Hello!

Welcome to Citizens for Common Sense!  The following link, http://www.jerryditullio.com/ballotquestions.php (Click on MAYOR-COUNCIL-ADMINISTRATOR Form of Government) , is to a PowerPoint presentation which describes the two citizen proposed ballot questions for Wheat Ridge for the November 2010 election.  There has been a lot of incorrect information distributed by the misinformed who have not read the proposals in the entire context of our City Charter. 

Fear, doubt, anger and the impugning of motives will be the chosen method of operation by the opposition seeking to stop Wheat Ridge from moving forward. They will oppose these pro-active ballot changes which will make Wheat Ridge government more accountable to its residents and businesses. 

We would like to thank Mayor Jerry DiTullio for allowing us to use his personal website for the storing of information for the two ballot proposals.  Please call if you have any questions or concerns. 

We encourage an informed AND HONEST debate about the proposed issues.

Dick Matthews, resident and business owner in Wheat Ridge

303.424.7763

Click on the image twice to view

Question:

Jerry – thanks for chatting with me today on our quick update on the Wheat Ridge initiatives.  Someone sent me the attached article from the Rocky Mountain News, which reads to me like you were once opposed to a similar form of government to what you now are promoting.  Any comments on this?  What changed in your mind?

Brad Jones

Brad@Jones.name

Face The State: 720-279-9870 x 101

Answer:

sure…at the time there was major rancor between the Mayor and City Council.  Wheat Ridge had been on the Jay Leno Show after the fight between former Mayor Wilde and former Councilmember Edwards.  Council drove the change and it was added to the ballot by Council, not by citizen petition.  Times have changed and a very forward thinking citizen petition committee wants to return to the MAYOR-COUNCIL-ADMINISTRATOR form of government for better checks and balances and better accountability of elected officials, including the Mayor’s Office.  I have agreed to assist the citizen committee, but I am not a member of the committee.  Wheat Ridge has had a better track record of electing Mayors than hiring City Managers.  When we made the change in 1996 City Managers were making less than $95,000 and Wheat Ridge prospered under the MAYOR-COUNCIL-ADMINISTRATOR form of government which allows the proposed professional City Administrator to have only 1 boss, not 8-9 bosses, so some work can get done in a timely manner.

  Past Councils, including certain members of the current Council, have allowed the previous City Manager to run amok for the past 6 years. Including, but not limited to: 

• A proposed budget for 2010 that did not repair or maintain roads in the City
• Proposed budgets that did not follow the spirit and intent of the 2004 sales tax increase by the citizens
• Opposed funding ($8000) and general suppport for the 2nd year Art Festival on 38th Ave. along with certain members of Council.  So much for community building and puttting Wheat Ridge on the map for a destination type event.
• Preventing certain members of Council and the Mayor from seeing detailed consulting expenditures (a Freedom of Information Act had to be filed by the Denver Post and Mile High News) 
• Opposed the 50% permit rebate for repairs for residents and businesses after the July 20th storm in 2009
• Opposed the 2% business sales tax collection rebate (max of $100) for businesses collecting sales tax in the City
• Brought the non-profit Wheat Ridge 2020 to its knees due to personality conflicts,  interference and a lack of cooperation by City staff
• Opposed the redevelopment and the land banking at 44th & Wadsworth
• Opposed the park at 38th & Kipling
• Intimidated residents, elected officials, contractors, businesses and Wheat Ridge 2020
• Attempted to placate only 5 members of Council since it currently it takes 5 votes or more to fire a City Manager in Wheat Ridge 
• Opposed the creation of the Citizen Budget Oversight Committee
• Opposed the creation of the citizen D.I.R.T. Task Force
• Opposed the creation of the citizen Building Code Task Force
• Spent over $1.6 million dollars of taxpayer money on consultants with a majority of Council’s full blessing.  One “management” consultant was paid over $53,000 from 2006 to 2008.  Planning to Plan?
• Furloughed sworn police officers at the expense of public safety in 2009 and 2010

City Managers in 2010 are earning upwards of $250,000/year and are the Wall Street CEOs of local government.  I regret the decision in 1996  to send it to the voters as a Council Referendum.  That being said, we can make the City whole again.  Ironically, the current opposition is using the same arguments that were used in 1996.  The difference is that I have served under both forms of government and I have learned from my mistakes, others have not.  Former Mayor Hank Stites circulated a petition and former members of Council have signed the petitions. Current members of Council such as Mike Stites, Wanda Sang and Joe DeMott have signed and/or circulated petitions.  Additionally, the change was almost fifteen years ago and it is not a crime to change one’s mind or the City Charter when improvements can be made.  In fact, I respect people who can refresh their thinking and compromise for the betterment of the whole and create a win-win situation.  Like I said, this change is driven by citizen petition in 2010, unlike 1996 which was driven by Council. 

It’s time for a change…The chief executive officer in Wheat Ridge government needs to be elected by the people and who is directly accountable to the people along with City Council.

Please call petition committee member Dick Matthews for more information at 303.424.7763

Hello,

 Please click on the link below and then click “Public Comment“                                

http://wheatridge.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=121

 Thanks

In the past couple of weeks, the City of Wheat Ridge has received phone calls and emails from community members regarding a criminal case involving suspects Robert Wallace, Damacio Torres-Ochoa, and Alvaro Cardona-DeLoera.  This case has been filed by the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Jefferson County.

The Wheat Ridge Police Department has issued press releases in regard to this case and they are available on the City website (www.ci.wheatridge.co.us).  Please understand that this is all the information that we can supply regarding the case at this time.  Once a case is filed by the District Attorney’s Office, other details that are not part of the sworn affidavit cannot be released, except by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. 

