Undemocratic impact of Centennial charter
Centennial’s elected treasurer warns that elimination of her position under the proposed city charter would result in less protection for taxpayers. It makes sense. Without the check and balance of other citywide officers chosen by the people, good-faith efforts by the mayor and council won’t always be enough to avoid mistakes or deter abuses of power.
Treasurer Susan Bockenfeld cites a recent property acquisition where her analysis caught errors of over a quarter-million dollars per year forever (!) on a pending $4 million transaction. Her letter about the incident, along with her report to the council (which they treated as unwelcome, proving the whole point) are linked below as PDF files.
Letter from Treasurer Bockenfeld
She recommends that Centennial home rule charter should be rejected by voters if its final draft deprives citizens of an elected treasurer/auditor performing the fiscal watchdog function for all of us.
Backbone America agrees with this concern, which we feel applies equally to the charter provision eliminating an elected city clerk. The home rule plan should either be fixed or nixed.
The author can be reached at John@BackBoneAmerica.net
