ACT NOW! COUNCIL DISMANTLING PUBLIC INPUT, TRANSPARENCY

On very short notice, Fort Collins City Council has called a Special Meeting on Monday, March 18 at 5:00 PM. There is only one item on the agenda: “Items Relating to the Conduct of City Council Meetings.” It is being pitched as a response to the March 5, 2024 City Council meeting which was shut down by a protest. But it goes much farther than creating options to address a disruptive crowd. Instead, the proposed Ordinance #039, 2024 would allow future Council action to prohibit non-Agenda-related commentary at City Council meetings. Even worse, it will allow Council to conduct secret meetings via electronic messaging (email and text messaging)- meetings which are prohibited today. This point is not highlighted in the agenda item summary, so it is easy to come to the conclusion that Council is trying to slip this past the residents of Fort Collins.

This is not the government Fort Collins deserves. We demand better. Please join us in letting Council know that their attempt to subvert public input and meeting transparency is unacceptable. Email cityleaders@fcgov.com and consider signing up to comment on Monday at 5:00 PM (not Tuesday!).

Insist that Council must not allow itself to dismantle public input, nor should it enable itself to meet in secret via electronic messaging!

Thank you for all you do!