A city council decision this month to approve putting a $80 million bond issue on the November ballot to improve Longmont’s water delivery system puts city officials in a neutral corner when it comes to promoting a “yes” vote on the measure.
Any perceived lobbying for the proposal could put the city in the crosshairs of state and local Fair Campaign Practices Law, which restrict the use of public funds for advocacy purposes, Jennifer Loper, spokeswoman for the city of Longmont’s Public Works and Natural Resources, said in an e-mail.
“Education and outreach efforts on this bond question by the city of Longmont can be divided into two phases, before the ballot issues was officially adopted by the city council and after that adoption occurred,” Loper said.
Council voted unanimously to adopt the ballot issue at its Aug. 11 meeting.
The proposal asks voters to approve issuing $80 million in bonds to help finance drinking water system improvements, including shelving the sagging Wade Gaddis treatment and expanding the newer Nelson Flanders treatment plant. The plan also calls for replacing aging potable water storage tanks, and systemwide upgrades to distribution and transmission pipelines.
The Wade Gaddis plant was put into service in 1983 but it has now reached the end of its life cycle and soon will be decommissioned, said Bob Allen, director of operations in Public Works and Natural Resources.
The city did engineering studies to determine the best way to replace the Gaddis plant’s capacity. “After analyzing all of the possibilities, the most-reliable and cost-effective option is to expand capacity at the Nelson Flanders water treatment plant to ensure we fully support the drinking water needs of current and future Longmont residents,” Allen said.
The Nelson Flanders plant was placed in service in 2005 and was built with expansion in mind, he said.
Allen’s comments are included in a five-minute video the city produced to help explain the issue, with arguments both for and against the measure, along with a brief slideshow to share during community group presentations.
The video was produced prior to the council approving the proposal, when city officials could advocate for the passage of the ballot issue, Loper said. “This advocacy took the form of emails and letters to community groups to whom we made in-person presentations in past years.”
After the council vote, education and outreach efforts shifted to comply with campaign practices law, Loper said. Rules also restrict the use of public funds for dispensing information in connection with local or statewide ballot issues once a measure has been submitted for a title to be fixed and an election has been set, she said.
City Council can pass a resolution of support and can respond to a resident’s unsolicited question about a ballot issue, Loper said.
“The city may also dispense information on the measure so long as it is a neutral factual summary,” she said.
A dedicated webpage exists aimed at the bond issue on the city’s website and the council’s resolution of support for the bond issue will appear in an upcoming issue of the monthly CityLine newsletter that goes to every utility bill customer, Loper said.
A ballot issues brochure will be mailed to every household in early October, factually outlining the water bond issue and the charter language issue concerning lease terms that was adopted by the City Council at its Aug. 25 meeting, she said.
“We’re also considering a Facebook Live event where folks can get more information, but that event has not yet been scheduled,” Loper said.
