What is Town Council?
I believe good leadership starts with understanding both the authority of the office you're seeking and its limitations. Residents deserve specific, achievable commitments, not promises that Town Council doesn't have the power to keep.
Superior operates under a Council/Manager form of government established by the Town's Home Rule Charter.
The Town Council is Superior's elected legislative and governing body. It establishes policy and determines the direction of the Town.
The Town Manager and professional Town staff are responsible for administering the Town and implementing the policies established by Council.
In other words:
Town Council determines where Superior should go. Town staff handles much of the day-to-day work of getting us there.
What Does Town Council Do?
Superior's Home Rule Charter gives Town Council substantial authority over local and municipal matters.
Among its most important responsibilities, Council can:
Make local laws.
Council adopts ordinances and resolutions governing matters within the Town's authority. The Charter specifically gives Council authority to enact and provide for enforcement of ordinances protecting life, health, safety, welfare and property.
Decide how Town money is spent.
Council appropriates funds for Town business and makes decisions about Superior's financial priorities. That means evaluating where limited public resources will have the greatest benefit for residents.
Establish Town policy and priorities.
Council provides policy direction to the Town Manager, Town staff and advisory committees.
Make decisions about land use and development.
As a Home Rule municipality, Superior has significant local authority involving zoning, permitting, development procedures and other land-use matters, although those powers remain subject to constitutional and other legal limitations.
Address infrastructure and Town services.
Superior provides services involving streets, traffic infrastructure, water and sewer systems, storm drainage, parks, recreation, open space, economic development, sustainability and other municipal responsibilities. Council establishes policy and funding priorities affecting these services.
Represent Superior beyond our borders.
Council members serve on regional organizations and committees and work with neighboring governments and other public agencies on issues that don't stop at Superior's boundaries.
What Can't Town Council Do?
Understanding these limitations are just as important.
A Town Council member is not the Town Manager.
Individual Council members cannot direct Town employees, interfere with their work, or personally run Town departments. The Charter requires Council to deal with the Town's administrative service through the Town Manager.
A Council member also cannot make policy alone.
One elected official can raise an issue, advocate for action, ask questions and work to build support, but Council acts collectively through votes and established governmental processes.
Superior doesn't control every issue that affects Superior.
County, state and federal governments and regional agencies have their own authority. Sometimes Town Council's most important role isn't issuing an ordinance, it is advocating, negotiating, building regional partnerships, collecting evidence and making sure Superior's interests are represented to the government or agency that actually has jurisdiction.
Why That Distinction Matters to Me
One reason I'm running for Town Council is that I believe elected officials need to be persistent without pretending government is simpler than it is.
Aircraft traffic associated with Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport is a good example.
Superior residents experience the impacts, but Superior Town Council does not control the national airspace or simply get to decide where aircraft fly.
That doesn't mean Town Council is powerless, and it doesn't mean we should accept inaction.
It means our representatives need to understand where Superior has direct authority, where it has influence, and where progress requires working with Jefferson County, RMMA, neighboring communities, state officials, federal agencies and other stakeholders.
That's the approach I want to bring to issues throughout Town government:
Understand the problem.
Understand our authority.
Listen to residents.
Find the available path forward.
And keep pushing for results.
What I Believe a Council Member Should Be
I don't believe a Council member's job is simply to show up twice a month and vote.
A good Council member should be a listener, policymaker, advocate and steward of the community.
That means asking difficult questions before spending residents' money.
It means considering how today's development decisions will affect Superior years from now.
It means listening not only to the people who regularly attend Council meetings, but also to residents who may never step inside Town Hall.
And it means recognizing that people experience Superior differently depending on where they live and what stage of life they're in.
That's at the heart of why I'm running.
A Superior for Every Generation
Superior is changing.
My goal isn't to preserve Superior in amber or resist every change. It's to make sure that as our community evolves, the people who live here remain at the center of the decisions we make.
Young families should be able to build their lives here.
Children and teenagers should have a community that invests in their future.
Working adults should have a Town that functions well and spends responsibly.
Older residents should be able to remain active, connected and represented in the community they've helped build.
And every resident deserves representatives who listen to them, even when they disagree.
That's what “A Superior for Every Generation” means to me.