by Terri Wiebold

Founded in 1923, the Colorado Municipal League (CML) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that represents and serves Colorado’s cities and towns.

Currently, more than 95 percent of Colorado communities are members of CML and benefit from its informational and advocacy services – Castle Pines North (CPN) being one of the newest members.

In June, City Council member David Neely and City Treasurer Doug Gilbert both attended the CML 86th annual conference in Steamboat Springs.

CML’s mission is twofold: To represent cities and towns collectively in matters before the state and federal government; and to provide a wide range of information services to assist municipal officials in managing their governments.

“The CML is a tremendous resource for the new city and it’s officers,” said Neely.  “Everyone I met at the conference was very helpful and supportive; other council members were constantly giving me their business card and saying, ‘Call me anytime with questions.’”

Neely said he wanted to attend the conference to better understand the issues that other cities are facing, to meet other council members and mayors from around the state, to learn who the suppliers were to the cities, and to learn about opportunities to begin adding to our city.

In discussing the progress CPN has made thus far, Neely stated that others at the conference were all amazed at how much CPN officials have accomplished in such a short time.  “All those that I met
were very sympathetic saying, ‘I don’t know how you all are doing it; it’s hard enough being a council member or mayor, let alone starting a new city!’  But most importantly, I felt a strong sense of support from all those I met,” he said. 

City treasurer Gilbert also gained much insight from the conference, focusing primarily on financial matters relating to the city and making contacts with others in the field. “If we do not engage actively in economic development, we can’t grow as a city,” he said, “and we can’t raise taxes while we are doing it.”

Neely took advantage of a variety of workshops at the conference as well, and he was asked by the staff at CML to be a panel member next year on a few topics.  “The CML conference was well worth the time,” stated Neely.

Editor’s Note: Because CPN is a new city, representatives did not have to pay to attend the conference, and no out-of-pocket expenses were paid for by, or reimbursed by, the city of Castle Pines North.