PEAK TO PEAK - One more reason why local newspapers are important: it’s the only way most of you get any news about what our local government entities are doing.
Unless you are one of the few stalwarts who show up at every City Council, Board of Trustees, or Board of County Commissioners meeting—and yes, there are a few of you—the only way you get to learn about what happens there is by reading the newspaper account of the meeting.
In ten to fifteen minutes, depending on how long the meeting lasted, and in how many words the reporter was able to report the meeting, you can find out what took the reporter from one to three hours to watch and listen to.
(Occasionally, usually in Central City or Black Hawk, meetings are very short, about 20 minutes to half an hour. On the other hand, I remember Ned Board of Trustees meetings going on for four or more hours.)
In my early days on this beat—I worked first for the Weekly Register-Call and later for The Mountain-Ear—I attended three to four meetings a week. Some, like the Gilpin Commissioners’ meetings, were well set up, with a comfortable table for the reporters and decent amplification of all speakers. I remember the BOT meetings at the time being uncomfortable—no place to put a notebook or computer—and uneven as to sound.
One thing that was uniformly positive was the fact that every government body provided reporters with the same information packet the councillors/trustees/commissioners received. So I knew what the group was discussing without having to interrupt with questions. At least not during the meetings!
(I’d like to stop here and give an energetic shout-out to Reba Bechtel, the Clerk of the Central City government now and back then. Occasionally, if there was something I didn’t hear, or if I had to leave a meeting early, Reba gave me a copy of the minutes of the meeting so I could still make my deadline. What a gem she was, and is.)
But YOU don’t have the time or energy to sit through those meeting. But you still want to know what goes on. Because the smaller the entity, the closer its decisions are to your everyday life.
Though all of these entities have websites and post information about decisions made, not everyone, even today, has access to computers or the internet. So where do you know you can RELIABLY get this information?
Right here. And all in the same place: Commissioners, Trustees, City Councillors, and Aldermen. Also the Gilpin School Board and three fire departments. Occasionally, when relevant, Boulder Commissioners or School Board.
That’s a lot of sitting and listening. And writing. And we do it for you, our readers. Because that’s what we do.
