Centennial Citizen > News
So long, 2008
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| Cathy Noon, chair of the elected Centennial Charter Commission, lets out a cry of excitement after hearing the results of the city’s home rule charter mail-in ballot. Noon and other supporters of the charter celebrated the victory June 10. File photo |
Home rule leads our top 10 stories of the year
By Peter Jones
On June 10, Centennial became the newest home-rule city in Colorado. Residents voted to approve the proposed home-rule charter resoundingly by a greater than 2-1 margin.
Until the vote, Centennial — at 103,000 residents — had been by far the largest city in Colorado without a home-rule charter. The new status allows the city flexibility in everything from autonomous sales tax collection to dog breed restrictions.
Even a home-rule city has its limits. It cannot violate the state or U.S. constitutions. In Colorado, a home-rule city cannot raise taxes without voter approval, but it can refer proposed new taxes to the voters, per the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
As a city constitution, the charter brought a certain permanence to Centennial’s government structure with some modifications. It redesignated the city’s four geographic wards as districts and will eventually eliminate the elected clerk and treasurer.
The charter passed by about 7,000 votes — a far cry from the razor-thin 316-vote margin that created the Centennial Charter Commission, the body elected to draft it.
“I thought it would be closer than this,” said Cathy Noon, chair of the charter commission. “But I started to get a feeling when we were talking to people at grocery stores and so forth. They were like, ‘Why wouldn’t we do this? It seems very logical.’”
A group called No On Centennial Charter led the campaign against home rule. Opponents included two city councilmembers and the elected clerk and treasurer. The group argued that the charter gave too much power to city leaders.
2 - Tax collection, Centennial style
Among the chief reasons for a city to go home-rule is the ability to collect its own sales taxes, instead of relying on the Colorado Department of Revenue.
The Centennial City Council Oct. 13 voted to create its own tax collection department.
The earlier middleman system had created significant lag time for the city. What’s more, the state is often overextended and has little time to conduct audits or to ensure that local businesses pay their proper tax bill.
Through self-collection, city officials expect to eventually see an overall increase of 25 percent to 50 percent in Centennial’s tax revenue without raising the tax rate.
3- Public works turns private
CH2M Hill and its subcontractors July 1 began providing public works services, such as street maintenance, snow removal and traffic engineering in Centennial.
The kickoff to the $40 million, five-year contract was highly anticipated and controversial. Arapahoe County had been Centennial’s public works contractor since the city’s 2001 incorporation, but the city and county failed to reach agreements on cost, service levels and the duration of the proposed contract renewal.
The summer’s change-over was called the largest public-to-private transfer of its kind in the nation.
CH2M Hill was not the lowest bidder.
4- Arapahoe goes blue
“Quite frankly, it was time for change,” said Mike Hamrick, chairman of the Arapahoe County Democratic Party.
Before President-elect Barack Obama’s Nov. 4 victory, Arapahoe County had not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In more recent years, Arapahoe County had increasingly been part and parcel to the bluing of Colorado. Obama’s registration push this fall in Colorado marked the first time that Arapahoe County has boasted more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Overall, the county has, during the last several years, become a “swing county,” boasting an almost three-way split between the two major parties and unaffiliated voters with Democrats holding about a 6,000-voter edge over Republicans, who once dominated the county.
5- DNC a family affair
Centennial’s Bob Kihm and his 20-year-old daughter Sarah were Colorado’s only father-daughter team in the state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 25-28.
Sarah Kihm, who served as Barack Obama’s campaign coordinator at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was also among the youngest delegates at the convention.
“The historic nature of this election is something that I’ve had a hard time wrapping my mind around because I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” she said on the Pepsi Center floor.
The Kihms received their share of star treatment as a unique father-daughter delegation. Sarah was interviewed by MTV. CNN talked to both Kihms.
6- Swalm withstands Dem sweep
Despite a generally good year for Democrats and the bluing of Arapahoe County, Republicans held their own in a number of county and state-level races in the south metro area.
State Rep. Spencer Swalm, a Republican whose District 37 is contained entirely within the city of Centennial, defeated Democratic challenger Diana Holland by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent. A third-party candidate took the remaining 3 percent.
7- Streets at Southglenn
Best Buy became the first store July 17 to open at Streets at Southglenn, the $310 million “new urban” development still under construction on the site of the former Southglenn Mall. Macy’s, Staples and Dick’s Sporting Goods soon followed.
