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The Frequency.

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Good morning, Boulder County. It's Wednesday, October 28th. I'm Shea Castle, and this is The Frequency. A weekly local podcast covering the news, events, and voices shaping the Boulder Valley. Today is all about Louisville as we explain the six separate municipal measures on ballots this fall with Council Gadfly Mark Cathcart and the help of the League of Women Voters of Boulder County. But first, the headlines.

Headlines

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The festival last week announced its move to the rink, a skating rink-turned office building on 14th Street. Organizers said it would allow the festival to operate in a larger single location. Quote, instead of spreading our operational footprint across multiple venues, the rink enables all our departments to work from one space during the festival and most importantly, serves as our year-round home and further cements our roots in our new hometown. Boldado workers are attempting to unionize after the historic hotel changed hands last year. Employees say they have been subject to unfair labor practices and disintegrating conditions under the ownership of venture capital firm AJ. They've organized bi-weekly demonstrations in front of Hotel Bolderado for several months. A representative for the union did not respond to a request for comment. Sundance organizers said the move was being discussed before the labor dispute started. Quote, we are aware of the ongoing efforts by the Boulderado staff, and we hope management and workers can come to an agreement. Sundance Film Festival will take place in Boulder January 21st to 31st of next year.

Overview

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Speaking of Sundance, RTD is expanding service hours and making several key Boulder routes free during the festival. The bolt, jump, and skip lines will all be free for those 10 days and will run with increased frequency until 2 a.m. A new route, the chat, will run every 10 minutes to Chautauqua Park from 8 a.m. to midnight. Find more information at the link in our show notes. It's been a while since we've had any corrections, but today I've got two and a clarification. I mispronounced two names in my show last week covering Boulder City Council and mayoral candidates. I put a little too much flavor on Achilles LeGrav's last name. My apologies. And an even bigger apology to Ryan Shuhard, whose name I have apparently been mispronouncing for several years. I'm so sorry, Ryan. One clarification to last week's update on the Boulder Firebomber. While he and his wife were married at the time of the 2025 attack, they have since divorced. I should have referred to her as his ex-wife.

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So the way I approach these is if you vote for this, will it make the city a better place? Hello. My name is Mark Catcart. I'm a retired IT executive turned music researcher. I've lived in Louisville since 2016. So 10 years now. I've always been interested in politics from my time in the UK, where you can't quite make as much difference as easily as you can over here.

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Voters will have plenty of chances to ask themselves that question. Louisville put a record six questions on the ballot. One of them is a tax extension, and the other five would permanently change the city's charter, the set of rules and laws that govern everything in Louisville. It's basically the city version of a constitution. We're going to work our way down the ballot, starting

2B

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with 2B, the loan tax measure. It's a sales tax to fund historic preservation, including Louisville's history museum. It's not an increase. You're already paying it and have been since 2008. The taxes have been extended once before and is set to expire in 2028. 2B would extend it another 10 years. 2B would also change the way tax funding is allocated, giving a bit more to the History Museum and allowing money to be spent on city programs or capital projects that, quote, promote and preserve the city's history and cultural heritage. One example of a project falling under that definition is restoration of the Austin Neilhoff building, the first residence on Main Street. Mark recalls a similar project from his time on the Cultural Council that there weren't funds to pursue.

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One of the projects the city is currently engaged in is looking at the eastern gateway to the city on the corner of Pine and CO42, where they're looking at purchasing a property there, which kind of has two historic rail cars on it. And so the preservation tax primarily pays for those sorts of bigger projects. So I think that sort of thing is really important if we want to differentiate ourselves as a city and keep some value that isn't just another Denver suburb.

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2C covers

2C

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executive sessions in Louisville. That's when City Council or another board and commission meet without members of the public present. No press, no detailed agenda, no public livestream, just elected or appointed officials and city staff. Louisville City Council can already meet in executive session to discuss personnel matters, pending litigation, or the sale and purchase of water rights and property. Two C would expand the list of things council can meet secretly about and allow the city's boards and commissions to do the same. It's modeled after state law. You can find a full list of proposed executive session topics at the link in our show notes. They are essentially all expansions on currently exempted topics. As a journalist, I have significant concerns about the use of executive sessions, which have been widely and broadly abused across dozens of Colorado towns. I oppose Boulder's adoption of executive session in 2024. In adopting state standards, Louisville is following the lead of the state legislature, who have been less friendly to the press and public than local municipalities. They're also harder to hold accountable than local lawmakers, because they're more removed from their constituents. I'm not the only one with concerns. Unlike other ballot measures, this one has formal opposition. Protect Your Voice Louisville, which formed primarily to fight 2E, is also recommending a no vote on 2C. So is the League of Women Voters of Boulder County, saying, quote, the league position supports restrictions on communication among elected officials outside of open public meetings. In fairness to the city, and to give you a complete sense of pros and cons, staff and elected officials argue executive sessions make it easier to meet all at once. Right now, sensitive matters that aren't allowed in executive discussion have to be brought to council members individually or in pairs. That wastes time. And there's also no official records kept. Executive sessions are recorded and can be released following a judge's order, although that process is lengthy and expensive and happens only rarely. I haven't gotten too many quoras from Louisville and I haven't had issues with them. But generally, I will say that open records requests have become more difficult in recent years. And I don't know if that's a culture change, staffing challenges, or governments know that journalists just don't have the resources to fight for things anymore. But it has become increasingly difficult, I would say, to get even the most basic records.

