[BoulderCouncilHotline] Agenda Item 5B/Appropriation of $6 Million for Municipalization

[Yates, Bob]

Council Colleagues:


It won't surprise you that tonight I intend to vote against Ordinance 8236, appropriating more than $6 million towards the municipalization effort in 2018. (I support the other appropriations in Ordinance 8236 but, because they were combined, I must vote against the entire ordinance.) Rather than take up council's time tonight to explain my vote, I provide my position below:


First, I share the belief of everyone on city council that addressing climate change is our moral responsibility. Climate change is a real and immediate threat to our planet. Our community must do what it can to not only reduce the emission of greenhouse gases locally, but to do so in a way that is replicable, prompting other cities to follow us.


However, I believe that, while the goals of municipalization may be good and noble, its implementation is distracting us from meaningful, immediate, and replicable climate action. As we have all seen, the municipalization process has been far more costly, and has taken far more time, than nearly everyone anticipated. I fear that, if we continue down this path, we will fail to meet our community's expectations of fiscal responsibility, let alone our commitment to meet our climate action goals.


I believe that, by funding this ongoing litigation, we will fail to partner with other cities, like Denver, in real and immediate environmental action. We will fail to participate in meaningful state law changes. And we will fail to positively influence our electricity provider to move more aggressively towards renewable energy sources. While some of those actions can theoretically occur in parallel with our continued litigation, in reality most of it won't as long as we persist in legal fights, preferring confrontation over collaboration.


I humbly acknowledge that none of us can be sure of the outcome of the municipalization effort. However, given the results of the city's struggles over the last six years, and the long, expensive, and uncertain legal and financial road ahead of us, I remain doubtful that municipalization is the best path to achieving our shared climate goals. I must recognize and respect that 48 percent of the voters in our community shared my doubt by voting last November against continued funding for this litigation. In voting against the $6 million municipalization appropriation tonight, I represent the 48 percent of our community who asked us to travel down a different path to meaningful environmental action.


Best,

Bob
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