The 140,000-square-foot “lifestyle center” is slated to open completely next summer and will include a multiscreen movie theater, restaurants, a new site for the Southglenn Library, a 140,000-square-foot office building and 200 upscale apartments.
The project long has been hailed by the City of Centennial as an important source for sales tax revenue. To that end, the city created an urban redevelopment authority and a taxing district to help pave the way for Alberta Development Partners’ efforts.
8- School closures
After years of discussing declining enrollment trends in the district, the Littleton Public Schools Board of Education voted Nov. 13 to close Ames and Whitman elementary schools.
Ames, while one of the district’s best-performing elementary schools, is at only 49 percent capacity, while Whitman is at 64 percent capacity.
Neither Ames, at 7300 S. Clermont Drive, Centennial, nor Whitman, at 6557 S. Acoma St., Littleton, met the Facility Use Task Force’s criteria for staying open.
The issue of declining enrollment has been a topic of discussion in the district for more than 20 years, but the decision to close schools still left parents shocked.
9- Moving next door
After seven years of renting space in a office building off Arapahoe Road, the City of Centennial finally acquired digs of its own in November when the city offices, courts and council chambers moved into a new 34,000-square-foot building down the street at 13133 E. Arapahoe Road.
The city council voted unanimously Feb. 20 to buy Centennial’s first permanent city hall for nearly $3.8 million. The building is the former home of the Westerra Credit Union. The price included furnishings.
To help create a sense of place and community for the city center, Centennial paid an additional $2.6 million to purchase 11 acres of open space around the building.
Centennial also shelled out $334,000 for nearly 4 acres of land that could eventually be used for expansion of the city offices.
“It’s significantly important,” Mayor Randy Pye said. “The citizens are looking for an identity for the city and a place that can bring the city together.”
10- State of Our City
Change, vision and home rule were recurring themes of Mayor Randy Pye’s annual State of Our City address to about 350 residents and officials at the Embassy Suites Hotel April 17.
It was a crucial year for the mayor to address citizens — with home-rule, a citizens “visioning” project, a new city hall and a public-works changeover all on the horizon.
During the speech, Pye made an impassioned plea for approval of the city’s proposed home-rule charter. At the time, the vote was less than two months away.
“Twenty-one of our citizens — our neighbors, our friends — created a document that they believe is the best for this city to be governed by,” Pye said.
“This is a good document, no matter what bizarre arguments are thrown at it,” the mayor said.
Until the vote, Centennial — at 103,000 residents — had been by far the largest city in Colorado without a home-rule charter. The new status allows the city flexibility in everything from autonomous sales tax collection to dog breed restrictions.
Even a home-rule city has its limits. It cannot violate the state or U.S. constitutions. In Colorado, a home-rule city cannot raise taxes without voter approval, but it can refer proposed new taxes to the voters, per the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
As a city constitution, the charter brought a certain permanence to Centennial’s government structure with some modifications. It redesignated the city’s four geographic wards as districts and will eventually eliminate the elected clerk and treasurer.
The charter passed by about 7,000 votes — a far cry from the razor-thin 316-vote margin that created the Centennial Charter Commission, the body elected to draft it.
“I thought it would be closer than this,” said Cathy Noon, chair of the charter commission. “But I started to get a feeling when we were talking to people at grocery stores and so forth. They were like, ‘Why wouldn’t we do this? It seems very logical.’”
A group called No On Centennial Charter led the campaign against home rule. Opponents included two city councilmembers and the elected clerk and treasurer. The group argued that the charter gave too much power to city leaders.
2 - Tax collection, Centennial style
Among the chief reasons for a city to go home-rule is the ability to collect its own sales taxes, instead of relying on the Colorado Department of Revenue.
The Centennial City Council Oct. 13 voted to create its own tax collection department.
The earlier middleman system had created significant lag time for the city. What’s more, the state is often overextended and has little time to conduct audits or to ensure that local businesses pay their proper tax bill.
Through self-collection, city officials expect to eventually see an overall increase of 25 percent to 50 percent in Centennial’s tax revenue without raising the tax rate.
3- Public works turns private
CH2M Hill and its subcontractors July 1 began providing public works services, such as street maintenance, snow removal and traffic engineering in Centennial.
The kickoff to the $40 million, five-year contract was highly anticipated and controversial. Arapahoe County had been Centennial’s public works contractor since the city’s 2001 incorporation, but the city and county failed to reach agreements on cost, service levels and the duration of the proposed contract renewal.