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One of the great things about being a home rule town or city is that it is home rule. You don't have to do what the state says. So for this one, I have to say, will this make Louisville a better place?

2D

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2D is easy and fairly uncontroversial. Right now, city council members are sworn in before election results are officially certified. 2D would make them wait until results are official. That would prevent someone from taking office before a recount is done, in case the results change. That's a rare occurrence, but there aren't too many downsides to waiting a few weeks. Results are certified after a late November meeting of the election canvas board. 2E

2E

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gets us back to controversy. It would increase the number of signatures required to get citizen petitions on the ballot, raising the bar for direct democracy. Initiatives are when citizens propose a new law. Referendum is when they want to undo a law passed by city council. 2E would require more signatures to get something on the ballot, a 50% increase for initiatives, and a doubling of signatures for referendums. As previously mentioned, Protect Your Voice Louisville is a citizen group opposing 2E. On their website, they wrote, signatures are difficult and time-consuming to collect, especially with volunteers. Ballot issue 2E would make it much harder to place something on the ballot to check governmental power, bad decisions, or abuses of power. This should concern all voters, regardless of party affiliations or views on past initiatives. The League of Women Voters is also opposed to 2E. Here's some context from their October 21st forum in Louisville. I should clarify they are not expressing their opinions in this clip, but summarizing pro and con arguments.

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Louisville's voters deserve a clear, achievable path to shape the future of their city through direct democracy. And this would make it harder for grassroots volunteer groups to gain enough signatures, but not for mining interests like developers using paid signature gatherers. In April 2022, a referendum petition required a special election that referred an ordinance to the voters regarding the proposed red tail rib. And after that special election, that ordinance was overturned. Then in 2025, two initial petitions excess we gathered enough signatures, and they were voted on in last November's election, and both were defeated. Since then, City Council members have received input from citizens asking for an increase in the number of signatures required. Other citizens are opposed to that idea, so City Council advanced the ballot measure to let voters decide. There was a survey of 17 municipalities, and Louisville's signatures requirements are below the average. This proposal would be a middle ground.

2F

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From controversial to merely confusing, let's talk 2F. It would allow council to meet somewhere other than a public building, provided it's still accessible to members of the public. But where they might want to meet, what accessible means, or why council is bringing this forward now is unclear.

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For example, there's a private donor that wants to make a donation towards art that has a house in South Denver. Should members of the art commission or cultural council or whatever it's called these days, and a member of staff truck down to South Denver in a car, meet in the private house of a donor. And sure, it's open to everyone, but who's going to do it? The standard thing is meetings at a fit point every month encourage engagement. People will show up, they'll look up like I'm not doing anything on Tuesday. It's a council meeting. And to be disappointed to find out it's in Erie or somewhere like that. So again, I think the council need to add some language that both limits the building, but also it explains why.

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The current restrictions on meeting location does limit council when it comes to meeting with other jurisdictions. For instance, Boulder City Council meets with CEU and the county commissioners once a year on campus or at the county buildings. If Louisville wanted to meet with Superior's Council, for instance, superior would have to come to them. And the Louisville chambers might not be big enough to host a combination meeting. The chambers often fill up when big topics are on the agenda.

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On big planning and city meetings, for example, Red Tail Ridge, the city chambers where the diocese is packed out. People were out in the corridor. So is that what the city had in mind? Again, there does seem to be a legitimate reason, which is it stopped for the meeting with other local jurisdictions. Right? Because they have to be in the right.

2G

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This would require review of citizen initiatives at a public meeting. City staff already give feedback and work with citizens on their campaigns, but that typically takes place outside a public setting. Heads up about what initiatives are coming might be nice for the public, and government officials aren't allowed to force changes to initiatives. But it also inserts the city into direct democracy in a more formal way. Here's the league again with some additional details.

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City staff is then required to provide comments in a public meeting within 10 business days. And the staff comments may include suggestions, but the staff has no authority to require changes to the draft. So it's an advisory only. It's modeled after a procedure in the city and county of Denver, and the proposal does not require the proponents to attend the public meeting.

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Neither Protect Your Voice or the League of Women Voters are opposing 2G, so perhaps my concerns are unfounded or overblown. But it doesn't pass Mark Smell test either.

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It's really not clear what the city is trying to do. I mean, they already have to be presented to the city clerk, and then there's a legal review, RB's legal. But beyond that, it just

2H

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adds a gatekeeping delay function to it.

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If you're still with me, you made it to the end. 2H would update charter language to reflect modern realities and sensibilities, including changing gendered language to gender neutral and updating references like television to virtual or digital. There's no reason to vote against it, but any changes to the charter require voter approval.

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2H is the non-gender language change, which for me is a no-brainer. Why wouldn't we do that? You know, sure, it's understandable why it is written the way it was written. But as I said before, we've always been fairly progressive. We certainly shouldn't have he, she in the you know, in the charter. It's completely unnecessary. Person is a quite reasonable replacement.

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Thanks again to Mark and the League of Women Voters of Boulder County for hosting the Lewisville Forum and many, many other election events. I could not have put together this comprehensive voter guide without you. We have one more election episode this month. Join us Friday when I run through the entire Boulder ballot. I'm talking everything state ballot issues, judges, local candidates, and taxes. We'll get it all done in hopefully under 15 minutes. As always, thanks for listening.