IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Police Oversight Panel Ordinance overhauled, co-chair resigns
Nearly three years after Boulder City Council approved the initial ordinance creating a Police Oversight Panel to review internal investigations and make recommendations on handling of complaints, Council last week unanimously approved an emergency ordinance changing a number of rules governing the volunteer group. Here are a few of those changes:
• The city manager will appoint members and form an advisory committee to assist with selection. The advisory committee is not required for the two student positions, which are one-year terms. Previously, panelists were recommended by a selection committee and approved by City Council.
• The panel can review “critical incidents” and “incidents of serious bodily injury” even if no complaint has been filed. Previously, the panel could only review internal investigations after a complaint was filed.
• The previous ordinance’s ban on any “real or perceived bias” was replaced with a requirement for panelists to have the “ability to be fair-minded, objective, and impartial.”
Changes to the ordinance were drafted by a working group consisting of current and former panel members, representatives from Centro Amistad, the NAACP, the city attorney and the Boulder Police Department. Following last week’s approval, POP co-chair Daniel Leonard resigned, citing disappointment in the feedback process during the creation of the new ordinance. Changes went into effect immediately after approval, ending the group’s pause on work that began in May.
— Kaylee Harter
Boulder adopts 2024 budget
The Boulder City Council officially adopted a 2024 budget on Oct. 19.
• The total approved budget is $515.3M. The City estimates this number is nearly 5% higher than the 2023 budget in terms of operating expenses, but the number appears lower due to changes in bond proceeds practices.
• The general fund, where the City has flexibility in how it spends its dollars, is $196.1M, a 4.2% increase from 2023.
• City Council made minimal changes to the recommended budget (“Now you know,” Sept. 21, 2023) that added funds to staff’s proposed budget:
• Three one-time funding changes were added to the transportation and general fund (totaling $613,000), and one ongoing funding addition for underpass lighting ($30,000).
• Despite the budget being adopted, uncertainty remains. If ballot measure 2A is passed, the 0.15% sales and use tax that generates about $7 million annually to the City’s general fund will be split in half to support the arts. That would leave $500,000 in additional annual revenue total over the next five years to allocate to other programs.
— Will Matuska
COVID-19 Snapshot
COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) data.
During the week of Oct. 15, the state saw more than 200 COVID-related hospitalizations, more than double the number from two months ago when hospitalizations began trending upwards. That’s slightly more than the number of hospitalizations at this time last year, but still far less than numbers during peak times in December 2020 (~1,800) and January 2022 (~1,600).
There were more than 2,800 recorded cases during the week of Oct. 8, the most recent week of data at the time of publication. During the same week last year, there were 4,230 cases of the virus reported.
Despite these increases, COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low, CDPHE said in an email, and hospitalizations for flu and RSV typically start to increase in October and peak between now and February before dropping off in the spring. State health officials urge Coloradans to protect themselves and others by getting their seasonal vaccines.
In Boulder County, just over 80% of the population has completed the primary vaccine series, compared to about 70% at the state level. More than half of Boulder County has received one booster, and just under a third of the population has received two or more boosters.
To date, there have been 93,911 cases and 813 deaths due to COVID-19 in Boulder County, according to the CDPHE data.
— Kaylee Harter
