hopefully keep us focused and make sure everyone is heard,” she said. “We hope to come up with a more cooperative relationship.”
Southwest Weld towns and the commissioners have verbally sparred over growth plans for more than two years. Towns like Mead and Firestone have complained bitterly that the commissioners approve huge housing developments near town borders that command valuable resources including water and police protection.
The five commissioners, meanwhile, contend the towns are just as responsible for rapid, managed growth.
In July, the commissioners criticized a study done by a planning firm they hired – Carter & Burgess – as being too negative.
The study said the growth policies of the commissioners would lead to economic instability in the county. Carter & Burgess also said an outside facilitator was needed to help mend the fractured relationship between southwest Weld communities and the commissioners.
Several towns and cities formed an organization in the summer to regularly meet with the commissioners on growth issues, and those talks are ongoing.
A mediator will further help the situation, Carlson said.
The commissioners already meet with the mayors of all 32 towns and cities in Weld County on a monthly basis, said Commissioner Mike Geile.
He’s not sure how a mediator will further open the lines of communication. “Our question is: ‘What is a mediator going to do?”‘ Geile said.
But he also doesn’t dismiss the idea that a mediator could bring a fresh perspective. “A mediator could bring things to the table that nobody else considered.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
