Second Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R980058.01 JAG
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVE Hagedorn;
also SENATOR Tebedo.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-1034
WHEREAS, Local government exists to serve the needs
of its citizens and business communities; and
WHEREAS, Local government is the level of government
closest to the people and most able to respond to the needs and
concerns of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, It is the intent of the General Assembly
to encourage and support cost efficiencies in government; and
WHEREAS, Local government officials at the county,
municipal, special district, and school district levels are interested
in providing services in the most costeffective, efficient
manner possible; and
WHEREAS, Local elected officials are charged with
the responsibility of making service delivery decisions to meet
a broad spectrum of demands by their citizenry; and
WHEREAS, The flexibility for local elected officials
to determine how best to meet the needs of their citizens should
be preserved; and
WHEREAS, The issues of privatization and unfair competition
have been raised to the General Assembly as issues of concern;
and
WHEREAS, The 1993 Governor's Statehouse Conference
on Small Business has identified privatization as an issue of
particular concern; and
WHEREAS, Local officials support privatization as
a management tool; and
WHEREAS, Local governments utilize the private sector
in the delivery of public services; and
WHEREAS, Service delivery efficiencies are achieved
through competition; and
WHEREAS, A vigorous private sector environment is
necessary to ensure the vitality and longterm health of
the community; and
WHEREAS, It is of general benefit to a community
for local officials to consider the economic health of its businesses;
and
WHEREAS, The City of Colorado Springs and the County
of El Paso have collaborated in the privatization of all military
housing at Fort Carson, with such privatization involving two
thousand four hundred sixtyfour housing units, being the
largest privatization of military housing in the United States,
and serving as a model for similar projects throughout the United
States; and
WHEREAS, The City of Colorado Springs and the County
of El Paso have worked in concert with the Committee on Competitiveness
and Efficiency in Government in identifying additional opportunities
for privatization; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixtyfirst General Assembly of the state of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
(1) That the General Assembly encourages
local governments to continue to consider the expanded use of
privatization of existing public services;
(2) That the General Assembly encourages
local officials to evaluate the impact of the provision of new
public services inhouse on businesses and the economy and
to explore the opportunity for new services to be provided by
the private sector when of equal quality and availability and
affordable to the public;
(3) That the General Assembly believes
that local officials need to consider the views of the broadest
base of interests in making service delivery decisions;
(4) That the General Assembly believes
that all segments of the community, including businesses, have
a responsibility to keep informed about local government issues
and to participate in the decisionmaking process of government
at the local level;
(5) That the General Assembly encourages
local governments contemplating the provision of a new service
or a significant expansion of an existing service to solicit involvement
at the earliest time practicable from the local business community
and that any such decisions should be made at open meetings;
(6) That the General Assembly supports
the efforts of the City of Colorado Springs and the County of
El Paso in addressing these issues in a proactive and positive
manner.
Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor and City Council of the City of Colorado Springs and to the Board of County Commissioners of the County of El Paso.