The Town of Monument has established the commissioners to serve on its first Council District Advisory Commission.

The Town Council of Monument had its regular meeting Jan. 2 at town hall where it reviewed letters of interest from residents seeking to serve on the town’s first Council District Advisory Commission pursuant to the Town Charter and approved an ordinance establishing the commission. With the passage of the Home Rule Charter in the November 2022 election, the municipality was established with two separate districts which require town council representation from each district in future elections.

Since there will be an election in 2024, part of the charter requires the district undergo a rebalancing by population prior to six months before the upcoming election. The redistricting is to be examined by a commission, composed of elected and appointed officials as well as two residents of Monument. The call for residents to serve went out last December.

Town attorney Bob Cole said the charter requires all commissions to be town residents regardless of their appointment and increases the commission to seven serving members including Town Manager Mike Foreman. It would also include two members of council, two from the planning commission and two citizens.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve King, who served on the Home Rule Charter Commission prior to being elected to the council, volunteered to represent the present municipality’s District 2 on the advisory commission, while Councilmember Marco Fiorito volunteered to represent District 1. The council approved their respective appointments.

Reviewing the interest from citizens to serve, Mayor Mitch LaKind noted there was an larger interest from residents who lived in District 1 but no interest from District 2 citizens were expressed despite his own attempt to recruit interest. Fiorito said he also attempted to find interested citizens from District 2.

“I did try to drum up interest in District 2 and I got no bites,” Fiorito said. “Which is both disappointing and surprising at the same time.”

Given the representation from the Planning Commission included Danny Ours and Ray Edgley, both of whom reside in District 2, it was determined two citizen representatives from District 1 would suffice to establish a balance on the advisory commission.

Joel Lusby, who also served on the charter commission, initially showed interest in serving on the advisory commission but during the meeting he withdrew his interest in favor of Daniel DeBoo, another interested citizen volunteer who was in attendance. DeBoo, a four-year resident of Monument, spoke to his experience, noting 10-12 years with non-profit organizations fighting domestic violence and child abuse working with several governmental bodies.

Brandy Turner, who also served on the charter commission, also spoke to the council regarding her interest.

“I thought it was so important that we had the districting and that we put the rule in place that it needed to be looked at periodically,” Turner said. “I figured if I was one of the people who required it to happen then I needed to be one of the people to step forward to make that happen.”

The council approved the ordinance with Foreman, King, Fiorito, Ours, Edgley, Turner and DeBoo listed as commissioners 7-0.

King noted the planning department or whomever appropriate to do so would need to start gathering population data for the new commission.

“That’s the real reason for balancing this,” he said.

Foreman said there is a town employee who is in GIS (Geographical Information System) and would be working with the advisory commission to acquire and provide that data.