By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
Realigning the main drag through Sterling left a couple parcels of land orphaned. It wasn’t necessarily that they looked worse than they did before — one of them was a former trailer park where the only vestiges of its former life were bare concrete pads with socketless meter boxes poking up here and there. The highway realignment didn’t make them ugly, it made them uglier: it left a bit of land whose shape wouldn’t be too conducive to anything useful. Yet another empty patch of dirt on my daily commute.
Then, one day, I saw some landscaping happening. It’s since been finished and has really improved the look of what otherwise would’ve been some awkwardly-shaped frontage. A city tax paid for the landscaping, but if you think that the effort was spearheaded by the mayor or City Council, you’re wrong. A citizen’s board did. A group of people working mostly behind the scenes, with a modest commitment of their time, are largely responsible for making definite improvements to their city that everyone gets to enjoy.
You can be one of them. You can be one of those people who have a positive impact in your city or county without having to hold public office or run for anything. You just have to be willing to step up.
There are hundreds of small boards and commissions in towns across Colorado that could use your voice: rec center boards, noxious weed commissions, fair boards, library committees, workforce development committees, boards on aging, the list goes on. I won’t go so far as to say there’s a board for every interest, but if you poke around in the sample links I put at the bottom, I bet you will be like me, surprised at just how many and how varied they are. Don’t think my list below is exhaustive either. They’re just the ones I looked up or had shared with me. If you don’t see yourself on the list, call your city or town and ask about a list of boards and committees that need volunteers. Call your county too. Do a Google search.
You are also welcome to message me via my substack newsletter Colorado Accountability Project. I can help connect you to resources which will help you find something right for you.
If you live in a big city along the Front Range, and this is especially the case if you’re politically conservative, get out there. It’s not necessarily that there aren’t people willing to sit on the boards. The issue in Front Range cities is more the balance of who is doing the sitting. Our state needs conservative voices in the middle of what can all too often be an echo chamber. Don’t misunderstand either. You don’t have to be argumentative, you don’t have to be difficult, but imagine the power of a gentle voice that asks the kinds of questions that aren’t being asked now. “Is this the proper role of government?” “Is this the best way to use taxpayer money?” are two of my favorites.
If you live in a small town or rural area, your participation is just as important, if perhaps not more so. Small town boards and committees sometimes suffer from a lack of applicants. This means either unfilled seats or seats filled by the same butts for years on end. Neither of those things are good. Experience has its place, but growth and change happen when new perspectives are considered. That is you. You can be that one to bring a fresh approach.
Getting upset at the way things are is a good start because it points to problems that need to be fixed. Getting excited at recent election results is good too. The thing is, national and/or state level politics, especially so for the national level, will take a long time to percolate down to you and your city. Besides that your ability to influence things the farther you get away from your local area is greatly diluted.
The chances are high, too, that when things do percolate down from the national or state level they won’t have any impact on parts of your daily life because that’s simply not the way our country does things. They will do absolutely nothing to make your daily commute prettier, help your rec center look better or cost less, or make your city or county services better help the aged.
Participation on the volunteer boards and commissions near you will have a direct and more rapid impact. Give the list of openings near you a look and then give some serious thought to serving. Think of the pride you’ll feel having done something to make your city or county better.
https://www.sterlingcolo.com/government/city_council/boards_and_commissions.php
Volunteer Opportunities with County Commissioners | Mesa County
Boards, Commissions and Committees | City of Colorado Springs
Boards and Commissions – Weld County
https://www.alamosacounty.org/202/Commissions-Boards
https://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/1127/Boards-Commissions
https://www.pueblo.us/84/Boards-Commissions
https://www.deltacountyco.gov/782/County-Boards-Commissions
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.