Some citizens have expressed that the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, police department or the Chief of Police should “drop the charges” in this case.  Please understand that in the current Criminal Justice System, none of these entities have the authority to “drop” any of the charges.   It is up to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office to decide whether or not a case should be prosecuted and it is up to a judge and a jury of one’s peers to consider the elements of the specific Colorado law and determine whether a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The City of Wheat Ridge understands that you may have a difference of opinion regarding this case, but please understand that the City of Wheat Ridge must comply with the legal requirements of Colorado law.  I hope you would agree that defendants in all criminal cases should be tried in the Criminal Justice System.  Any other venue is inappropriate, including the court of public opinion and radio talk shows.

Hello,

Talking points on the proposed Budget Veto Ballot Question below:

•  Currently, AND if the veto proposal passes, the Mayor does NOT vote on adopting or amending the city budget
•  
•  Currently, AND if the veto proposal passes, it takes 5 votes of Council to adopt a budget and the Mayor cannot vote and break a 4-4 tie
•  
•  If the veto proposal passes, AND if the Mayor vetoes the budget, it takes 6 votes of Council to override the veto and adopt the budget
•  
•  If the veto proposal passes, the Mayor cannot indefinitely hold up the budget with vetoes as Council will either override the veto and adopt the budget or will adopt an updated budget with agreement from all parties
•  
• If the veto proposal passes, The Mayor may veto the entire budget or by City Department/Fund (basically a line item veto by Department/Fund).

 The proposed budget veto provides a check and balance of spending, or not spending, taxpayer money by the Mayor and Council just like the Governor and the state legislature has its checks and balances. 

 Please call Dick Matthews, petition committee member, at 303.424.7763 if you have any questions…Thanks!

Some elected officials support a transparent government, but only as long as they control what is seen by the mind’s eye

 Some elected officials support an educated electorate, but only as long as they control the education, factual or not

 Some elected officials support equality, but equality for some more than others

 Some elected officials support recommendations from citizens and citizen committees, but only as long as the recommendations “fit” in their frame of reference

Some elected officials are masters at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

And finally, some elected officials have forgotten why they are here…

Watch members of the petition committee and the Mayor speak with, and answer questions from, the Citizens Exploratory Committee (CEC).

 Click on the link below and then press “Call to Order” to start the video.

 Click Here ->    http://wheatridge.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=112

 Enjoy!!

 WHEAT RIDGE, CO – collaborative efforts between the City, the Mayor’s Building Code Task Force and the business community led to loosening some permit requirements and fee reductions at the May 10, 2010 City Council meeting.  The Council unanimously adopted changes to the Building Code and to contractor licensing requirements in an effort to attract businesses and reinvestment to the City.

 “These changes will make it easier for residents and contractors to do business in the City,” said Mayor Jerry DiTullio.  “As future development and redevelopment occurs in the City, we need to make sure that we are not creating obstacles for businesses, property owners and developers that prevent them from doing efficient business with us.”

 Specifically, the changes to the Building Code include:

• Reduced base building permit fee from $30.50 to $26.50 for all building permits, and even greater reductions for various small residential building permits, such as furnace and hot water heaters, and window replacements
• Added flexibility to the bathroom occupancy ratio requirements to allow for a higher occupancy rate without increasing the number of restrooms
• Eliminated the requirement for a permit for the following home improvements: construction of a residential property fence up to six feet in height, residential accessory structures, i.e., a shed under 120 square feet, and residential exterior siding replacement
• Removed the mid-roof inspection requirement
• Reduced the floodplain review fees for certain fences, sheds and decks

 In July of 2009, a Building Division Assessment was completed by Steve Thomas, Certified Building Official with Colorado Code Consulting, LLC.  Following the review of this assessment and discussion about adoption of the 2006 International Building Codes, a Mayoral Task Force was created in 2010 to evaluate the proposed code amendments and discuss issues related to contractor licensing and inspections.  The Mayor’s Building Code Task Force was comprised of business owners, elected officials, representatives from business associations, and the Fire Marshals from Arvada and Wheat Ridge Fire.     

 “The elimination of a mid-roof  inspections was particularly important to me,” said Mayor DiTullio.  “While I see the value of the previous policy in terms of consumer protection, we had several complaints from consumers and the contractor community that the mid-roof inspection was an inconvenience and cost them time and money.”

John Schumacher, Chief Building Official added, “These changes were the result of a collaborative process between two citizen/contractor task forces; therefore, the City strategically built-in flexibility in certain areas of the Code to encourage adaptive reuse of existing buildings.  This is critical to the overall goals of the City’s revitalization efforts.”   

 District II Councilmember Mike Stites, who supported the adopted amendments, stated, “Many of the buildings that exist in the City were built under a different building code than what the City enforces today.  Over time, as these codes have changed based on industry standards, the buildings have stayed the same.  Bringing the property up to code can be a very costly endeavor, discouraging investment in our City.”

 District I Councilmember Davis Reinhart added, “The members of the Mayor’s Building Code Task Force had great discussions about the role of the City in protecting consumers through Building Code requirements such as when a permit is necessary and/or an inspection.  We felt that on several of these Code issues, consumers can protect themselves and in the case of permits for smaller home improvements a permit should not be required.” 

 Ken Johnstone, Director of Community Development added, “These changes build on our ongoing efforts across all functions of the Community Development Department to improve customer service and create more streamlined approvals.  A broader range of over-the-counter permit services will be provided to our customers later this year.”

 The City of Wheat Ridge is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at www.ci.wheatridge.co.us.  Business owners or residents can access building information by clicking on “Departments,” click again on “Community Development,” and again on “Building & Inspections.”

 For media inquiries, please contact Heather Geyer, Assistant to the City Manager, at 303-235-2826 or E-mail: hgeyer@ci.wheatridge.co.us.

Welcome to Mayor Jerry DiTullio’s blog!!