FEDERAL HEIGHTS — Neighborly trust will no longer be a good criteria for someone to serve on the City Council in this community of 10,000.
Now, anyone hoping to be a council member will have to pass a criminal-background check.
The city implemented the rule after a newly appointed member was booted off the council last month.
City officials discovered James King was a convicted felon after he was appointed to the council in November. King — convicted of felony menacing stemming from an incident in 2001 — told council members no one asked him about his criminal history.
The city’s charter prohibits felons from serving on the council or as mayor.
Mayor Joyce Thomas said background checks were not used because it seemed residents and city officials knew their neighbors — and potential council members — well.
“It’s a small community,” Thomas said. “In the past, we just depended on knowing somebody who knew that person.”
In fact, one recent appointee to the city council was the daughter of the former police chief, so she passed muster, Thomas said. “We knew her pretty well.”
Applicants to fill King’s Ward 2 seat were given a packet including a form that asks them to consent to a background check. Council members will pick a top candidate tonight .
Councilwomen Tanya Ishikawa was appointed to the council in December 2007 and, after the episode with King, pushed for possible appointees to provide even more information about themselves.
She wanted council applicants to provide a resume. But her suggestion didn’t meet the approval of other council members.
“One person said it shouldn’t matter about someone’s background,” Ishikawa said. “Well, in this case (King’s), it did.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