The summer’s change-over was called the largest public-to-private transfer of its kind in the nation.
CH2M Hill was not the lowest bidder.
4- Arapahoe goes blue
“Quite frankly, it was time for change,” said Mike Hamrick, chairman of the Arapahoe County Democratic Party.
Before President-elect Barack Obama’s Nov. 4 victory, Arapahoe County had not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In more recent years, Arapahoe County had increasingly been part and parcel to the bluing of Colorado. Obama’s registration push this fall in Colorado marked the first time that Arapahoe County has boasted more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Overall, the county has, during the last several years, become a “swing county,” boasting an almost three-way split between the two major parties and unaffiliated voters with Democrats holding about a 6,000-voter edge over Republicans, who once dominated the county.
5- DNC a family affair
Centennial’s Bob Kihm and his 20-year-old daughter Sarah were Colorado’s only father-daughter team in the state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 25-28.
Sarah Kihm, who served as Barack Obama’s campaign coordinator at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was also among the youngest delegates at the convention.
“The historic nature of this election is something that I’ve had a hard time wrapping my mind around because I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” she said on the Pepsi Center floor.
The Kihms received their share of star treatment as a unique father-daughter delegation. Sarah was interviewed by MTV. CNN talked to both Kihms.
6- Swalm withstands Dem sweep
Despite a generally good year for Democrats and the bluing of Arapahoe County, Republicans held their own in a number of county and state-level races in the south metro area.
State Rep. Spencer Swalm, a Republican whose District 37 is contained entirely within the city of Centennial, defeated Democratic challenger Diana Holland by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent. A third-party candidate took the remaining 3 percent.
7- Streets at Southglenn
Best Buy became the first store July 17 to open at Streets at Southglenn, the $310 million “new urban” development still under construction on the site of the former Southglenn Mall. Macy’s, Staples and Dick’s Sporting Goods soon followed.
The 140,000-square-foot “lifestyle center” is slated to open completely next summer and will include a multiscreen movie theater, restaurants, a new site for the Southglenn Library, a 140,000-square-foot office building and 200 upscale apartments.
The project long has been hailed by the City of Centennial as an important source for sales tax revenue. To that end, the city created an urban redevelopment authority and a taxing district to help pave the way for Alberta Development Partners’ efforts.
8- School closures
After years of discussing declining enrollment trends in the district, the Littleton Public Schools Board of Education voted Nov. 13 to close Ames and Whitman elementary schools.
Ames, while one of the district’s best-performing elementary schools, is at only 49 percent capacity, while Whitman is at 64 percent capacity.
Neither Ames, at 7300 S. Clermont Drive, Centennial, nor Whitman, at 6557 S. Acoma St., Littleton, met the Facility Use Task Force’s criteria for staying open.
The issue of declining enrollment has been a topic of discussion in the district for more than 20 years, but the decision to close schools still left parents shocked.
9- Moving next door
After seven years of renting space in a office building off Arapahoe Road, the City of Centennial finally acquired digs of its own in November when the city offices, courts and council chambers moved into a new 34,000-square-foot building down the street at 13133 E. Arapahoe Road.
The city council voted unanimously Feb. 20 to buy Centennial’s first permanent city hall for nearly $3.8 million. The building is the former home of the Westerra Credit Union. The price included furnishings.
To help create a sense of place and community for the city center, Centennial paid an additional $2.6 million to purchase 11 acres of open space around the building.
Centennial also shelled out $334,000 for nearly 4 acres of land that could eventually be used for expansion of the city offices.
“It’s significantly important,” Mayor Randy Pye said. “The citizens are looking for an identity for the city and a place that can bring the city together.”
10- State of Our City
Change, vision and home rule were recurring themes of Mayor Randy Pye’s annual State of Our City address to about 350 residents and officials at the Embassy Suites Hotel April 17.
It was a crucial year for the mayor to address citizens — with home-rule, a citizens “visioning” project, a new city hall and a public-works changeover all on the horizon.
During the speech, Pye made an impassioned plea for approval of the city’s proposed home-rule charter. At the time, the vote was less than two months away.
“Twenty-one of our citizens — our neighbors, our friends — created a document that they believe is the best for this city to be governed by,” Pye said.
“This is a good document, no matter what bizarre arguments are thrown at it,” the mayor said.
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